Early Childhood
As early as one year old, children start to learn positional awareness
- where they are in relation to other things
- where things are in relation to one another
Concepts such as pointing and gestures and words such as on/under, in front/behind, here/there and in/out are generally understood by children even before they can talk.
Joeys: 6-8 years old
As they grow and become more mobile, youngsters ability to understand and interact with the environment around them is critical.
At 6-8 years old, kids understand most positional words and know how to use them to describe things or actions to others. They can negotiate obstacle courses, build things with blocks and solve puzzles.
The activities here provide opportunities for children to practise spatial awareness skills and demonstrate their proficiency with them.
Cubs: 8-11 years old
At 8 years old, children are more aware of the area around them and understand about personal safety to navigate through it with reasonable safety.
Activities that develop essential physical skills such as gross and fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness are important.
Cubs are physically able to take part in basic navigation events and have sufficient spatial awareness to comprehend concepts such as basic mapping, map scale and cardinal compass directions. Children in Cub Packs get the opportunity to learn and practise these skills in a group situation.
Scouts: 11-14 years old
By Scout age, children are safe enough to participate, in a restricted environment, in small groups.
They now have the ability to understand artificial concepts such as grid coordinates, latitude and longitude, mapping land-forms.
Scouts have the ability to learn more advanced navigation skills; skills that allow them to choose the best route from one point to another using a map.