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I posted my kids’ kit a while ago, but I have since updated both of them and my son will be revalidating his next week on our little camping/backpacking trip. My son is 8 and my daughter just turned 12… both have been camping/backpacking several times and are pretty experienced at making fires, using knives, procuring and purifying/filtering water and knowing what to do when lost. My intent was/is to give them a kit for a 72/96 hour wilderness survival situation…along with the knowledge of what to do. Additionally, it gets them in the habit of carrying a pack (albeit small) as a basis to build up to larger packs for extended backpacking trips. Biggest piece of advice is don't just throw stuff in a small pack and say "here you go"...make sure they know what everything is used for and that they practice it. Both my kids loved making fires, filtering water, building a simple debris hut shelter, using the space blanket (properly), etc.
Here's Sheath Mechanics piggy-backed sheath that both kids now have:
I need to dummy-cord the firesteel, but it's a great sheath/combo system. My kids love the little Swedish firesteel. I was reluctant at first with the Mora, but there's a couple of great advantages: First, it's cheap and I have a few around in case the kids lose it. Second, it has a good grip to keep my son and daughter from having their hands slide forward and cutting themselves. Lastly, it's a high-carbon blade and will be a great teaching tool for how to maintain your essential tools. My son already learned the hard way and I'll be keeping a close eye on him for our trip next week.
For my son's "first line", I'm keeping it simple. Small LED and whistle on a break-away neck lanyard, and Benchmade Mini Griptilian along with a Pelican mini strobe. I think I'm going to have my son try out the beaded necklace since it's less bulky. He's used the older one, but I'd like to make it more comfortable for him:
Of course, depending on the environment, the kids will keep their Mora on their pack or on their belt (what I prefer). Here's my son's load-out:
Here's the contents:
Camelback w/ bladder
Mora Clipper w/ Sheath Mechanic's sheath and Swedish firesteel
55-gallon garbage bag for emergency shelter
Space blanket
Ziploc bags (1 gallon and 1 qt)
Potable Aqua tablets
Frontier Survival Straw (new addition)
Extra pair of hiking socks
Small Nalgene water bottle (16oz)
Small nesting cup (Snow Peak’s 300, single wall)
Clif Bar
Peanut Butter
Individual drink flavor packets
Water tube (about 20” of Camelback tubing)
About 50 feet of 550 paracord
Cigarette lighter
Survival matches
Large Tea-light candle wrapped in tinfoil
Cravat
PAL LED light/strobe
Petzle 3AAA headlight
Silva compass
SAK – it’ll be an engraved Farmer for Christmas
Small Role of TP
Extra whistle and firesteel striker
Small fishing kit* (just something I added out of habit)
Here's the contents of the first aid (plus) kit:
Small IFAK w/ some extras
- Band-Aids
- Large bandages
- Large gauze bandages
- Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin
- Antibiotic/burn cream
- Providone iodine wipes
- Sting-eze wipes
- Needles, Spiderwire spool
- Dental floss
- Medical tape
- Moleskin
- Sliver Gripper tweezers
- Safety pins
- Large paperclips
- Pencil wrapped w/ 12” of duct tape
- Razor blade
- Rain-rite paper, 2 sheets
- 6 feet of surveyor’s tape wrapped on paperclip
My son's water bladder is the smaller 50 fluid oz version and with both that and the 14 fluid ounce Nalgene water bottle, it adds up to just over 4 pounds, so their entire kit come in at about 9.5 lbs...not bad for a 72-96 hour survival kit that they have when hiking. Both my kids do just fine with the weight.
Here's the weight without the ~4 pounds of water weight:
ROCK6
There are several sites that will sell individual MRE packages, just do a search for MRE's.
