The Paranoid Dad and I have been brainstorming ideas for having a richer holiday experience with the kids without a huge emphasis on gifts and getting.  My son, in particular, needs to learn more about the joy of giving and the joy of this beautiful season.  We’ve come up with a list of twelve family activities to incorporate into the next three weeks or so.  Not surprisingly, some of these have a “preparedness” theme, but others are just for fun.  I’ll be posting one each day for the next twelve days.  Hope they inspire you and your family!

Day 1, A new craft for your kids

Make the most of your kids’ Christmas vacation …or Winter Holiday or Solstice Observation Days or whatever term your local school district is using these days!  Your kids have about fourteen uninterrupted days at home, and no doubt you’ll start hearing complaints about boredom and how there’s nothing to do.  Start planning ahead right now to teach them at least one new craft skill that might also help them create gifts for family members or friends.  Don’t worry about being an expert yourself.  It’s even more fun when parents and kids learn something new together!

image by shaletann

Some of the practical skills you might consider are sewing, ” target=”_blank”>knitting, macrame, leathercraft, woodworking, and string art.  I’ve seen beautiful works of art by kids of stained glass, ” target=”_blank”>mosaics, and punched tin, and many kids enjoy making their own silk flower arrangements.  Quilting, crochet, carpentry, and calligraphy are worthwhile skills that can be enjoyed for a lifetime.

For supplies, check out eBay, garage sales, and Craigslist and watch for craft store coupons.  Even better, find a family friend or relative who can teach a new skill to your kids.  Before your young’uns even say the words, “I’m bored!”, be ready with craft supplies to keep them busy and productive!  If the craft has practical applications, such as knitting, so much the better.

© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by D'Arcy Norman

Sometimes I find myself taking on more responsibility around the house than I really should, especially with kids who are 10 and 12 years old.  Now that most kids around the country will soon be on holiday break, or Christmas break, if your school is politically incorrect, there’s no reason for they can’t jump in and help with your preparedness efforts.  After all, within just 2 or 3 days, they’ll be whining, “I’m bored!”  Here are a few tasks that will keep them busy and build a sense of teamwork and shared responsibility in your home.

1. Put them in charge of organizing your pantry and food storage areas.  If you have boxes of #10 cans from one of the many food storage companies out there, such as Shelf Reliance, they can easily write a list on the outside of the box telling what’s inside.
2. Assign them the duty of rotating groups of food by bringing the back cans to the front.
3. Along the same lines, hand them black Sharpies and tell them to circle the expiration dates on food and other supplies.
4. Older kids can find new recipes that use only foods in your pantry and prepare them for meals.
5. Kids of all ages can go through their closets, drawers, and pile of shoes and look for items that are too small or that they don’t like.  Decluttering is a huge step in being better prepared, and why should you do all the work?
6. Have each kid prepare their own Bug Out Bag.  They can use this list and get your approval before actually packing the duffel bag, backpack, or other satchel.
7. If you live near sporting goods stores such as R.E.I., Cabela’s, or a Bass Pro Shop, older kids can go to their websites or call the store directly and find out what classes might be scheduled during the holiday break.  Typically, these types of stores offer classes in Dutch oven cooking, orienteering, fly fishing, wilderness survival, and a lot more.
8. If your kid is tech-savvy, have him or her transfer favorite tunes from CDs to an MP3 player or iPod.  Then, store the player in a Farraday cage.
9. Assign them the task of putting together a vehicle emergency kit.
10. Every day is a good day to begin learning a new skill.  Boys and girls can learn to knit, sew, embroider, and so much more.  Look for training videos online, acquire the necessary supplies, and then tell them to get busy.  You, as the parent or grandparent, don’t need to know everything.  Instead, think about skills as a pool that everyone contributes to.

Assign several of these tasks and then sit back, relax, and eat a few bonbons.

