If there’s one thing teachers are always looking for, it’s this: non-cringey getting-to-know-you activities. The Life Map Activity, thankfully, fits the bill.

I was once told to spend the entire first week of school doing nothing else by my admin! But when every other teacher at every other grade level is also doing getting-to-know-you activities, it’s hard to come up with something new. 

One day I asked a co-teacher for help, and she introduced me to the Life Map! It was perfect for quieter kids and could be rushed or stretched out as I needed. Here’s how to do the Life Map Activity yourself. 

Want to skip the prep work and make this a quick and easy activity? You can grab a no-prep Life Map Activity right here! Plus, it also comes with a second activity–making a Goal Map!

What is a Life Map?

A Life Map is what it sounds like: a map of a person’s life!

A Life Map will resemble a map of some kind. My template looks like a treasure map. If your students draw their own, it could look like a game board. 

The map should have a path drawn on it. Instead of the path going through locations, however, it goes through events in chronological order. 

These events are important events in a person’s life. When you have students create a Life Map, they’ll create a map of the important events in their lives that allowed them to reach the present day. 

Life Map Activity Step One: Decide How Detailed You Want The Product to Be

You can make Life Maps a long, creative activity that takes a whole class period. 

For this, you’ll want to give students big sheets of paper–larger than a standard letter but smaller than a poster board. You’ll also want to ensure students can access art supplies like markers, colored pencils, and rulers. 

Have students draw their own maps. They should include at least five events, but you could require more if you want the activity to take longer. 

Students should also illustrate each of their life events. These don’t have to be super detailed; students can draw a symbol or icon instead of a whole scene. But each event should be represented by some kind of image. 

If you don’t have time for this, want the Life Map to be a backup-only activity, or have a short class period that day, you can provide fill-in-the-blank maps for students instead.

For this option, I recommend grabbing my Life Map Activity here. It includes a printable template. Students just have to fill in the blanks with their important life events. You can have them add illustrations or not. 

Life Map Activity Step Two: Create Your Own Example

Once you know the scale of Life Map you want students to create, it’s time to create an exemplar. And there’s no better way to provide an example than by using your own life!

When you show students your Life Map, not only will they get a better understanding of what it is they’ll be trying to create, but they’ll get to know you better as well. We all know that earning trust is important for educating our students; consider this a tiny step in that direction.

Make sure your own Life Map fulfills the expectations you intend to set for your students. If you’re going to require seven life events, put seven events on your map. If you will require illustrations, include your own. 

Life Map Activity Step Three: Let Students Get to Work

After introducing the activity and showing off your example, let students get to work!

While students are working, be sure to walk around. The point of this activity is to get to know your students, so use the work time to do just that. 

Comment on their creativity. Ask questions about their illustrations. For students who are stuck or unwilling to share, offer less invasive ideas for events they can add to their maps–life the birth of a sibling, the first day of middle school, the day they discovered their favorite hobby, etc.

Life Map Activity Step Four: Have Students Share

You could have students go around the room and share their Life Maps with the class. It’s certainly an option. 

However, I think you’ll find that this option is very unappealing to most students. Introverts won’t want to speak to the whole class–especially on one of the first days of school when they may not know their peers very well yet. Those who are less artistic may not want to draw attention to their illustrations. 

Instead, try having students hang their Life Maps around the room. 

Then, give students time (set a visible timer for 5 or 10 minutes) to walk around the room and admire their classmates’ Life Maps. 

You could take it a step further by giving each student three Post-it notes. Each student should use the notes to leave an observation or compliment on three different Life Maps. 

Creating a gallery walk with students’ Life Maps is less scary, in my opinion, than presenting to the whole class. 

Conclusion

Life Maps are great activities for the first week of school. They can take less than fifteen minutes if you provide a template or fill a whole hour or more if you need them too. They allow students to get to know you and each other in a way that won’t spike their anxiety. 

If you’d like a Life Map (and Goal Map!) template, you can grab mine here!