This study contributes to our understanding of children's development of map-reading skills through a systematic 'step-by-step approach'. Utilising an ecological research design, we investigated how children perceive and utilise maps in a large-scale outdoor environment. A total of 156 children, aged 5-11 (both boys and girls), participated in the study, tasked with locating ten controls in the terrain using five different types of maps. The study measured accuracy in wayfinding (the number of correctly identified controls) and efficiency in wayfinding (the time spent on the task). The results revealed that children exhibited better mastery of perspective maps compared to symbolic maps, with older children demonstrating significantly greater proficiency with symbolic maps than younger children. Notably, there were no significant differences in performance between boys and girls.