*I heard my mom use this phrase, “No rest for the wicked,” throughout my childhood, but it wasn’t until just this week that I bothered to research its origin.  Turns out it’s a quote from the Bible as well as the title of songs, short stories, books, albums, and even a webcomic.

© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

image by AlaskaTeacher

My kids have had their sleds lined up by the garage door since Thanksgiving.  They’ve been trying on their snow clothes and eyeing new ski jackets in the L.L. Bean catalog and are ready to get out in the snow and burn some serious calories!  I love to watch them play in the snow and ski down a (slightly elevated) hill, but the SurvivalMom in me wants to make sure they also have some winter survival skills.  Combining the fun of winter sports and outdoor activities with a few survival lessons is my sneaky way of making sure they know what to do if ever they find themselves in trouble.

Some specific skills and knowledge I want them to have are:

• how to prepare before going out into winter weather
• what to do first if you ever feel you’re in danger
• the four basics of survival: warmth, shelter, food and water

Above all, I want my kids to know how to make it easy for rescuers to find them.  When there’s a chance they’ll be out of my sight, say, when they’re skiing or tramping through the woods, I want them to have a small survival kit with them.  Just in case.

Once kids are on their December break, putting together individual Winter Survival Kits is a sure-fire activity to keep them occupied.  These are small enough to be carried in backpacks or fanny packs, and kids love having something important that is all their own. It’s important to keep in mind that the most essential piece of survival equipment is knowledge.  Make sure your kids know what to do with each item if they’re ever in an emergency situation.  Here is what you’ll need to make up these kits.

a bright colored bandana or similar size cloth

a whistle

a small, powerful flashlight

2 hand-warmers and 2 toe-warmers

2 high calorie energy bars

a small bottle of water (Once it’s empty, it can be filled with snow for more drinking water.)

a large black trash bag (use as an emergency blanket or shelter)

a pocketknife

small packet of tissues (emergency toilet paper, runny noses, etc.)

Put all these items in a large zip-loc bag or small nylon sack, and it’s finished.  In no way is this meant to be provisions for long-term survival!  It’s filled with just enough essential items to help a child signal for help and stay occupied until rescue arrives.  For older kids, you might add a firestarter, a few tablets of over-the-counter pain medication (in case there’s been an injury), and additional food and water.

Older kids will enjoy this video of how to make a small survival stove using a couple of cans, toilet paper, and alcohol, and this video from Shiloh Productions has multiple survival tips designed to help kids survive the wilderness.

Bob Mayne’s most recent podcast features numerous practical tips for surviving in the wilderness.  Much of what he says is just great survival advice for any age, anywhere.  My son was most impressed with Bob’s comment on the need to avoid boredom in emergency situations.  ”See, Mom!  I told you I need a DS!  I can keep it in my emergency bag!”

Wildwood Survival, a fabulous site with over 500 pages of wilderness survival advice, has this page devoted to winter survival including directions for building a snow coffin!  There’s even a section devoted to teaching survival skills to children.

Sometimes parents have to be sneaky in order to teach our kids what they must know.  Now that winter is in full swing, take advantage of the colder weather to teach important survival skills your kids will never forget.

© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Guest post by Liz Long.

Survive at Sea!

Survive in the Jungle!

Survive on a Desert Island!

This mini-series of books by Claire Llewellyn is called Survival Challenge.  These books can be used as a learning tool for kids without the need for any adult supervision or input. T

image by egroj

The premise is that you, the reader, finds herself in a precarious situation.  Depending on the book you are are cast adrift on the open ocean, lost in the jungle, or lost in the desert, and all you have with you is a backpack with a few useful things inside (They give you a list, complete with pictures). It will be twelve days before help arrives, and there is a different task or set of tasks for each day and they generally build on each other. The book starts with the supply list of readily available items such as binoculars, rope, plastic bags, string, a towel, etc.  and starts with a challenge to find or create shelter

Of course, depending on where you live, some activities are more do-able than others. Realistically, we won’t be doing all of the Survive at Sea! challenges because we don’t have a raft or anywhere to sail it, but for a family near the coast or a lake or pond, this might be a great exercise. Even for our land-locked family, there are activities such as avoiding sunstroke that are good skills to have no matter where you are. Others may need modification.  Around my family’s home, the old-growth Mid-Atlantic woods do not have any trees with giant leaves like the ones used to build a shelter in the Survive in the Jungle! book, but we can still build a shelter appropriate to our area.

