Finding Your Way

Cub Scouts · Adventure, Elective

Finding Your Way teaches you to read maps and use a compass. You'll find your home on a map, draw your own, and figure out which way is north. These skills help you explore without getting lost.

Why it's worth it

Maps and compasses tell you where you are and how to get where you want to go. On this adventure you'll find your home on a map, draw a map a friend could follow, and point north with a real compass. Hikers, pilots, and ship captains use these same skills. Once you know them, a new park or trail feels like a place to explore instead of a place to get lost.

Start this week

With your adult, find your street on a paper map or a map app.
Notice where the sun comes up in the morning. That's the east side of your home.
Borrow a compass from your den or a family member and see which way the needle points.
Sketch your bedroom from above, like a bird looking down.

Stay safe

Practice in a place you know well, and stay with your buddy and your adult the whole time.

Requirements · 5

Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).

Requirement 1
Find where you live on a map
Tip: Look at a paper map or an online map with an adult and find your street.
For example: Zoom in on a map until you find your street, then zoom out to find your town, your state, and your country. Point to your home at each step.
Requirement 2
Draw a map, with a key, that a friend could use to find your home or school
Tip: Draw a map from your home to school and add a key with symbols for houses, trees, and roads.
For example: Draw the path from your home to school. Make a key: a small square for houses, a circle for trees, a star for the school. Then see if a friend can follow it.
Requirement 3
On a map, find the compass rose and the four directions (north, east, south, west)
Tip: Find the compass rose on a map and point to north, east, south, and west.
Requirement 4
Use a compass to find the four directions (north, east, south, west)
Tip: Hold the compass flat and turn until the needle points to N. Then face each direction.
For example: Hold the compass flat and turn your body until the red needle lines up with N. Now you're facing north. East is on your right, west on your left, and south behind you.
Requirement 5
Practice using a map and a compass together
Tip: Line up your map with the compass and walk to a spot in a park or yard.
For example: In a park, turn your map so its north matches your compass's north. Then walk to a spot you picked on the map, like the playground or a big tree.

Places to visit

Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.

A park with an orienteering course
Some parks have permanent courses with markers you find using a map, like a treasure hunt.
How: Have your adult check the park's website or Orienteering USA for a course or a beginner family event, and go with your den or family.

Talk about it together

What do you notice about your neighborhood when you see it on a map?
Which symbols did you choose for your map key, and why?
How did it feel the first time you found north by yourself?
Where would you like to explore with a map and compass?

Good questions to ask someone who uses maps at work, like a park ranger

How do you find your way when a phone doesn't work?
What do the different colors on a map mean?
What's the trickiest place you've ever had to find?

Helpful reads

Cub Scouts: a guide for families, How Cub Scout ranks and adventures work from kindergarten through fifth grade, what an adult partner does, and how to keep it fun at meetings and at home., Families · Leaders · 4 min read

For leaders & parents

Set up a simple compass course in a park with a few marked spots.
Bring enough compasses for scouts to share in pairs.

People & places that can help

U.S. Geological Survey (opens in a new tab) — Maps and map-reading learning.
Local park or nature center — Some offer kids' map and compass programs.
Scouting America: Finding Your Way (opens in a new tab) — The official requirements and den activity ideas for each one.
Orienteering USA (opens in a new tab) — Find map-and-compass events and beginner courses near you.
National Geographic Education (opens in a new tab) — Map activities and geography lessons from the National Geographic Society.

Wolf, Rank · 7 requirements

Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.