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Designing Dream Parks! 🎡
Episode 202 • 27th January 2025 • Tech Tools for Teachers • Shanna Martin
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This week, we dive into the exciting world of amusement parks, showcasing two innovative websites that can be utilized for educational purposes in the classroom. We explore how these tools can help students engage in inquiry-based learning by designing their own amusement parks, integrating planning, mapping, and problem-solving skills into the project. The first site discussed is education.iconograms.com, which allows students to create and customize amusement park maps, incorporating various elements like buildings, roads, and attractions. The second site, themeparkbrochures.net, offers a treasure trove of historical park maps and brochures, providing a unique way to teach mapping skills and explore the evolution of amusement parks over time. Throughout the episode, we explore the fun and creativity these tools bring to learning, encouraging teachers to integrate them into their lessons for an engaging classroom experience.

Takeaways:

  • The episode highlights two educational sites designed for students to create and map amusement parks.
  • Teachers can incorporate creativity and problem-solving by allowing students to design their own parks.
  • Using digital tools for planning helps students learn essential mapping and design skills.
  • The discussion includes a personal backstory about amusement parks, enhancing relatability and engagement.
  • Listeners are encouraged to explore theme park maps from past decades to learn mapping skills.
  • The episode emphasizes the importance of integrating fun activities in the classroom to maintain student interest.


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Transcripts

Shanna Martin:

Thanks for listening to the tech tools for

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teachers podcast for each week.

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We talk about a free piece

or two of technology that you

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can use in your classroom.

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I'm your host, Shanna Martin.

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I'm a middle school teacher technology

and instructional coach for my district.

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Fuzz Martin: And I'm her

producer and husband Fuzz Martin.

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And these intros are always amusing and

leave you on an emotional rollercoaster.

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Shanna Martin: Nice two in one.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

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Thank you.

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Shanna Martin: Good work.

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We are here.

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We are finishing January and

loading into February and it's

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just kind of drippy outside.

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So I thought we needed something

fun to play around with this week.

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Yeah.

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And it's very exciting.

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It's.

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Um, using

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Fuzz Martin: it is definitely amusing.

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Shanna Martin: So, if you haven't

figured it out yet, we're talking

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about amusement parks today.

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So I guess I should kind of give us a

little backstory as to where this, these

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two sites came from or how I decided to

talk about them early at the school year.

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I was working with a teacher in my

district and she was looking for a

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way to have her students doing, it

was for like an enrichment class

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and how kids could build in.

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Planning and amusement park and

mapping skills and math skills

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and physics skills, and kind of

combining all those things into.

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Some inquiry learning along with some fun

and gauging physical building of stuff.

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Fuzz Martin: Sure.

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Yeah.

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Shanna Martin: So I, she's like,

Hey, do you know anything like not

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off the top of my head, but I bet

I can find you some cool things.

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So give me a minute.

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Fuzz Martin: You're the

master at finding these.

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And

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Shanna Martin: so I

found fun things for her.

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And so I have two sites today, one

that kind of builds parks and the

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other one that is like mapping.

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So it's a little bit of both and

they're both really fun to play around

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with and they have free versions

or free pieces that go with them.

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My top five cool highlights of these

two sites kind of combine, creativity.

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There's so much creativity that

you can do with, designing theme

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parks and or amusement parks.

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And, or local parks like

baseball parks and, community

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type parks, things like that.

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So there's some design and

creativity definitely allowed

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and created in here, planning.

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It teaches kids planning in the

process that everything isn't

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exactly the same right away.

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It doesn't happen instantly and you

have to like take some time to plan.

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So it helps with planning the projects.

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There is problem solving

involved for sure.

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Especially if you give your kids

parameters around using these, like maybe

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you can only have so much space or you

can only have so many cool highlights

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or only so many things that you can do.

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So you can kind of figure that out,

with some like 3d design planning

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pieces, which is pretty cool.

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Definitely helps with out of

the box thinking and, or problem

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solving, they kind of go together.

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There's, it's great for supporting

projects that they might

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physically plan in your class.

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Then here's like a digital version,

or they can plan the digital model and

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then build it later if they choose to.

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And it also teaches some mapping

skills, but this is not your

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usual latitude longitude on

the world type mapping skills.

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So it's kind of how to read a

map and how we label things and

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have keys and stuff like that.

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So.

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Those things could all be a part

of this as well, along with just

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having some good old fun in the

classroom and enjoying yourself.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, having some

entertainment, I'm not going to say

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amusement, entertainment, there we go.

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Shanna Martin: How many times can we

say the word amusement in this episode?

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Right.

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We can start tallying them.

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Ding.

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Alright, so we're on episode 202.

