Children Inspire Design Map Print: First Person Review

Recently I learned about the company, Children Inspire Design, which printed a custom message on a USA map print where my family can record our travels. Because I had reviewed other map products, such as maps printed on mugs, the company’s map print appealed to me. I was happy to review the My Travels USA wall map print, and I knew that my family would appreciate the product. Personally, I grew up traveling in many countries, which made the product very meaningful to me as I started a life with my husband and kids and I wanted to continue to foster a spirit of adventure in my children.

My Personal Travel Background

As a child, I lived in Sumatra, Indonesia for four years when I traveled to Bali, Indonesia as well as Thailand, China, Singapore, Nepal and India from 1990 – 1994. In middle school, my family took a trip across Europe. I lived in an apartment in Florence, Italy for a summer when I visited Rome, Milan, and Pisa in 2000. In 2004, after high school graduation, my family visited China for the summer. When I got married in 2010, I skipped my honeymoon to save money. Receiving a product to encourage my family to travel was very meaningful to me, as I hoped I would build memorable travel experiences with my husband and children.

Review of the Map Print

Part of the fun of receiving the product was seeing the custom message that I helped create. The company printed Pickett Family Travels on the map. I loved the personalized message, and I knew my family would enjoy the sentimentality of the message. Because my husband grew up living in Germany and Hawaii as well as Maryland and Los Angeles, the map fit with his love of travel. Even though my husband and I hadn’t been able to travel much together, we loved having a visual reminder of how we loved traveling.

As I hung up the new wall print, I used the opportunity to discuss geography with my daughter, who was very excited about the new product. My daughter gleefully pointed at different states on the west coast and asked what the names of the states were. I liked that my daughter began to get an understanding of how maps worked, and I felt that the product created a great educational opportunity on a regular basis. Whenever my daughter passed the wall print, she showed a spirit of inquiry as she asked questions about the map.

I loved that the product helped me explain to my daughter where she had lived so she began to develop an understanding of her personal history. The map encouraged storytelling in my home. When my daughter asked about the west coast, I explained how her father lived on the west coast and many of his friends lived there now. I showed my daughter how I had lived in New York City when her father had lived in Los Angeles, and how her parents met in the middle in Nashville, Tennessee.

My daughter was excited to help put star stickers on the map. I bought a frame to go with the 24X18in print, and I placed the star stickers over the frame. Using my daughter’s help, I placed the stickers everywhere that our family had traveled. Starting with Tennessee, we also placed stickers in Maryland where my in laws lived, in Savannah, Georgia where my husband and I spent the three days after our wedding, and St. Augustine, Florida, where my husband and I were married. I liked that the stickers had different colors, which I thought could work well if I chose to color code places I had already gone and places I wanted to go. Because my family and I have only lived in the United States, I went with the USA map, but I hoped to find reasons to purchase the worldwide map for our home in the future.

For more information about the company, visit the website for Children Inspire Design as well as the company’s Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure
I received a free product to help inform my writing.