Compass Drawings

Crackers and the teddy bears' pal Oscar usually plan their walks just using a map to see where they want to go and what places they will pass on the way.

They also sometimes use a compass and the other bears have been asking to be shown how a compass works. Harry was sure that he knew that it was used to draw circles, but Oscar explained that for drawing circles he would use a 'pair of compasses', not a compass. Harry hadn't known there was a difference!

Crackers sat them all down so he could explain what a compass was for. A compass is a tool for finding direction.

A simple compass is a magnetised needle swinging on a short pin in a round case. The coloured end of the needle always points North because the earth is one huge magnet, with 2 poles, one at each end (the North Pole and the South Pole - though the Magnetic Poles are slightly to one side of the actual Poles) and the magnetised needle will line up with them. The round case sits on a flat piece of see-through plastic. One very important thing is that a compass may give false readings if you use one near metal objects such as mobile phones, keys, wristwatches, etc, as these things will deflect the magnetic needle.

The case can be turned round in a complete circle and is marked with lots of little lines and some letters. N is for North, S is for South, E is for East and W is for West, although once you know where North is, you can work out all the other directions yourself.

If you imagine a line between the North and the East, that would be North East (NE), and for a line between the South and the West, that would be South West (SW). The bears soon got the hang of it.

For their first lesson, they had to hold the compass flat in their paws, and wait for the needle to stop moving. Then they turned the compass case around gently until the letter 'N' on the ring was lined up with the coloured end of the floating compass needle.

If they then lined themselves up so that the needle was pointing straight ahead of them, they were facing North. That meant that directly behind them would be South, and to their left would be West and to their right would be East.

To start them off with something fun to do, Crackers split them into 2 groups and gave each group a sheet of paper with instructions on it, together with some string, some tent pegs, and a compass. They went out into the garden and started off by making sure they were facing North. The instructions told them how many paces to take and in which direction.

They laid the string down on the ground as they paced, securing it with a tent peg at every change of direction.

These were the instructions for the first group: 4 paces South, 4 paces West, 4 paces North, 5 paces East, 1 pace North, 6 paces West, 1 pace South and then 1 pace East.

When they looked back, they were very surprised to see a drawing that looked just like the side view of a box with a lid on it!!

How clever was that? They were all extremely delighted. Then Custard noticed that if he stood facing South, the drawing looked like a top hat!!

How about you try it out too! You can use something other than string to make your drawing. If you are outside, ask an adult if it is OK for you to use something like birdseed or grain.

If you are inside, you could even draw it out with a pencil on squared paper, using one square length for each pace. And, of course, you MUST have a compass!!

Then try this one which the second group did: 10 paces North, 2 paces East, 2 paces South, 2 paces East, 2 paces North, 2 paces East, 2 paces South, 2 paces East, 2 paces North, 2 paces East, 2 paces South, 2 paces East, 2 paces North, 2 paces East, 10 paces South, 14 paces West. What have you drawn?? Send your answers back on the Feedback Form here.