Map Scouts

Play-based social studies

A field trip through your own town, without leaving the classroom.

Students learn their town's history by playing through a 3D version of it.

Get a free unit

Free for teachers: one unit, one class, one semester.

▶ See a unit in five minutes Try it as a student

Play-based learningMapped to standardsNo student accounts
🍎 Play with your class

Tap your class animal

Learning through play

They learn their town by playing through it.

Chapter 1 of Newburyport Then, the way a student plays it.
  1. A guide sends the student to the next place on the Newburyport waterfront1

    Explore

    A guide sends them on a mission to a real place in their own town. They find the way with the compass and the map.

  2. A story card, Before the Ships, opens at the place the student found2

    Discover

    Every place opens a short, true story. What they find goes in their backpack.

  3. Farmer Ada asks for help, and the student picks the fish weir from the backpack3

    Use it

    Map checks and townspeople who need help ask them to use what they just learned.

Chapters take about 15 minutes and are mapped to the standards. You watch the class live, then see what they learned. How a class period goes

For any classroom

Units any class can teach today

Big stories from early American history, set on the 3D map of the place they happened. Your class can play them from anywhere.

Your own town

Find your town

Newburyport and Gloucester each have guided lessons about their own town. Boston and Plymouth, 1627 have units any class can play. Every town is open to explore, at school or at home. The towns built so far are in Massachusetts: if yours isn't here, type it and ask.

More towns to explore

Explore the 3D map today. Lessons about a town come when a teacher there asks.

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Did your child tell you about Map Scouts?

See what the class is exploring, what your child is learning, and how we keep their information private. Then explore the town together.

For families
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Turn your town into an adventure

Your first unit is free. Set up a class in about three minutes. A friendly guide takes students through their town one place at a time, while you watch live and see what they learned.

Get a free unit How it works
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Principal or curriculum director?

The standards it covers, what we keep about students and what we don't, and who makes it, on one page.

For school leaders

Your town is the textbook.

  • Made with teachersDesigned with classroom teachers in Newburyport and Gloucester, Massachusetts.
  • Standards, listedEvery chapter lists the standards it teaches, mapped to the Massachusetts grade 3 framework today.
  • Sourced, and checkableEvery story card shows its sources, and every card has a "Something wrong?" link a person reads.
  • Private by designA first name and play progress. No accounts, no ads, nothing sold or shared.