Cold weather activities

Josh K

Josh K

Joined
Sep 29, 2008
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Suppose you've been told to brainstorm 2-3 activities for some Boy Scouts (12-16) to do. Keep them occupied for a day. Oh, and you've got a beautiful expanse of woods to use. :)

All ideas are welcome.
 
Ice fishing baby! Oh, you said woods...not ice.

Cross country skiing is pretty fun, especially the first time. We used to go quite a bit when I was young. Maybe snowshoeing.
 
Ive got some storm debree they can come clean up, that should keep them occupied. My mind is blank for cold weather activities, i can only think of orienteering. I remember thats what we did alot on short day excursions.
 
I would have them build their own snowshoes and then take a walk with them =)

Building a winter A-Frame shelter could be nice too IMO.
 
-build a quinzhee
-build a snow trench
-learn to identify flowers in the winter
-learn friction fire
-learn about natural tinders for fire making
-archery
-build and use atlatls

Doc
 
In the winter, I usually shovel for fun, to be honest with you. I find it satisfying to have a giant pile of snow.

Other activities could be to get a fire going, and to build a shelter in the elements of the cold.
 
TheGame said:
In the winter, I usually shovel for fun, to be honest with you. I find it satisfying to have a giant pile of snow.

Other activities could be to get a fire going, and to build a shelter in the elements of the cold.
Click to expand...

:thumbup: I second those ideas!
 
You could also teach them about making cordage and have them make some cordage or even a "David and Goliath" sling. Then if you still have time practice with the sling.

David
 
if you have snow on the ground, you could build some snow shelters...or you could try one really huge group shelter. be careful of collapse!

snowshoeing, or if there is no snow, a simple hike to a high point is nice.

you could have a really big snowball fight. set it up all hardcore-split up the boys into two teams, have them build or find their own forts/bases. set a certain amount of time until the battle starts, then see who can mount an effective takeover of the base of an enemy.

you could make up some atlatls and teach the kids how to use them. try spearing snowmen.
 
Great ideas. I'm going to look into a couple of the more general ones.

Snow conditions in Michigan aren't reliable at the moment. We've gone from balmy 50's to -5 or so over night. There might be some, but probably not a lot. Worst conditions would be midrange cold (20-35) and wet.
 
Primitive fire skills when everything is wet/cold.

I like the "make some snowshoes and walk" idea, but its obviously dependent on snow.

Trapping and snaring is easy to learn in the winter when fresh tracks are very, very obvious.
 
I would highly recommend doing some winter survival training including shelter building, building fires, signaling and collecting water. And for lunch I would teach/practice some dutch oven cooking. We did that a lot for our winter outings in scouts. The hot lunch is essential to keeping the boys from getting too cold and frustrated, plus there is nothing better than dutch oven chicken and dumplings on a cold day. I hope this helped you out. Have fun teaching your boys to be great men.
--Whitney
 
Kids that age...first rule....wear 'em out. Have snow races, maybe relay teams. THEN...start more constructive, learning activities.
 
I would suggest these:

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and

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and lastly bannock

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combine this with them digging a fire trench and a heat reflector and you're good to go.
 
We did this for our boy scouts and they enjoyed it. We mapped out a wilderness, nightime, compass course and left glowsticks at three or four clue locations. When you arrived at each location you were provided with another compass coordinate and a clue. Once you went to the locations you had enough clues to the identity of the snack and the final bearing to your starting point. Our clues were about Smores and hot chocolate. With your age group you may replace the clue with a riddle, or leave it out all together.
 
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