Finding Our Way - Activity Instructions

Tune In

Find a comfy place and ask your child/ren to close their eyes and listen as you play the soundscape, ‘Footsteps on dry grass’.

After listening, use the following questions to guide a discussion with your child/ren:

What sounds did they hear?
Where do they think the person might be going? How do they know where to go?
If we want to go somewhere new, how do we know how to get there? (E.g. Ask for directions, use a map or their car/phone.)

Tell your child/ren that you want to go somewhere special to read them a story. Choose a place in your home or yard (preferably a fair distance away!) and tell your child/ren that is where you are going to go to read the story. Explain that you have forgotten how to get there and that they will need to give you directions. Ask your child/ren what sort of directions they could give you to explain how to get there. As you talk about the directions, look out for:

landmarks (e.g. ‘Go to that big tree’)
directional words (e.g. ‘Turn left, go straight’)
distances (e.g. ‘Take 5 steps, go all the way to the fence, keep going until…’.)

Once your child/ren understand directions and how to give them, explain that you will be the leader, they will follow you, and you will follow the directions they give you. Stand up and ask for the first direction. Follow your child/ren’s directions until you reach your destination.

It’s a great idea to be really pedantic when following the directions. If your child/ren say “go to the sand pit” and you can’t see it, insist that you have no idea where the sand pit is. If they say “go to the door”, go to the door and stop, and ask what's next? If they say “turn around”, do a full circle on the spot. This will help your child/ren refine their ideas and practise using more directional words (and it is also hilarious!).

Find Out

Once you have successfully reached your new location, sit down with your child/ren and thank them for giving such great directions. Explain that you will read a story together as a celebration.

Invite your child/ren to close their eyes and listen as you share a First Nations Songlines Story. Share how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use songlines to navigate Country. Explain that songlines are very special and not only do they tell us how to get from one place to another, but they also tell us the history of the Country and how it was made, where good places are to find food, water and shelter, and about the people of the Country you are walking through. What an amazing map!

Ask your child/ren, ‘If we were to sing a map about our places and the Country we are on, what would we sing about?’ With your child/ren, identify the special places in your community nearby where you live. Discuss where these places are in relation to each other. Identify directional words and phrases your child/ren use, like:

‘down the road’
‘go straight ahead’
‘next to …’
‘on the other side’
‘over there’

You can use this as an opportunity to reinforce directional words and their meaning, including ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘ahead’, ‘behind’, ‘forward’, and ‘backwards’. Discuss the story of these special places. Why are these places special to you and your family?

Choose 2 places in your community that your child/ren know, for example, their home, the library or a nearby playground. Can they tell you how to get from one place to another? Support your child/ren to use directional words and landmarks to give directions from one place to another.

Learning extension: You can write down the directions and test them out when you have an opportunity. Do the directions take you to where you need to go? If you can’t do this in person, you could try using Street View on Google Maps and ‘walking’ down the road. Help your child/ren to adjust their directions, so that they can get from one place to the other.

Take Action

Set up a play area with a town. You might use a mat with trees, roads and buildings, Lego or other blocks to build a town, or you could work together to make trees, creeks, roads, buildings and other landmarks out of recycled materials. Make sure you have toy people and vehicles nearby that fit in the streets of your town!

Pick up a toy car and pretend that you need to go to the shop to buy some chocolate. Ask your child/ren to give you directions through the toy town to the shop. Swap roles with your child/ren between giving and following directions. Reinforce the use of directional language terms.

You can keep this game going through other parts of your life. Go for a drive and let your child/ren give you directions. I wonder where you will end up? Video games like ‘Animal Crossing’ or ‘Minecraft’ also present opportunities to give and follow directions.

Finding Our Way (Home Learning)

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