Simple bushcraft techniques for cubs

[Patd]

Hi we're taking the cubs (8-11) away for a week so i' d like to do something bushcraft related with them that 1. They can have a go at and 2. That can be done in relatively sizeable groups (15 or so) without destroying the natural environment.
Cheers in advance,
Pat

 

[MartiniDave]

Just for starters how about:
Tarp rigging.
Shelter building.
Knot work.
Fire lighting.
Fire lays.
Water collection, filtering and purification.
Plant identification.
Nettle cordage.

You'll notice none of the above need cutting tools.

 

[Duggie Bravo]

Teach them to use a knife, axe and saw safely. Let them sharpen a stick and skin the bark off it and they will be the happiest you ever see them.
Particularly as today the press vilify knives. It is a skill that will keep them in good stead and make life a little easier for the scout leaders down the road.
Fire lighting is always fun and most of the cubs can use a fire steel to light a fire by the time they come to me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Patd]

Thanks for the responses I definitely think shelter building is an excellent idea and it'll keep them entertained when they've finished building it. I might also teach them to make a one stick fire in pairs or whatever using a saw axe and knife. (We do have a fair few hulfadors safety knives so that would be possible).

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Fire lighting is always a fun experience with a tangible result at the end - it also has the adventure factor of something they know they wouldn't normally be allowed to do.

Likewise with simple knife skills (including relevant safety).

Something else with a sense of achievement/rewards would be fireside cooking.

You could add all three together and have them light a fire with fire steel and demonstrate a fire lay, skin/sharpen a stick whilst going through knife safety then put together a simple bannock mix that can be wrapped in the stick and suspended above the embers and turned until cooked.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[decorum]

Hi we're taking the cubs (8-11) away for a week so i' d like to do something bushcraft related with them that 1. They can have a go at and 2. That can be done in relatively sizeable groups (15 or so) without destroying the natural environment.
Cheers in advance,
Pat

In part it reads like you're talking about one Pack but you say "... groups (of 15 or so) ..." but don't say whether it's one Pack or a multi-pack group or a combined groups/District/County/Regional/or type camp (and you could be an A.D.C Cubs ), so ...

How many Cubs in total?

Are they all known to you and you to them?

Are there any SEN needs?

Any with food sensitivities/intolerance(s)/allergies?

How many leaders?

What's your (expected) ratio on the base(s)?

Can you take materials in? (Thinking natural shelters here ~ we often get them to make mini versions of proper shelters for glove puppets )

Is the site looking to drop a tree or two that you could use? (Site maintenance stuff) If there is then perhaps give/organise a short talk covering the importance of site maintenance, conservation, things which might rely on the living tree, what lives on dead trees ... and get them to help tidy up* the felling(s) ~ if you can tie it all together it should fit in nicely with the 'Camp Site Service' badge bits without the Cubs even realising that they're working

* Tidying up = move the brash to make natural shelter(s) and then being responsible by breaking the shelter(s) down ('leave no trace' ) and stacking it all in a place agreed with the site for it to be used as an insect habitat ... mini beast hotel . As already mentioned, this tidying would also count toward Site Service

Art in the park?

Gods Eyes?

Bamboo pioneering? (elastic bands inplace of 'proper' lashings ~ the idea being to get Cubs to understand how to construct strong structures without having to teach them the knots and lashings on the base and/or fixate on trying to get knots and lashings good and tight on what might be their first attempt ).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The problem with doing food is opting for one which can't easily go wrong ~ there's a huge difference between undercooking a damper twist and undercooking a sausage . How are you going to monitor the status of the food? How many cubs would you have around a fire ~ certainly not a group of 15 cooking individual items :yikes: How would you keep on top of controlling the fire and its 'needs'?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accepting that Cubs and Beavers are different wee beasties ...


Last weekend I helped with a Beaver activity base ~ over 300 Beavers went through each area. One part of our area was cooking on an open fire ~ can you imagine trying to keep >300 beavers safe around a cooking fire and makiing sure that what they'd cooked was safe to consume? :yikes: . We opted to have them work as teams of four to make their own dish which was then cooked by an adult who talked to them about various things like fire safety, food hygiene ... and even why hot air rises and 'floating' tin foil to draw a comparisson to hot air balloons and how they stay in the sky .

