Playing with fire...and children

This is a small "fire kit" used to train the Grandkinder....


I catch the spark on the end of the wick.


Once the fire is started, the wick is rolled to snuff the burn and the wick stored in an old 35mm film canister. A container from blood test strips works as well.


I show the grand-kiddos to hold the ferrorod/wick combo like this. With the 'coal', we insert into tinder bundle and make fire. I use the cheap bar fire starters as they are easier to hold/control fro younger folks. Once they master starting a fire with the burning wick, I move them up to a round ferro-rod, the one that will go into their 'disaster' kit.

Later, we move to throwing sparks directly into dry tinder to start the fire. The final training phase is to use a Wolf Creek striker (Lisa makes good stuff!) and stone to generate the sparks.

By following this training path, the children learn a skill set by building on success and will use skills from previous lessons to advance to the next phase - this reduces disappointment from failures to reach the desired end point - a fire to cook over.

Once mastered, we get together again in a week or so and make fire using the prior lesson before moving on to the next phase. Repetition is the key to retention. Of course, success repeated is always a good start for the new lesson set.

How do you teach outdoor skills to Kinder?

My touchstone for these lessons is simple - With knowledge, you need not fear.

If you can start a fire, you will not fear the cold.
If you can gather and cook, you will not fear hunger.
If you can pitch a tarp, you will have shelter from the weather.

With these skills you will have self-confidence and can be a better person.

Each child has a kit with 10x10 tarp, a canteen & canteen cup, wool blanket, ground cover and a fire kit. A SAK completes their basic kit set. This is all bound together as a Yukon ruck for storage.

 

There was two girls in the news last week.
They were 9 & 12 if I recall. They got lost for 42 hours.
But they ate, and kept warm. All because parents taught them.
When found, they were just tired and dirty, but not really dehydrated, or hungry.

 

Good on you DKR , these are skills we were taught at their age , but not so much today. I was teaching my daughter outdoor skills when she was young , fire , cooking outdoors ,shelter , fishing , today , it may be just a distant memory for her , I'm not sure she could do it today.

 

I would say you are a pretty good old granddad, @DKR ...

 

One can only do the best they can and hope for best.

Your time is the best gift for a Grandchild,
.

 

Teaching them to think and use basic skills,good on you! Now they won't become dependent snowflakes looking for a safe space!

 

KMnO4 crystals and some glycerin will light up a damp log in a rain storm.

 

Not the thing for a 10 Y/O to play with.

 

well, I learned about it in 5th grade. instead of the vinegar baking soda volcanos .. we used this concoction. Of course, we had to do it inside of the fume hood.

We also got to learn why grain mills blow up and why pure sodium metal does bad things when tossed into a mud puddle outside of the class room.

Yes, the 70s were great! Plus Mr. Gomez was awesome.

 

This is great, it always makes me smile to hear that people are still teaching the younger generations. It might also be fun to teach them how to use a lense for firestarting. I found a 3 pack of plastic fresnel lenses about the size of a credit card and they really will focus a beam tight enough to get tinder going. Even an old magnifying glass works great. I remember being about 8 or so and my dad teaching me how to burn my initials into a scrap 2x10 we had laying around. It was a great memory and could also be a good skill to pass on.