I might add written survival instructions, such as are in the PSP. No kit is complete without at least a small amount of duct tape. Also, a sheet or two of Rite in the Rain paper and a pencil.

Oh course! Thanks for the reminders! I can't believe he left out duct tape!! Not like my boy. He must have been tired.

I'm in the process of making him a survival sheeet, based on Doug's and his Cub Book. He can read but large print and pcitures will be easier for him. Speaking of which, think we'll add a family pic too!

Cordage is useful, too.

Great idea Chaos! We'll poke around the garage tonight and see what we can find. He's pretty good at the reef and slip knots now and will keep learning more, so cordage will definitely be a benefit!

How did everyone miss this? The number one item a kid needs with them is a WHISTLE.

Kids of all ages know how to use them to signal for help or to be located. All of the other skills and preps are only second to it. For children, a WHISTLE is item number one!

It's on the list already.

My son is also 8. He has a very small EDC in his school pack. One thing I added was couple pieces of hard candy. Always makes him feel a bit better. He also carries a powerbar in his bag.

He always wears a lanyard with whistle and LED when he's in the wildreness GoatMan. He's been taught hug-a-tree since he was old enough to walk the trail on his own two feet. He also did put an extra lanyard with whistle in his kit. He's going to add a small LED flashlight to it tonight as well.

Great idea Comms. My son has a PSK and FAK in his school pack as well, including change of clothes, rain jacket, bball hat and house key.

Oh. One more thing. When he was 5, we got him one of those hard laminate maps of our city (from Streetwise) to carry in his pack. We used alcohol markers to circle our house, his school, friends houses, grandparents house, his favorite stores (Toys R' Us & grocer).

He pulls it out and points out intersections when we are at stoplights. We have marked out a couple of locations we have found geocaches aka Buried Treasure. So he points that out to friends too.

An iPhone google app also helps with interactive map reading skills when you set a destination (with red dot) and they can follow the blue dot (you) moving towards it.