How do you orient a map and compass?

Orienting a map and compass is like making sure your toy car faces the right way on a race track.

Imagine you're playing with a toy car, and you have a picture of the race track. If the picture shows the start line, but your toy car is pointing to the wall instead of the road, it won't go anywhere fun. That’s what happens when a map isn’t oriented, it doesn’t match the real world around you.

To orient your map, you use a compass like a little friend who always knows which way is north. You put the compass on top of the map so that the red part (which points to north) lines up with the north mark on the map. Now both your map and compass are facing the same direction, just like your toy car now faces the right way on the race track.

Once the map is oriented, you can see where you are and where you need to go. It’s like knowing your starting line and being ready to zoom off down the track! You can follow the roads or paths on the map, just like your toy car follows the lines on the race track.