Teach the kids!

mewolf1

mewolf1

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Oct 24, 2005
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...even if it's the neighbor.

This debis shelter is over a year old; brought the kids into the woods when they said they were bored.
this is the back side
Picture15.jpg


the front
Picture14.jpg

Picture8.jpg

Picture16.jpg



and what's left of the reflector for the fire
Picture1.jpg
 
Very cool. Any sign of the local critters using it over the past year?

Reminds me of the shelter my friends and I built when we were kids.

Detroit was hit by a nasty ice storm. It took down a lot of trees and branches. Most of the residents just piled the fallen branches in one of the vacant lots. A few friends and I dug a hole about 2' deep and mounded the dirt around the sides so it was maybe 3' deep when done.

We took all the branches and built a shelter over the top. When finished it looked like a giant up-side-down birds nest. It was wide enough to seat eight of us :D . It was HUGE! Not the most efficient when it came to heat retention.

It had to be a sight to see when driving through a residential neighborhood that looked a lot like Cleveland St. in the movie A Christmas Story (Ralphie and the Red Rider BB gun. You know the movie :p ). It lasted for about a year before the adults wanted it gone to make room for horse shoe pits.
 
Mewolf, very good stuff. The biggest point is to get these kids out of their skin. I work with a local historic site, we show them musketry and canonneering, along with boat work and weaving and spinning and campfire cooking and primitive medicine.
 
Those are great pics! I looked at the first pic and said "where the hell is he talking about"? Blends right in from the back side. Thanks for sharing. -Matt-
 
Excellent post and an even better experience for you and the kids. Here's hoping that they'll pass it on to a few others.
 
longbow50 said:
Excellent post and an even better experience for you and the kids. Here's hoping that they'll pass it on to a few others.
Click to expand...

;) Theyz already tellin thier buds that they can start fires with a bow drill.:D :thumbup:
 
Amen! Just this past weekend, I took my boys (the 6 and 4 year old) out into the backyard and walked them through making a lean-to with an old canvas shelter-half and some paracord. Had them cut some of the cord with Scout pocketknives, and I fused the ends. I showed them how to baton thin branches for stakes using a Mora Craftsman, then put points on the stakes with a bolo from Reflections of Asia, comparing for them how one could do a lot of the same things with the smaller knife as with the larger. Emphasized the importance of cutting away from oneself. Taught them about observing wind direction and tree proximity for setting up lean-tos. Showed them how to make grommets by tying a smooth pebble into the corner of a sheet (my eldest promptly dubbed this setup a "choke-the-ghost" knot). It was extremely gratifying to see those boys light up to see the shelter taking shape and standing up. Maybe next week we'll have a go at some more cooking outdoors.
 
Yer gonna be in big trouble when them kids hide out from doin their chores!

When I was a little guy, we used to make "snow forts" all the time... come to find out, that's a legitimate survival shelter, too. Although I'm not sure I'd bother making a dozen perfect snowballs to keep on hand, now... :D

You're doing good things, guys.
 
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