Prepping with kids is never easy.  And, as a suburban homesteader, you probably have a few running around your place.  But, just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.  Kids are amazingly resilient and are also sponges for knowledge.  If you can introduce them to prepping skills wrapped in fun activities, you’re well on your way to making your kids more self-sufficient.

With that thought in mind, here are seven prepping skills your kids can learn today:

1. Basic Construction & Repair

Every suburban homesteader and prepper does work around the house. You could be building a new garden bed, fixing a leaking pipe, installing an appliance or doing major landscaping.

Whatever it is, you can get your kids involved.  Have them hold tools for you and let them help – swing a hammer, twist a wrench, thread a screw, whatever.

My kids love getting involved and, while it slows down the job, the sense of accomplishment on their face when it’s done is worth it.

The bonus is that they’re learning prepper skills that will never leave them.  My girls will be able to do all the plumbing in their house when I get done with them.  They’re already better with a hammer than some of my friends.

2. Hiking

Getting your kids outdoors is key to teaching them just about any prepping skill or homesteading lifestyle.

A great way to achieve this goal is to take them on hikes.  They don’t need to be huge hikes.  For instance, I’m writing this in 2015 and my girls are five and a half years old.  We go on a regular hike that takes us about a half to three-quarters of a mile into the woods.  I’ve made a ‘camp’ (a few log benches in a semi-hidden ridge) that we go to.

We’ll bring a lunch and, in the colder months, make some hot chocolate.  They’re free to play in the woods and explore.  Everyone enjoys themselves but, most importantly, it’s an activity that is fostering a love for the outdoors in my kids.  We’re also learning about the woods and I take the time to introduce bushcraft skills that are age appropriate.

3. Gardening

What kid doesn’t like getting dirty?  And what suburban homesteader or prepper worth their salt doesn’t have a garden?  Sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

Give the kids a section of the garden that is theirs.  They can plant whatever they want in it.  Let them tend to it, weed it, water it, etc.  Don’t make it a chore but rather a learning experience.

My kids love watching the herbs grow because they’re fast.  They’re not as interested in the slower growing plants so keep that in mind as well.  Fast results will keep them interested.

4. Composting

Kids love getting dirty, but they also hate taking out the trash.  Especially stinky trash.  But my kids love bringing table scraps to the compost pile.  They’ll bring out the leftovers from dinner and have me turn the pile.  One of them will even pull the big worms out!  We talk a little about their day and about what’s going on in the compost pile.  It’s win, win for all involved.  Compost is easy to make.  If you don’t live in an area where you can compost, you can accomplish pretty much the same thing with a worm bin.

5. Fire Starting

Fire and knives are the two things I see most parents freak out about. Likewise, their two of the most important prepping skills you can learn.

The fears these parents have are not without merit – both activities are quite dangerous if not properly managed. That being said, even five and a half-year-olds are old enough to understand that they only do this kind of thing with a parent around.

If you walk them through the phases of making a fire – collecting kindling, tinder and fuel wood, build a fire bundle, etc – and make it a game, they’ll have a blast.

Plus, wait until you see the excitement on a little kid’s face when you create a fire from a fresnel lens.  I guarantee it’ll be worth the work and patience.

6. Camping

Get them outside! Camping is an exciting adventure for everyone.  It allows the kids to pretend they’re on some magic treasure hunt or with a group of warriors heading out on a grand adventure.

Whatever the scenario, camping always seems to get kids imaginations going.  You can also build in some other skills here including hiking, fire starting, first aid and cooking.

Camping is an awesome, wholesome family activity that will bring you years of enjoyment and allow you to introduce your kids to numerous prepping skills.

7. Why We’re Prepared

Most of all, teach your kids why we prepare.

You don’t need to tell them about crazy politicians, EMPs or zombie apocalypses.  That’s scary stuff that kids don’t need to hear.

You can concentrate on the fact that sometimes bad things happen – storms cause power outages, cars break down, people get hurt – and we need to be prepared to handle it. A strong mindset is probably the best prepper skill they can get their hands on.

There’s a great book called Jake and Miller’s Big Adventure: A Prepper’s Book For Kids that my kids love.  It’s an awesome story about a boy, his dog and how they prepare for a (you guessed it) big adventure.  Highly recommended reading!