This book series is out of print but is still available on half.com from third party sellers. There are both spiral bound (around $3) and hard bound (around $15) copies listed, but they are actually the same thing. It’s just a matter of how the seller chose to list them.  Hopefully this series will help you family make some fun and happy memories while your kids (and you) learn or hone some practical survival skills!  What a fun way to end the summer!

© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Guest post by Liz Long.

image by Lin Pernille Photography

Summer vacation is starting – soon! Summer camp can be hundreds of dollars a week. As great as those experiences can be and as much as kids can learn, it can quickly add up to too much money. My boys are signed up for some camps, mostly half day, and definitely not an entire summer’s worth. That leaves a lot of time for them to drive me insane and get really bored. My plan? Trading kids! Really. I’m going to give my five year old to another mom and take her nine year old for some afternoons throughout the summer. She has sons the same age as my boys, so they will all have friends their age to hang out with.

I’m going to use things I have bought and stuck in a closet to give them little “camps” at my house with different themes. Whenever there is something appropriate (like building forts – aka shelters – in the wood), we can have all the kids play together for “camp.”

I plan to use the three Survival Challenge books by Claire Llewellyn to design part of it. These are focused on outdoor survival skills, albeit in situations my kids are unlikely to ever really encounter. It doesn’t matter, though, that they can’t use giant jungle leaves to build a shelter (“Survive in the Jungle”) if they figure out how to make one using what is available in the woods near us. Likewise, learning how to make a solar still as described in “Survive at Sea” is good knowledge even though we are in a land-locked area where they will not need to know how to care for a jellyfish sting. I don’t expect to go fishing, but we may try making a fishing net from an old t-shirt (“Survive on a Desert Island”) to catch tadpoles. (For tadpoles, I plan on using old baby shirts.)

With a travel theme, a “Mexico” week could include making tortillas and an evasive NERF course for learning to evade a hail of bullets. Politically insensitive, no doubt, but I have boys and boys love NERF. A “London” camp could include acting out a play like you’re at Globe’s Theater, building your own bomb shelter (fort!) like many WWII era books and movies include (Narnia and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, for instance), or designing your own royal wedding and wardrobe.

image by e pants

Cooking could include outdoor cooking, no-cook cooking, baking, dehydrating (and rehydrating), and cake decorating. (My boys love baking because they can eat what they bake.) Spy Camp could include treasure hunts, pre-packaged murder mysteries like the dinner party kits, an evasive bike-riding course, and more NERF. I bought the “whodunit? lab” from Discovery Kids (crime lab experiments including fingerprinting) and will use that for one week. It’s out of production but I found it on eBay.

Other possibilities include cooking, cake decorating (“Ace of Cakes”!), working on cub scouts pins, photography, crafts like weaving and spinning, wood working, and gardening. The choices are limited only by your imagination and the skills you know or are interested in learning.

Summer Camps are great, and they definitely provide sanity breaks if you’re home full-time with your kids, but doing your own Camp Mama (or Papa or Grandparent) allows you to teach your kids specific skills, cater to their interests, and share something you love with your kids. I’m a poor swimmer at my best, so sending the kids to swim camp instead of trying to teach them myself is a no-brainer, but the whodunit? lab looked wicked cool and we never have time to try it during the school year, so doing that as a camp is equally a no-brainer. And of course, they’ll need plenty of time to just kick back, relax, have some Wii tournaments with their friends, and enjoy their free time during summer vacation. With a little luck, so can Mama!

