Here's the dilemma.

A while ago I was approached by a friend and asked if I could volunteer some time to work with the Scouts to do some bush craft/survival training. Of course I agreed, It would be great to help out the next generation of kids and prove to them that you can have fun without a game controller glued to a hand.

I was approached and asked today to teach ALL the lessons for a new group of kids, as well as lead the outdoor training. The two other guys(scout leaders) are great guys, and great instructors, but one is a city cop and the other is a teacher and they have admitted that they have little outdoor skills above the basic stuff. They want me to cover some more advanced techniques to these kids, but still within the realm of what Scouts do.

I have all day on a Saturday to teach classroom stuff, with small exercises thrown in and then two days to do a outdoor exercise with the 12 kids and the other two scout leaders. They are all kind of looking to me to put this thing together. The kids are apparently really happy and excited to learn more than the normal how to roast marshmallows stuff.

Sooooooooooooo. That being said, Any ideas on some stuff I could teach to these guys?

I was thinking of teaching some basic game tracking skills, some basic hunting skills like how to dress game, types of traps and snares, and maybe some rappelling followed by some night navigation and a few other thing I think they may find of interest. Some Archery training If I can get the supplies maybe.

My big concern is that I am used to training Soldier's and not 10 year olds. Some of these lad's are very un-used to being outside. They are very excited though, and I don't want to let them down. Any tips?

I know there are guys here who work with kids a lot

Thanks

Where can I sign up for lessons?

Really, the Scouting book has alot of good standard stuff to get into, and the Scoutmaster's Handbook has some great ideas. Newer Scouts have alot of level requirements to fulfill, you can kill off a few of those as part of your curriculum. Depending on time of year, improvising shelters is a great group activity, and kids can put something up and sleep in it. Plant and animal identification too - go on a walk and find 10 of each, what few poisonous plants to look out for etc. Something as simple as knife safety and sharpening their knife can get them onto their Tote n Chip and contribute a valuable skill. Maybe a primer on building a first aid kit and cleaning and dressing simple wounds.

Keep the talking to a minimum, hands on as much as possible. If the kids have been on campouts, hopefully the adult leaders have related what they carried to what they need to survive. If not, a few minutesw on the rule so 3s etc and the importance of going out prepared.

Consider having a few stations, and rotate the kids among them after an hour. Depending on how many kids you have, a larger class can be hard to handle and sorta boring for the kids. No matter how involved what you have to say may be, few if any kids will want to sit there all afternoon hearing about it (unless it eventually involves exciting stories ending in missing limbs and digits). Smaller groups working 2-3 together can get alot more done. Fire-making seems to be popular among kids and adults. Combine it with an hour on backcountry cooking, and have one group prepare lunch for the troops, another make dinner.

I recommend you involve your other adult leaders directly in whatever you do, if they lack experience get together with them beforehand to practice the skills you intend to cover, then have them cover a station instructing the kids. Don't make them students for the day, let them lead some of the skills, even if they aren't expert. My first time out with Scouts I was impressed that every adult leader knew so many knots (more than me), little did I know that a few of them had learned them just the week before the outing.

Last I would tailor this to the audience - if they're urban / suburban kids then cleaning game is overkill as a primary skill, if they come from hunting families they may already be familiar.

Taurus,

A similar thing happened to another member several years ago and the resulting thread had lots of good ideas. I did a quick search but didn't see it. Your Search-Fu may be stronger.

-Blast

Found a few relevant topics (I'm having a high-Fu day):

SwampDonkey's course for kids:
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=99989&fpart=1

Kids building shelters (with pics):
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=101104&an=

Young adventurer's club - course ideas:
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=123613&fpart=1

Preps for Scout hikes:
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=67492&fpart=1

Taurus,

While all that is indeed useful information, you have to remember the audience that you're instructing. My concern is that much of this information will be well beyond their attention span, if not over the heads completely. I actually have some experience with scouts, as I serve as a unit commissioner for my district.

Lono offered some very good suggestions, namely getting your hands on the BSA Handbook as well as the Scoutmasters Handbook. I would add that there is a "Wilderness Survival" merit badge (and a corresponding booklet to accompany it) that would be very helpful for you to review.

I have taught wilderness survival to boy scouts (as well as scoutmasters) before as part of an outdoor weekend, and even the scoutmasters become overloaded pretty fast. Spending an entire day on the subject with two additional days to practice is a tall order, as you'll need to change things up quite frequently. At best figure no more than twenty minutes on any given subject before you'll lose them.

As a general suggestion, I would limit your training to simply touching upon the major requirements of the WS merit badge, as well as the seven priorities (as BSA sees them -- see #2 below) and be sure to break things up with plenty of hands-on instruction, activities, and breaks:

1). Basic first aid (frostbite, hypothermia, heat exhaustion/stroke, dehydration, rule of 3's, insect bites, etc.)

2). The 7 priorities (STOP, first aid, shelter, fire, signaling, hydration, food)

3). Attitude (don't panic, maintain positive attitude and good morale)

4). Scenarios (describe what steps to take to address basic survival given various likely scenarios)

5). Survival kit (outline the basic items to include in their survival kit and how to use and maintain each)

6). Fire (show/discuss different means of fire starting)

7). Signaling (show/discuss different means of attracting attention)

8). Shelter (show/discuss different types of natural shelters that can be built in the wilderness)

9). Protection (outline steps to protect oneself from insects, snakes, wild animals, etc.)