Conclusion

These are seven ways to get your kids into the prepping and homesteading mindset.  Are they going to be Rambo-esque survivalists?  No way (do you really want them – or you – to?).  Will they learn to enjoy the outdoors, think critically and evaluate situations for possible outcomes? Absolutely.

And that’s what it’s all about – teaching your kids to think for themselves and more towards a more self-sufficient mindset.

Prepping can be a lot of things – a means of survival, a way to keep your family safe or simply a fun hobby with a beneficial outcome.  Sometimes preppers, especially those of use with kids, can get so consumed with the big picture that we forget the simple fact that prepping with kids means we’re more apt to experience the little things than the big things.  I was reminded of these little things over the last few weeks.

Life Is Getting Fun

My wife and I have been blessed with twin daughters.  At four years old, they are just now getting to the point where I can start taking them into the outdoors for more than ten minutes.  I’m trying to use this time both to instill a love for the outdoors and teach them different survival and outdoors skills.  This process is, admittedly, a slow one but it’s one all of us are starting to truly enjoy – it’s very hard to tell who is more excited to go hiking every weekend!

Part of the process is letting kids be kids.  Typically we walk into the woods for twenty minutes or so and find a nice place to have a break, complete with a little snack.  I use this part of our trip to reinforce the ‘pack in, pack out’ mentality and we make it a point to pick up any extra trash we see.

After our snack, we continue on some more.  In most cases we look for a cool place to stop and let the girls run around.  In order to keep these trips fun (and keep the girls coming back), it’s important to allow them to have some kiddo time where they can run around and use their imagination.  They love ‘exploring’ on their own with the only rule being they have to stay within eye sight of me.  We’ve also started to build geocaching into our trips – it’s both exciting for the girls to find ‘buried treasure’ but it’s also teaching them navigation and situational awareness skills.

I was reminded  during one of these play sessions that prepping with kids means being prepared for the little things.

Kids Will Be Kids

On one of our hikes, we were exploring the coast of Long Island Sound.  Because it was low tide, there were a ton of tidal pools around and the girls were begging to explore on their own.  I, of course, encouraged it.  They took this opportunity to take their shoes off, run through the tidal pools, try to skip rocks and run onto the little sandbar (which they called their island).  They had a blast running around and I had an equally fun time watching them.  Side note – watching four-year olds try to skip rocks may be one of the funniest and cutest things I’ve ever seen!

When it was time to go, I was wiping the sand off their feet before putting their shoes on when one of my rugrats started howling.  Taking a closer look, I realized she had cut her foot open during her adventures.  I can only assume it was on a jagged sea shell as I was pretty diligent about looking for broken glass, metal or anything else that may have been present from unsavory previous visitors.

A situation like this one would have been a bit more chaotic in the past.  But, since I had my EDC Bag and my Altoids EDC Kit (more on that in a future article), I was easily able to take care of it.  I flushed out the cut with some fresh water, applied some anti-bacterial cream and a band-aid.  Her shoes held the band-aid in place perfectly and she was able to walk without comfort.  We were good to go.

Prepping With Kids Pays Off In Multiple Ways

Being able to treat my little lady paid major dividends for me.  First and foremost, I was able to take care of my kiddo – that’s a primary concern for any parent.  But, more importantly, it gave her confidence that being prepared is a good thing and it gave me a way to talk about being prepared with her – “It’s a pretty good idea that daddy carries this stuff with him, huh?”  On a personal note, it helped me due to the fact that we were about a quarter to half mile from the car and I would have had to carry her back if I hadn’t been able to bandage her up.  She’s not heavy, but the terrain was sandy with large rocks, not the easiest place to walk when you’re carrying a child.

Personal reasons aside, being able to take care of my daughter and have a chance to promote being prepared were well worth lugging in my ‘man purse‘ with some key pieces of kit.  At the end of the day, she was happy that Daddy took care of her boo-boo, I was happy that I was able to take care of her and we were able to bond over something that could produce a lifetime of good habits – both exploring the outdoors and being prepared while you do it.

What are your experiences prepping with kids?  We would love to hear your stories in the comments or on our Facebook page!