"No knife" bushcrafty activities ideas please

[Ruud]

A game we did in Belgium was 'Capture the flag'. It was an all nighter starting at around 22:00 o'clock. In the day both parties, defenders and attackers, choose a location of where the flag is to be planted. After that a circle surrounding the flag is made with tape. The outside of the circle is about 15 meters from where the flag is standing.

Attackers need to steal the flag in a certain timeframe. If the flag is stolen by the time they get into the circle, they can leave a personal message inside the circle (where the flag originally was) to prove that they also were able to sneak all the way into the defenders' camp.

Defenders need to stop the attackers from entering the circle. They need to give attackers a tap on the back to let them know that they have been spotted.

Defenders are not allowed to enter the circle. If they spot an attacker crawling inside the circle they may throw a pinecone in their direction making it obvious for the attacker that he has been spotted. FairPlay is a must.

The great thing about this game was that I can say that I have literally laid on a forest floor in the middle of the night for hours on end, using my hearing, sight and smell to try to evade the defenders. I remember this being pretty exhilarating as a youngster, especially when defenders are searching for you and step over you, thinking you are a log. The role as a defender is also great to play, as you sit there quiet, against a tree, hearing attackers sneaking closer. Setting tripwires with cans on the end is allowed!

 

[Mowmow]

Might see if i can try the sniper and capture the flag games with my mates haha, we're not exactly kids anymore (im the youngest at 23 and they're all quite a bit older than me) but those sound great

Will make a pleasant change to just sitting around the fire, getting drunk lol you're never too old to play in the woods.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[santaman2000]

Maybe land navigation skills? Map, compass, etc.

 

[fhaggis]

Can you suggest any bushcrafty activities that don't involve edged tools for use with early to mid teens. They aren't safe with knives (long story).

Give me your ideas!

teach them ho to use them properly and they will be safe. there knifes, teach them to see them as tools and not weapons!

 

[Mr Wolf]

Hiking or geocashing.

 

[Tiley]

There's not much wrong with plant/tree identification. The Woodland Trust has a useful sheet you can download and print off; you then send them out to look for examples of as many examples as they can find. Building on that, you then teach them the taxonomic names and perhaps run a little quiz...

Another thing that is good fun to do is a stalking game. You put a metal spoon in a Crusader cup or metal mess tin and place this in front of a blind-folded volunteer, who is also 'armed' with a water pistol. The others pull back 10 - 15m and have to move as silently as possible with a view to getting the spoon. If the volunteer hears any movement, he/she shoots the water pistol; if the noise maker gets wet, they return to their starting point to try again. It encourages them to be quiet in the woods (not always easy for folk in general, let alone teenagers!) and so can bring them closer to a lot of the wildlife living there.

 

[Kepis]

Bushcraft Alphabet.

Print some forms off that have the alphabet on them with a little space next to each letter to write something, give a sheet to each kid/pair/group along with a rubbish sack, send them off to the area you are operating in and tell them to find something that begins with each letter of the alphabet, they have 30 minutes to collect and id as many items as they can, items can be natural or manmade, they then place the item in the bag but have to write down what it is and what it could be used for, so for instance, a tin can, can be used to collect and boil water, cook food, hobo stove etc etc etc.

Not only do they get to think outside of the box as to multiple use items, but they also unknowingly go litter picking at the same time, ive done this project on numerous occasions and its great fun, gets them thinking and some of the uses they come up with are an education for the adults as much as the kids. Obviously they shouldn't collect anything that poses a health risk, for this have a few adult helpers around and tell the kids if in doubt ask one of the adults before touching, gloves or litter pickers are recommended.

 

[Greg]

Are laplander saws out of the question?
As you can do a lot of things with a laplander that you'd normally use a knife for.

 

[Erbswurst]

Usually you don't need a knife for bushcraft.

Take a metal spoon with you and cut the cordage at home in useful length and it's fine!

A knife makes a lot of things easier, but it isn't necessary.

If you have to cut something, you can cut it with a stone.

 

[hanzo]

Teenagers? Maybe start be teaching them awareness and safety so that they CAN learn to use edged tools. Taught my girls about knife and axe safety from when they were quite little. They are teenagers themselves now and are fine with edged tools. Start with the blood circle and not to be stupid with and around anything that can harm them or someone else.

Common sense and safety lessons can translate to all other activities.

I only suggest that because if they are that age and you have that degree of concern, go back to something basic like safety and common sense.

 

[Janne]

The original poster has not been visible here for 6 months, I guess our suggestions were not of his liking!

 

[hanzo]

The original poster has not been visible here for 6 months, I guess our suggestions were not of his liking!

