childrens books?

[Little Mole]

My nine-year-old son has asked me for a pocket sized survival guide for children. I would buy him the sas survival guide but their description of the recovery position is faulty and it's not really for kids. Has anyone seen anything suitable? He's interested in edible wild foods and despairs at how ruined our modern world is. He loves watching "the survival channel" as he calls Ray Mears programs and wants a real knife when he's twelve. He says his swiss army knife is pretty good but it's too small. :roll:


Anyway...can anyone recommend or will I have to write one myself?

 

[TheViking]

I would buy him the sas survival guide but their description of the recovery position is faulty and it's not really for kids.

Grrr.... ): It's OK. I don't see myself as a kid, but teenager. :biggthump Erm, why don't you teach him about edible wild plants?

If he thinks that his SAK is too small then buy him this fellow. :yikes: Whoops, wrong pic. :?: Go for a locking folder SAK.

 

[Little Mole]

I am teaching him but he wants something he can refer to when I'm not around. Remember he's only nine and the SAS book would probably be to wordy for him. He would need something with lots of clear pictures.

 

[Tantalus]

dont the scouts still do stuff like that?

i used to have a collection of em, first aid, knots, fires and axes etc etc

Tant

 

[Little Mole]

Yes they probably do but apart from second hand bookshops I'm not sure where I'd find something like that. I suppose I could send him to join the scouts but he's not really a club person. Chip off the old block really.

 

[tomtom]

ray sells scouting for boys!

 

[Little Mole]

A roughly composed hodge-podge of jingoist lore and tracker legend, padded with lengthy quotations from adventure fiction and B.-P.'s own autobiography

Jack isn't that far advanced as a reader. He does like Ray's books but needs something he can carry around in his schoolbag.

 

[Little Mole]

Look what I found.

 

[al]

why not get him the survival hand book from woodlore , so he has his own signed copy , my nephews love ray mears so thats whet they are getting for christmas, one can have the survival and the other the essential bushcraft, and its got extra cred as far as lads go as its signed,just a thought, just read back, they shouold fit a satchell too

 

[Kath]

My kids have loads of Collins plant, flower, bird, mammal, identification books that they carry. Plus some others:

Food for Free Gem

Kids Outdoors Not bushcraft, more trail hiking, camping etc, but covers a lot of basics. Not pocket sized.

Hiking for Beginners - Good for navigation skills, route planning, etc.

Some of them are out of print but might be available 2nd hand.

HTH! :biggthump

 

[Little Mole]

Food for Free...perfect. I'd forgotten we had that as kids. Well...I'm glad there's a good selection to choose from.

 

[Tantalus]

particularly reccomend the food for free one as it describes british plants and not american ones

frustrating to read about american plants and their edibility but not be able to find em

Tant

 

[Moonraker]

Yes they probably do but apart from second hand bookshops I'm not sure where I'd find something like that. I suppose I could send him to join the scouts but he's not really a club person. Chip off the old block really.

It's your lucky night Little Mole . There is TONS of scouting stuff available as Tant describes online and FREE!. They are not exactly kiddy friendly but contain great info for not just how to learn skills but also helpful advice on how to teach them. Some of it is not for me but really a useful resource. The ones Tant refers to are under the 'Scouts Skills' titles.

I print them out and use the diagrams to help teach my kids as the text is a little heavy.

The direct link to these is:

Scout Fact Sheets

Here is the relevant part of the (large) list of resources:

FS315074
Scout Skills - Compass
Part of the Scouting Skills pack showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.84
Oct-01

FS315075
Scout Skills - Basic Cooking
Part of the Scouting Skills series showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.73
Jan 04

FS315076
Scout Skills - Fire Lighting
Part of the Scouting Skills series showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.55
May 04

FS315077
Scout Skills - Simple First Aid
Part of the Scouting Skills pack showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.55
Oct-01

FS315078
Scout Skills - Hiking
Part of the Scouting Skills series showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.66
Apr 04

FS315080
Scout Skills - Lashings
Part of the Scouting Skills pack showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.66
Oct-01

FS315081
Scout Skills - Mapping
Part of the Scouting Skills pack showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.55
Oct-01

FS315082
Scout Skills - Simple Knots
Part of the Scouting Skills pack showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.73
Oct-01

FS315083
Scout Skills - Route Planning for Hikes
Part of the Scouting Skills pack showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.55
Oct-01

FS315087
Scout Skills - Training Aids
Part of the Scouting Skills series showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.92
Apr 04

FS315088
Scout Skills - Wide Games
Part of the Scouting Skills series showing how to teach yourself and train others
£0.55
Apr 04

The reference to prices is for printed versions. They are all freely available to download as PDF's.

And to be honest these are simply great guides to learn basic skills and that's what I am using them for. Not just to learn skills to teach my kids but teach myself

Thanks Scouts :biggthump

Other places to look are Equipped.com kids section:

A Kid's Wilderness Survival Primer

and

Kid's Don't-Leave-Home-Without-It Equipment

Nicely presented with lots of photos.

How about a kids book written by a ex-SAS officer, Chris Ryan? Well I have not seen them myself but the comments on Amazon look encouraging. basically adventure stories for kids with SAS tactics included.

Here is the link to the publishers web site (and check out amazon.co.uk for comments by kids on this book and others:

Alpha Force: Survival

Finally if you are considering knives for the kidslike me ( Jasper is 6 and Amy is 8) Opinel of France do a one with a rounded tip which is inexpensive (€7.80/ £5.30) but using same materials as normal Opi:

Opinel Knife No.7 Children's Knife

I have seen one and the lack of sharp tip but sharp, easy to sharpen blade, really was a nice compromise.

 

[ScottC]

How about a kids book written by a ex-SAS officer, Chris Ryan? Well I have not seen them myself but the comments on Amazon look encouraging. basically adventure stories for kids with SAS tactics included.

Here is the link to the publishers web site (and check out amazon.co.uk for comments by kids on this book and others:

Alpha Force: Survival

I've read some of these and they do have some mention to survival skills being put to use but are more adventerous than anything else. Still, they are good for a young reader with those sorts of interests.

 

[Little Mole]

Excellent Moonraker, thank you.

 

[HAM]

Little Mole,

Not so much a text book, but at 9 years old the childrens novel "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George will be an enthralling read. It was definitely the start of my interest in Bushcraft when I was about that age. I've bought it and its sequels for my daughter - who is 3 years old. I'm planning ahead in case these books go the way of that other amazing childrens book - "The Boy With the Bronze Axe" which is now out of print (the cheapest 2nd hand paper back copy i can find is in the region of £50 !!).

 

[jamesdevine]

Hi Little Mole,

Why not the new Scouting trail for Scouting Ireland. It's about €15 from the Scout Shop. Lots of good pics all colour so good little projects for carving etc. The Bow and Drill stance diagram is incorrect but other then that I have found no other failings. You don't have to join to buy it and they have some handy booklets in there as well that might be worth looking at.

James

 

[Little Mole]

Where's the Scout Shop?


BTW thank you all for your suggestions.