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Lesson 2: Find Your Way Home

"Can you find your way back?"

Time	45-60 minutes
Space	Schoolyard, local park, or camp area
Materials	Orienteering maps or simple maps of the area (1 per pair), A "home base" marker (flag or cone), Checkpoints (optional, for added challenge)
Setup	Identify home base and several starting locations at varying distances and complexity
Vocabulary	Orient the map, Feature, Home base

Activities

core

Find Your Way Home

Navigate back to home base from an unfamiliar starting point.

Goals

Orienteering Goals

• Orient the map to match the real world
• Use visible features to determine your location on the map
• Navigate from an unfamiliar location back to a known destination
• Build confidence navigating independently

Delivery

1. Safety briefing (5 min): review boundaries and gathering signal. Emphasize: if you are ever truly unsure where you are, stop and wait. A leader will find you.
2. Introduce the map (5 min): hand out maps. Orient the maps together at home base. Point out home base on the map. Identify visible features and find them on the map.
3. Guided walk-out (10 min): walk the group to a nearby location. Stop and ask: "Where are we on the map? Which way is home base?" Have them orient the map and point toward home base. Walk back together.
4. Find Your Way Home (20-30 min): a leader walks each pair to a starting location. The pair uses the map to navigate back to home base on their own. Start with easy locations (short distance, on a path) and progress to harder ones (farther away, off-trail, or with turns).
   • When a pair arrives at home base, walk them to a new starting point
   • Increase difficulty each round
5. Wrap-up (5 min): gather at home base. What features helped you find your way back? Was any starting point especially tricky?

Reflection

• What features on the map helped you find your way back?
• How did you know which direction to go?
• Was it harder from farther away? What made it harder?
• How did you orient the map?

Extensions

• Add checkpoints along the route that pairs must visit on their way home
• Time each return trip and see if pairs can improve
• Have campers write directions for someone else to follow