© 2011 – 2012, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

I’ve discovered a wonderful disaster preparedness curriculum for families with children, Masters of Disaster.  This program has been developed by the American Red Cross and includes fantastic online resources and free printable activities for children ages 5-14.  Activities focus on such disasters as tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes and give age-appropriate information and tips.  What a great resource!

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

My son has the heart of an adventurer, a hero.  When he was only two, he made a “gun” out of a pizza crust, and I knew, then, that there was no point in fighting it.  Instead, I’ve given him my blessing and permission to be all boy!

A few months ago, I found a book that speaks to that adventurous heart of his, The American Boy’s Handy Book.  It’s a new edition of a classic book first published in 1882.  My little guy has studied knot-tying techniques, how to spear fish, and snowball warfare.  He’s even tried to teach our Basenji to retrieve using ideas in Chapter 24!

The book has thirty-one chapters chock-full of ideas to keep your adventure-loving boy busy while learning practical, timeless skills.

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

A guest post by Liz Long.

I’ll admit that I haven’t exactly combed through every gardening and alternative medicine book out there. Who has that kind of time? But Amazon recommended this book to me, A Kid’s Herb Book. As a total newbie to the field, I’m very favorably impressed by it, and since an elderly gardener I know who grew up using herbal remedies in China also really likes it, I think it’s safe to say it’s good for a wide variety of experience levels.

For preppers, it’s great because it doesn’t just focus on popular herbs like oregano and Echinacea. The author, Lesley Tierra, tell how weeds can be useful!  There’s an entire section on the dandelion and its various uses, including uses for eczema and dandelion garlands, although it does skip Dandelion Wine. Herbal remedies are discussed in a fun way.  For example, a recipe for chamomile tea has the heading “Temper Taming Potion”. Who wouldn’t want to check that out? (Chamomile is also good for gas.)

Of all the recipes and suggestions it gives, the one I most want to try is natural root beer. I like my soda – a lot! And mullein is the herb I’d never heard of before that I most want to try in my garden. Reading A Kid’s Herb Book also made me realize that I need to buy gelatin capsules in case I ever need to use them medicinally. There is a recipe for a rice-based food to eat when you’re sick and you’ve lost your appetite but still need to keep up your strength.  I will definitely keep that recipe in mind, SHTF or not.

In addition to practical tips on drying herbs and dosage amounts, it includes fun activities like making herbal baths, pressed flowers, and “dream pillows” (similar to sachets). It is targeted at kids, after all, and Lesley Tierra doesn’t forget that. There are fun facts throughout the book, and the writing is accessible and, well, fun.

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Call your kids over to watch this well-made, interesting video on wilderness survival for kids. They’ll love it! Check out more from this company at their website, Shiloh Productions .

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

Looking for a fun, practical skill for the whole family to enjoy?  Spend some time online learning about geocaching.  Who could resist the combination of a real treasure hunt with high-tech gadgets?  Your family will learn about longitude and latitude coordinates, map reading skills, the use of a compass, and much more as you track down these hidden containers.

To find geocaches in your area, create a free account at Geocaching.com and plug in your zip code.  You’ll be amazed at how many of these “treasure boxes” are within easy driving distance.  Decide which geocache you’ll track down.  Then grab the kids and a GPS unit, and head out for some educational fun.  Family outings that combine fresh air, nature, and education are the best!

A GPS unit doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.  If you can’t borrow one from a friend, check out my friends, Craigslist, eBay, and Freecycle!  Techies are always upgrading to something bigger and better.  Since you only need a basic unit, you have a good chance of getting a real bargain. 

By the way, while you’re out and about, take along a field guide to identify local flora and fauna, and maybe even a guidebook for locating medicinal and edible plants. 

To get you started, check out these links.

Geocaching Kids

Geocaching.Com

© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.