Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Outdoor Activities => Northern Ireland Camping and Bushcraft => Topic started by: Cardnim on September 10, 2009
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Hi peeps... not much happening on the forum these days... we must all be away camping :P
Hope you are all doing well anyways.
Im looking for some advice...
A local youth group has asked me to show a group of kids round Woodburn forest.
Its jsut going to be for a couple of hours (and before you say, their leaders will all be with them and we are all POC checked! :)
The bad thing is it will be from 7:30 to 9:30 in October - therefore, pretty dark.
Assuming they will all bring torches, what kinds of things do you think might be interesting for them?
Their leader who asked me to do it said "Yeah, we were thinking a sort of Bear Grylls type thing with us following you round the forest for a bit and you showing us interesting things, then maybe you could give the kids a task or competition to find a certain type(s) of tree or light a fire"
hmm....Bear Grylls... so I'll start by getting all the kids to jump out of a hot air balloon then.... ;D
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Now that's a bit of a challenge. I would definateld NOT do anything involving cutting tools. Any form of plant/animal id will be impossible because of the dark and trying to id something by torch light is very difficult even for someone experienced. I wouldn't recommend doing anything where they have to follow you around either. At night, you'll need an adult to youth ratio of 1 to 5 as well so make sure you have enough people.
I would suggest doing a thing where they have to try and identify sounds in the dark. try and get some animal sounds or anything else that you can think of and put them on a CD or MP3 player. if you take a portable speaker system you can play them and see how many they can get. I'll try and think of a few more things to do, but the time of day will limit your choices.
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Cheers CG - some good advice there.
Totally agree with the cutting tools thing - ruled that one completely out.
Im pretty sure we are good with leader/kid ratio and I also forgot to say that the kids are all teenagers 12-18 so its not that they are super young or anything.
One thing I have thought of is getting out my hand drill and bow drill sets and letting them have a go. I could always do a quick recce up to the forest a few days before hand to cut some more and prepare them.
Other things I am pondering:
- cordage from nettles (ouch, stingy!)
- sap from Douglas Fir for antiseptic / skin "glue" / and firelighting
- maybe water filtering with Millbank bag / tripod setup
- direction finding/navigation by the stars
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I think the navigation and sounds are probably going to be your best bet, I am trying to think of something else but it's a tough one to call with your time limit.
Davy.
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Teddy bears picknick sounds safe, and maybe a cage round them ???
To be honest i would not know where to start with kids.
Maybe storeys round the camp fire after a day of mmmhhhh not sure, fishing or something.
Good luck. Sorry i have been no help :-X