In my limited experience, the most distracted, video-game-addicted kid on the planet will stare with rapt attention as you assemble tinder and make a fire with a ferro rod. I saw it just a week ago, when my nephew with confirmed ADD actually spent 20 consecutive minutes watching us light a bonfire and asking questions about tinder, wood, etc.

Small groups are easier to keep involved than larger ones. Glad to hear you broke them into groups of 12.

Hands on instruction helps enormously. The more they get to touch and work with new or unusual items, the more engaged they will be.

The lecture portion will probably be the toughest. Visual aids will be critical there, especially since it is apparently at the beginning. Don't get me wrong, that makes sense, but beware of them starting to zone out before you get to the "fun" stuff.

I think it's a wonderful thing to do, and I applaud you for it!

Frank2135

Here is our program for teaching 4th graders.

http://www.tahoenordicsar.com/Education/4thGradeProgram.html

It takes 3 hours using 3 stations of 2 trainers at each station.
Usually can get about 6 classes through each station.

We pre-build some shelters on site using Christmas trees, snow
and other materials we bring or find.


We teach using the trashbag as a vest (holes for arms and head)if moving or as a hooded
bivysack if stationary (1 hole under one corner for face).

I would suggest that you talk to them like they are Young Adults not children. Nothing P.O'ed me faster at that age than been treated like a child. It's something that I always try to avoid. There are somethings that you cannot, for obvious reasons, tell children and there are certain limits on what gear they can have. When I run into a limit, I always make it clear that it is a limit imposed on me by law, custom or whatever and that I have to respect it. Being individuals, there will be a wide spectrum of ability. Some will take to it like ducks to water, some will struggle. Helping the ones who struggle is the best part of a challenge. The only other thing that I can offer is that you tell a lot of related jokes and story's. They are great for making children remember.

Good Evening,

Frank2135, Clearwater, NightHiker and Leigh, Thank You all for taking the time to assist me in the creation of this lesson plan and for the links to useful information on other sites, I appreciate it.

I have the house all to myself tomorrow and I hope to merge the ideas I have recieved on the Forum with my current lesson plan and finally complete this exercise (it has been 2 months in the making), I deliver the presentation on Friday.

Take care,

Mike

P.S. Scouts seem to have gotten tougher since when I was a kid?

Aloha Mike,

You have to post more pictures to make our summer cooler!

Good luck.

Make it fun and interactive and the kids will get it better.

Hi Members,

I said earlier that I would post how my Basic Survival Lesson went yesterday (Sorry, this is a bit of a long post).

My partner and I arrived a 1/2 a day early to recon the area and prepare our teaching sites, this worked well.

We ended up with 20 inner city kids between ages 12 and 17 years and 4 counselors. The kids were very interested and well behaved during my program but because my session was on the 4th day of a 5 day trip they were very tired (sleep deprived). Everything was new to these kids, they had very little previous outddoor exposure. The group was split into 2; morning and afternoon.

My session was scheduled to start at 8.00am but never got going till 9.00am as the group was slow getting up, they were really played out. The Camp Hosts were great and moved lunch back 1/2 an hour so I would not loose as much teaching time.

I started with a group of 10 kids in the lecture portion of the course and had good interaction with the students throughout. Some of the terminology I usually use with rural/outdoor exposed kids I had to explain in greater detail and I had to use more urban type examples than normal. The lecture was about 45 minutes and they were attentive throughout.

After this was an exercise on the 10 essentials where they had 3 minutes to select 10 items from a list of 40; we made-believe that they were on a sinking boat, and I counted down the time to add to the stress! This went well but it I think I will develop my own list as "The Mountianeers" had sunglasses and food on theirs and I think Signals and Shelter are more important.

The kids then assembled their own Mini-Survival Kit and were very good at fitting everything in the small container, proabally my best group yet.

The kids had a break for 15 minutes and were then further split into 2 groups of 5 each (1 instructor, 1 counseler and at least 1 helper with each group).

My partner lead a brief field lecture session on shelter building (a debris hut using natural materials and a lean-to using man-made materials. He found the kids far more interested in the natural type shelter and focused mostly on building it. The kids were excited about their finished product and wanted their photos taken so they could show their families back home. The key to this session was having all the material collect and pre-cut (a pickup truck load of spruce boughs and poplar poles) waiting on site, if the kids would have had to collect their own in the bush they would have lost interest for sure.

I then lead a mini-lecture on fire-starting (wildfire safety, 4 components of fire, and how to build a fire), the kids then each lit their own fire (using a lighter and fire-starter packet). A funny thing then happened, these normally talkative kids became really quiet as they toasted marshmellow over their own fire, quite neat. We discussed it and decided fire was like "Natures Television".

