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About Orienteering

What is orienteering?​

Orienteering is a sport in which you use a map to visit checkpoints. The map shows where each checkpoint is; how you get there is up to you. There is no marked route. Deciding where to go next, choosing the best way, and noticing when you have gone wrong are the heart of the game.

Orienteering also has a strong community side. After a course, orienteers compare route choices, analyze their errors, share techniques, and try again. That habit of reflecting and improving carries into everyday life.

At the competitive level, orienteering is a timed race through parks, forests, or city terrain, and the fastest navigator wins. But most people orienteer recreationally, and it is one of the most age-inclusive sports there is: children as young as four can do beginner courses, and events regularly include competitors in their eighties. Orienteering is practiced in over 70 countries. In Scandinavia, single events draw thousands of participants; in the US, about 100 local clubs host events that always include beginner courses and friendly instruction. A person who orienteers is called an orienteer.

Orienteering maps are remarkably detailed. They show not just paths and buildings but individual boulders, fences, and vegetation, all drawn to an international standard, so an orienteer can read a map anywhere in the world. You do not need an official map to start, though: the early activities in this curriculum work with a hand-drawn sketch, a simple pattern of cones, or no map at all. See Maps for how to get started.

Why orienteering is good for kids​

Orienteering asks kids to do something rare in their day: make real decisions, on their own, while moving. Every checkpoint is a small, achievable goal, so students build up proof that they can find their way. Along the way they practice:

  • Confidence in unfamiliar situations. Students learn to figure out where they are and what to do next, and that a wrong turn is something you recover from, not a disaster.
  • Problem-solving and decision-making. Route choice means weighing options and committing, then adjusting when the plan meets reality.
  • Spatial reasoning. Translating between a map and the world is sustained spatial thinking, a skill linked to later success in math and science.
  • Teamwork and communication. Partner navigation, relays, and checking each other's work give every student a real job and a real reason to talk things through.
  • Time outdoors and connection to nature. Orienteering gets kids moving outside and paying close attention to the terrain, often in green spaces they had never really explored.
  • Physical activity. Students keep moving the whole session, at their own pace, over varied ground. Students who rarely engage in PE often love orienteering, because it is a game they can play their own way.

These claims are backed by a growing body of research on orienteering, navigation, spatial learning, and outdoor education. Studies have linked orienteering to gains in executive function, attention, spatial memory, and map literacy in school-aged children. See Our Impact for what we observe in our programs and a summary of the research.

Ready to try it? Quick Start gets you running an activity today, the lesson plans build a full progression for schools and camps, and the lesson plan advisor can tailor a plan to your group.

Beyond school and camp​

Once students can read a map and complete basic courses, a whole world opens up. Point them (and yourself) to:

  • Local orienteering clubs. About 100 clubs across the US host events with beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses, and someone is always happy to help newcomers. Find yours through the Orienteering USA club directory.
  • Navigation Games events. We put on public orienteering events for families and beginners in the greater Boston area: navigationgames.org/events. The New England Orienteering Club hosts events across the region.
  • Orienteering USA (orienteeringusa.org) is the national governing body, with training programs, junior development, and a skills recognition program.
  • The International Orienteering Federation (orienteering.sport) governs the sport worldwide, with member federations in over 70 countries.
  • Rogaining (rogaining.com) is long-format team orienteering: hours-long events where teams plan routes to collect as many checkpoints as possible.
  • Adventure racing (usara.com) combines navigation with running, biking, and paddling in multi-hour team races. Navigation skills from orienteering are its foundation.