A Wilderness Survival unit for homeschool, worldschool or just for fun.
Inspired by a week of girls going to a week of Survival Camp, and by the fact that we were headed camping, we learned all about wilderness survival. We also added in some National Park stuff just for fun.
Printables
Here's this week's info, all wrapped up into an easy-to-read printable. Click here for the full color copy and click here for a low-ink black and white version.
On the Dining Room Wall
This animal tracks guide that you can get here.
What We're Listening to
Various Nature Soundscapes - great background ambience sound
Talking Points
I think the biggest thing this week was the always popular, what would you do if you were stranded on a deserted island scenario. What about if you could only bring five things? The kids took this to the next level with asking things like, what if you could only bring one thing for each color of the rainbow?
Discuss survival techniques and what to do in dangerous wilderness situations.
Books
One from each category plus an assortment of picture books is usually just perfect.
Not all book series are as good as the next. Get the scoop on some of our favorites here.
Base Non-Fiction Books
Read every word or simply flip through and reach what catches your eye.
Wilderness Adventure Camp There are tons of these types of books out there. We grabbed a few from the library and flipped through them to pick and choose what looked interesting.
Survivor Kid Similar to the one listed above, these books contain a lot of the same information so just find what appeals to you.
Base Fiction Chapter Book
(Some of these books are part of a series but all of them work as standalone books.)
Younger Learners:
Camp Time in California (Magic Treehouse #35) My pick for younger kids. Jack and Annie journey to California and meet up with Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir. This is a great tie-in to the picture book I listed below, The Camping Trip that Changed America.
Older Learners:
Hatchet This is meant for older readers but I read it aloud to my 7-year-olds and they were very engaged. I did skip over some parts concerning an extramarital affair of the main character's mom, which was a completely unnecessary element to the actual plot.
Other Notable Books
Have more time? Try these too.
Can You Survive the Wilderness? (You Choose Book) Be aware that you die a lot in this series but they're a lot of fun anyway!
Survivors We loved this collection of survival stories! Great to read when you only have five minutes or so.
Picture Books
Library inventories vary so much with picture books. Rather than wasting time tracking down specific ones, I like to do keyword searches and just grab what's available.
Search these keywords: Wilderness, Survival, Camping, National Parks, Ansel Adams, John Muir.
We liked theses:
The Camping Trip that Changed America A cute look into the formation of our National Parks here in the USA.
The Sequoia Lives On A nicely illustrated little picture book. After we read it, we went on a walk to see a neighborhood sequoia.
Antsy Ansel A cute look into the childhood of one of the most celebrated landscape photographers around.
Things to Watch
Bear Grylls: Survival School The survival expert teaches kids about survival in these half hour long episodes. It's exciting and wholesome and makes you want to teach your kids some survival skills.
This No-Talking Survival Shelter Video This was great to have on in the background while you are doing another activity.
While You Read Activity Ideas
Make nature collage of things you collected outdoors.
We made an epic Lego camping scene that I failed take a picture of, but believe me, it was very good.
Interactive Learning: Crafts, Food, Activities
Teach your kids to use a compass!
There are so many activities listed in all those kid's survival books, take your pick!
Field Trip Ideas
Go Camping! I picked this theme because we had a camping trip planned. If camping isn't in the cards, you could always "camp out" in the living room and turn on some campfire ambience.
Visit a National, State or even just your neighborhood park and brainstorm what you would do if you had to survive there for a night.
Vocabulary
Frost bite - damage to the skin or body by freezing.
Hypothermia - a dangerous condition of very low body temperature.
Potable - water that is safe to drink.
These next ones come curtesy of the camp the girls went to and pertain to knife safety.
Triangle of Death: The triangle between your stomach and thighs that contain a lot of very important arteries that you should always be mindful of when using a knife. Never cut toward your triangle of death.
Blood Circle: The area around a person (slightly greater than arm's length) that no one should be in if that person is using a knife.
Ice Cream Cone Hands: How you hold a knife. Don't put your thumb on the blade when you are using it. Pretend it's an ice cream cone; you wouldn't want to stick your fingers or thumb in the ice cream.
Trivia
Q: How long can you survive without shelter, water and food? A: Rule of threes! Three hours without shelter in a harsh environment, three days without water and three weeks without food.
Q: What should you always do before heading out on an adventure? A: Tell someone your plans.
Q: What are the directions on a compass and which was should the arrow point? A: North, East, South, West and the arrow should point North
End of Week Movie Night Ideas
Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995) PG This one might be a little slow for the youngest kids but my girls like it. *SPOILER* Before we watched it, I checked a very handy website succinctly titled Does the Dog Die and in case you are wondering, no, this dog does not die. Whew!
Nim's Island (2008) PG We didn't actually watch this one but it looks cute!
Segue Ideas... Weather Week, Lewis & Clark Expedition Week
Wrap Up
Are we ready to be stranded on a deserted island? Maybe not quite, but we did learn a lot and we had a lot of fun. This would work great for a wilderness survival homeschool unit. End of week campfire pancakes for outdoor inspiration!
Final Moment
Camping in the Pacific Northwest
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