Cardinal directions

North, east, south and west are the four main directions, and they always stay in the same places: north at the top, south opposite it at the bottom, east to the right and west to the left. Starting at north and going round to the right, you can remember them with the sentence Never Eat Soggy Waffles. The sun comes up in the east and goes down in the west, so on a clear day you can work out the directions without any compass at all. Where we live, it usually gets colder as you travel north, towards the snow and the polar bears, and warmer as you travel south, towards palm trees and beaches.

This picture is part of the full library

Every lesson is open to everyone for 7 days after it is published. This one came out on March 9, 2026: its text stays readable here, and its picture opens with a subscription.

See the plans

The app is free. A subscription opens every lesson, in every school year.

Age 7: open this week

Browse Age 7

Examples

In the morning the sun shines through one side of your home and in the evening it shines through the other side: the morning window looks towards the east, the evening one towards the west.
On the map at the entrance of a park or a zoo, there is a little arrow with an N on it; turn the map until that arrow points the same way north really is, and everything on it lines up with what is in front of you.

Key takeaways

Going round to the right from north: north, east, south, west, like Never Eat Soggy Waffles.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, which helps you find the other directions.