I have not been on the forum for quite some time myself and am just getting reacquainted.

 

[Janne]

In that case - welcome back!

 

[Van-Wild]

Antonymous, here are a few (about 15) I could think of after a quick search. Hopefully one of them will pique your interest. I'm sure you can come up with a number of exciting activities that don't require using a knife.

1. Do a Nature Scavenger Hunt
https://www.natureoutside.com/nature-scavenger-hunt-still-good-free-download/

2. Build a natural shelter
https://www.natureoutside.com/how-to-build-a-debris-hut/

3. Turn acorns into spinning tops
https://www.natureoutside.com/turn-acorns-into-spinning-tops-in-just-10-minutes-childrens-toys/

4. Practice some simple wilderness first aid
https://www.natureoutside.com/wilderness-first-aid-and-the-duty-of-care-to-yourself/

5. Create your own field guide and then go look for the creatures (North American Example)
https://www.natureoutside.com/create-your-own-field-guide/

6. Tracking - Practice some simple animal tracking
https://www.natureoutside.com/10-second-tracking/

7. Tracking - Make a plaster cast of an animal track
https://www.natureoutside.com/fox-tracks-in-a-salt-marsh-making-plaster-casts/

8. Make clapper sticks
https://www.natureoutside.com/clapper-sticks/

9. Navigation - Use the sun to find your way
https://www.natureoutside.com/3-clever-tricks-use-sun-hiking/

10. Navigation - Do some simple exercises
https://www.natureoutside.com/put-red-fred-in-the-shed/

11. Learn to nature journal
https://www.natureoutside.com/5-rea...eep-a-journal-and-my-secret-for-how-to-do-it/

12. Select a traditional skill to try
https://www.natureoutside.com/10-traditional-skills-you-should-learn/

13. Leather - Make a deerskin pouch
https://www.natureoutside.com/how-to-make-a-deerskin-pouch-5-easy-steps/

14. Leather - Make bookmarks (does anybody read books anymore?)
https://www.natureoutside.com/simple-leather-project-coyote-and-night/

15. Practice using a firesteel (depends on maturity of children)
https://www.natureoutside.com/how-to-use-a-firesteel/

16. Make a skin salve from locally wild ingredients
https://www.natureoutside.com/making-a-skin-salve/

I hope this helps.

- Woodsorrel

Brilliant set of ideas!

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Robson Valley]

Maps and compass. Getting lost makes you look silly and in need of mother's apron strings.
Hard-copy paper maps. Then you make a photocopy for everybody. No satellites, no batteries needed, ever.
Get into geo-caching if you like. Everybody has a good compass.

Lakes full of islands in the Taiga look the same in every direction. Try Otter Lake/Churchill River.
Get in and out of Frog Narrows without messing up. HBC Fur trading water route.

Just a few days back, SAR in North Vancouver, BC had to find and extract a pair of lost day hikers.
Turned out that they were depending on trail markers. Vandals had removed a bunch of marks,
they took a wrong turn into never-never land (steep mountainsides and drop-off gullies into snowy creeks.)

If you are walking on reasonably level ground, do you know the length of your stride? Count steps.
One more bit of real bushcraft that's useful.

 

[Janne]

Geocaching?

We used to call it orienteering.
Map, compass. Get to specific points, where a marker was pre placed.

Forget making fire using steel and flint. Forget recognizing the extrement of animals.

The single most important skill is using a map and compass.
A life saving skill.

 

[Robson Valley]

Nope. Landmarks are sometimes the smallest things, more than a mile away.
That's the whole reason for bent woods and lobstick trees. = There's nothing else.
We take bearings over a paddle on our shoulders and hope and pray that it matches stuff on the map.

Take off for Hunter Bay from LaRonge. It is over the curve of the earth.
You can't see your destination. You have 20-25 miles of open water. Now what?

 

[Clayze]

Many moons ago my youth club in Central London organized a few days away in Wales.
We were a group but as individuals had very different levels of enthusiasm for the activites arranged for us.
Suffice to say this led to some slightly fraught moments although nothing really untoward. However cooking outdoors...that was a real leveller.I can't remember anyone trying to get out of that

 

[santaman2000]

Geocaching?

We used to call it orienteering.
Map, compass. Get to specific points, where a marker was pre placed.

Forget making fire using steel and flint. Forget recognizing the extrement of animals.

The single most important skill is using a map and compass.
A life saving skill.

Not quite the same. In Orienteering the markers are plain and obvious. It simply tests your ability to get to the location.

Geocaching, on the other hand, means you've "cached' a hidden treasure that still must be found after you reach the coordinates.

 

[Van-Wild]

I love Geocaching. It's a very good reason to take a walk away from the van.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk