Cardinal Directions for Kids What are cardinal directions North south east and west

cardinal directions every day we go different places we walk or ride bus to school we go to the grocery store sometimes you go to the library or to the movies we even take walks around the block if you walk to friend's house you might walk down the street and then turn right or left to get there when it's time to get back home you will travel in another direction to get back cars airplanes buses trains and other vehicles also travel in different directions throughout the day there are special words used to name the four main directions vehicle or person can travel you have probably heard of them before they are north east south and west these words are found on maps compasses street signs and in many other places they are called cardinal directions or cardinal points cardinal directions help people know how to get from place to place the word cardinal means primary or of most importance we call north east south and west cardinal directions because they are the four main directions we travel there are places in the united states that use the cardinal direction words to describe their location in relationship to each other for example north and south dakota or north and south carolina and virginia and west virginia the cardinal direction words are also used outside of the united states have you heard of south korea what about the middle east sometimes people use the cardinal directions to describe an area where they live if you live in california you might have heard that you live on the west coast if you live in new york you might have heard that you live on the east coast that's because both of those places are near two different oceans or coasts they are also on opposite sides of the united states california is on the west side and new york is on the east side east coast and west coast are used to describe those locations and other places near them cardinal directions are also used on phones and other navigational systems like gps voice gives the person driving directions to the place they are going the voice may say things like turn west onto water street or in one quarter mile merge south onto route 10. or head east on bank street the cardinal directions are used on maps of the entire world as well as maps showing single country they are also used on maps of states cities and even just one small area in town the cardinal directions are displayed on map using compass rose the compass rose uses the first letter of each direction or there are many different designs of compass roses but all point to the north east south and west each cardinal direction has special location north always points to the north pole of the earth which is sometimes called the top of the world south points to the bottom of the earth or south pole east always points to the place where the sun rises in the morning and west always points to the place the sun sets in the evening one way to remember the cardinal directions is by using the first letter of each direction to form this short sentence never eat soggy waffles now let's practice finding few different places using simple map and the cardinal directions can you find the compass rose on our map remember the compass rose points to each direction using the compass rows let's add the cardinal directions and big letters to our map on this map and most maps north is at the top if you don't have compass rose but you know one of the directions on map then you can find all the other directions using our saying never eat soggy waffles so if north is at the top then east is on the right side south is at the bottom of the map and west is on the left side never eat soggy waffles are you ready to use the cardinal directions in the map above go go gas is east of joe's market abc elementary school is south of longwood forest yellow alley is north of orange alley beth's salon is west of the corner deli and red street runs north to south or south to north while green street runs east to west or west to east now it's your turn which direction would you travel from the school to the park did you say north that's right which direction would you travel from joe's market to longwood forest if you said east you're correct which direction would you travel from the corner deli to beth's salon did you say west great job and which direction would you travel from yellow alley to the jagged river bet you said south now you know how to use the four cardinal directions with the map you can use the cardinal directions when traveling from place to place or when you need to give directions to another person you can practice using the cardinal directions while riding in car or on the bus and while you're doing that notice the street signs that use the forward cardinal directions as well sometimes certain landmarks can also help you know the direction you are heading for example if you are traveling across california the ocean is always west knowing the location of specific landmark can help you know which direction you are heading if you don't have map remember that the sunrise is always in the east if you are facing the sunrise north will be on your left south will be on your right and west is behind you remember our saying never eat soggy waffles if you can find one of the cardinal directions the rest are easy to figure out soon you will be pro at finding your way around also really don't ever eat soggy waffles because yuck be sure to subscribe you