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And the first site we are going to

talk about comes from Iconograms.

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So it's education.

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iconograms.

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com, and then Usage park, we'll

put the link in smartinwi.com

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along with, if you type in Iconograms

amusement park, it comes right up.

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So either way you can search it.

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And so they have obviously a paid

version to use the tools, but they also

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have free versions that you can use.

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And this would be cool if you're going

to do it with a class, you could do

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it on the smart board if you want to,

and kind of click and drag, or they

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can do it in groups if they choose to,

they have all kinds of them pre done.

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So you can kind of click on,

you want a festival space.

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Or an amusement park

map or a water park map.

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Like there's options that you

can kind of see, which is cool.

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And then you can create from scratch,

which is where it's kind of neat.

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They have a whole setup when you

go to designing from scratch from

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either the page on the bottom that

says design scratch or try here.

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And so what they give you

is a full blank workspace.

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And we've talked about some 3D

modeling type stuff before, but

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it's a blank workspace to work from.

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They've got your tools across

the top to move things around.

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And then a whole collection of toolbar

things along the left hand side.

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And so you can go through

and just do shapes.

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They can add text and labels.

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But they also have cute little buildings.

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So you can go through and like,

I'm gonna do maybe a festival.

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So you have to talk to your

students about planning if you're

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gonna do a festival type map.

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You're going to be planning that

in a town or a village or a city.

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So you'd have to plan how that

festival is going to work in a city.

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So you can drop in buildings and homes

and skyscrapers and things like that.

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You can even, like I picked a

residential building and dropped it in.

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You can then have related images to

drop those in on the right hand side.

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It gives you then options.

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You can color and change the

color of things and make them

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all beautiful as you choose to.

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You can add bigger buildings

and smaller buildings.

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So if I'm doing a festival, I obviously

would have buildings to work around.

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It wouldn't just be a giant open space.

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If you go down a little further, you

then on that left hand side have this

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toolbar of all kinds of cool things.

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So not only would you have buildings,

but you can also add stadium pieces.

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So if I'm going to build a stadium,

I have that as an option and I

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can put bleachers and things like

that in and make adjustments.

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I can add, They even have like football

goalposts and soccer goalposts, and

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they have basketball hoops, so you can

add all the sporting things to your,

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option within your city, depending

on, again, what type of festival.

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They even have swimmers, like,

they have all the things.

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If you scroll up a little

bit for the arena, you can

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put in an arena with a track.

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And you can make it bigger or smaller

and adjust as you'd like to, the

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baseball diamonds, they have soccer

fields and all kinds of stuff like that.

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So you can put all those things in as

you choose to, along with buildings,

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they also have, roads, so you can put in

roads and then you can choose what type

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of texture you want your road to have.

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Again, this is one of those fun

3d designers that you can just.

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Go down a hole of all kinds of

excitement and play around with, if

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you want to scrap the festival idea

and want to do a state fair, they also

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have barns and they have green space.

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So I'm swapping out my, uh, My skyscraper

going to delete that out and I just

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put a barn in and now we got a barn

because we're going to do a county

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fair and so you can plan for that.

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It gives you all the barn things

that you'd need all the equipment.

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And then you could add nature so

you can add green spaces and trees.

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And, orchards and things like that.

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If you want to, they also have animals.

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You can add horses and pigs and

goats and tractors, and it's

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gonna be a very cool state fair.

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I suppose it depends on where you're

at in the country and, or what your

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state fairs look like in Wisconsin.

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Well, there's cream puffs and

there's cheese and there's a lot of

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milk and there's a lot of animals.

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So, depending on where you're at, I bet

your state fair highlights different

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things, so you can have kids design that.

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If you're past the state fair and you

want to do something else, they also

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have industrial options, and things

that you can add within buildings,

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like groceries and, a library.

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And Walls and roofs.

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So you can build buildings individually.

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If you don't like the buildings that

they give you, you have options.

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You can even put semi

trucks in if you want to.

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So you can imagine as you're going through

all of these options, if you want to

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add airplanes and you want to read train

tracks and you want to add a boats.

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Again, it's not just

amusement park things.

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You could actually use this mapping and

stuff for a lot of different options.

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Just the focus today is amusement parks

because they have that as an option and

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it's cool, but you can design so many

different things with how this works.

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Sticking to the amusement park theme,

they do have, built merry go rounds.

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They have, Ferris wheels and

they have roller coasters.

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So you can.

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Drop a roller coaster in the

middle of your County fair.

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And I bet you would be the most

popular County fair in the area.

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Fuzz Martin: Yes.

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Shanna Martin: So you have

that as an option as well.

