We kicked off our first official classes as Wild Alive Outside last week with a short course called Map, Compass, and Navigation. We lucked out with beautiful weather and two wonderful groups of students! So what did we do?
After some introductions and basic guidelines, we discussed the cardinal directions and how to take a bearing. The game to practice this new skill involved us imagining ourselves as a team of aliens, unfamiliar with these strange human objects scattered about the landscape. One person would be the scout, select a landmark within reach, and then take the bearing. Then the scout tells the team their bearing, and everyone else uses their compasses to try to figure out what it is. We traveled as a group, and once the intended landmark was discovered we theorized about what it could be and eventually agreed upon a name. The only rule was if it was a lamp post we did NOT name it lamp post- we did our best to guess and form and function with fresh alien eyes.
By snack time everyone got at least one turn as the scout, and we had discovered and named objects all around campus. In the end, one of the groups was really getting the hang of it, and came up with some very creative names!
The kids told me to take the picture below and I think it’s my favorite.
After a snack, I explained briefly why the Earth has a magnetic field and challenged them to create their own compasses using a few simple items.
With a little trial and error, they figured it out with very little instruction!
I was impressed at how effectively they could determine which way was north, and it was fun to watch the experimentation that happened with magnets, metal, and water before and after the assigned task.
After a little more exploring, the final activity was creating their own maps of everywhere we’d been that day. I had recorded the name and bearing for each stop, but otherwise, they had to do their best to place the landmarks on their maps from memory. Not an easy task!
I taught some kids how to draw a compass rose and together we reminded each other of the sights of the day.
It was lovely how quiet and focused everyone became while drawing their maps, and I was quite impressed with the results!
Overall, I felt good about how the classes went, and I was delighted that a few students offered me positive feedback. I’m looking forward to exploring a new site, Mt. Pisgah, and learning some new skills this week!