PROJECT 33

PREPPER GAMES

The goal of preparedness is to reduce fear—not CAUSE it. A central tenet of my family life is that preparedness should be a family activity. It should make life easier and sometimes it makes life more fun.

Making games out of learning causes skill acquisition to be fun, which means kids will actively participate in things that may save their life one day.

Here are a few such games:

Go on a Picnic—Without notice, grab your “go bag” or 72 hour kit and head outside. Go to the park or local forest and have a picnic. Do you have enough water, food, and other items to do so comfortably? What things would you and your kids add to make it easier? Take what you learn and add to your kit. Repeat as necessary and eventually it will become habit—what better way to spend time and build skills than picnicking with the family?

Lights Out—In order to make the darkness less scary, ensure everyone knows the power outage plan and where the flashlights are, turn the lights out one evening, and cook dinner using alternative methods. After the meal, enjoy family activities by flashlight (no ghost stories). Pop popcorn, talk about the pioneers, read by firelight, and sleep in sleeping bags in the living room.

Sleeping Out—Once the family is used to the dark by playing Lights out, take it up a notch by camping outside. Practice cooking over a campfire by using a grill if you can’t build a proper campfire. As the family gains skill, start reducing the amount of creature comforts.

Hide and Seek—Kids love hide and seek because they get the thrill of being chased as well as having the opportunity to outsmart the “hunter.” In the preparedness version, first teach the kids where the safe spots are. In our home, by practicing this game, we learned that the place we had designated as a safe spot for our child to hide was actually in the line of fire in any defensive shooting situation. This game helps reinforce where to hide if there is an intruder, as well as help parents know where their kids may hide when scared. From working many missing child searches, I have learned that most kids are found in or near the home.

Road Trip—With no notice, have everyone pack what they need for an extended road trip—no destination given and only fifteen minutes to be packed and in the car. Reward the effort with a road trip to somewhere cool—like a state park. However, the family can only use what they packed—over time, the packing will be quicker, neater, and things will not be forgotten as often.

Where’s Home?—Another great skill is to randomly quiz your kids about where they are and how to get home from where they are. A form of this exercise is done quite often with police or fire service rookies to teach situational awareness.

Where Am I?—While free-range parenting is not always in style, knowing where your kids are is always helpful. Keep a map on the fridge and let the kids mark where they are going to be playing. A simple drawing of the house and backyard works great for smaller kids, while older kids can use more sophisticated maps. This allows for some level of freedom as well as a sense of responsibility. Of course, there has to be consequences for not being in the areas marked.

Scavenger Hunt—A popular game I played at scout meetings was “find the penny,” where older scouts hid small objects in a fixed area and we tried to find them. This taught observation skills as well as gave the adults time to get some work done.

Playing Doctor—One of the games I played as a kid that helped develop my ability to adapt items to fit needs outside of the items original design was playing doctor. My scout troop spent a lot of time “fixing” broken legs, arms, collarbones and all manner of other injuries by adapting magazines, coat hangers, bandannas and other items into splints.

Kim’s Game—In Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, Kim was trained as a spy by playing a game in which he was shown a tray of jewels, given the opportunity to handle, count, and memorize the contents, then have it covered and being asked to write down the contents from memory. The USMC sniper instructor school uses this to teach observation and it is a game that even preschool children can play.

Drawing—Another common tool taught in military sniper schools is to draw detailed pictures of an area under observation. By having kids draw what they see you can teach them to see and observe and not just look.

Lessons Learned:

Each game teaches a slightly different skill, and over time they become more advanced. Games make practice seem fun and less like the valuable work that they are. These games teach observation, adaptability, navigation, situational awareness, the ability to organize and think ahead, and to become comfortable dealing outside of their comfort zone.