Knowing how to find your way around a busy airport or unfamiliar city is a life skill that shouldn’t be overlooked. While the days of using a sextant are over, there are still plenty of real-world wayfinding skills you can teach your children. Your kids will thank you for teaching them about wayfinding signage and visual navigation when they’re on their own and the GPS signal drops or the battery dies and they still make it to their destination safely and on time. Here are some tips and games for fun and education on the go:

Let them Lead

As a responsible adult your first instinct when arriving at an airport, train station or subway is usually to make sure everyone’s accounted for and take the lead. Instead, stop and ask your child to take a look around and tell you where to go. Show them what signage to look for or who to ask for help if they get stuck. Simply by putting the responsibility on them you wake them up to their surroundings and teach them the basics of signage and wayfinding.

Of course this exercise isn’t a great idea when you’re sprinting to the gate after a nightmarish security line, but take advantage of the learning opportunity if you have plenty of time to make it to your destination.

#1 Navigator

If you’re traveling by car give your child the very important job of Navigator. Tell them you’re relying on them to get the family where they need to go. Make them responsible for looking for wayfinding signage such as highway signs or turnoff notifications. Point out visual cues that will help them remember the way back (ex: “So we turn at the gas station with the big green dinosaur out front, right?”). Show them how to use the odometer and simple arithmetic to estimate how much longer until they should look out for the turn.

Take this game as far as you can considering the circumstances. If you’re on a lazy Sunday trip home from grandma’s house, follow their directions precisely even when you know it’s the wrong turn. Learning how to find your way back to the right route when you’re lost is half the battle.

“Remember Kids, We Parked in Goofy!”

Have you ever walked out of the airport and been struck with the realization you have no idea where you left your car? It happens to the best of us, especially when we’re in a hurry while traveling or looking for a non-descript rental car. Enlisting your kids to help pay attention to wayfinding signs in parking lots teaches them tricks for finding the car- and provides a backup to your own memory!

Psychologists recommend using multiple “encoding” techniques to remember where you parked. Just saying out loud, “Remember, we parked in the Aspen lot,” helps you recall it later. Also point out visual cues such as the nearest shuttle stop or color coding. Some large parking garages even use music to help guests encode their car’s location. A Chicago garage managed by Standard Parking Corp. plays Prince’s “Purple Rain” on the Purple Floor and the Pink Panther theme on the Pink Floor to help shoppers remember where they left their vehicles.

Sure you can take a picture of the signage with your phone, but what happens when you drop it in the Caribbean or leave the charger at the hotel? While technology has revolutionized navigation and wayfinding it still pays to teach your children basic skills and awareness when it comes to travel. As an added bonus being encouraged to pay attention to the surroundings (instead of the iPad) can make a trip more memorable and engaging for people of all ages.