Get ready for a guided paddle, discover the parts of a kayak and make a picture of your team’s adventure. Listen, paddle with your guide and notice one memorable detail along the way.
Ages: 4–10 for the printable; operator decides on-water eligibility · Time: 15–20 minutes around the guided session
Print the two-page team pack. Before the session, use the simple kayak drawing to ask questions. Leave the pack on shore while paddling and finish it afterward.
- A guided beginner kayaking session suitable for the child
- An adult and the properly fitted equipment required by the operator
- Printed team pack and crayons or a pencil kept ashore
Follow the Clues
1. Meet the guide and your kayak
Your adult confirms the operator’s age, ability, equipment-fit and supervision requirements. Ask your guide to show you the kayak, paddle and fitted flotation equipment. Use the printed diagram to point, not to decide your own equipment needs.
2. Discover the parts
On land, ask which end is the bow (front), which is the stern (back), and where each person sits. Add the labels to your printed kayak with adult help. Ask your guide to demonstrate how to hold and use the paddle.
3. Learn your team’s cue
Listen to the guide’s instructions for pausing, getting attention and asking for help. Repeat the cue back. Write or draw it in the Team cue box before putting the sheet away.
4. Paddle with your guide
Follow the guide’s actual instruction during the session. Keep paper and loose craft pieces ashore. Notice one color, movement or landscape feature when the guide says it is appropriate to look around.
5. Build a picture of your trip
Back on shore, draw yourself and your partner or guide on the kayak sheet. Add the memorable thing you noticed in the space around the boat. You can draw it without identifying its species.
6. Share a team moment
Complete Our team worked together when…. Younger children can tell the story aloud. Older children can add where they went and one question they asked. If a session was postponed, use the diagram to prepare questions for a future guided paddle.
Discover together
- Bow means front; stern means back. Can you point to them on your sheet?
- What cue did your guide use, and why did listening help?
- What did you notice that someone else in your team missed?
Little Explorers: color the kayak and draw the people in your team. Junior Explorers: label bow, stern, paddle and seating area; add one observation and a team moment. Actual session eligibility is decided by the operator.
Use this pack with a suitable guided session and follow the operator’s supervision and flotation requirements. It is not a standalone paddling guide. Observe wildlife without approaching it and leave all paper ashore.
Keep your finished kayak picture or send a photo of it to the person who paddled with you. Add a new picture after a future guided trip.
Read together. Color with imagination. Bring Pico and Tati’s world into your home with books that invite children to explore, learn and care for God’s creation.
Our Promise
At Tico Explorers, we encourage children to explore with curiosity, learn with kindness, and care for God’s creation.
Our adventures invite families to notice the world together, respect local communities, and leave the places they visit cared for.
Explore • Learn • Protect
