We're going out for some family hikes this weekend and thought it would a good opportunity to teach some map and compass skills to 8-yo DS. He's learning about the compass rose, and though he doesn't always know what direction he's facing when we ask him, once we tell him, he's pretty good at knowing what way we're heading as we change course. He's played with compasses a little and he knows what the North arrow means.

He's also done some activities around getting Red Fred into his shed, and how to follow a bearing, but it hasn't at all sunk in. We thought we'd practice that today. Find a destination to hike to, take a bearing, follow it and then reverse it to find our way back to the car.

We don't usually take a map with us in this area because it's REALLY simple (Major, well-marked trails that are basically two big over-lapping loops) and start and finish within paved, well-visited civilization. It seems like the perfect place for working on basic map skills. He's started to learn how to follow maps and he's also made rudimentary maps in school. These activities have basically involved identifying roads and major landmarks, and tracking direction of travel.

He has yet to put map and compass together.

Any tips?