Pre p.a.w. activities/preps for kids

[Blacksmith]

While most of these activities are worthwhile I am not sure they are appropriate for 4 and 6 year old boys.

The six year old may not even be eligible for cub scouts yet. At that age it is very hard to hold a child's attention for long. As a scout leader for five years and a coach for four years I have learned that there is a natural progression of ability, maturity and logic skills that take a while to develop. Not all kids are at the same level either. Better to get them focused on developing good life skills early and work on learning survival skills later. There is plenty of time for that, although it starts to go fast. I would also suggest putting them in sports as well to learn team work and how to get along with peers under stressful situations early. These are much more important skills at age six than how to trap game and start a fire without matches.

Some easy useful things they might be interested from a knowledge base (some of these things everyone knew 500 years ago and no one seems to know today)

- Astronomy, star gazing, recognizing directions etc
- Sign language, either ASL or some other kind of hand arm gestures known only to your family (priceless when someone has to go potty at Walmart, or is uncomfortable but does not want to say why right then)
- How to read, and even draw a simple map
- Observation games like Eye-spy are very useful for teaching younger kids to be observant
- The proper way to identify and plant various seeds
- Acquire them an animal and make them learn how to take care of it
- Read, read, read, read... just about anything is good at that age
- Prepare a simple meal without cooking
- Basic marksmanship skills with BB guns
- Agility races and skills, join in, you might be surprised when they beat you at bear crawling
- Tracking and sign skills during short hikes, more priceless when you startle a deer or a woodchuck
- Plant identification

Make this stuff fun for them and they will be much more likely to go with it, make it a chore and it will go away. Make it hard and they will get frustrated.

[Megumi]

When our kids were young we had an “emergency situation” night - monthly or so. We would pick something from current news as the ‘emergency’.

The lights were shut off (the ‘frige cheated of course)
Water had to come from the kitchen 5 gal jug
Dinner cooked over an alcohol stove - kids held the flashlight and the fire extinguisher - just in case
We lit off the Aladdin lamp - and dinner was had.

Board games followed.

The ‘emergency’ always ended just before bedtime, then off to baths and so on.

Later when we had a wide-area power outage, the kids didn’t panic - they KNEW we could handle emergencies. Starting early can provide children with a resilient outlook on life. And given what we see facing the next generation - it just may be the greatest gift you can give children.

This is an amazing tradition. I don't have a family of my own yet, but I will certainly implement this as soon as I do. Additionally, I am a Special Education major who is constantly slipping Emergency Preparedness into my lesson plans. This is definitely a strategy that I will work into my classroom and offer up to parents to help them prepare their children for these situations.

Some easy useful things they might be interested from a knowledge base (some of these things everyone knew 500 years ago and no one seems to know today)
...
- Sign language, either ASL or some other kind of hand arm gestures known only to your family (priceless when someone has to go potty at Walmart, or is uncomfortable but does not want to say why right then)

I second teaching sign language. There are so many practical uses for sign language, and if you choose to teach ASL, it counts as a foreign language at some universities and can be a great leg up on competition when applying for a customer oriented job.

_______
Another Pre-PAW activity I would like to recommend would be teaching sewing skills, particularly since your boys are still young. In my experiences sewing seems to be viewed as a "girl's activity" (which is absolutely ridiculous), so if you can start to teach your boys some basic stitches before they become socialized that nonsense, they'll hopefully be more willing to learn and stick with it. Hand stitching is a very valuable skill for many reasons, and there are countless books and online resources detailing basic stitches and what each stitch is best for.

You may feel they are too young to be handling sharp sewing needle, but there are some leather sewing kits that come with dull needles and large holes and thread to use that would be safer for younger kids. You can also hole punch construction paper and have the boys thread a piece of yarn (with the end taped to keep it together) through the holes. From there, you can purchase a plastic yarn needle or a dull, metal needle with a large eye and have them practice threading the needle through the holes.

