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Lesson 6: Courses and Relays

"You are ready to navigate on your own"

Time	70 minutes
Space	Schoolyard, local park, or forested area with an orienteering map
Materials	Orienteering maps with courses (multiple difficulty levels), Compasses (1 per student or pair), Checkpoints (orienteering flags, streamers, or cones), Checkpoint Copy Relay maps and blank maps (1 set per team), Clipboards or flat surfaces for drawing, Markers (1 per team), Markers (1 per team, used as both writing tool and baton)
Setup	Place checkpoints for point-to-point courses at multiple difficulty levels; prepare Checkpoint Copy Relay maps and blank maps
Vocabulary	Route choice

Activities

core

Checkpoint Copy Relay

Teams race to memorize and copy checkpoint locations between maps.

Goals

Orienteering Goals

• Navigate a course independently using map and compass
• Choose a route between checkpoints based on terrain and features
• Apply all skills learned across the program: map reading, compass, precision, teamwork
• Work as a team under time pressure

Delivery

1. Safety review (5 min): review boundaries. Emphasize staying within the mapped area. Recap relocation strategies from Session 5: if lost, stop, look for a recognizable feature, use the safety bearing if needed.

2. Checkpoint Copy Relay (20 min): warm-up relay. Teams of 2-4 race to copy checkpoint locations from one map to another. One runner at a time memorizes a checkpoint, runs to the blank map, draws it, and runs back. Score on both speed and accuracy. Discuss strategies after scoring.

3. Courses (35 min): run orienteering courses at different difficulty levels. Campers choose an appropriate challenge:

   • White courses (beginner): checkpoints are on or right next to paths, walls, or other linear features. Navigation decisions happen at junctions: left, right, or straight. Short and straightforward.
   • Yellow courses (intermediate): checkpoints are slightly off trails. There is usually a safe route following paths, but cutting corners is faster. This introduces route choice and risk/reward.
   • Orange courses (advanced): checkpoints are further off trail. Navigation relies on terrain features (boulders, vegetation boundaries, buildings) rather than paths. More map reading, more compass use. Pairs or individuals navigate the course, visiting checkpoints in order. Campers who finish a White course can try a Yellow; those who finish Yellow can try Orange. Keep an answer key (master sheet) at the start/finish that shows the correct punch pattern for each checkpoint in order. When campers finish, check their punch card against the key to confirm they visited the right checkpoints in the right sequence.

   Tip: simultaneous similar courses. To add a relay feel without anyone waiting around, set up two or three courses at the same difficulty level that look similar at a glance but use different nearby checkpoints. Two or three campers start at the same time on different courses. They have to read their own map carefully instead of just following the person ahead of them. This creates the energy of a race while reinforcing precise map reading.

4. Wrap-up (10 min): gather, share course times and strategies. Celebrate progress. Preview the culminating activity: the All-Camp Team Treasure Hunt.

Reflection

• How is navigating on your own different from following a group?
• What skills from earlier sessions helped you most today?
• What would you do differently if you ran the course again?
• What was the hardest part of the course? What was the easiest?

Extensions

• All-Camp Team Treasure Hunt (culminating activity): team Score-O across a large area, combining all skills from the program
• Time trials: run the same course again and try to beat your time
• Design your own course for a partner to run