The adventures of Mommy woman
Published on March 21, 2004 By JillUser In Home & Family
We have been in our home for almost a year now. We painted both the boy's rooms in a light blue and put up posters. We are now ready to think about themes. The 7yr old thinks he wants to decorate his room with maps. I think it is a clever idea.

His room in our last house was really cool. One wall had a space wallpaper on it and the rest of the room had dinosaurs. The bottom paper had dinosaur skeletons in sand and there was a border of dinosaurs in the jungle. We did it that way because he was little and couldn't make up his mind between dinosaurs and space. We figured if we picked one, he would freak and decide he really wanted the other so we did both.

This time around he is old enough to make a choice. He feels too old to do any kind of character theme which I agree he would change his mind about in a couple of months. He isn't into sports. He loves geography and it is educational. His dad always loved geography and it is still an interest of his so it is a theme that is likely to stay for the duration.

I am thinking of doing one wall as a mural or repeating graph wallpaper. I will then try to find a coordinating border for the rest of the room. I thought I could frame some maps and hang them also.

Does anyone else have any ideas or experience with such a theme? I would love to hear any input.

Comments
on Mar 21, 2004
Home Depot used to have this wallpaper(?) that was one big picture of the world map. You could write on it with one of those dry erase markers too if you wanted. It looked pretty cool. It was in black and white, if that matters.

That is an awesome theme for a room...good luck..
on Mar 21, 2004
Kole loves maps. She has a collection of them. Road maps, topographical maps, hiking trail maps, bus routes and also several different globes. The only suggestion that I have is to gather an assortment of maps from your hometown, and of the places where your friends or relatives reside. It really gets them interested in knowing more about them(your relatives and friends), and kind of makes them seem closer, if they can locate where they are on the map. Maps are a great way to introduce calculating distance and time in travel.

If there was one theme for my 6 yr old's room, it would be 'bomb explosion!' I'm really looking forward to the end of Spring break so that I can this place looking good again. I gave up a couple of days ago... it rained for 3 days straight.
on Mar 21, 2004
The kids that I work with at my elementary school really like flags.
Kids are really interested in the colors and patterns. If you have maps up on the wall, the kids can then match the flags to the countries on the map.
There is a website called "flags.com" that sells mini 4" flags. You could label them, and glue them on the wall.
Of course you could get stickers of flags too. That would be cheaper.
on Mar 21, 2004
My boys have maps in their room. They have stickers so they can mark off places their Dad or I have been, where friends and family live etc. The have an inflatable globe that hangs from the ceiling and some of those glow-in-the-dark stars.
on Mar 21, 2004
Great ideas! Thanks.
on Mar 21, 2004
Some kids I watched had a huge world map painted on one large wall, they had cut outs and pictures (mostly from educational mags) of people from those countries put up on each country. They also put up pics of landmarks, ex: pyramids jungles taj mahal.

You could do this of the whole world or just the US with culural points of each state.

This blog reminds me of a joke from Mitch Hedberg: " I want to put a map on my wall and put pins in all the places I have traveled to, but first I have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it doesn't fall down".
on Mar 22, 2004

My daughter can't make up her mind on anything.  She wants to paint the room in stripes and dots of all sorts of colors.  I think I might have to intervene and paint a big mural on one of her walls and "paint" the rest of the room in the same theme.  Lots of colors but a bit more organized. 

The maps sound like a cool idea.  He shouldn't grow out of that quickly.

on Mar 22, 2004
Yes, a collage of historical figures for each sounds like a good idea and birthplaces of presidents on USA map. 
on Mar 22, 2004
A really easy way to do a mural, say of a world map or something, is to use an overhead projector and transparency filrm. Then, after tracing the projection onto the wall, all you have to do is paint . Our bathroom walls at school are all done that way, in different themes. There are so many cool globes and other accessories on the market, too. I think your not-so-little-anymore guy would love it! My third graders think anything on a map or globe is the coolest.
on Mar 22, 2004
Awesome ideas! Thanks!
on Mar 23, 2004
If you need rocks, let me know.  I can paint some kick ass 3d rocks   One of the few talents I learned in set design class.
on Mar 24, 2004
AH! I didn't know so many of you were old! You all have kids. I totally would not have guessed. Weird.
on Mar 24, 2004
Who's old?!
on Mar 24, 2004
All of you. It's not an insult, I just didn't think you were adults by your writing.
on Jan 12, 2005
Wall Murals definitely makes the room! Check out a new web site that has a rather large selection of children wallpaper murals. Very cool stuff. wallsdecor.com