When you feel the boys are proficient with these skills and ready to move onto handling a sharper needle, you can move the kids onto working with actual fabric. I'd recommend starting on scraps of fabric to master the basic stitches before moving on to mending. Then, the boys could move to mending holes on a worn out clothing item that got demoted to rag status (or, you can take something you're kids have out grown and create holes to work with). The boys can also learn how to apply patches. After they've gotten pretty good at their stitches, you might allow them to mend a piece of their own clothing. Another fun, simple hand sewing project would be making fleece hats, pillows, or blankets. There are a lot of simple patterns available that can be hand stitched, though your sons might appreciate the stitching lines being marked along the fabric with a water soluble, fabric marker or chalk. This activity gives them something to show for their efforts, and there is always pride in showing off something you made yourself so hopefully it will encourage further sewing exploration. There are commercial sewing kits for children, if you prefer to buy one.

[ZombieSoldier01]

my son didn't want to do the boy scouts/cub scouts and my daughters didn't want to do brownies/girl scouts. i myself was cub scouts and boy scouts, and am presently a NCO in the Army. but either way when we go out camping and such, i nonchalantly teach them things without their knowledge. its almost a game.. "hey kids wanna make a bet with daddy that he can light a fire with only 2 sticks or maybe some rocks?" then i show them how and let them do it... or "kids you are making daddy mad.. to make daddy happy go find me 7 different types or leaves" (the 2 girls will dart out in the woods and grab leaves, my 12 year old usually responds with "so what dad...." lol then i teach them about what each leaf is.. or take them on a nature walk and show them different things..

"kids tend to learn better when they feel like they aren't being taught" - my brother-in-law Jay who is a school teacher...

[KnightoftheRoc]

You might want to check out a recent find I made- I just made a thread on it here: viewtopic.php?f=100&t=73501
The age range starts low enough that it would seem to fit the bill for you, and it can be done indoors, for those inclement days, or for a family board game night.

When our kids were young we had an “emergency situation” night - monthly or so. We would pick something from current news as the ‘emergency’.

The lights were shut off (the ‘frige cheated of course)
Water had to come from the kitchen 5 gal jug
Dinner cooked over an alcohol stove - kids held the flashlight and the fire extinguisher - just in case
We lit off the Aladdin lamp - and dinner was had.

Board games followed.
>snip<
.....

I think this might fit the bill for this activity too, which is , IMHO, an excellent idea. Teaching kids when they are young and enthusiastic about such things, is the best time to teach them, and an exercise like this eliminates the panic so many of their peers will be experiencing when the X-box craps out from the blackout.

[Redemption]

You might want to check out a recent find I made- I just made a thread on it here: http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... 00&t=73501
The age range starts low enough that it would seem to fit the bill for you, and it can be done indoors, for those inclement days, or for a family board game night.

When our kids were young we had an “emergency situation” night - monthly or so. We would pick something from current news as the ‘emergency’.

The lights were shut off (the ‘frige cheated of course)
Water had to come from the kitchen 5 gal jug
Dinner cooked over an alcohol stove - kids held the flashlight and the fire extinguisher - just in case
We lit off the Aladdin lamp - and dinner was had.

Board games followed.
>snip<
.....

I think this might fit the bill for this activity too, which is , IMHO, an excellent idea. Teaching kids when they are young and enthusiastic about such things, is the best time to teach them, and an exercise like this eliminates the panic so many of their peers will be experiencing when the X-box craps out from the blackout.

Thanks for the tip! It's $37 and free shipping today with some bonus products included.
Have you had a chance to play it yet? Are your kids receptive to it?

[KnightoftheRoc]

Well, my own 'kids' are all grown up and living on their own, so I haven't had a chance to play this with them and get a reaction. I just made arrangements last night, however, for my step son and his g/f to come over and try it with us, so hopefully soon. With the holidays, I haven't really put a push on getting this out to use, because of time constraints, but I'm hoping that once we get Christmas done with, we'll be able to find the time easier.