Rate this survival kit for cub scouts

You may recall I am a den leader with DS’s cub scout troop. This year I have been the Bear leader as DS is a bear and there were no conflicts with another parent wanting to be the leader. At any rate, I asked the forum members before about teaching the scouts about survival kits and about the contents of the kits, what items they could/should have in an emergency/survival kit. I got a lot of responses and a lot of great advice from the ETS forum members. After much deliberation (and begging, borrowing and bulk purchasing to keep the kit cost down) we came up with a final kit contents list. I know it is not the best stuff but budget was a concern. These were the best items we could get without breaking the bank so to speak. Space was also a consideration. Upgrades on some of the contents will be suggested and shown to the kids and parents (for example they could upgrade from the large orange garbage bag to a heat sheet, or from the victorinox signal mirror to a rescue flash). I don’t think we are missing anything but I wanted to present what we came up with to get any suggestions for what to take out or what to add.

Medical items
- 4 Band-Aids - pretreated with antibiotic ointment
- 5 Wound closure strips
- 2 Alcohol prep pads
Shelter items
- Orange garbage bags – not sure exactly what size but they are thick and fairly large
- 25’ bright yellow mason line
Warmth items
- 1 magic birthday candle (wrapped in foil)
- 10 Strike anywhere matches – including part of an emery board as a striking surface
- 2 tinder quik tabs
- small piece of cardboard (mainly serves to protect the baking bag from other abrasive kit items)
Water items
- 1 baking bag with reusable tie
- 6 Micropur water purification tablets (same as in PSP plus - 6 tablets = 2 quarts a day for three days)
Signaling items
- Whistle
- Victorinox mirror
- Bandana
Tools
- Small led light (fauxton)
- STOP card and survival instructions (more like a use sheet for the contents that includes the rule of threes)
Personal protection and comfort
- Leaving for them to add
Multipurpose and repair
- Duct tape (orange, flat pack, about 12 inches)
- Magnifying (fresnel) lens
- 10’ wire
- Aluminum foil (about 2 ft or so)
- 3 post it notes and bic ink pen refill
- One twist tie
- 3 Rubber Bands
- Safety Pins
Navigation
- Button compass

The items fit into a Tupperware type container except the garbage bag, which gets wrapped by the bandanna to protect it and secured to the container with the rubber bands. Sorry I don’t have pics yet, I will try to take some tonight and figure out how to upload them etc. Note that I purposely left out some items for them to add on their own with their Parent’s permission. We will discuss these additions along with the upgrades. They can add a ferro rod or other sparking device, fishing gear, sewing needle and thread, razor blade, etc. This also gives the kids some ownership and input into the kit contents. As part of the meeting we will discuss the uses for each item, and we will take opportunities to practice using the items at future meetings and campouts. The cost at this point is about $10.50 per kit. To emphasize the importance of the kits, I want to make these mandatory to bring for any outdoor activity - no kit, they don't get to go. So what do you all think? Are we missing anything? Other than quality but as I said budget was really limited and this was so important to me I paid for all the stuff myself other than what I got donated or given to us.

Very nice indeed

Rubber bands tend to deteriorate over time. I prefer ranger bands made from a cut up bike inner tube. More durable and long lasting. See if a local bike shop can donate a flat tube instead of tossing it out.

Looks good. A couple of thoughts:

1) I see you've left the 'cutting tools' category up to the parents. That makes sense given the situation.

However, you can steer them with a few inexpensive suggestions that are better than a razor blade and aren't weapons in any sense:

- cheap paramedic shears (under $2): no-one can really object to these, since you can take them in your airline carry-on luggage; good for cutting bark, fabric, grass/cattails, small twigs, twine, first aid stuff, pop cans, and also (held open) for making fine wood shavings/scrapings

- 4" section of high quality bi-metal hacksaw blade, 24tpi, rounded or sheepsfoot-ed on a grinder (actually, I suggest you include this unless told not to; when kids find out they can cut anything with these--pop cans, rope, bark/wood, fabric-- they tend to love them)

2) I suggest you add the striker from a paper matchbook to the matches (folded in on itself); even if they can't get the phosphor working in strike-anywhere use, this striker strip will make fire; it even works on matches that have been soaked and dried in the sun, with the phosphor tips wrecked beyond repair

Otherwise, keep it up, and bravo for your efforts. You are planting strong and healthy seeds ...

