Working with troubled kids is a difficult assignment. Wilderness skills is an excellent way of reaching these kids. Unfortunately, your administration puts a lot of rules between you, the kids and the wilderness.
There is a guy over on the Leatherwall forum (
www.stickbow.com) who teaches archery to troubled boys. A lot of the members there donated equipment. I offered to do the same for a troubled kid program in out county and the administrator looked at me like I was nuts.
Tinder preparation might work. You can solve the cutting part by giving them bark to shred by hand or with a scissors. Making PJ cotton balls would also work as would showing them how to fluff the cotton balls onto a piece of duct tape. With pre-cut wood, you can also show them how to stack wood for a fire and how to feed a fire.
There is a great scene in Apollo 13 where the engineers have to retro-fit the CO2 filters. You can do something similar with a simulated survival situation. Divide your kids into 2 groups. Give each kid one piece of equipment. i.e. rope, a poncho, tarp, water bottle, snare, figure 4 trap (pre-cut), signal mirror, etc. Make up a deck of situation cards that they draw randomly like any game. "You are out of water" "Your food ran out" "The temperature just dropped 20 degs. and it is starting to rain" The kids then have to cooperate with each other and problem solve. There was a computer game years ago, "Oregon Trail" that used a similar approach.
A simpler version is to give your kids parts for a shelter and have them problem solve in the design and construction.
Good luck with this great project.
