REINDEER HUNT

Give your pupils a festive treat (and the opportunity to learn valuable map skills!) with a hunt for Rudolph the Reindeer.

A “Reindeer Hunt” is a special Christmas-themed “Map Skills” outdoor activity session during which your pupils will learn about maps, direction, distance and scale (ticking off a few geography National Curriculum items in the process!) whilst looking for Rudolph.

A one-hour “Reindeer Hunt” session would include following elements:

– Looking at an Ordnance Survey map to see what information it can give us in the hunt for Rudolph – the one we look at shows an area where real reindeer live!;

– We need to find out which direction Rudolph has headed in – KS1 groups construct a huge rope map on the playground to look at compass directions, KS2 groups get out some compasses, see how to set a simple bearing and learn how to find the North Star;

– We need to find out how far Rudolph has gone – measure distance by counting “Reindeer Steps”;

– A mini-orienteering challenge – using a simple, purpose-drawn map of your school, children can use their new navigation skills to search for the missing reindeer.

All equipment is supplied, and session content can be tailored to be age-appropriate for any group. Maximum group size ~30