Geography · Year 2 · Our Local Area: Fieldwork and Maps · Summer Term

Map Symbols and Keys for Local Maps

Learning to use map keys to understand symbols representing features on a map of the local area.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: Geography - Geographical Skills and Fieldwork

About This Topic

Map symbols and keys enable Year 2 students to read and interpret maps of their local area with confidence. Children recognise standard symbols for features like schools, parks, roads, houses, and shops on simple Ordnance Survey maps. Using the key, they match symbols to meanings, locate places, and answer questions such as 'Where is the post office?' or 'How do I get to the park?'

This topic fits KS1 Geographical Skills and Fieldwork in the Summer Term unit on Our Local Area. It links map work to fieldwork observations, as students compare symbols to real features during neighbourhood walks. Drawing their own symbols for familiar places, like a school or road, develops creativity alongside practical skills for describing locations.

Active learning transforms this topic. When children hunt symbols on real maps, play matching games, or create keys for classroom models, symbols shift from abstract marks to meaningful tools. These experiences build spatial reasoning, encourage peer discussion, and make map reading relevant to daily life.

Key Questions

1. What do you notice about the symbols used on a local map?
2. How does a map key help you read a map?
3. Can you draw your own symbol for a school, a park, and a road?

Learning Objectives

• Identify standard map symbols for at least five common features in the local area.
• Explain how a map key translates symbols into understandable meanings.
• Locate specific places on a local map by using its key and symbols.
• Design and draw a unique, recognizable symbol for a chosen local feature, such as a park or a library.
• Compare symbols on a map to actual features observed during a local area walk.

Before You Start

Identifying Common Objects

Why: Students need to be able to recognize and name common objects and places in their environment before they can understand symbols representing them.

Basic Directional Language (e.g., left, right, near, far)

Why: Understanding simple spatial relationships is helpful for interpreting locations on a map and relating them to the real world.

Key Vocabulary

Map Symbol	A small picture or shape used on a map to represent a real place or feature, like a building or a river.
Map Key	A box on a map that explains what each symbol means, helping you to read and understand the map.
Feature	A distinctive attribute or aspect of something, in this context, a specific place or object shown on a map, such as a school, a park, or a road.
Local Area	The neighborhood or district immediately surrounding a person's home or school.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Map symbols are exact pictures of real objects.

What to Teach Instead

Symbols use simplified shapes for clarity at small scales. Fieldwork walks and matching games help students spot differences between symbols and reality, building accurate mental models through comparison and talk.

Common Misconception

You can guess symbol meanings without the key.

What to Teach Instead

Guessing often leads to mistakes with similar symbols. Key-reliant games and hunts teach systematic checking, as peer challenges reveal errors and reinforce the key's purpose.

Common Misconception

All maps use identical symbols.

What to Teach Instead

Symbols vary by map style or region. Comparing class-created maps to standard ones during sharing sessions highlights variations, with active design tasks showing why consistency matters.

Active Learning Ideas

Scavenger Hunt: Local Map Symbols

Distribute printed maps of the school area with keys. In pairs, students locate and circle 10 symbols, recording what each represents in a table. Groups share one finding with the class to discuss the key's role.

30 min·Pairs

Matching Game: Symbols to Features

Prepare cards with symbols on one set and photos or words of features on another. Small groups match them using a provided key, then create sentences like 'The triangle means a park.' Time for two rounds.

25 min·Small Groups

Design Your Key: Classroom Map

Students draw a simple map of the classroom or playground. Individually, they invent three symbols, add a key, and explain choices to a partner. Display maps for a class gallery walk.

35 min·Individual

Fieldwork Walk: Symbol Spotting

Take a short walk around school grounds with clipboards and maps. Whole class ticks off observed features matching symbols, then returns to plot routes using the key.

45 min·Whole Class

Real-World Connections

• Town planners use maps with symbols and keys to understand the layout of a city, showing where parks, schools, and roads are located, which helps them decide where to build new facilities.
• Emergency services, like the fire department, use detailed maps with specific symbols to navigate to addresses quickly and identify important landmarks such as fire hydrants or hospitals during emergencies.
• Tourists use maps with keys to find their way around new places, locating hotels, attractions, and public transport stops to plan their visits.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a simple local map and its key. Ask them to point to the symbol for the school and then find the school on the map. Repeat for a park and a road, asking 'What does this symbol mean?'

Exit Ticket

Give each student a small card. Ask them to draw one symbol for a familiar local feature (e.g., a tree for a park) and write its name. Then, ask them to write one sentence explaining how a map key helps us.

Discussion Prompt

Show students two different maps of the same local area, each with slightly different symbols. Ask: 'What do you notice about the symbols on these maps? How does the key help us understand them? Which map is easier to read and why?'

Frequently Asked Questions

How to introduce map symbols and keys in Year 2?

Start with familiar local maps and a large projected key. Model finding features step by step, then guide pairs to locate three places. Follow with symbol hunts to practise independently. This builds from teacher-led to student-driven use over lessons.

How can active learning help students master map symbols?

Active tasks like symbol scavenger hunts on real maps and designing personal keys make symbols tangible. Students connect abstract marks to observed features during walks, discuss matches in groups, and refine ideas through play. This hands-on cycle boosts retention, spatial skills, and enthusiasm for fieldwork over passive labelling.

What common errors occur with map keys in KS1?

Pupils often ignore keys, guessing meanings, or treat symbols as literal pictures. Address with paired matching games that require key checks and fieldwork comparisons. Structured talk corrects these, as children explain choices and learn from peers, embedding accurate habits.

Best activities for teaching local map reading?

Combine indoor games like symbol bingo with outdoor hunts using school maps. Have students draw routes between features, labelling with keys. These vary pace, group work, and application, aligning with fieldwork skills while keeping sessions practical and 30-45 minutes long.