The Backyard Navigator Box
Now, more then ever, it is important to find ways to help young adventurers turn away from screen time, spend time outdoors, and engage with nature. This kit is based on my years as an outdoor instructor and father. Each and every activity is ideal for helping young adventurers learn through play and remember details about navigation and the natural world around them. More importantly, it helps them to grow an interest in the beauty nature provides on hikes, camping trips, long walks, or just sitting in their own back yard. I am often asked how I get kids so engaged in my live classes; this box is filled with some of my best secrets for learning through play.
Take a walk with your adventurer around your favorite park before opening your kit, then do it again after completing a few of the short activities. You will not be disappointed in the differences you see from one adventure to another.
Most activities can be completed in under ten minutes, with limited or no adult supervision, by kids ages 8 and up. With just a little help from big adventurers, this kit can also be enjoyed by even younger adventurers. Not only will your adventurer learn about compasses and maps, but there are numerous activities that improve attention to detail, observation skills, hand-eye coordination and dexterity. This kit is not just fun, it is easily worked into STEM/STEAM activities for any teacher or homeschooler.
A few of our favorite items from the Backyard Navigator Box
Compass
We reached out to every supplier we could think of with a few simple guidelines. “We need a compass that is quality enough for our little adventurers to really learn the finer points of navigation, but inexpensive enough that big adventurers are likely to let little adventurers use and abuse it in the adventure/learning process.” Through sheer luck we were able to get an upgraded compass that not only fit those requirements, but also has adjustable declination, clinometer, signal mirror, raised bezel ring, glow in the dark features, UTM scales, damper liquid and a protective case. What a find, and what a great starter compass!
The compass will be variable dependant on what we can get, but the price of the box will remain the same and the minimum baseline compass will be the UST Folding Map Compass Black and all compasses will be of the baseplate style.
3D Maze
This is one of the coolest ways I have ever come up with to teach cardinal directions. We provide templates to get young adventurers started as well as some follow up video lessons to help them understand the STEM/STEAM concepts involved so that they can make more 3D mazes on their own. This is an incredible way to teach geography basics, planning, attention to detail, spatial arrangement, graphing and more. In addition to making learning fun, this is one of those activities that will make adventurers of all ages look at recycling and repurposing materials in a totally different light. It is truly wonderful to hear younger adventurers say the words, “ Five more minutes, mom, please!” and not have a tv, computer, or video game involved.
Guided Adventures and Activities
There are six full pages loaded with real world skills, games, adventures and activities. These activities will help your young adventurers observe and study the many differences in shadows, stars, landmarks and the rest of the natural world that surrounds them. Not only will your young adventurer be well versed in many of the same techniques used by professional navigators, surveyors and survival experts, but more importantly they will have an arsenal of ways to grow their interest in the outdoors and their environment around them. My son’s friends are trading treasure maps like Pokemon cards! What a great way to take a break from Zoom meetings and encourage interaction and play in these strange times.
Constellation cans
One of the quickest ways to get a young adventurer interested in an activity is to have an end product that they can touch and explore that is quick to make and peaks their interest. Once they start making their own planetarium, they will be studying with some of the same kind of tools used by astronomers around the world. Your adventurer will be geared up and ready to start making their own expanded planetarium where the sky is the limit. These activities are set up to help your budding young explorer unplug and get active outdoors, but are also a perfect way to study indoors when the need arises. Loaded with STEM/STEAM projects that are sure to get young adventurers begging to spend just five more minutes outside with a flashlight.
Skills
While these activities are geared at getting young adventurers interested in outdoor play and adventures, they are also real methods used by map makers, pilots, survivalists, ship captains and other navigators to learn adventure and stay found all around the world.
Ranging from navigating with map and no compass, or compass and no map, to neither map nor compass. Adventures will be reading and making maps, studying the movement of stars, sun and moon, and even determining distances and making mazes. These activities will help your adventurer enjoy their time outdoors, and bring some of the outdoors indoors to enjoy as memories of adventures and accomplishments.
Age
My kids range in age from extremely young to away at college. Every box is a family affair, and I can honestly say that there is really no age limit on the skills and games. A small child will play for hours with a compass or flashlight if their big adventurer is involved, too. That being said I would say this box is good for any adventurer 4 and up if it’s a team effort. For solo enjoyment it is probably best for 8 and up this time, just because of the nature of navigation material. A majority of the material reequires reading, although we do make supplemental videos and I encourage any adventurer, little or big, to reach out to me if they run into any problems.