Thanks Doug. You are correct that the cutting tools have been left up to the parents. However, our bears and webelos all have their whittling chips and we have discussed the ten essentials (they should, parents willing, have a good folding knife in their pocket). I probably won't have time to do the hacksaws before we initially put the kits together, but as this will be an ongoing project we can add these later. Any idea on a source for the striker strips? And the cheap paramedic shears as well? I need to check on whether the scouts will allow these as well. At the very least I will add them to my recommendations list, but as always their Akela (i.e. Parents) have the final say on what each scout can and cannot carry. Such is life. Fortunately we are in a rural area so most parents seem amenable to letting their kids carry knives (many of the kids already have bigger knife collections than I do). We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you all posted and post some pics when I can figure out how to do it.

That's a nice list of supplies. However, I think it's more at the Boy Scout level. Maybe (just maybe!) Webelows. Cub Scouts ... it's over their heads. They wouldn't know (or remember) what to do with most of it.

Cub Scouts need a whistle and a signal mirror. With training on how/when to use them and training to Stay Put! Cub Scouts should always be with other Cub Scouts and their Den Leader, plus other adults if they are doing outside activities away from immediate help/assistance. Sure, they should get as much wilderness and survival training as possible. That's important. But it's also important for their adult leaders to realize that they are really too young to absorb a lot of it.

Promised some pics so here they are:
top row: mirror, aluminum foil, orange flat pack ductv tape, baking bag and matches in a ziploc bag, mason line, whistle, fauxton, button compass, and 2 tinder quiks
bottom row: assorted safety pins, magic birthday candle, twist tie, ink pen refill, micropur water purification tabs, thin cardboard, wire, and STOP instructions
http://s1129.photobucket.com/albums/m520/onehappycamperdad/?action=view&current=100_4057.jpg

orange garbage bag, bandana, 3 rubber bands (mainly to hold the bandanna wrapped garbage bag to the rest of the kit if they choose to carry it that way)
http://s1129.photobucket.com/albums/m520/onehappycamperdad/?action=view&current=100_4056.jpg

top row: container, survival instructions (very simplified for kids), wound closure strips, alcohol swabs
bottom row: 4 bandaids, 3 yellow post it notes, fresnel lens
http://s1129.photobucket.com/albums/m520/onehappycamperdad/?action=view&current=100_4054.jpg

I daresay that if you did a trailhead check, your Cub Scouts would be better fixed for an emergency than 90% of the hiker population. I like the flexibiliy you have built in.

If they can fit Id dump the Birthday candle and go with Ither a tealight or Shabbat candle (even cut down in lenght). A birthday candle will crumble and turn into a pile of wax crumbs in your kit in no time. With a teacandle you can also teach how to use the metal cup base to make a oil/fat lamp with cotton string. also add cotton string since it can be used for many wicking and water retrieval purposes even with its size. You can lead water that is dripping down a rock side with it into a cup or bottle.

That is an Excellent Kit,Bravo!Once the Training gets Underway,The scouts will exhibit Alot of Confidence,I'm Sure!Those Sparklites make Xlnt Night signaling Devices,As well as their intended purpose!A Few packs of Ladyfingers & Punks cut into pieces,& distributed thruout,Would go a Long Way for Utility/Signaling/Tactical purposes if applicable.Again,Very Well Thought Out Kit!

Outstanding. I might have picked a white fauxton over a red one.

Frisket beat me to upgrading the candle to a tea light, possibly add a 4x4 and a couple of betadine wipes to the FAK, and double the amount of duct tape

do they carry any tools?....a small pair of needlenose pliers saved a lot of burned fingers when I was that age

Replying to the comments so far.

