Why Bring Orienteering into your Program?

Orienteering is a map navigation sport, so it's a mental challenge as well as a physical one. It takes you places outside where you would not otherwise go. Orienteering gets students moving, thinking, and exploring as they learn valuable skills such as map reading, spatial awareness, physical fitness, critical thinking, and collaboration. Through orienteering, students have a unique opportunity to experience the outdoors in a way that enhances positive feelings around the outdoors and promotes environmental stewardship.

Navigation Games has designed a progression of activities that develop orienteering skills, drawing from best practices in experiential education and Orienteering USA's development model. For example, our early activities involve exploration of an area with an established boundary, finding objects in order, and learning to make and read a simple map. Our organization has partnered with schools to test and improve curricula for physical education, math, and other academic settings.

Orienteering provides a powerful way to connect children with nature while building essential cognitive and social skills. Decades of research show that outdoor learning improves concentration, reduces stress, and enhances academic performance (Faber Taylor & Kuo, 2006; Wells & Evans, 2003). However, American children spend only a few minutes a day in unstructured outdoor play, compared to more than seven hours on screens (Cohen). Orienteering addresses this gap by combining structured exploration with navigation challenges that engage both body and mind. Neuroscience research shows that memory and navigation are linked in the hippocampus, meaning navigation practice strengthens brain systems critical for learning and healthy aging (Buzsáki & Moser, 2013). Studies also highlight how shrinking childhood “home ranges” limit opportunities for spatial learning, whereas orienteering encourages safe, point-of-interest exploration that fosters environmental knowledge (Rissotto & Tonucci, 2002). Peer-reviewed studies further demonstrate orienteering’s unique benefits: it improves attention and problem-solving for students with ADHD (Uzuner & Sahin 2021), supports executive function, inhibitory control, and spatial perception, and develops map literacy linked to mathematics achievement. As a form of adventure education, orienteering also boosts physical activity, resilience, self-concept, and group cohesion (Lee & Zhang, 2019). Together, this growing body of evidence confirms that orienteering not only gets children outdoors but also strengthens cognitive development, emotional well-being, and community connection—making it a vital tool for modern education. 

References:

• Faber Taylor A, Kuo FE. Is contact with nature important for healthy child development? State of the evidence. In: Spencer C, Blades M, editors. Children and their environments: Learning, using and designing spaces. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2006. pp. 124–140. [Google Scholar] 

• Wells NM, Evans GW. Nearby nature: A buffer of life stress among rural children. Environment and Behavior. 2003;35:311–330. [Google Scholar]

• Cohen, "Why kids need to spend time in nature," Child Mind Institute

• Buzsáki & Moser, 2013, "Memory, navigation and theta rhythm in the hippocampal-entorhinal system," Nat Neurosci 16(2):130-8

• Rissotto, A., & Tonucci, F., 2002,  "Freedom of movement and environmental knowledge in elementary school children". Journal of environmental Psychology, 22(1-2), 65-77.

• Uzuner & Sahin, 2021, Journal of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, "Examining the effect of orienteering on the development of attention, metacognitive awareness and problem-solving skills of primary school students with ADHD"

• Lee & Zhang, 2019, "The impact of adventure education on students' learning outcomes in PE: A systematic review", JTRM in Kinesiology 

Navigation Games is a non-profit that offers fun, collaborative outdoor experiences through the sport of orienteering. In our programs, young people work together to find a series of checkpoints on an outdoor course using maps. The course can be in a local park, on the school grounds, or even around a city neighborhood. Kids learn how to use maps and to see their environment with new eyes, and they practice collaborative problem solving to navigate the course. 

Research shows that exposure to nature measurably reduces stress, increases happiness, and helps with focus and attention in young people (add citations). Navigation Games helps kids experience nature and connect with their peers through playful, collaborative challenges. In the process, kids practice the teamwork skills necessary to be healthy, resilient learners.