10). Hydration (show/discuss methods of purifying water in the wilderness)

11). Clothing (outline various clothing choices as they relate to scouting activities in the extreme heat or cold, layering, materials, etc.)

12). Food (show/discuss wilderness options (although keep in mind the BSA strongly discourages scouts from ever eating anything that they find in the wilderness)

The idea here should be to spark the boys interest in the wilderness survival merit badge activity, not to hope to have them complete all the requirements in a single day (or even a weekend).

Be sure to keep things fun, simple, and try to schedule hands-on activities that require the boys to work together as a team.

Feel free to PM me if there is anything I can do to help you out.

Jim

Some great ideas folks. Thank you

I simply don't have the time to become more involved. I would like to be a Scout leader someday, but with my schedule it may not be any time soon. I am totally in the dark when it comes to badges and qualification requirements and the like. I think the guys wanted me to do stuff not related to badges and stuff, simply because the other scout leaders have little experience in some areas that I do. None of them are hunters for example, and I think they want me to go a little bit "outside the box" on this one, just to teach some stuff that the kids wouldn’t normally see.

Problem is, I don't know what's "inside the box" with this one.

I like your list Jim, Its a place to start. I need to sit down with the other chaps and get a bit more clarification on exactly what they want me to cover.

I will have to get my hands on a handbook as well.

Coming from a scout leader (hey im assistan senior patrol leader)

They will talk, they will fidget, they will goof off!!

It is very hard to do something like

One preson will light this fire, then the next preson, then the next...if they are not ALL entertained, even just 1 person not entertained, from my experience will distract everyone.... Ihave been in scouts for 4 years and have been a leader in my troop ever since.

Man, you are in big trouble! This is exactly how it starts off. After you do this, you'll stay up late criticizing yourself and planning how to do it differently the next time. You won't even hesitate the next time you get asked... welcome to the world brotherhood of scouting...

Is this a bunch of kids in Scouts Canada? If so, you have some different rules and guidelines than BSA - neither good nor bad, but stick to the SC guidelines instead of the BSA ones.

Lots of hands-on and as much personal time with the individual scouts as you can manage. You already have a super-list (as in good-but-too-many-things) to work off of in the time available. I have a FEW suggestions for you:

1. Have fun and make it fun for the scouts.

2. Right up front, cut your class size in half - make them form buddy teams and stick to that theme the entire weekend. No Aaron Ralstons. If you want, you can then form "crews" of 2 buddy teams - which works out to about 1/2 a patrol. It would be nice to use their organic patrols, but at that age... it will not work.

3. LOTS of coached hands-on. I like our (BSA) current paradigm: E.D.G.E. - Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable... pretty self-explanatory, but many scouters get stuck on E.D. and neglect G.E.

4. Scouts have GREAT imaginations (they are kids) - make up an adventurous scenario for the weekend (a story - fiction) about where they are, what the circumstances are, etc. Tell it right off the bat, reinforce all the time; stay in character and keep them in character - of course, be safe and reasonable - they will really get into it and play their roles. You do not have to get overly detailed - it's not a movie script. Best way for kids to learn... we often forget that as adults. Make it play, not work.

5. It's a lot more meaningful to build an expedient shelter if one is actually going to use it... ditto boiling up a mug (and starting that fire), and so forth. Coaching them all through actually doing things will soak up enormous amounts of time - be prepared to sacrifice "events" if that's what it takes to actually teah them 2 - 4 skills rather than rushing them through a dozen things they don't have time to digest, let alone DO. Plan plenty and execute according the the situation as it develops - you will have a great feel for this after one or two iterations (see opening comments...)

6. Really pound (all the time) on having the essentials on/with them at all times - and be a little more open minded than, say, BSA official "lists" - time, terrain, weather, mission, resources available, etc. Then help them out early on - have them build personal fire starting kits (ye olde Altoid tins work great) they get to keep or 55 gallon 3-6 mil garbage bags (e.g. rain gear, shelter, wind shell, etc.) they get to keep, make a roll of 6'-8' of orange flagging to keep; cordage (they never have enough), etc - idea is they take some THINGS away besides memories. You can do a LOT with little expense for a large number of scouts if you think it through first, plan ahead, and prepare (Hey! First principle of LNT!).

That's plenty to consider, so I'll stop with one last thing: HAVE FUN!

Regards,

Tom - still a BSA Scouter (roped in like you) and dad of 3 Eagle Scouts.

I would have to say that teaching rapelling as a stand alone skill, that is, out side the larger context of rock climbing, mountaineering or caving, to any group or individual is not a good idea.

Giving them an introduction to safe climbing practices, and maybe just a little top rope work might be something that would get their attention, but I am not sure how enthusiastic BSA is about even elementary technical climbing.

My experience with Scout troops has been that they are highly variable, ranging from excellent to a good imitation of barbarian hordes swooping down to sack Rome.