Haertig, the kit was mainly designed for the bears and webelos based in part on their list of ten essentials. Luckily it was the same for the bears and webelos. With the addition of the wolves and tigers (their leader says they are “done” i.e. done with the book but doesn’t seem to understand it is still her responsibility to do other activities with them) I need to reevaluate what items they will carry based on THEIR essentials, which are different from the bears and webelos.

I wish there was room for a better candle but unfortunately space is at a premium in the kit. The magic candle was the best compromise for the kit given the confines of the space. As it is I am afraid the kit will be too large anyway and get left behind, which is why I want to make it mandatory to have it to go on any outdoors adventure with the den/pack.

Rich, I wish we had the sparklites in the kit but alas my meager budget didn’t allow for them. It is one of the upgrades I am going to suggest tho. And I think we will pass for now on the firecrackers in their kits lol.

Chaos the fauxtons are black (the only color that fit the budget unfortunately). I would have liked a brighter color though. I was wondering if I could suggest adding some strips of brightly colored tape to increase visibility if dropped.

Les, there might be room for more duct tape, which the kids can do on their own, but there’s no room left for the additional medical supplies I am afraid (tho I will certainly try ). Would the betadine wipes be better than the alcohol prep pads?

The bday candle would be preferred for it's size and ability to stay lit when windy or wet. In a kit this compact I think it's a good choice.

Can you give the measurements for the container? Is it larger/smaller than a Altoids tin? If it's close enough you might be able to shave a few more shekels off your kit cost (which is already phenomenal, nice work).

Also subbing cotton balls in petroleum could be subbed for Tinder Quiks, which, I think I've read, break down after time.

I don't know where you got the black ones but check out this DX page. http://goo.gl/b0H4o

Related - You might encourage sewing on of reflective strips to their backpacks - easier to see ( for both searchers and cars)

Mark... the alcohol wipe would help in fire starting...the betadine wipe could in a pinch be used for water purification and diluted to make an irrigation solution for deep laceration, in addition to a topical antiseptic... the pads are about the same size, and the betadine/iodine is probably longer acting as topical antiseptic (and you can see it has been applied) ...about $4/100 from Chinook Medical

An excellent kit for kids who may not normally have anything with them. I have trouble getting our scouts to carry their essential gear.

How loud is the whistle? Seems like it is a rather cheap one. I understand about wanting to keep the kit cheap, but this is one signaling item that shouldn't be overlooked.

inexpensive paramedic shears here

at american science and surplus: $2/each. they often have inexpensive lights and occasional other treasures. Rubber chickens. Heavy duty swivel casters. Geiger counters.
If they had apartments for rent in their Chicago store, I would live there.
Somewhere in the archives here there is a long discussion of survival knives in which someone, Susan IIRC, presents avery convincing argument that the shears are more effective than knives in most respects.

I think you've got a really great kit going their for your Scouts. But I do have to wonder, as haertig pointed out, if this kit doesn't extend way beyond the skill level of a Bear or Webelo to use effectively?

My experience with kids this age is limited, but having sat in on some of the meetings and helping out sometimes, I was a bit surprised at the number of things kids this age don't know how to do (not saying the scouts I've seen represent all scouts, but they seem like pretty typical 8 and 9-year-olds to me).

Like - watching these kids earn their whittling chips was an eye-opener - three cut fingers in two sessions (soap bar and then balsa wood)...one boy who didn't know cutting edge of the blade from the spine, etc...they've got their whittling chips, but they have a ways to go before I'd call them safe, let alone proficient, with a knife.

I think the "Hug-a-Tree" program, which Doug and others have praised here, is really valuable and viable, for this age group and even younger. For those purposes, I'd trim the gear to mirror, whistle, orange bag (and show them how to tear open a hole for their face), the Fauxton, a water bottle and then, perhaps, the water purification tablets, and maybe a protein/snack bar.

