One pupil points inside B2. Another points to its top-right corner. Both say they’ve found the playground, but their counters begin in different places and their routes soon stop matching.
A small map called Little Park gives you a practical way to clear this up. You’ll need a drawn grid, two counters and enough room for pairs to compare their routes.
Draw a map everyone can read
Draw four columns labelled A to D from left to right and four rows labelled 1 to 4 from top to bottom. Centre the letters above the columns and place each number beside its row, rather than on a grid line.
Little Park
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Empty | Empty | Empty | Pond |
| 2 | Empty | Playground | Empty | Empty |
| 3 | Empty | Empty | Empty | Picnic table |
| 4 | Gate | Empty | Empty | Empty |
Keep every landmark wholly inside its cell. Add a north arrow pointing up. For Little Park, east is page-right, south is page-down and west is page-left. Empty cells can be crossed, while the features mark destinations. There’s no scale and there are no physical barriers to consider.
Before pupils work in pairs, point to a row, a column and the space inside one cell. Model moving into an adjacent cell without counting the starting cell as a move. This use of an overhead view, landmarks and relative positions connects with the Mathematics Hub’s Year 3 position and location guidance.
Shade B2 before moving
Say: “For this map, say the column letter first, then the row number. Rows run from 1 at the top to 4 at the bottom.”
Ask pupils to find column B and row 2, then shade the whole playground cell. On Little Park, B2 names the entire cell, not a corner. Agree to put each counter at the centre of its cell while tracing. That keeps everyone’s movements easy to follow, but the centre isn’t part of what B2 means.
The Mathematics Hub’s Year 4 guidance distinguishes a labelled grid region from a point located using coordinate axes. You don’t need to introduce formal coordinates here: simply explain that this map labels spaces. This convention applies to Little Park; other maps may use different systems.
Trace the route from the gate
Place a counter at the centre of gate cell A4. Move east two cells to C4, north two cells to C2, then west one cell to playground B2.
Record every visited cell: A4 → B4 → C4 → C3 → C2 → B2. The route has five adjacent-cell moves because the starting cell isn’t counted. Keep using compass directions rather than left and right, which depend on the direction a traveller is facing.
Find the first cell where you disagree
One partner reads the directions from the stated starting cell. The other moves a counter and records each reference. They then compare their lists from A4 onwards.
If the lists differ, find the first different cell. Check the starting place, whether the letter or number was read first, the direction in which the row numbers run and whether anyone counted the starting cell. Then ask the pair to rewrite the unclear instruction. Inviting feedback about missing or unclear map information is also suggested in the Year 3 planning guidance.
Use it as a supported introduction
Year 3 AC9M3SP02 includes interpreting and creating two-dimensional representations of familiar environments and locating landmarks and objects relative to one another, as shown in this Australian Curriculum Year 3 material. The Mathematics Hub addresses grid maps explicitly in its Year 4 progression, so this activity is a manageable introduction to the idea in Year 3.
For optional follow-on practice, the catalogue description for the Sukindi Year 3 Mapping Unit includes the learning focus “Use compass directions, turns and grid references”. Little Park was created for this article.
Can your partner reach the picnic table?
Ask each pair to state what B2 names and agree that their counter will begin at the cell’s centre. From B2, move east two cells and then south one cell. Record the route before checking it against B2 → C2 → D2 → D3. The counter reaches the picnic table after three adjacent-cell moves.
If the records differ, return to the first different cell and clarify the direction together. Then ask: “Why does B2 name a cell rather than a corner?”