First Mate
Navigation Skills
Hey there! Hope you’ve been enjoying your journey so far.. speaking of this journey I’m in charge of making sure we get to the right place at the right time. This means using maps and other equipment to make sure this big ship and its most precious cargo (the crew) get across these seas safely.
I’m having a spot of bother though… some of our fancy equipment isn’t working so well. Could you help me navigate our way across the seas?
How to Run
Everyone should look at a compass. A compass uses a small magnetic needle, floating in a protective case. It points north as it lines up with the magnetic fields of the earth. Everyone should look at a map and discuss what we mean by ‘north’. What is it and where is it? How is it shown on the map? The person leading the activity should explain that there are three different ‘norths’:
- True north is right at the top of the planet, at the geographic North Pole. The earth spins around this point so it never changes position. This north isn’t useful for navigating as we can’t find it with a compass.
- Magnetic north is the direction that a compass will point to. It’s slightly different from true north as the molten metals inside the Earth are constantly moving around, changing where magnetic north is.
- Grid north is the direction that the grid lines on a map point to. Magnetic north is used together with grid north for navigating.
The Cubs will now use their compass to take part in a navigation game! You will need to set up an obstacle course which the cubs will have to guide their “ship” through to get from one side of the hall to the other. Split the Cubs into groups, each group will assign one Cub to act as their “ship” this Cub will be blindfolded with the other members of the team using their compass to guide their journey through the obstacles. For example, telling the “ship” to move 10 steps north, then 5 steps east. To make this more complex ask the Cubs to use North East etc for diagonal steps. The journey should be timed with 10 seconds added to the time when the ship hits an obstacle. The obstacles should be changed around for each time a group attempts the course to avoid clever Cubs memorising it! The group who gets their ship to port safely the fastest wins! They can either win bragging rights or a small seafaring themed prize!
What You Need
- Compass and Map
- Obstacles for your navigation course (cones, markers, posts etc)
How to Run
Everyone should look at a compass. A compass uses a small magnetic needle, floating in a protective case. It points north as it lines up with the magnetic fields of the earth. Everyone should look at a map and discuss what we mean by ‘north’. What is it and where is it? How is it shown on the map? The person leading the activity should explain that there are three different ‘norths’:
- True north is right at the top of the planet, at the geographic North Pole. The earth spins around this point so it never changes position. This north isn’t useful for navigating as we can’t find it with a compass.
- Magnetic north is the direction that a compass will point to. It’s slightly different from true north as the molten metals inside the Earth are constantly moving around, changing where magnetic north is.
- Grid north is the direction that the grid lines on a map point to. Magnetic north is used together with grid north for navigating.
The Cubs will now use their compass to take part in a navigation game! You will need to set up an obstacle course which the cubs will have to guide their “ship” through to get from one side of the hall to the other. Split the Cubs into groups, each group will assign one Cub to act as their “ship” this Cub will be blindfolded with the other members of the team using their compass to guide their journey through the obstacles. For example, telling the “ship” to move 10 steps north, then 5 steps east. To make this more complex ask the Cubs to use North East etc for diagonal steps. The journey should be timed with 10 seconds added to the time when the ship hits an obstacle. The obstacles should be changed around for each time a group attempts the course to avoid clever Cubs memorising it! The group who gets their ship to port safely the fastest wins! They can either win bragging rights or a small seafaring themed prize!
What You Need
- Compass and Map
- Obstacles for your navigation course (cones, markers, posts etc)
Hey there! Hope you’ve been enjoying your journey so far.. speaking of this journey I’m in charge of making sure we get to the right place at the right time. This means using maps and other equipment to make sure this big ship and its most precious cargo (the crew) get across these seas safely.
I’m having a spot of bother though… some of our fancy equipment isn’t working so well. Could you help me navigate our way across the seas?
Your tasks:
- Learn about the 3 different norths.
- Play the navigation game!