For the times I've taken my son camping, starting when he was 5, I made a "Hug-a-Tree Pack" for him (and my daughter) that they were to have on them every time they stepped outside the clearing where the tents were. It's a small fanny pack that has a .5-liter water bottle, whistle, plastic poncho, Heatsheet blanket, and an LED flashlight. Nothing fancy, but nothing they couldn't figure out how to use. And, we would practice in our yard. "OK, we're camping and you realize you're lost...what do you do?" And the answer was stop, find a tree and wait there. "Oh no, it's raining, what do you do?" Put on the poncho. "Oh no, you're cold, what do you do?" --wrap up in the blanket. "How do you get found?" --blow on the whistle in groups of three. We practiced several times before going camping, they always had their bags with them, and they remembered the following winter what they were supposed to do.

The stuff you've got in there is a great basis for improvising for a lot of possibilities...but I think at this age, the kids are still learning how to do some simple things in the most straightforward way (carry with them/put on appropriate clothing to the conditions, get inside a bag they have along as shelter) rather than turning a bag and some string into a lean-to shelter. Not saying kids that age can't do any of this stuff, just that my take on the skills of kids this age leans toward simpler the better, the fewer variables for them in how to use what they have, the better.

Anyhow, more items in the kit aren't a negative, and if you can get the boys the skills to utilize the things you've included, all to the better.

Dave

Once we were "done" back when I was a Den Leader, was when we had the most fun. I was searching for something fun to teach them and on a whim I Googled "balloon animals". That was one of the most fun meetings we ever had! The kids didn't want to quit. Their parents came to pick them up at the scheduled meeting stop time, and we ended up teaching the parents as well. The Girl Scouts got wind of this activity (my wife was one of their leaders) and I had to go do a balloon animal meeting for them the next week. You're never "done". We had a lot of fun as a Den, learning and playing together.

Great ideas and sources … thanks everyone.

Les, with regards to the betadine wipe usage, I am going to have to agree with Haertig about that being outside the kids skill set.

Mike_H, I am hoping we don’t have the same problem with getting our scouts to carry their gear. My solution, if the scoutmaster will agree to it, is if they don’t bring the gear then they stay behind. Your assessment of the whistles is correct. They were “borrowed” from my office – they were an item intended as a giveaway for trade shows and the company that produced them has since changed it’s coloring and logos so we can no longer use them. They are not the greatest quality but they are not the worst I have seen or heard about either (in fact they appear similar to the current survival whistle being offered by TOPS knives) and will definitely be first on the list for an upgrade (I already have a source for better pealess type whistles from another recent thread, I just have to talk DW into freeing up more of our budget to buy them).

Dave, I don’t know if it is unique to our area but it seems the boys here take to outdoor life pretty quickly (one of the boys DS plays football with took his first deer at age 7 with his dad’s help of course). The whittling chip presented no problems but we did have to correct some of the boys on some minor safety issues. All in all, though, it went fairly well.

Perhaps I am missing something else about some of the comments about the kit being too sophisticated? I mean, I don’t know too many kids this age (i.e. bears and webelos, 9, 10 and 11) that can’t use a band-aid, duct tape, or cordage. Just looking over the items in the kit again, and noticing that perhaps the wound closure strips are a bit much, and maybe some of the other items (like the wire) may not be used exactly as intended at first. However, I would point out that we will be dedicating future meetings and outdoor activities to discussing the kit contents and their potential uses, as well as how to use them correctly (i.e. the purification tablets, mirror, etc). FWIW, the webelos and bears are already well versed in their ten essentials. I brought lots of different items and had each group of three boys gather what they thought would be essential. I had one perfect score, and 3 groups that only missed 1 of the items. Of course we will have to modify the kits a bit to match the skill set of the younger cubs (I noticed on the scoutermom site that the map and compass are eliminated from their essentials list but a pocket knife is not - interesting).

As a parent a few times over, I have been surprised many times over at how quickly kids can pick up skills, especially if they are taught in a supportive environment. I feel it is better to overreach than to dumb down.

It has been just over fifty years since a group of six boy scouts, endeavoring to summit a mountain near Tucson, hiked right into the teeth of a ferocious winter storm. Three turned back and three didn't. Their corpses were finally found after an exhaustive, two week search.

