Part 1-Keeping them entertained
It’s sure to happen. Be it on a family campout to the lake, or forest, or beach, or hopefully not, but possibly, when you and your family have to evacuate with ten minutes warning, sooner or later will come a tug on your sleeve, and a little voice letting you know: “Daddy, I’m bored”.
Being in the outdoors removes children from all the electronically generated time fillers that they have come to expect, and that a lot of parents have come to rely on. And even if you bring a tablet, or smartphone, or DVD player, or some other method of high tech entertainment along, sooner rather than later, the batteries run down.
So, how do we keep the little ones and the not so little ones as well, active and entertained during those inevitable down times? In an emergency, this would be an even bigger issue, because once the adrenaline rush of escaping imminent danger has passed, you are a lot less likely to find yourself in a sylvan glade. A vacant lot that turns to mud with every rainstorm is a lot more likely. Well, here are a few ideas:
-Make sure your entire family knows how to set up camp, cook, and clean up. Not only will it lessen the burden on Dad and Mom, but helping with camp chores also fills the hours.
-Games. Always pack a deck of cards in your camping or 72 hour kit. Even if you rarely play at home, having cards is a great way to waste time. And on most camping trips and just about any evacuation, there will be plenty of time to waste, especially if weather puts you in a tent. Face cards are fine, but some folks prefer other types, such as UNO cards, as well. And travel versions of popular board games may not be a bad idea. I have played Scrabble® in a tent during a rainstorm at 11,000 feet, and it was a blast.
Since the supply of fun things to do always seems to go down with the setting of the sun, bringing a star chart along, or maybe even a small telescope, is always a hit with kids old enough to understand-say, 3rd grade and up.
-Frisbee. Throwing something around is therapeutic in more ways than one. A Frisbee® is lightweight, takes up almost no room, and as long as you have an open area, can be tossed for hours. If your kids are little leaguers, bring their gloves along, as well as two balls, since you are guaranteed to lose at least the first one.
-Exercise. If space permits when you are packing, I have seen kids and grownups ride their bikes around campsites all day. Good exercise as well as a backup mode of transportation. Inexpensive bike mounts can be found at most big box stores. Sometimes you need a trailer hitch to insert them into. If this appeals to you and you don’t have a trailer hitch, most UHaul centers will gladly install one and for a lot less than a dealer.
These next few suggestions assume that it is safe for you and your family to move around, leaving the campsite area. Probably not an issue when camping, unless you are deep in the wilderness, but in an evacuation, assess the safety of your surroundings.
-Memory Game. Collect ten common items from the nearby area such as a yellow leaf, a piece of bark, etc… Cover them with a cloth. Everyone gathers around, you remove the cloth for ten seconds, and then cover the items back up. Everyone has ten minutes to find as many of the items as the can remember.
-Nature scavenger hunt. Make a list of 20-30 items to find. Some can be common, others unusual. Rather than have them haul all the items back to camp, either use the honor system and check off the items as they find them, or if the batteries are still good, take pictures with a phone or digital camera.
-Hide and seek. Ne explanation needed. It’s probably a good idea to define the size of the hiding area, for example, “between the lakeshore and the dirt road one way, and the campsite and the big boulder we passed yesterday the other way”.
-If there is a small, child safe creek is nearby; building a dam is a great way for a crew of munchkins to pass the time. Be sure an adult is supervising, and the responsible thing to do after the dam is built and they playing is done is to knock it down.
-If Dad or Mom knows how to use a map and compass, laying out an orienteering course can challenge the route finding skills of older kids. For the more tech savvy, and again relying on the batteries not being dead, geocaching is becoming very popular. Program the coordinates of a prize you hide into a GPS unit, and then turn the hordes loose to try to find it.