NT kids den kit cheaper options??

[Erbswurst]

This stuff I would use myself and would also gift it to my nephew, because he can use it several years long.

It's a bit more expensive, but without any doubt worth the investment in REAL EQUIPMENT.

I own most of it, by the way.

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[Dogoak]

I know this idea's not going to fit in a bag but it could be very cheap and an ongoing project with practical skills learnt in the process, my lad loved his 'permanent' den.

I'm guessing you have the basic tools. Just go and find some old pallets, there's always folk wanted rid, get a tarp and some big stones to hold it down. If you really wanted you could just dismantle other pallets and clad the sides and do an overlapped plank roof, much more environmentally friendly. Apart transport costs, you might have to buy a bag of nails!

 

[oldtimer]

Like me and their fathers, my grandchildren assembled their own so they knew what every bit was for.

 

[Erbswurst]

In my experience the interest of children awakes in the following order:

1. Hide and seek.
2. Shelters
3. Fire
4. Carving
5. Hiking
6. Overnighters
7. Saw and hatchet
8. Knots and tent sheets
9. Cooking
10. Trekking

Animals, traces, plant ID grows step by step from the beginning.

The gifts should follow this order.

Of course does the child need a cup and a bottle but it will not appreciate it, before it's 10 or even 12 years old.

But a knife, a ferrocerium rod, just a box of matches are the greatest in the world for a 6 to 10 years old child.

 

[TLM]

As such the kit is not bad just overpriced. Do you have a surplus store close? I think you would get equivalent at half the price or more at the price. The tarp should be a bit bigger to actually cover something. It is a big let down if at first rain you cannot hide yourself properly underneath it.

 

[Erbswurst]

What do we recommend?
2x3m is a usual olive green building site or garden tarp. One can get it in nearly every hardware shop and often enough from Aldi too.

Is it large enough?

 

[TLM]

I think 2*2 m is about the minimum anything over, ok.

 

[Erbswurst]

2x3 m costs in a usual German hardware shop only 6,34 €.

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[Erbswurst]

Such a bag costs 6 £ here.

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[Tengu]

[QUOTE"things to do before you're 11 and ¾"][/QUOTE]

Im not missing anything, am I?

 

[Paul_B]

It's a leaflet NT gives out to kids with a ticklist of outdoor activities to do before you're that age. I think it's their version of a book along the same lines that came out a good few years back. Both the book and the leaflet have 50 activities in a few categories. Things like to crabbing, dam a stream, camp out...

My son started one then lost it and started another. Turns out he was well on the way before we got it. Lost interest in it now but we still do the sort of things in that leaflet. It's been a bit start in raising his interest in things outdoors.

 

[Tengu]

Ah.

It sounds too structured.

(And what is the adult sized one like?)

 

[Paul_B]

Who days the adult can't do the kid's version too? Do we grow up or just play with new toys?

 

[Toddy]

I gave mine rope, but taught them how to make it too, and make nets, etc.,
I gave them knives, but my brother taught them how to make them, use them, keep them sound.
I gave them mugs, and cutlery, but showed them how to find clay, to make the pots and carve the cutlery.
I taught them how to make fire, and then my bother showed them how to use chemicals to do it quicker.....

The list goes on but I still think it's valid and the boys had a lot of fun as they learned to be able and capable

I hope you and your son have a lot of fun on the way

M

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm not certain what such a kit should contain.
Best judged by the age of the kid and their interest level.
Cheap kit has to be frustrating. Good kit can be absorbed into the family inventory.
Good kit has memory and familiarity from one trip to the next.

This is what happened to us boys:

Waxed canvas was the only tarps to be had as a child.
Rope. That meant learning a few knots and needing more.
Shelter is up, out of the wind. Spruce bough bedding.

Hatchet for each of us to prepare wood for fires for warmth and cooking.
Make fire.
One "hunting knife" each for all the little things.
Potatoes in the edge of the coals. Meat on greenwood sticks. Even fish in clay jackets.

I believe that we were pretty much left to our own devices for the above.
At the same time, hit and miss, our parents made timely suggestions to keep us making progress.

I miss this. We still go on camping and fishing trips into northern Canada. Living is easy.
My grandsons are 6 years old now. Time they began their outdoor learning.

 

[Stew]

Ah.

It sounds too structured.

(And what is the adult sized one like?)

It’s not that structured as you can interpret activities as you like. It’s a good little thing for inspiring people to try different activities. I think it’s a really good idea and I’m sure it’s got adults and kids alike doing more than they did before. My kids have the books. They’ve done some but not all and that’s fine as it’s just a bit of fun.

 

[Broch]

It's a fine balance with kids IMO. Give them opportunity and ignite their imagination but don't push them; if you do, you just turn them off and it's a long road to get them back.

I can remember my grandfather when I was a nipper: he would be doing something and I never realised he was teaching me; I'd just be watching. Then, he'd leave a few bits around and walk away - of course, I did what all kids would do and 'had a go'. It used the natural tendency for all kids to try and do things that adults do especially if they thought they weren't supposed to. My mother used the same method; at five I would be cooking on a campfire unsupervised (or so I thought; I suspect she was watching from somewhere).

 

[Paul_B]

The NT activity list is very much about do what you want but it's the ideas in one place that mattered. In our case it became a challenge to tick was much off. Our son is kind of competitive with himself in that way? For a year or two he was obsessed? Every weekend another tick if we could. Weekends away meant quite a few ticks. Mostly though we repeated previous activities that we liked. Especially things like damming streams, making dens, looking at wildlife, etc. It's a good start to an active, outdoors life.

We were fortunate in that our son really liked being outdoors as a youngster. Unfortunately he's kind of backed off a little. Curse of Minecraft and Ninjago!!!! That and a Lego obsession. I could probably have bought 5 msr muttha Hubba tents for the new price of his Lego collection!!!

He's nearly 8 but we've b not let him cook or use sharp knives. Over protective mother has her doubts over him being ready. She doesn't know I'm looking at Opinel kids knife with the blunt tip. She'll not be too keen about that. I think I was 9 when I got a two blade pocket knife. The kind that can snap shut too easily on n your fingers. At least Opinel are safer. Even I could do with a blunt one. I often cut myself on the top of my Opinel, no other knife just that brand.

 

[TLM]

It is not the sharp tip that is the problem wth a beginner, also it is my experience that sharp edged knives are safer than dull.

 

[Tengu]

As I say to my friends; Computers are rainy day toys.