Scouts and bushcraft.....HELP... !!!

[JonnyP]

One of the local scout leaders has contacted me, asking me if I would go and teach bushcraft to 29 scouts.....Ok, there is certainly one or two things I can run through, but can any scouters out there give me some advise ... I helped Bushwackerbob out with some cubs once, but I have never taught before and it is a bit scarey. I love the thought of passing on knowledge of the outdoors to youngsters and inspiring them etc, but I know not how....
Help please....

 

[scanker]

I've nothing to do with scouts but off the top of my head a couple of easy bushcrafty things to teach would be:

Natural tinders for firestarting
Natural cordage using something easy - soft rush is it?
Shelter building
Basic tracking

You don't say how long you have to teach for - is it a one off hour or a series of meetings?

 

[mace242]

You could do different fire lays
Water purification techniques - perhaps digging for water too.
How to put up a tarp - different knots
When I was in the scouts years ago I learned to skin rabbit - I remember it clearly even now and I'm in my thirties.
If you can cook on a fire how about bannock making.
Harvesting nettles and nettle cordage. Show them the nettles being pulled through the hands with no gloves to remove leaves. Kids love that. So do workers in an IT company..

 

[fred gordon]

Jon,
Have a look at this site www.forestschools.com They may have some ideas that might be of interest. They have plenty of experience of working with groups of young people and do lots of things that could be regarded as Bushcraft skills.

 

[Goose]

Gutting fish is good, easier(for me anyway) to get hold of than rabbits and less likely to "traumatise" any of the more sensitive ones. Making fire without matches, firesteel is easiest for them to get the hang of, take plenty of thistledown! Elder whistles if they are allowed to use a decent knife( all depends on the leaders) is somehing they can take home that they have made themselves. Cordage may be difficult to keep the attention of all of the group at once but could be a background activity you could get one of the leaders to take after a demo, if the group is split.
29 is a lot of kids to keep control of,even scouts, good luck!

 

[Fallow Way]

In teaching ancient/wilderness skills to children lots, I find it as that old saying of it is not so much what you teach, but how you teach it.

Forget (as best as is possible) the worry of teaching and see it as a chance to pass on your passion to others, there in is the key, just be passionate, this enthuses others.

I would say do not try to cram too much in or be too ethusiastic. The simplest things work the best.

Yes Forest Schools are good, as i think everyone knows my views on it , but it is very very different to `bushcraft for kids`, although it can use Bushcraft(rather than `does`, as it is just one of many areas it can use, but this is the one everyone latches onto)

My suggestion for a session outline would be to use small acheivable tasks. So rather than start the session by setting up the challange of building this that and other with central heating, hunting and cooking for an army and creating a masterpeice of woodcraft, instead, we are just going to tie these two peices of wood together, well done, now we are just going to do another little bit, etc etc So not only are they accomplishing everything that is set, they have no expectations to fall short of. Should you not get through all the stages, it is something that could be left with them, "hey, perhaps you could see if those bits would all fit together somehow?".

I think the other thing is to really excite their imaginations with what it is like to respect nature, striving to understand it and live within it. This sounds very much liek trying to be a role model, but I feel you have to be what you are trying to instill in others, the skills themselves are just show peices without a strong foundation, and that, is your passion for the subject.

 

[JonnyP]

Thats great advice and just what I was after....Big thanks to you guys....:You_Rock_ I will let you know how it went....

 

[mr dazzler]

Some stuff we did in the scouts years ago (early to mid 70's)
Building shelters, using natural materials
Various knots for specific purposes, pioneering poles, fishing,climbing, rafts etc
cooking on fires, twist's, steamed fish, boil water in a paper bag etc
various fire styles
Making camoflages from available natural materials and try to hide from your mates or get to a position without being seen
Using map and compass, a good way to move from one activity to another if your operating in a large area and you can possibly split into smaller teams, as the man said 29 is a challenge for anyone even with experience, and even 30 odd years ago we were little ***** to say the least and we were split into 5 or 6 patrols
Safe use of axe's and knive's depends on how PC the arrangements are (yes in those days we were allowed to openly carry knives and not a one would even have thouhgt of using one as a weapon)
make a solar still
Just a few thoughts. I expect scouting is different now to what it was 35 years ago?

 

[Fin]

Content has been nicely covered here, so here's one or two instructional tips from an instructor!

1) Prepare, prepare and prepare again:

Get a timeline (how long have you got them for?) and work out what you can do in that time. Younger people have shorter attention spans so plan accordingly. Prepare your location (correct materials for fire making, shelter building etc). Prepare your kit: "OK gang, here's a good example of a Bushcraft knife - Oh ****! - I've left it in the car" - you get the drift - have it to hand and in the right order (incidentally kit demos are a good one - boys love toys!)

