Hello wise ones!

I want to begin teaching basic navigation to my son and nephew, who are 5 and almost 5. I'm looking for your ideas on how best to do that.

Right now they play with compasses searching for pirates and bad guys. They also enjoy using a compass and basic map to find our general direction when we're hiking. One of their favourite games is when I ask them to find something using the compass and the four basic compass points. (i.e. bring me the ball from the North corner of the backyard.)

I want them to have fun and learn but I don't want to overload them or go beyond their comprehension. My main goal is to get them thinking about where they are so that they are more aware of their location and surroundings.

Do you have any other ideas?
Thank you!

Good question. I didn't start my kids that young (my bad), but I would guess that a scavenger hunt type thing might work. Give them a heading in the back yard/where ever, when they get there and find the thingy you have previously placed there, it will give them a heading to the next one. I wouldn't get too tricky with the headings, keep it simple, and have a prize at the end...

My sentiments exactly....KISS it for them.....If they like the 'North corner' of the yard....try giving them NW SE type of directions too....

Don't overload them.....always 'leave' them wanting more so that they WANT to 'come back' and learn more.

Take them out for lunch or dinner, let the one with the best time pick the restaurant. Or what to have for dinner at home.

This way the exercise is fun for all of them and they all get to enjoy the reward.

"...let the one with the best time pick the restaurant..."

In that case, you'd better like Chuck E Cheese...

In that case, you'd better like Chuck E Cheese...

My son’s 18 so I haven’t been there in a few years, I remember the pizza being good, but it was noisy with all those kids.

Geocaching???

Yup...

I see some truly great ideas posted here.

Someplace between what you're doing now and geocaching. I would suggest they draw a map of the back yard using compass bearings from the back door stoop, to locate everything within the backyard.

Good luck with an outstanding endeavor!!

Maybe starting a geocache series for kids could be fun. Regular size conatiner (or bigger), kid friendly swag, D1/T2 max (or whatever you may find suitable) and no hides above 3 feet (within the reach so the kids can retrieve it alone) could be fine. That way other parents could contribute and participate in the process of teaching navigation to children. In our region a thing like this was done for a bicycle tour. It worked pretty well.
There are portable sundials. They fit into a shirt pocket and can be adjusted to your latitude. I own a brass one with a diameter of about 2 1/2". They show the time and north at the same time (teaching different ideas of "north" can be done here). That can help to get a concept of telling the time by the position of the sun. Later it may help to teach about the seasons and even start on celestial navigation. Celestial navigation would be strictly optional and beyond their comprehension now. The sundial is also available as a carton model set ( sundial ). Building it and using it may be some fun. I own that one too. It´s pretty accurate but the kids will need some supervision and maybe help for building it. The series has some other educational items to build from carton. They really work and building them helps to understand how they work.