We also had other activities available which required low levels of supervision ~ which freed up time to deal with and space around, the cooking fire (We had two adult leaders plus an Explorer Young Leader running a base of seven different activities ~ because we made use of the leaders acompanying each Beaver Colony/Lodge )

 

[Duggie Bravo]

If you want to be safe, pre cook the sausages in the oven and the cubs 'cook' in reality brown them them on the fire and the only danger is them burning their mouth/fingers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Countryman]

I did a debris shelter and a lean too with my ACF detachment. Each takes about an hour. Recycle the debris shelter into the lean too for frugal use of resource.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Patd]

In part it reads like you're talking about one Pack but you say "... groups (of 15 or so) ..." but don't say whether it's one Pack or a multi-pack group or a combined groups/District/County/Regional/or type camp (and you could be an A.D.C Cubs ), so ...

How many Cubs in total?

Are they all known to you and you to them?

Are there any SEN needs?

Any with food sensitivities/intolerance(s)/allergies?

How many leaders?

What's your (expected) ratio on the base(s)?

Can you take materials in? (Thinking natural shelters here ~ we often get them to make mini versions of proper shelters for glove puppets )

Is the site looking to drop a tree or two that you could use? (Site maintenance stuff) If there is then perhaps give/organise a short talk covering the importance of site maintenance, conservation, things which might rely on the living tree, what lives on dead trees ... and get them to help tidy up* the felling(s) ~ if you can tie it all together it should fit in nicely with the 'Camp Site Service' badge bits without the Cubs even realising that they're working

* Tidying up = move the brash to make natural shelter(s) and then being responsible by breaking the shelter(s) down ('leave no trace' ) and stacking it all in a place agreed with the site for it to be used as an insect habitat ... mini beast hotel . As already mentioned, this tidying would also count toward Site Service

Art in the park?

Gods Eyes?

Bamboo pioneering? (elastic bands inplace of 'proper' lashings ~ the idea being to get Cubs to understand how to construct strong structures without having to teach them the knots and lashings on the base and/or fixate on trying to get knots and lashings good and tight on what might be their first attempt ).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The problem with doing food is opting for one which can't easily go wrong ~ there's a huge difference between undercooking a damper twist and undercooking a sausage . How are you going to monitor the status of the food? How many cubs would you have around a fire ~ certainly not a group of 15 cooking individual items :yikes: How would you keep on top of controlling the fire and its 'needs'?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accepting that Cubs and Beavers are different wee beasties ...


Last weekend I helped with a Beaver activity base ~ over 300 Beavers went through each area. One part of our area was cooking on an open fire ~ can you imagine trying to keep >300 beavers safe around a cooking fire and makiing sure that what they'd cooked was safe to consume? :yikes: . We opted to have them work as teams of four to make their own dish which was then cooked by an adult who talked to them about various things like fire safety, food hygiene ... and even why hot air rises and 'floating' tin foil to draw a comparisson to hot air balloons and how they stay in the sky .

We also had other activities available which required low levels of supervision ~ which freed up time to deal with and space around, the cooking fire (We had two adult leaders plus an Explorer Young Leader running a base of seven different activities ~ because we made use of the leaders acompanying each Beaver Colony/Lodge )

Hi there are around 60 in total and we have 4 leaders


Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[Patd]

In part it reads like you're talking about one Pack but you say "... groups (of 15 or so) ..." but don't say whether it's one Pack or a multi-pack group or a combined groups/District/County/Regional/or type camp (and you could be an A.D.C Cubs ), so ...

How many Cubs in total?

Are they all known to you and you to them?

Are there any SEN needs?

Any with food sensitivities/intolerance(s)/allergies?

How many leaders?

What's your (expected) ratio on the base(s)?

Can you take materials in? (Thinking natural shelters here ~ we often get them to make mini versions of proper shelters for glove puppets )

Is the site looking to drop a tree or two that you could use? (Site maintenance stuff) If there is then perhaps give/organise a short talk covering the importance of site maintenance, conservation, things which might rely on the living tree, what lives on dead trees ... and get them to help tidy up* the felling(s) ~ if you can tie it all together it should fit in nicely with the 'Camp Site Service' badge bits without the Cubs even realising that they're working

* Tidying up = move the brash to make natural shelter(s) and then being responsible by breaking the shelter(s) down ('leave no trace' ) and stacking it all in a place agreed with the site for it to be used as an insect habitat ... mini beast hotel . As already mentioned, this tidying would also count toward Site Service

Art in the park?

Gods Eyes?

