Need Directions? Use The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson!

"Ever been on a three-story playground with a really tall slide?" "Looking for a new book?" For directions, let The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson lead the way.

We created The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson with Mr. Shaw and Mrs. Fenimore’s kindergarten students at Evamere Elementary in Hudson, Ohio. The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson promises a route filled with adventure and fun. Using the students' own drawings, this map lays out directions to all of Hudson's best and most notable places, deemed so by 319 of Evamere Elementary's own student voters.

Every year, Mr. Shaw and Mrs. Fenimore's students participate in a self-directed education program called PBL: project-based learning. The program begins with a guiding question created by teachers. This year's question for PBL was, "How can we give back to Hudson?"

One day at school while students were playing with building blocks and making Hudson landmarks, one student didn't know any of the landmarks because they had just moved to Hudson. This prompted the students to bring in a map the next day at school so they could point out some landmarks to build. After looking at the map for awhile, students decided it was hard to read and had a brilliant idea to make their own map of Hudson! The idea for The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson was born!

A lot of planning went into creating the brochure. Using a map of the city of Hudson and printed photos of Hudson's parks, treat shops, restaurants, and places, information was gathered and combined to form the data collection pool.

Given the information, students were asked to vote on their favorite park, favorite treat shop, favorite restaurant, and favorite place in Hudson. Once all 319 votes were tallied, the winners emerged in each category.

Favorite restaurant: Yours Truly.

Favorite place: Hudson Library.

After the favorite places around Hudson were decided, we asked the kindergarteners to draw images of these four places. Using the original hand drawings made by the students, we put our graphic design skills to the test in order to create the graphics for the brochure.

We used handwriting samples provided by the kindergarten students to create a brand new font for the project.

Student drawings of the buildings, icons, charts, and other elements of the map were used to create the brochure graphics. They also drew the brochure's cover image of Hudson's famous landmark: the clocktower. We used all of the original drawings and kept everything true to the students' work. Getting all of the students' work processed in order to go from handmade to digital pieces took a lot of skill. We used our design expertise and creative problem solving powers to get the job done.

Once we designed everything and created the brochure layout, we added all of the graphics to the InDesign file, put the final touches on, and began to look for a printer. Getting the brochure to print required a little fundraising. Thanks to Hudson Rotary Club for the generous donation!

The students were excited to see the finished project.

We even made it into the Hudson newspaper! Woohoo!

We love all of the handwritten thank-you cards we received from the students. We had a blast working on this project. You're SO welcome!

The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson can be found at the Hudson Visitors Center, Hudson Library and Historical Society and the Hudson Chamber of Commerce. Stop by any of these places and pick up The Kindergarten Guide Map to Hudson for a more adventurous route to all of your Hudson, Ohio destinations!