This is where I have to give ETS Member Frank2135 credit for his suggestion; I told the story of "Otzi the Iceman" and about his Survival Belt that contained Iron Pyrite, Flint and Tinder Fungus. I then told the kids that we were going to step back 5000 years in time and lit a big piece of Tinder Fungus with a Ferro Rod and Knife blade; the kids were in awe! We talked about the importance if fire in survival and in society and how we depended on it now just as much as we did in past history. We duplicated this event using a Fresnel Lens with the same positive response. I know I cheated a little using the Ferro Rod instead of a more traditional fire kit but this is the first time I have tried demonstrating this before a group and wanted to be sure it would work!

My afternoon group was just as good as the morning but a few students (and one Counsellor) dozed off near the end of my lecture (we had a big walleye fish fry for lunch).

The day ended with me doing a field presentation on Emergency Signals (smoke, mirrors, bright coloured attractants) and ended with a group competition on which of 12 survival whistles was the loudest (Storm Whistle won). They REALLY enjoyed this, my ears are still ringing!

When I do this activity again I would change a few things:

- Schedule my teaching session earlier in the week so the kids are not so worn down.

- Do not assume that the kids are at all familar with the outdoors and use more urban examples.

- Use examples from history more to capture the kids attention.

- Play a movie the night before with a survival theme (e.g. The Edge, Two Against The North, Castaway ...)

In summary this was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again.

Thank You to all the ETS Members who helped me develop my teaching plan for this event.

Mike

Very cool. Hopefully then never need it, but is better to have and not need than need and not have.

Hi Members,

I said earlier that I would post how my Basic Survival Lesson went yesterday (Sorry, this is a bit of a long post).

My partner and I arrived a 1/2 a day early to recon the area and prepare our teaching sites, this worked well.

We ended up with 20 inner city kids between ages 12 and 17 years and 4 counselors. The kids were very interested and well behaved during my program but because my session was on the 4th day of a 5 day trip they were very tired (sleep deprived). Everything was new to these kids, they had very little previous outddoor exposure. The group was split into 2; morning and afternoon.

My session was scheduled to start at 8.00am but never got going till 9.00am as the group was slow getting up, they were really played out. The Camp Hosts were great and moved lunch back 1/2 an hour so I would not loose as much teaching time.

I started with a group of 10 kids in the lecture portion of the course and had good interaction with the students throughout. Some of the terminology I usually use with rural/outdoor exposed kids I had to explain in greater detail and I had to use more urban type examples than normal. The lecture was about 45 minutes and they were attentive throughout.

After this was an exercise on the 10 essentials where they had 3 minutes to select 10 items from a list of 40; we made-believe that they were on a sinking boat, and I counted down the time to add to the stress! This went well but it I think I will develop my own list as "The Mountianeers" had sunglasses and food on theirs and I think Signals and Shelter are more important.

The kids then assembled their own Mini-Survival Kit and were very good at fitting everything in the small container, proabally my best group yet.

The kids had a break for 15 minutes and were then further split into 2 groups of 5 each (1 instructor, 1 counseler and at least 1 helper with each group).

My partner lead a brief field lecture session on shelter building (a debris hut using natural materials and a lean-to using man-made materials. He found the kids far more interested in the natural type shelter and focused mostly on building it. The kids were excited about their finished product and wanted their photos taken so they could show their families back home. The key to this session was having all the material collect and pre-cut (a pickup truck load of spruce boughs and poplar poles) waiting on site, if the kids would have had to collect their own in the bush they would have lost interest for sure.

I then lead a mini-lecture on fire-starting (wildfire safety, 4 components of fire, and how to build a fire), the kids then each lit their own fire (using a lighter and fire-starter packet). A funny thing then happened, these normally talkative kids became really quiet as they toasted marshmellow over their own fire, quite neat. We discussed it and decided fire was like "Natures Television".

This is where I have to give ETS Member Frank2135 credit for his suggestion; I told the story of "Otzi the Iceman" and about his Survival Belt that contained Iron Pyrite, Flint and Tinder Fungus. I then told the kids that we were going to step back 5000 years in time and lit a big piece of Tinder Fungus with a Ferro Rod and Knife blade; the kids were in awe! We talked about the importance if fire in survival and in society and how we depended on it now just as much as we did in past history. We duplicated this event using a Fresnel Lens with the same positive response. I know I cheated a little using the Ferro Rod instead of a more traditional fire kit but this is the first time I have tried demonstrating this before a group and wanted to be sure it would work!

My afternoon group was just as good as the morning but a few students (and one Counsellor) dozed off near the end of my lecture (we had a big walleye fish fry for lunch).

The day ended with me doing a field presentation on Emergency Signals (smoke, mirrors, bright coloured attractants) and ended with a group competition on which of 12 survival whistles was the loudest (Storm Whistle won). They REALLY enjoyed this, my ears are still ringing!

When I do this activity again I would change a few things:

- Schedule my teaching session earlier in the week so the kids are not so worn down.

- Do not assume that the kids are at all familar with the outdoors and use more urban examples.

- Use examples from history more to capture the kids attention.

- Play a movie the night before with a survival theme (e.g. The Edge, Two Against The North, Castaway ...)

In summary this was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again.

Thank You to all the ETS Members who helped me develop my teaching plan for this event.

Mike

Sounds like ya done good!!!