2) Rehearse:

No point planning on a half hour fire making presentation and finding you've dried up in 10 minutes. Also rehearse your key phrases (perhaps, with youngsters, you might want to emphasise the knife as a tool as opposed to a weapon, for example.).

3) Get the intro right and the rest will flow. Suggested intro:

Who you are.
Your aim in general ("I'm going to teach you some fundementals about bushcraft")
Explain bushcraft as a concept.
Your aims in detail ("So, to that end I'm going to teach you how to make fire, build a shelter etc etc)

4) Involve your audience by constantly asking questions of individuals:

This prevents the "staring into space" syndrome as they won't know whose next to be asked (they'll pay attention more). The technique for this is called: Question, pause, nominate. For example. "OK having swept the ground, I'm going to place these larger sticks, on the ground as a base for my fire...Why do you think I'm doing that? (pause) - young man on the end there. (If hands go up - select at random). Whilst we're on the subject of questions (from your audience this time) - accept them at the end of each subject - not during - more often than not, the questioner is jumping ahead of you and would have had his/ her question answered if he had allowed you to carry on. So to summarise this rather long paragraph! You ask the questions during your instruction - they ask questions at the end.

5) Finish off with a summary of what you've done (reiterating your objectives in detail if you like) and keep yourself available until they've gone (you may get the shy one who wants to get you on his/ her own before asking questions)

6) Relax and enjoy! - there are few things more satisfying than imparting your skill, knowledge and experience onto others!

Good luck

 

[falling rain]

Play a game of 'predator and prey' in the woods if any are available.
2 or 3 scouts get a water blaster each (predators) and the rest of the scouts are the prey.
Prior to the game you teach them camouflage and concealment, silent movement and stalking etc for an hour or so. You define some boundires and everyone has to keep within these and the prey have to make their way down the route using there skills you've taught them to get to a bell or whistle. When any of the prey blow the whistle they are safe and can't be blasted with the water blasters by the predators. The predators get 5 minutes prior to the start of the game to go and conceal themselves along the route and they can blat any prey with the blasters. I used to play this with the air cadets and they absolutely loved it. Have the first aid kit ready though........... Once a cadet fell over and a thorn pierced straight through the palm of his hand. But it is great fun and they learn stalking camouflage, shape, shine background etc.
Whatever you choose to do, one piece of advice I'd give though is always have an 'emergency' activity to fall back on. If they get bored or you finish your planned lesson early it's good to have something extra planned to fill in the time. There's nothing worse than finishing early and standing there like a lemon with nothing to do or trying to rack your brains to finish the lesson with. I learnt this lesson when I was in Japan teaching English and It's saved my bacon a few times.
Also kids get bored quickly, they like activity so don't do a lecture type lesson. You may have to explain things and demo stuff but try and keep it as short as possible because they'll want to get on and have a crack at it.

 

[hanzo]

Congratulations on a fine opportunity to put your communications skills to the test and to pass your bushcraft skills on. Having taught, tutored and spoken publicly, I would like to offer some suggestions for your consideration.

My suggestions would be to:

1. find out what the scout leaders have in mind and build you talk on that and point #2
2. make sure what you present is appropriate to the scouts' ages (for example, fire and knife skills might not be appropriate for really the young)
3. try to keep what you present short and as simple as possible (a series of shorter lessons may be better than a long one, especially if they build and stack on to each other)
4. have a format where you talk and explain, then you demonstrate, then they try
5. after you finish your lesson, have assignments where they can practice their newfound skills during their camp out

A short example of these five steps in action might go something like this:

After you introduce yourself and the topic of bushcraft, lead in to the first lesson by talking about the importance of cordage (perhaps why you carry some in your kit). But there may be times when you need more or haven't brought any, so you talk about some expedient natural cordage such as from nettles. Then you show them how to get and use it. Then they practice.

This might lead you into talking about other uses for nettles (lesson two). Perhaps making a tea or soup out of the nettles.

While they are sipping on a hot drink, you move on to knots (lesson three)...

Then the importance of making stuff to use (lesson four). We use tools because our brains are above those of animals (except when we are stupid, then we are worse ). So you show how cordage can help to make a tool or some other aid. So you show them how to use it to make a stool or shelter or something.

Then you might transition to talking about how that gets you off the ground and why that is important (lesson five).

Plan enough time for the kids to practice while you observe, encourage and correct.

And on and on for whatever time you have alloted.

Then they do their assignments during their camping trip and if you are camping with them, maybe you can do them too so they can continue to see and practice. And have access to your brains. As they watch you do your assignments, maybe you can do it differently each time so that they learn another important lesson. There is always another way! By the end of their camping trip, they should be pretty fluent in the handful of skills you taught as well as understand their importance.

Anyway, congratulations and good luck. :You_Rock_

 

[JonnyP]

Big thank you to you all, I have loads to think about there...I will see what the leaders have in mind and work on that. I like the idea of a backup plan. Predator sounds like fun..
Thanks again guys....

