My girls are 8 and 6, I have been taking them on day hikes for the last two years. They never set foot out of the car without their belly bags. These contain<br><br>1 liter water,<br>"space" blanket<br>poncho (single use plastic)<br>rations - "power bar"<br>GORP<br>whistle<br>compass - even the six year old knows how to track her trending and reverse it to attempt a return<br>knife (colemans Kamp knife with spoon fork and knife)<br>flashlight (mini-mag with head strap and small led clip light)<br>signal mirror<br>TP and facial tissues<br><br>I haven't bothered with a separate mini-PSK for them since they are small enough that the additional weight and bulk, when added to a fullish belly-bag, would be noticeable. Also I don't let them wander into the woods without me and I always have a bunch of gear - adequate for the three of us to last in the woods for a few days though not comfortably.<br><br>For a 12 year old I would definately add a water filter and some iodine tablets as EDC. For a 5 day camp-out there will be lots of other items such as clothing, tent, sleeping bag and pad, cooking stuff and food. An important distinction is whether this is a hike-in or drive-in camp. If a drive-in camp then there is much more flexibility with bringing redundant back-up items. I would think that for a drive-in camp you would want to bring a shovel and hatchet along but for a hike-in camp I wouldn't bother with the shovel at all and I would allow a large fix-blade knife to substitute for the hatchet. I she expecting to "sleep in the park and swim in the lake" or "hike accross a few mountains and hunt down her food" These are two quite different experiences. If this is a sleep in the park, swim in the lake type of thing then pack for a sleep-over at a friends house would probably be fine since there will be abundant camp staff and a mess hall and nurses office etc... If this is a hike over a few mountains and hunt down your food then you need to prepare her for being lost and spending approximately double the expected time out in the wilderness since she may be lost in a very much larger area and whatever supervision that there may be will be probably be busy trying to rescue themselves as well if something goes wrong.