Looking for a fun and interactive way for your students to practise giving and following directions? You need our Driving Around Town: Giving & Following Directions Activity! This engaging partner game is perfect for reinforcing directional language, active listening and spatial reasoning through a playful and hands-on format.

Students work in pairs, taking turns being the director and the car driver. The director provides verbal instructions to guide their partner’s car to a target location on the town map. The car driver must follow the directions carefully, navigating streets, landmarks and intersections to reach the destination. This format encourages students to use clear, specific language and to develop essential listening and interpreting skills.

This resource offers flexibility for both maths and oral language lessons, and supports a wide range of learners. With multiple maps and question cards included, you can use the activity repeatedly while keeping it fresh and challenging. Print in full colour or low colour, and optionally enlarge to A3 for more space to “drive.” For added excitement, include toy cars to act out each route. It’s a practical and memorable way to explore direction, position and communication.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Use directional and positional language to give clear movement instructions
• ✅ Follow oral instructions to complete spatial navigation tasks
• ✅ Strengthen collaborative and listening skills
• ✅ Apply geometry and location knowledge in real-world scenarios
• ✅ Engage in active, hands-on learning through role-play

What’s Included:

• 6 unique town-themed game boards (full colour and low colour)
• 12 location-based question cards with prompts
• Printable car counters to move around each map

Materials Needed:

• Printed game boards (recommended: enlarged to A3 size)
• Printed question cards and car counters
• Scissors and optional laminator for durability
• Optional: toy cars for added engagement

How to Use:

1. Print the game boards and question cards. Assign pairs or small groups.
2. One student reads a question card and acts as the director, giving movement instructions.
3. The other student listens and moves their car counter accordingly on the board.
4. Once the car reaches the correct destination, students switch roles and continue with a new question.
5. Encourage the use of precise language such as “turn left at the corner,” “go past the park,” or “stop at the bakery.”

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use during a maths or HASS unit focused on mapping or community
• 💡 Set up in small group rotations with laminated maps for repeated use
• 💡 Pair with positional vocabulary charts or anchor posters
• 💡 Extend the activity by having students create their own maps and question cards
• 💡 Use for informal oral language assessment by observing students’ communication

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Provide sentence stems or word banks for students needing language support
• 💛 Use real toy cars to build excitement and add a sensory element
• 💛 Print boards on coloured paper or cardstock to sort different versions easily
• 💛 Encourage peer feedback and discussion after each turn to build reflection skills

Driving Around Town: Giving & Following Directions Activity is a dynamic way to explore directional language, communication and spatial skills – all while having fun navigating through familiar community settings.

You might also like our Positional Language Word Cards to support vocabulary use during gameplay.