Youngest Son Practicing Bushcraft

These are old pictures but I really enjoyed teaching him and watching him work through this. Though he had a knife he didn't use it at all, I wanted him to be able to do this without one, as that is a fine skill to have in a chips are down situation.

We started in the pine barrens, a section of woods on my property of thick pines with pretty much no undergrowth. We found this downed tree and he set to work.

He started by simply "walking up the tree", breaking limbs with his foot as he went. It is fairly easy to do.

Once done he gathered what he had broken off and some extra limbs that he will use in the walls.

Next he was bounced on the downed tree in a couple sections till it broke, he supported the section to break with a smaller log, this gave him the positioning he needed to get the tree to break. The he took the broken pieces and made a tripod for the ridge pole. I did check his work here for stability.

At this point he starts on the rearward wall, using the broken limbs from earlier to set in the first layer.

Still laying in the rear wall.

Working the front now and layering in the needles and leaves and other insulation.

 More insulation and coverage.

Here is a view of the interior.

His fire is a little big here, partly because he'd just gotten it started and added too much fuel. The shelter is further back than it appears in the image.

Finished product with one proud nine year old, Dad was pretty proud too.