Bamboo pioneering? (elastic bands inplace of 'proper' lashings ~ the idea being to get Cubs to understand how to construct strong structures without having to teach them the knots and lashings on the base and/or fixate on trying to get knots and lashings good and tight on what might be their first attempt ).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The problem with doing food is opting for one which can't easily go wrong ~ there's a huge difference between undercooking a damper twist and undercooking a sausage . How are you going to monitor the status of the food? How many cubs would you have around a fire ~ certainly not a group of 15 cooking individual items :yikes: How would you keep on top of controlling the fire and its 'needs'?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accepting that Cubs and Beavers are different wee beasties ...


Last weekend I helped with a Beaver activity base ~ over 300 Beavers went through each area. One part of our area was cooking on an open fire ~ can you imagine trying to keep >300 beavers safe around a cooking fire and makiing sure that what they'd cooked was safe to consume? :yikes: . We opted to have them work as teams of four to make their own dish which was then cooked by an adult who talked to them about various things like fire safety, food hygiene ... and even why hot air rises and 'floating' tin foil to draw a comparisson to hot air balloons and how they stay in the sky .

We also had other activities available which required low levels of supervision ~ which freed up time to deal with and space around, the cooking fire (We had two adult leaders plus an Explorer Young Leader running a base of seven different activities ~ because we made use of the leaders acompanying each Beaver Colony/Lodge )

We're at thriftwood (Essex) which is a major scouting site so felling agree isn't optional, food isn't really an option as the kids are a tad fussy and there are a wide range if special dietary needs.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[Patd]

We're at thriftwood (Essex) which is a major scouting site so felling a tree isn't optional, food isn't really an option as the kids are a tad fussy and there are a wide range if special dietary needs.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[Patd]

As I elsewhere specified food really isn't an option, the leaders are familiar with the kids unique 'quirks' so we are aware of which cubs need special attention when performing certain activities, one activity we have talked about is hot chocolate as an alternative to food as this is less risky and easier to manage as well as allowing for food fussy cubs.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[Patd]

Also the classic marshmallows on self whittled sticks is always an option

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[decorum]

Hi there are around 60 in total and we have 4 leaders

:yikes: Seriously? :yikes:

If that's all of the Cubs and all of the leaders for this event/camp then your ratio for outdoor activites and nights away is majorly askew ... :yikes:


"The minimum ratio for outdoor activities and nights away events is 1 adult to 8 Cub Scouts plus the Leader in charge. However, you may wish to have more adults present if there is a greater risk to the party during the activity, a night hike for instance." From here ~ http://members.scouts.org.uk/suppor...e-ratio-for-outdoor-activities-for-cub-scouts

So 60 with 4 is actually 60 with 3 + the leader in charge ... so a ratio of 1 to 20 :yikes: (So, for 60, you 'need' 8 leaders plus the leader in charge ~ 9 adults). And note that 1 to 8 is the minimum and not the ideal

I heartily recommend that you* get the Exec/Section Leader(s)/GSL/Leader in Charge to approach some parents (not neccesarily Cub parents) with an eye to becoming Occasional Helpers and get them DBS'd asap so they can attend camps and keep your group within the safeguarding parameters ...

* Not necessarily 'you', but the section(s) as a whole.

(Although the base I mentioned in my original posting was run by 2 adults plus an Explorer and we dealt with high(ish) numbers, we did so by making use of the various Colonies/Lodges leadership teams.)

 

[Patd]

:yikes: Seriously? :yikes:

If that's all of the Cubs and all of the leaders for this event/camp then your ratio for outdoor activites and nights away is majorly askew ... :yikes:


"The minimum ratio for outdoor activities and nights away events is 1 adult to 8 Cub Scouts plus the Leader in charge. However, you may wish to have more adults present if there is a greater risk to the party during the activity, a night hike for instance." From here ~ http://members.scouts.org.uk/suppor...e-ratio-for-outdoor-activities-for-cub-scouts

So 60 with 4 is actually 60 with 3 + the leader in charge ... so a ratio of 1 to 20 :yikes: (So, for 60, you 'need' 8 leaders plus the leader in charge ~ 9 adults). And note that 1 to 8 is the minimum and not the ideal

I heartily recommend that you* get the Exec/Section Leader(s)/GSL/Leader in Charge to approach some parents (not neccesarily Cub parents) with an eye to becoming Occasional Helpers and get them DBS'd asap so they can attend camps and keep your group within the safeguarding parameters ...

* Not necessarily 'you', but the section(s) as a whole.

(Although the base I mentioned in my original posting was run by 2 adults plus an Explorer and we dealt with high(ish) numbers, we did so by making use of the various Colonies/Lodges leadership teams.)

We have 5 parent helpers aswell but they prefer to help out with the general running of camp and assisting leader and young leaders

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk