Everybody Loves a Treasure Hunt

Map and GPS games are not just for Physical Education

I love to present orienteering at conferences to teach teachers how to apply my educational methods. It seems that Physical Education is the class that attracts orienteering.Treasure Hunts gets everybody's attention. Maps are a fun medium for creating lessons in any subject area and for any age.  The AAHPERD conferences attract educators that use physical activity to teach, express, exercise and basically use kinetic energy as the vehicle.  I am also www.O4Schools.com which has lessons for teachers. And for those conferences, the teachers are my students.  That way, they can see how the simple lessons can be modified to fit their subject area and the students' ages.

Visit my websites and see how it works.  I have created games and challenges for Math, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts and History. 

Map and GPS games are not just for Physical Education

I present at conferences and teach teachers how to apply my educational methods. Treasure Hunts get their attention. Maps are a fun medium for creating lessons in any subject area and for any age.  The AAHPERD conferences attract educators that use physical activity to teach, express, exercise and basically use kinetic energy as the vehicle.  I am also www.O4Schools.com which has lessons for teachers. And for those conferences, the teachers are my students.  That way, they can see how the simple lessons can be modified to fit their own skills.

Orienteering Treasure Hunts in Schools

We create and facilitate fun activities in the Northeast almost everyday.  A single classroom or an entire school will benefit from the problem solving skills and personal interaction that a treasure hunt creates. 
Once teachers see the successful outcomes, they want an annual hunt for the school.  The students look forward to their turn to participate in this unique map challenge and win TREASURE!

Learn How to Make a Map

I just found this very progressive site for anyone interested in updating our world's maps.  It allows the public to correct information found on maps.  Eventually, we will no longer curse MapQuest for sending us down a dead end street!  Well, maybe it still depends on the cartographer!
Visit openstreetmap.org to learn more. 

I'm back!

It's been about eighteen months since I wrote about what we do.  A lot has happened and I am ready to start telling you about it, again.  t's one of those things where I must make time for it and make myself do it. 

Yesterday, I organized a public event at the Urban Forestry Center In Portsmouth, NH.  A lot of young people came to enjoy the easy trails and 60 degree day in March in New England. Fresh snow fell 3 days before.  I wish someone set up a sugar on snow control.

 

So, visit here whenever you can and see what we are up to.

I'm back!

It's been about eighteen months since I wrote about what we do.  A lot has happened and I am ready to start telling you about it, again.  t's one of those things where I must make time for it and make myself do it. 

Yesterday, I organized a public event at the Urban Forestry Center In Portsmouth, NH.  A lot of young people came to enjoy the easy trails and 60 degree day in March in New England. Fresh snow fell 3 days before.  I wish someone set up a sugar on snow control.

 

So, visit here whenever you can and see what we are up to.

On the Road Again

Well, it's been that kind of summer, Ultimate Treasure Hunts and Can You Find It out on the road.  It started with that trip to Maine back a couple months ago when they (up "north") still had snow on the ground even though we (down "south") were well into spring and quickly approaching summer. The Northern Outdoors' permanently installed orienteering course is coming along nicely and will be presented to them (another road trip!!!) soon. Then it was down to Miami, Florida for a great GPS Navigation game for the sales team of a major publishing company.   POIs (points of interest) included the Roy Lichtenstein Mermaid sculpture on the grounds of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, The Jackie Gleason Theater & Emeril Lagasse's restaurant at the stunning Lowe's Hotel complex.  One of the highlights of this trip was an incredible Mexican meal outside (under cover) in the pouring rain at a place called Oh Mexico on Washington Street where Deb was introduced to my favorite, Mole Poblano.  After Miami, we programmed our bearings and headed north to Stowe, Vermont for another GPS game put together for a major, Boston based consulting firm.   A few fun birthday and graduation parties took us to Saugus, Dover & Duxbury, MA as well as Bedford & Durham, NH.  During the 4th of July week, we put on our annual treasure hunt for the town of Ossipee, NH. for their annual community celebration days (thanks to Peter Waugh, the town's Director of Recreation for having us).  Tomorrow were out at Blue Hills in Canton, MA. for an orienteering training and plans are in the works for an Ultimate Boston Treasure Hunt...more news to come on that as it develops. Whether we're presenting corporate team building exercises or unique birthday games, all these great events and wonderful people met can't help but confirm that it's true....Everyone Loves a Treasure Hunt!

The Inner Child

Who doesn't reflect fondly and almost child-like at discovering & opening presents at holiday time, or the indelible thrill of an Easter egg hunt, or getting together with your friends on a cool summer evening at twilight to play hide and seek until it gets too dark and it's time to go home?  As adults, in our adult lives and all that goes with it, we lose, to some extent, this sense of play, of wonderment and curiosity, and the thrill and pride of small discoveries. We relish those rare times when we can get away from it all and be kid-like again, to use the part of the brain that holds simple logic, to be Huck Finn-like, to have a chance to overcome basic fears, to be lost and, given that it's a temporary state, found again.  And when we've had such moments of well-deserved frivolity and are back firmly entrenched in our office in front of the computer or back on the job site where everything is dictated and structured, we cherish and share those new memories of being adventurous and free to find our own way. One of the rewards of what we do, after completing a GPS Navigation Game or a treasure hunt for adults, is seeing the excitement in participant's faces and hearing them extol on how much fun they had and how it brought them back to when they were a kid.  It's the same with Team Building events in that when barrier's are broken and day-to-day corporate roles are shed, everyone exists on an even and leveled "playground," free to rediscover individual abilities and, at times, their dependence on other's to achieve a particular goal as well as their ability to be depended on. 

Life is a Highway

We've all heard the saying, "The Road Map of Life."  And it's true.  Everything we learn along the way, everything that makes us who we are and helps build our characters and personalities are analogous to all the peaks and valleys, new construction zones, paved and unpaved roads, four lane highways, harbors, open spaces, congested cities, small towns, serene lakes and wild winding rivers found on maps. In our business, we incorporate the analogy of life as a navigation game requiring us to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land, recognize key points, pitfalls and best possible routes to reach our next destination and achieve desired goals one at a time.  Sometimes help is needed, much like when we incorporate GPS Navigation units in our GPS Navigation Games or when we design a detailed treasure map for our treasure hunt events. Life is a journey.....use a map!

Why We Love Maps

  Everyone seems to love maps, particularly when they're lost! OK, "love"may be overstating it, but whether it be a standard atlas or road map, or the layout of a mall or an amusement park, or a walking map of any given city, the presentation of a map always seems to interest people in a myriad of ways.  They first try to find that proverbial "You Are Here" arrow.  However, if such simplicity is not present, they generally & instinctively go into navigation mode in order to find a familiar landmark or structure to determine where they stand at that given moment.  They then think of where they've been or where they want to go, tracing in seconds with their mind's eye what may take of has taken hours for them to get to in real time and distance. They may be amazed that there's a large lake tucked in those woods they never knew about, or that the mountain they're traversing isn't really as high as it seems in relation to others in the area.  They may make a decision to take a winding rural route to their next destination instead of the same old boring, straight, predictable highway they usually venture forth on.  And who knows what new potential discoveries await along the new route! Their curiosities are piqued.  One may realize that the space they fill is so small compared to the surrounding world that they are inspired, literally and figuratively, to venture forth to new distances and heights.  That's part of the rewards we experience through Corporate GPS navigation games & team building, treasure hunts and map making.