World War II War Map

A World War II (WWII) war map is a map that can record wars and it can be used to plan an attack. I will show you how to make your own WWII war map and how to use it like they did back in WWII which lasted from 1st September 1939 - 2nd September 1945.

In WWII the different sides fighting each other would always have a plan before carrying out a battle. The different sides would normally create this plan with a map and figurines where they could act out the different scenarios.

WWII is one of my passions that I am fascinated with and that is why I chose to do a map where we can plan our own battles. I chose the draw and play out the scenario of the battle of Berlin because I think it was a really interesting battle. I have put the Nazi run Berlin on the map and I created the Head Quarters for an American army base. In my map the American soldiers and tanks take over the Nazi run German headquarters in Berlin.

- pencil

- sharpener

- colouring pencils

- rubber

- scissors

- 3 little pots /recycled yoghurt pots

- paper towel

- coloured card or felt

- string

- card board /recycled packaging

- coffee

- 350g papper

- paint brush

- string

- sellotape

- old paint brush or chopstick

- 2 small containers

Here you will want to choose who you will be fighting for, either the allies or the axis, I chose the allies. In my battle the allies are the Americans and the axis are the Germans.

Everything that I write here is optional as you can choose any battle you like and you can also make up where the battle takes place. I chose the battle of Berlin but I made up the terrain where the battle takes place.

Next you will want to choose how many troops you will send to war. I chose 100 troops

Then choose how many tanks you will send to war and what kind of tanks. I decided to send 20 tanks to war and i chose Sherman which were one of the tanks which the Americans used.

Now choose who and were you will be fighting. I chose to fight the Nazis in Germany ( Berlin ) so basically I am going to try and create the battle of Berlin, or my version of the battle.

WWII was a long time ago so to make the map look authentic I wanted to make the paper look old.

Here it requires allot of patience because this is where the coffee comes in.

Get three pots, put just a little coffee in each, but different amounts so that you have liquids with different levels of darkness.

Then get your paper. The paper needs to be at least 300g per meter squared which means it is think as it needs to hold the coffee without falling apart and tearing.

Now coat the paper in coffee using a paintbrush and if you put too much on or don't like the tones of coffee you are using, you can soak up the extra liquid with a paper towel. This will make the paper look old.

Let teh paper dry over night.

Now with a pencil you will want to draw where all your locations are going to be. This is very easy so just map out were your locations are going to be. I chose to have a forest and lake between my American headquarters and Berlin.

Now to finish off the map itself you are going to want to do all the details like buildings and trees and colour in the different areas. Get creative as you can imagine the battle field you would like. I really wanted a lake in mine so that the troops and tanks would have to cross a bridge so I made one up as there are no real lakes around Berlin.

And for the last step is very important. You will need tape, card board, string and old paint brush or chopstick to make the war stick. Always try to use as many recycled things as possible please because we do not want to create more waste than we need as we have enough rubbish on our planet to deal with already.

The 'war stick' was used in the past to push the figurines or mini tanks and weapons across the map which would be enormous and on a huge table but as people could not reach across the table, they used a stick with a sort of mini shovel on the end to be able to move things around into place to create or play out formations in the wars.

I used an old paint brush from my mother, I tried to cut a kitchen paper roll first but it didn't work. I used the side of a box used for raspberries and some sellotape to hold it together. I improvised a lot as my 1st try didn't work but I reenforced my 2nd try with a piece of card between the front part of my shovel and the paintbrush so that when I pushed it it didn't move or bend backwards and instead stayed strong so i could push my troops and tanks.

Troops and tanks. Here you will need two colours of card or any material up to you to represent the tanks and the soldiers.

I chose red to represent the soldiers and black for the tanks.

You will need to cut out the same amount of soldiers and tanks as the same amount as you chose in the planning. I got 2 little plastic containers to then keep them in so I dod not loose them.

I used felt and paper just because i found a piece of felt in my arts and crafts cupboard and wanted to recycle it. You can use anything you find as long as you can cut or divide it into the amount you chose.

I hope you enjoyed doing this with me because I know I did.