Bushcraft
Whittled tent pegs
Turn a short hazel stick into a working tent peg with a knife and a careful technique, then use it to pitch the group's tarp.
How it goes
- Teach the safety rules before a knife comes out: blood bubble, seated, cutting away, knife sheathed when moving.
- Each child chooses a green stick about as thick as their thumb and as long as their hand.
- Whittle a point at one end with long strokes away from the body.
- Cut a notch near the top for the guy line, with an adult guiding the first one.
- Test the pegs by pitching a tarp with them.
Risk-benefit starting point
Shared by the author as a starting point, planning this idea imports it into your own risk-assessment library to review and make your own before use.
Why it's worth it- Fine motor control and real tool skill.
- Trust: being handed a knife and the responsibility that goes with it.
- Knife, Cuts to hands and legs residual: Low
- Moving with a knife, Cuts to self or others residual: Low
- Seated, knees apart, cutting away from the body, outside each other's blood bubble.
- Cut-resistant glove on the holding hand; knives counted out and in.
- Knives sheathed and carried by an adult between areas; ratio of one adult to four children or fewer.
Questions & comments
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Ask the first one: how long does it take, what age did it work for. The author gets a nudge by email.