Skip to main content

Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means
Supported by Victorinox

Create a DIY survival kit

First suggested by Bushscout
Create your own personal survival kit to make sure you’re prepared.
Plan a session with this activity

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • Aluminium foil
  • Glue sticks
  • Pens or pencils
  • A4 paper
  • Scissors
  • Permanent markers
  • Bowls
  • Access to water
  • Small metal tins
  • Survival equipment (for example whistles, foil blankets, small torches)
  • Electrical tape
  • Paracord
  • Lighter

Join the practical skills alliance

Bushscout are a national community of Scout Leaders who have a passion for teaching traditional and practical Scouting skills to other Scout Leaders. Subjects covered on training days include:
  • knife, axe and saw safety and skills
  • backwoods cooking
  • tarpology and tents
  • fire
  • kelly kettles and water purification
  • pioneering
  • crafts
  • game preparation
Learn more about Bushscout

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Planning this activity

  • If using knives, take the time to read and understand the Scout knife safety guidance.
  • You’ll need enough small tins for everyone to have one ­– about 10cm square is about the right size. People could bring their own from home if they have something they’re happy to repurpose. Otherwise, you should be able to find them fairly cheaply online (or as sweet tins in a shop).
  • You’ll need to buy any other items you want to include, for example, whistles, foil blankets, small compasses, and so on. It’s great if people can bring things they already have from home to personalise and adapt their kits. This may also make the activity cheaper for the group.
  • Survival tins often contain something to light a fire such as stormproof matches or a ferro rod and striker. It’s up to you whether this is appropriate for your group. They sometimes contain knives (however, if you seal the knife in the survival tin, you won’t be able to use it without opening the tin). You must be aware of the laws around knives.
  • Set up at least three bases: one with pencils, paper, and scissors; one with tinfoil and glue; and one with paracord, scissors, a lighter, and a bowl of water. If you have any other equipment to hand out, or other activities to complete, create bases for them too.
  • You may want to print out some survival guides, such as information about shelter building, fire lighting, or water purification, for people to put in their kits.

To watch in full screen, double click the video


Be prepared

  1. Everyone should get their survival tin. They should split into the same number of groups as there are bases.
  1. Each group should head to a different base and get stuck into the activity until the person leading the activity gives a signal telling them to move on to the next base. They should keep going until they’ve been to all of the bases.

Pens and pencils

  1. Everyone should get some paper and a pencil. They should think about anything important they want to keep in their survival kit.
  1. Everyone should write down the important information and put it in their survival kit.

Tinfoil

  1. Everyone should cut a piece of tinfoil the same size as the inside of their survival kit’s lid.
  2. Everyone should glue the foil inside the lid to create a signalling mirror.
  3. Everyone should chat about how they’d use their mirror – who would they signal to? How would they make a message?

Paracord

  1. Everyone should cut a length of cord.
  2. With adult supervision, everyone should use a lighter to melt the end so their cord doesn’t fray. They should be really careful as the melted cord will be hot (and they should avoid breathing in fumes too).
  3. Everyone should dip the end of their cord in the bowl of water to cool it down.
  4. If people want to (and there’s time), they could turn their piece of paracord into a woggle or bracelet.

Finish the kits

  1. If they want to, everyone could decorate their kits with permanent markers or electrical tape.
  2. Everyone should seal the opening of their kit with a few layers of electrical tape. This will keep them watertight so they’re ready to be used in an emergency.

Reflection

This activity was all about being independent. Could people fit everything they wanted to into their survival kits? How did they decide what was most important? Part of being independent is being able to make your own decisions. What did people to do make sure everything in their kit was suitable?

It can be easy to get carried away, and make survival kits for extreme adventures in the rainforest or desert. In real life, though, the situations people are most likely to end up in would look more like getting separated from their group on a hike or getting lost in a city when their phone runs out of battery. What would a survival kit for these situations contain? How would people keep themselves safe in these situations?  

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Fires and stoves

Make sure anyone using fires and stoves is doing so safely. Check that the equipment and area are suitable and have plenty of ventilation. Follow the gas safety guidance. Have a safe way to extinguish the fire in an emergency.

Sharp objects

Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

People could also think about what they’d need to take to a survival camp – they’ll end up with a bigger kit than the minimalist survival kit they created in this activity.

Remember that it might not be possible for some people to bring things from home – even if you think it’s a basic item. A survival kit doesn’t have to be full of expensive gadgets, and you could even use a leftover takeaway tub as the box – get creative with what you have.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Survival Skills Activity Badge

Everything in a survival kit should be there for a reason. Test the kits (before you seal them) by coming up with pretend survival situations. Are all of the items useful? What else would people like to have?

Beyond the basics of shelter, food, and water, keeping your spirits up is crucial in a survival situation. Everyone should feel free to personalise their kits with decoration or items that would boost their mood in a survival situation.