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I don't know if you're

clicking and playing.

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I am

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Fuzz Martin: building a road.

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Shanna Martin: Yes.

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So it's one of those where you

kind of get into it and then you

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start just adding all the things.

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So.

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Your students would definitely need

some parameters as they're going

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through building and designing, because

you could spend hours building this.

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They even have bridges, like you put

in the golden gate bridge, if you want.

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I mean, there's just so many things.

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So you can plan and build

and create in the land of 3d.

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As much as you'd want to, you

could have kids theme their parks.

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They even have Christmas

and winter holidays.

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They have those as options to put into

your, designs that you're building

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along with rivers and all kinds of,

different icons and stuff like that.

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So you have all of these options to build

and design a rollercoaster, a theme park.

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And all of those cool things.

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And then two things you

can sign in with Google.

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So you have a registration.

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So if kids have a single sign

and they can do that, or you can

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do your email and a password.

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So that way they have it.

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And it's meant for teachers and students.

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So they do have that set up.

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That's why you have to go the education

version of education of accountograms.

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So you register and you do have a free

account then if you want to do more

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things and, and officially publish

them and all that kind of stuff,

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then you would have to go through

the paid version, but you do have.

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Quite a few options and things like that

if you are a teacher and you can just

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test it out without creating an account,

which I want to kind of highlight too.

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You can play around with it to see if

it's something you want to do with your

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students before you commit to anything.

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So you have that too.

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So check out education, I kind of

grams and try out that amusement

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park and you can design away

all of these super awesome.

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Fuzz Martin: You can design away the day.

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Shanna Martin: Yes.

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Like I am

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Fuzz Martin: as I play.

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Shanna Martin: Oh, and now you're also

going to be rhyming, which is fantastic.

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So go ahead and theme it, build

a theme park and do all the

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cool things or county fair.

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And there's just so many

options to play around with.

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So check that one out for some fun

with your students and some designing

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along with that, you could actually

pick an amusement park or a county fair

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or something like that from, let's say

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1981.

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Fuzz Martin: I, uh, I did that.

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I just did 1981 and I bet you, I did

the same one that you did six flags.

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Shanna Martin: Okay.

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So there's a little background in

this, I suppose I should share.

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I grew up right next to six flags, right?

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Right.

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Not like right next to, but within

25 minutes I grew up in Illinois.

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And our big amusement park is six

flags, great America and gurney,

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Illinois, shout out to anybody

who's listening from gurney and.

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Large portions of my childhood for

at six flags and what's super cool.

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I guess I should take a half a step back.

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The website we're going to

is theme park brochures.

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net and it's just theme park.

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T H E M E park.

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P A R K brochures, B R O C H U R E S.

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net and this site's so cool.

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So what you do, and this is great

for kind of teaching mapping beyond

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the world we're going to find a Map,

here's your latitude and longitude,

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you know, digging through the world.

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So instead this is theme park

maps and brochures from forever,

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like whenever you can find it.

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So you can type in an old theme

park, something you used to

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do as a kid, and then it's got

digital versions of the maps.

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So if you search, so I searched as

you just did, I think six flags,

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great America map brochure, they have

their map brochures between:

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And 2024.

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So if you click on it and you scroll

down, it tells you about the park.

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It's still active.

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That one's still open.

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Where it's located, some of the history,

the Goliath coaster raging bowl, that

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was such a thing when I was in high

school, everyone had to ride raging

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bowl, like one of my friends worked

on the ride, like it was such a thing.

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And then you scroll through their

table of contents and they have links

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to all of the brochures and maps.

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From 1976 and forward, and if

they changed it or didn't change

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it, like they have on there.

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So, got it.

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Discover Great America, map

from Great America from:

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And so you can find these brochures.

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Up to the newer ones and

you can click on them.

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It enlarges them for you and they're

the authentic maps like so you can

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Fuzz Martin: do all

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Shanna Martin: the things

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Fuzz Martin: i'm looking at walt disney

world map from:

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contemporary resort and hotel the venetian

polynesian village and then Magic kingdom.

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And there's basically not a

lot else there's, you know, the

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monorail, it shows the monorail.

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Nice.

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Yeah.

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Pretty good.

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Does it highlight

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Shanna Martin: the rides at all or?

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Fuzz Martin: No, this just shows

a big castle for magic kingdom.

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So, but I bet you, if I typed in

magic kingdom and it would give us

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that layout for those years as well.

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Shanna Martin: Nice.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

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Shanna Martin: Yeah.

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And they also have, like, I typed

in Disneyland, not thinking that

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there's more than one Disneyland.

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It came up with a dis like.

