A boy with a phone always knows where he is, right up until the battery dies or the signal drops. Then he may not know anything at all. A boy who can read a map and use a compass carries his sense of direction inside his own head. That difference matters in the woods, and it matters as a habit of mind: attention to the land, confidence in his own judgment, and the ability to find his way without being told.
This is a practical guide to map and compass for kids, taught in stages.
Stage 1: Read a map before touching a compass
Start at the kitchen table with a paper topographic map of a place you know, such as a park you hike often. Teach him:
- North is up, and the scale bar tells you how far is far.
- Contour lines connect points of equal elevation. Close together means steep; far apart means gentle. Hills look like rings; valleys look like Vs pointing uphill.
- Symbols for trails, streams, roads, and buildings.
Then play a game: you name a spot on the map, and he describes what it would look like standing there. Is it a hilltop or a hollow? Would you hear water? This is the real skill of navigation, and it can be learned before you ever leave the house.
Stage 2: Learn the compass
A simple baseplate compass is the right tool. According to REI’s navigation basics, its key parts are:
- The baseplate, clear so you can see the map underneath.
- The rotating bezel, marked with 360 degrees.
- The direction of travel arrow, which points where you intend to go.
- The magnetic needle, which points to magnetic north.
- The orienting arrow, the outline inside the bezel that you line the needle up with.
Let him play with it in the backyard. Point it at the house, the mailbox, the big oak, and read the bearing each time. Numbers become directions.
Stage 3: Understand declination
Here is where many adults get lost. Magnetic north, where the needle points, is not the same as true north, which the map uses. The difference is called declination, and it varies by location. REI notes that a single degree of error can put you about 100 feet off course over a mile. Look up the current declination for your area with NOAA’s calculator, as REI recommends, and either adjust your compass or teach him to add or subtract it.
For a teenage boy, declination is a wonderful lesson in the difference between how the world looks and how it is.
Stage 4: Orient the map
Now put the two together. Lay the map flat, place the compass on it with the direction of travel arrow pointing to north on the map, set the bezel to north, and rotate the map and compass together until the needle sits inside the orienting arrow. The map now matches the ground in front of you. Walk around a park with the map oriented, and ask him to predict what is around the next bend.
Stage 5: Take and follow a bearing
Pick a destination on the map. Lay the compass edge from where you are to where you want to go, turn the bezel until the orienting lines match the map’s north lines, and read the bearing. Then hold the compass flat, turn your body until the needle sits in the orienting arrow, and walk where the direction of travel arrow points.
The trick for following a bearing through woods is to pick a landmark along the line, such as a distinctive tree, walk to it, and repeat. Boys love this.
Stage 6: Practice where the stakes are low
Around Nashville, the Nashville Orienteering Club is an all volunteer nonprofit that holds orienteering events in Middle Tennessee, with courses for every age and skill level. An orienteering meet is the best possible practice: a real map, a real course, and a clock. Metro Parks has also offered navigation programs at nature centers such as Beaman Park, so check their calendars.
Once he is comfortable, let him navigate on a real hike. Our guide to day hikes near Nashville lists good places to start, and our guide to backpacking near Nashville offers bigger terrain when he is ready. On the plateau, where phone service is unreliable, a boy who can navigate becomes a genuine asset to the group.
Why it is worth the trouble
Navigation teaches a boy that he can figure things out for himself. It teaches him to trust evidence over impressions, to check his work, and to correct course when he is wrong. Those habits are the same ones classical education tries to build in the mind, as our piece on wilderness education argues. Hand him the map on your next hike and follow him for a change.
From the Meriwether archive: Tough as Hides, Wild as Vines: Ancient Mastery of Life’s Hardest Lessons.