 

[commandocal]

Wow 29 is a lot of kids! . Make a prey team and a Hunter team, arm the hunter team with made weapons,bows,flint knifes etc and tell them they will starve if they dont find food,teach the prey team Camoflauge and Concealment and set them off 15 minutes apart, this will teach camo and concrealment, escape and evasion, hunting and getting food,and that "survival instinct" hopefully when they return you should have half the kids, and then teach them how to cook their newly caught meal

 

[Zodiak]

Good luck I have been training scouts for many years and it can be terrific fun, however there are one or two things that you might want to consider.

1 - Leaders always tell you their section is well behaved, well they would! In practice some of them will be there because their parents made them come and no matter what you do they are not going to respond as well as the rest so don't take that personally.

2 - Scouts get bored after 5 minutes talking and another 5 minutes if you are showing them something. After that point they really need to be doing something for themselves.

3 - NO matter how well you demonstrate something half of them will come up afterwards and expect you to show it to them personally because they either zoned out or couldn't follow. They see it as their right and schools don't do anything to dispel that so once again don't get despondent, however while you ae showing them something the rest are drifting off.

4 - I run a outdoor skills (bush craft) course every may have found that I can work best with them in 4 pairs, after that I insist on another adult for every 6 kids, and that adult has to know what I want taught before hand, allow an evening for that!

It is seriously difficult trying to teach kids a practical skill with more than that, which is another reason why the troop will probably be in patrols of 6 or so kids

This year our course involved several activity "bases" each one lasting an hour. Each base had at least one adult and took a maximum of 8 scouts.

- Fire lighting (double session) base needs two adults.

- Axe work - preparing firewood.

- Sharpening a knife / axe (if time show how to change bow saw blade)

- Making nettle cordage and then a turk’s head woggle if time (as the SL he will know what to do here!)

- Make bannock, they should have time to make two each, one plain and a second one using either cheese, dried fruit, or even sun dried tomatoes!

- Putting up a tarp and hammock. Plastic 3*2 tarps are under £10 from www.tarpaflex.co.uk, I have half a dozen old hammocks, get them to work in pairs for this.

- Whittling, probably will drop this one next time they never really got into it,

Ours was overnight, from 10AM Sat to 2PM Sunday and they cooked all their own meals on fires, allow 2 hours for lunch and breakfast, and 3 hours for dinner,

I also had my Kelly kettle on hand to make cups of tea, it looks buscrafty so didn't "break the spell" but it got a hot drink inside them when it was cold.

 

[falling rain]

Big thank you to you all, I have loads to think about there...I will see what the leaders have in mind and work on that. I like the idea of a backup plan. Predator sounds like fun..
Thanks again guys....

Trust me Jon they love it and it sorts out a couple of hours at least. They've learnt something valuable and above all had a riot into the bargain. :swordfigh

 

[Big John]

May be a few more ideas here....

 

[decorum]

As a massive generalisation members of the scouting movement prefer to burn stuff, break stuff, get dirty and get wet.
Last w/e I showed a junior leader a couple of 'interlude' tricks including how to make a thin branch exactly where you want and why/how to harden it. A little while later I made fire with soil! - an easy con as all you need do is scrape a small depression and place a solid flammable substance (tri-oxane??, vaseline'd cotton wool etc) in the hole, cover most of the hole with very thin sticks and replace most of the soil leaving a concealed hole large enough for sparks to enter and allow ventilation - it doesn't need to burn for long but you'll capture their attention and be remembered forever as 'the bloke who could even burn dirt!'

 

[commandocal]

As a massive generalisation members of the scouting movement prefer to burn stuff, break stuff, get dirty and get wet.
Last w/e I showed a junior leader a couple of 'interlude' tricks including how to make a thin branch exactly where you want and why/how to harden it. A little while later I made fire with soil! - an easy con as all you need do is scrape a small depression and place a solid flammable substance (tri-oxane??, vaseline'd cotton wool etc) in the hole, cover most of the hole with very thin sticks and replace most of the soil leaving a concealed hole large enough for sparks to enter and allow ventilation - it doesn't need to burn for long but you'll capture their attention and be remembered forever as 'the bloke who could even burn dirt!'

Poor kids i bet they went home and tried for hours and hour to burn mud and their dreams are shattered now since they dont think they are good scout :You_Rock_

 

[decorum]

Burning soil is in there with things like Solar Toast and the Electric Tree

 

[brancho]

great Ideas already go with some of them I usually do with my Scouts.

A backup is almost essential

Do not try and teach 29 kids at once its not likely to work and you will probably hate it when they start talking to each other.
Give them something fun to do and be prepared to thaose taht are struggling strength can be an issue.
cooking and making are hits as are burning things and chopping and sawing.

Most of all I hope you enjoy it I bet they want you to join.