How to Make a Compass Rose

A compass rose is a decorative tool that is usually displayed on a map corner to indicate direction. Compass roses range from simple, non-ornate drawings to fancy, intricate designs. Creating a compass rose is a good way to teach children about directions. Making your own rose is easy and you can decorate it any way you choose. Practice making a few compass roses on a piece of paper before you draw one on your map.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Map
• Pencil, pens, colored pencils
• Ruler
• Small, traceable circle

1. Locate the area on the map where you want to draw the compass rose.

2. Orient the map so that north is pointing opposite of you. It will appear to be pointing toward the top of the paper.

3. Create a circle by tracing around a circular object. Place a dot in the center of the circle. Draw a small X through the dot.

4. Draw a cross with equal-length lines through the dot in the circle. Use your ruler to measure the length and keep the line straight. Extend the lines a few centimeters beyond the circle.

5. Label the ends of the lines with abbreviations for north (N), south (S), east (E) and west (W).

6. Draw a straight line from the end of the compass point to the X in the circle. Do this for each direction.

7. Decorate your compass rose any way you like. You can draw inside the circle, use colors to shade the circle or make each line a different color.

Tips & Warnings

• Look at examples of compass roses on the Internet to give you ideas.

References

• Compass Rose