I liked the part that said
"Your family will NOT be angry with you
Even adults get lost sometimes - so don't worry. No one will be angry."

I think that it is so important for the children to know they are not in trouble and that people WANT to find them.

The kit looks great

What a great and simple kit. These basic steps will go a long way if anyone gets lost in the woods! I applaud your effort with this!

Website for gleaning training ideas.

http://www.tahoenordicsar.com/Education/4thGrade/

Great kit...I will totally be using this template.

Switching the Fox for an generic pea-whistle would also cut a lot of overhead on this kit for nominal dB loss.

Pea-whistles dont work well when wet,Fox-40's work underwater,You want the Best for the Kids,don't you?

Denis, good job on the kit. It is very important to instill in the child that if they become lost, they will not be in trouble when found by and adult; child mentality makes the lost child afraid of that, and they hide to avoid detection.

Some good suggestions here, except for ones to skimp on quality of kit contents. You want a reliable flashlight and a loud whistle. Good choices, I don't think putting two of that type of torch in the kit is excessive, unless you are sure that one will run about 8 to 10 hours.

Staying put (hugging a tree) may make the difference between being found the first night or not being found at all.

A thought about the ribbon. It's a good idea and it has been in use for years. Another thought is mylar ribbon, as used to scare birds from ag fields. Something like this, but there are other brands and sizes: http://www.birdbusters.com/shop/catalog/Bird_Scare_Flash_Tape_1_2_in_X_300ft-p-13.html
It is thinner, so you can carry more in the same space. It is not only brightly colored (this one silver and red), as is the surveying tape, it is passively reflective, so it gives you about twice the use/visibility as the colored tape alone.

Whichever method you use, you may want the kids to personalize the ribbon/tape with their names every few feet or so with permanent pen, then repackage it. It could be an activity for a safety meeting.

Nice kit. I like the simplicity.

When I did this for Scout years ago we found low cost fanny packs at orientaltrading.com that worked well.

Same site also had cheap whistles on sproingy wrist bands by the dozen. Not Fox 40s, but were plenty loud.

I like the bright orange switched LED keychain lights that countycom.com has. No blinking mode, but I'm OK with that. BTW, personally I'd have them save the battery on the light and tell them not to use it - not even in a blinking mode - unless scared and "just checking" or if they hear searchers calling for them.

The hardest part to find seemed to be the orange bags.

The toughest part of the whole thing is to get the kids to carry the kits.

Great kit! Its a wonderful idea!

I'll start with this premise and modify for my kids.

Be Prepared to Survive has orange bags. No affiliation. I haven't tried them, but I have seen them on their site.

"Interesting" name. Gee, I wonder what inspired that name?

HJ

Might I suggest one of the angled marine safety whistles


I paid $2 for one of these at Sports Chalet a couple of years back. They're marine whistles so they're lower pitched (figure about 2 KHz) and lack the charateristic "trill" of the pea whistles. They're also very loud and are near indestructable.