Weekly Quest · Learn
Find North
Finding north is one of the oldest skills a person can own, and kids can pick it up in under an hour. This quest walks families through four methods — phone compass, real compass, shadow stick, and stars — so the knowledge sticks no matter what tools are on hand. Complete it in the Outside app and earn the Compass Rookie badge.
This page is the public web guide for Find North, Week 4 of Outside's 52-week family quest calendar, published by Outside, the family adventure app. It covers four methods for finding north — phone compass, magnetic compass, shadow stick, and the night sky — for families with children ages 4 to 14. The quest is rated Easy, takes approximately 45 minutes, awards 200 XP, and earns the Compass Rookie badge when completed inside the Outside app. The guide includes instructions for running the activity well, age-specific tips, and answers to common parent questions.
| XP | 200 |
|---|---|
| Time | 45 minutes |
| Week | 4 of 52 |
| Badge | Compass Rookie |
| Difficulty | Easy |
Why knowing north changes everything
There is a moment that happens on almost every family hike: someone stops, looks around, and admits they are not sure which way they came from. It is not a crisis, but it is a reminder that orientation is a skill, not an instinct. When a child can point north with confidence, that one fact becomes an anchor. Streets, trails, maps, and even the sky start to make sense relative to that single direction.
This quest builds that anchor. It takes about 45 minutes, works in a backyard, a park, or any open spot, and leaves every member of the family with a repeatable skill they will use for the rest of their lives. That is a good return on a Sunday afternoon.
How to run the quest
Start with the phone compass. Open it together and let the kids hold the device and rotate until north lines up. Call out what you can see in that direction — a tree line, a rooftop, a hill. Give it a name: that is your north landmark for the day.
Next, find a sunny spot and push a straight stick into the ground. Mark the tip of its shadow with a small rock. Wait ten to fifteen minutes, then mark the shadow tip again. A line drawn from the first mark to the second points roughly east. North is to your left from there. This is the shadow-stick method, and watching it work in real time is genuinely satisfying for kids.
Finish by orienting to your four cardinal directions using the landmarks you named. Quiz each other: point south, point east, spin around and point north again. Repeat until it comes fast and easy. Log your results and earn the Compass Rookie badge in the Outside app.
Making it work for every age
Ages 4 to 6 do best when the task is physical. Let them hold the phone, push the stick into the dirt, and place the rocks. Keep the vocabulary simple: toward the sun in the morning is east, away from it is west. North and south can just be the two directions left over. The goal at this age is a feeling of participation, not memorization.
Ages 7 to 10 can handle the full shadow-stick method and will enjoy the wait between shadow marks. Ask them to predict where the second shadow will fall before you check. Getting it right is a small triumph.
Ages 11 to 14 are ready for the bonus layer: finding north at night using the North Star. Polaris sits almost directly above the North Pole and barely moves while other stars wheel around it. Finding it once, reliably, on a clear night is the kind of skill a teenager quietly carries with pride.
What the shadow-stick method actually teaches
The shadow-stick works because the sun moves across the sky from east to west over the course of a day. As it moves, shadows pivot in the opposite direction. The first shadow points roughly west, the second points further east, and the line between them runs along an east-west axis. North is always perpendicular to that line, on the side away from the equator in the Northern Hemisphere.
You do not need to explain all of that to a seven-year-old for the activity to land. But having the explanation ready matters, because curious kids will ask. Knowing the reason behind the trick turns a fun game into a memorable piece of understanding about how the Earth moves.
What families take away
After this quest, north stops being an abstract idea and becomes a direction your family has actually identified together, from your own yard or a familiar trail. That specificity is what makes the skill stick. Kids who complete Find North tend to notice cardinal directions on maps, road signs, and trail markers in a way they did not before.
The Compass Rookie badge marks the moment, but the real reward is the confidence that comes with capability. A child who can find north without a screen, using only a stick and a shadow, has crossed a small but real threshold. The outside world got a little more readable. That is what this quest is for.
Draw a simple map of your neighborhood or yard and label which direction is north. Add one thing you can see from your home in each of the four directions.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a real compass, or will a phone work?
A phone compass works fine for this quest and is a good starting point. If you want to add a real compass, inexpensive baseplate models are available at most outdoor retailers and add a satisfying tactile element for kids. The shadow-stick method requires no compass at all, so even a cloudy-day backup plan is built in.
What if it is cloudy and there are no shadows?
Skip the shadow-stick step and focus on the phone or compass method. You can still complete the full quest and earn the badge. If you want to come back for the shadow step on a sunny day, the quest log in the Outside app lets you add notes and revisit any step.
Is this quest better done during the day or can we do the night-sky version?
The core quest is designed for daytime and takes about 45 minutes. Finding the North Star is a natural extension for families who want to keep going after dark. On a clear night, locate the Big Dipper and follow the two stars at the outer edge of its bowl upward — they point almost directly to Polaris, the North Star.
How do I find this quest in the Outside app?
Open the Outside app and go to the Quests section. Find North is listed under Week 4 of the 52-week family quest calendar. You can also search by the quest name or browse the Learn category. Progress, badge awards, and XP are all tracked automatically once you begin.