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Hong Kong, Disneyland, you can pull up

the rides and then the maps from there

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and you can see the different pieces.

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It kind of just gives you all

like the cool list, all the rides.

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And so there's just so many

fun things to play around with.

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And if you're teaching

mapping skills with your kids.

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At any grade level.

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So this is one where you could pull

up maps, especially for some of our

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younger students that are just learning

mapping skills and to be able to read a

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map with a key and find cool elements.

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And then you could have kids design their

own so they can base it on a theme park

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that exists or they could base it on

a like they want to create their own.

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So what, what do you want

to take some ideas from?

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Cedar point in Ohio was another one that

I attended, like a band competition when

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I was, in high school, good old Midwest.

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And so Cedar point rides list, got it.

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You can pull up their maps and again,

you can pull up all the different

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things and you can see all of the

different map brochures from:

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, I'm looking at

the Magic Kingdom map from:

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now, and I see that the dad nap

ride Tomorrowland, uh, was, uh, was

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there then as well, so, uh, I think

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Shanna Martin: the dad nap ride has been

there as long as that place has existed,

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Fuzz Martin: which, I highly recommend

if you're ever looking to take a nap at

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Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Tomorrowland,

it's comfortable, uh, comfortable.

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It's monotone.

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It's long.

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Yeah.

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It's monotone.

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It's like 20 minutes long.

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It's dark.

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And, uh,

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Shanna Martin: You should probably

point out that you were not the

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one who called it the dad nap ride.

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No, no,

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Fuzz Martin: I wasn't.

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But

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Shanna Martin: there was another dad that

told you that this was the dad nap ride.

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And then when you got

permission to nap, you did.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

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And now I'll let anybody that will hear

me know I'm like that dad was to me.

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So I'm your Disney World mentor for dads.

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Shanna Martin: Nice.

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Thanks.

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Kings Island, that's the one in Ohio.

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That's what I was thinking

of Kings Island map.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah,

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Shanna Martin: there you go.

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Yeah.

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There's so

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Fuzz Martin: many, there's so many

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Shanna Martin: things.

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Like I'm just down the, like the

maps, like, Oh my gosh, I was there.

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Oh, isn't that cool.

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Or check out those old roller coasters.

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Like, it's just really fun.

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And I know they have digital versions

of this, but this is a fun way to dig.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

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I looked up Bay beach and green Bay,

Wisconsin, which is just a little.

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amusement park, and they had that as

well and it said in the description

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Shanna Martin: So if nothing else,

you can go search some fun history

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things and, yeah, dig up some

old maps of cool amusement parks.

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It's just a very, fun place to be.

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Cool site to kind of dig

around on and play on.

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And I think students would have fun

finding things because they're so old,

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but really they're not that old at all.

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Fuzz Martin: Right.

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Shanna Martin: Cause we're not that old.

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So obviously.

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That's right.

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Fuzz Martin: We're not that old.

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They don't even know.

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Shanna Martin: Cool.

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Well.

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For that, there's amusement parks,

you can design your own, you can

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dig through some cool maps, you

can find some fun information and

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inspire all kinds of projects.

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To me, this would definitely be anything

like 3rd grade on up, 4th grade on up.

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You can dig around and create so many

cool things to be honest, especially

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in this cold, kind of wintry.

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Unfun type, whether you

can design and create.

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So I suggest you should check

them out and have some fun.

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I can't wait to hear what other people

have produced with their kids from them.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

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Maybe yeah.

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Pull up a map and reproduce it with your,

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Shanna Martin: you can

redesign it, you can build it.

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Yeah.

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And then try and make it no kind of graph.

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It would be really cool.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah.

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Shanna Martin: So anyway,

thanks for tuning in.

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This has been the tech

tools for teachers podcast.

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If you ever have any questions, you

can find me on blue sky threads,

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Facebook, Instagram, at smartinwi.

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And if you want to get more

information on the links to the

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technology discussed in this episode,

go ahead and visit smart and wii.

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com.

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If you'd like to support the

show, please consider buying me a

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coffee or do visit buymeacoffee.

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com slash smartinwi or visit smartinwi.com

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and click on that cute

little purple coffee cup.

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Your donations help keep the show going.

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New episodes each week.

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Thanks for listening.

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Go educate and innovate.

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Fuzz Martin: The ideas and opinions

expressed on this podcast and the

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smartinwi website are those of the author,

Shanna Martin, and not of her employer.

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Prior to using any of the technologies

discussed on this podcast, please

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consult with your employer regulations.

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This podcast offers no guarantee

that these tools will work for you

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as described, but we hope they do.

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And we will talk to you later, right here

on the tech tools for teachers podcast.

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Thanks for letting me record that.

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