LoL! Well, if it helps anyone, that's a good thing. I like wrapping a story and adventure and fun around a lesson - sort of like giving a reluctant dog a pill by embedding it in a tasty morsel. So far, the boys like that better, too.<br><br>How about sharing some of your experiences with training Scouts? I gather from your previous posts that you've invested time and money in some interesting training, have skills that I do not, and have lots more experience than I as an active Scouter - I've only got a few years in that.<br><br>Planting and nurturing good habits, keeping it broadly fun as they learn - what sort of things have worked (and not worked) for you? To stay on-topic, I'm specifically asking about good outdoors "Be Prepared" aims, methods, and results.<br><br>The main point I want to make with the Scouts in this case is to be innovative; consider all the resources that might accomplish the task at hand. It's laignnape that they pocket a useful tool made from a "useless" discard.<br><br>I believe that particular exercise is a bit more effective if - situation permitting - instead of first making the the vasoline-soaked cotton balls, one spins out the yarn a bit more - let their imaginations run and see what comes up. Then run with it - see if they can collectively get a fire going without the cotton balls and vasoline - which obviously would not be lying on the ground <grin>. Just to be sure, one could have a "plan B" in trouser pockets - a small bit of good lint "discovered" in a pocket, and a tube of chapstick or the little tube of jelly Vasoline sells as lip balm in one's other pocket, for example. The sparks from these lighters are kinda wimpy for more difficult tinder, and I don't think I'd happen to have char ready-made in that sort of story.<br><br>The problem is getting a fire lit with nothing but the spent lighter - inventory, innovate, and go... I want to teach them how to THINK and DO. Teaching skills, like how to lay a fire, how to tie this knot or that knot, how to organize a Patrol Campsite, etc. are also very important - and we have plenty of resources to help us do that.<br><br>Teaching them how to think and perform needed actions in unfamiliar situations requires a deft hand and an open, nimble mind - being impaired in all those areas, I'm looking for great suggestions and ideas from folks like you <grin>.<br><br>So... I'm all ears<br><br>Tom