Junior Orienteers

[Holomon]

One for the parents/grandparents - I decided a little while ago to try and make taking the kids out walking more fun, and was racking my brains over how to introduce a sneaky bit of survival teaching in there at the same time.
I finally hit on an idea, I took a trail map for one of the nearest parks, and added in little pictures at various points. I did it on the computer courtesy of photoshop, but I reckon some stickers and an actual physical map would work just as well.
Then I ordered up some bits to make them mini "adventure kits" in tobacco boxes. My two are only 6 and 7 at the moment, so they have a survival whistle, a Fenix E01 torch, a luminous compass and a copy of the aforementioned map.
The idea is when we go out yomping through the woods, they get to take turns guiding us through the trails to reach certain points. So we'll go from the "Goblin Woods" to the "Unicorn Fields" for example and they'll do all the navigating with map and compass.

I've told them that as they get older we'll add new things to their kits (they're a long way from blades and fire still lol), so I'm thinking maybe a fresnel lens for looking at bugs, some small plasters for first aid, that sort of thing to ease them into it.
Anyway, just thought I'd put it on here as it seems to have given them more enthusiasm for both going out and staying longer than before!

[rik_uk3]

Sounds like a great idea

Last year I started teaching my (then) five year old grandson the symbols on OS maps, then scanning and printing sections of maps and asking him to find Schools, post office et al. He's in the Beavers now and they are well impressed with his map skills.