I bought compasses for all of my grandkids, and my oldest grandson, who learned it in Cadets, taught everyone how to use them. His method was perfect for kids: hide candy, and make them navigate to find it.
How to set it up:
- Pick an open area: a park, a campground or a field.
- Hide a small treat at three or four spots.
- From a starting point, use your compass to take the bearing to each spot, and count your paces to it.
- Write each one on a card: “Bearing 120 degrees, 40 paces.”
- Show the kids how to set the bearing on the compass, line up the needle with north, and walk where the arrow points while counting paces.
- Each found treat has the next card with it.
They had a ball, and every one of them now knows how to walk a bearing. On open prairie with few landmarks, that’s a skill that could matter one day.
More on map and compass: Bushcraft, Fieldcraft & Navigation.
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