June 7, 2011 Giant Map: Walking the trail

The Pikes Peak Library District hired me to do a summer program for them with the traveling giant map from National Geographic. The kids are sitting on this amazing 35’ X 60’ map and we walked across the continent from Canada to Mexico and east to west. It certainly gives one a different perspective of the continent.

    In three presentations, we hosted nearly 150 children of all ages. I showed them the trade goods and demonstrated how the object--an abalone shell, for example--moved from the west coast to the Cohokian Mound peoples to Alaskan natives to the Aztecs in Mexico. We followed the route of the Macaws from their jungle home in Central America to Casas Grandes, Mesa Verde, and Indiana.