They made numerous rather elementary mistakes. Their troop had scheduled survival training for the next month. It is never too soon to start learning the basics.

I was a Cub Scout Den Leader for "the" five years, a Cubmaster for four of those years, and now an Assistant Scoutmaster/advancement coordinator for five years ... my awesome son earning his Eagle Rank in the fall of 2009 ... and I'm happy to say that he's still enjoying Scouts.

The best piece of advice I got while a Cub Scout leader was that there is plenty of time for boys to do Boy Scouting in, well, Boy Scouts.

The best advice I got while a Boy Scout leader was to get a good camp chair and never do for a Scout what he can do for himself - decisions included.

Your kit is a tad advanced for Wolf/Bear Cub Scouts, but good for Webelos. I'm not sure I'd give Webelos the purifier tablets. I'd be focusing heavily on teaching them to tell people where their going and to stay put when lost.

Up through Bear I think following Doug Ritter's "Kid's Survival" advice and his kid's survival kit is by far the best advice I've found. A decent loud whistle, a few big bright (orange or blue) plastic bags, water, a bright pocket flashlight (headlamp???), and a bright (orange or blue) bandanna. That's a great kit for anyone.

In the Webelos years you can add a knife, simple (button?) compass, simple first aid kit (band aids, pads, tape, antibacterial ointment, tweezers, soap in a baggie, and some nitrile gloves of reasonable size). Teach basic first aid.

In Webelos 2 you could add a basic baseplate compass and a ferriconium rod/striker, and some cotton/PJ fire starters. Somewhere in Webelos start teaching them how to light matches (kids don't learn how at home) and campfires. That gives them most of the Scout Outdoor Essentials ... which is a nice kit with a few added items (esp. the whistle).

Enjoy the boys ... man do they grow up fast!!!

Ken

Fantastic kit Mark! Nice price point too. The only other thing I might add is a disposable poncho BUT - you've got garbage bags in there, which encourage them to be a bit creative AND - a poncho is going to add to your costs SO - I get it.

I LOVE that you are making this a year long project. that will really bring it to life for the kids.

Well done!
YIS

I love the idea of making them carry the psk when you're out as a pack. that's a great way to start a great - and easy - habit. it's also a great way to mesh the components of the program together.

Ken,

I think you hit the nail on the head perfectly...

Mike

Ken,

Some good advice. FWIW, the kit was originally designed with webelos and bears in mind. That said, based on yours and others recommendations here, we have come up with modified versions for the tigers and wolves, with additional gear they can add as they progress through the ranks. Also as the weather turns warmer we will be doing more of our meeting activities outside close to our school's football field. I thought the kids might have some fun trying to flash their signal mirrors at each other across the length of the field. Some whistle testing will probably also result.

Speaking of whistles, I didn't want to hi-jack Jeanette's whistle thread here so I will ask my question on this thread. Would the TOPS Whistle or Blast's ACR Res-Q Whistle be good for wooded areas? It appears they would be but there is a lot of data in the thread and I am not really sure but I would really like to know. Also, I think the whistles we have already are comparable in construction to the tops but I would like to check that out to be sure ... for the kids's sakes.

oops sorry ajax, meant to do this before. The container is a bit larger than an altoids tin, roughly external dimensions are 1 and 1/2 inches tall, by 3 and 1/4 wide at it's widest by 4 and 3/4 inches long.

This thread is a perfect example of why Equipped To Survive is such a great forum and place to ask, share & learn. Thanks to everyone who participates in this and the myriad of other threads in a like manner. An extra special Thank You to Doug and the other "behind the scenes" staff that make this place possible.

Regards,
Commanche7

One last bump for this one and I'll call it a day. Just wanted to thank everyone again for all their input and suggestions. The boys loved their kits and I didn't even have to ask or argue with the cubmaster - he chimed in and told them he wanted the boys to bring them on the upcoming spring campout in May. Might still have to push for the no gear = no participation rule but I'm working on it. Wish I had brought a camera and took pictures. Oh well maybe next time. Thanks again to everyone here on ETS.