Grade Level: 4th - 6th; Type: Earth Science, Engineering, Other
Objective:
Students will create a survival kit with the basic necessities for surviving various scenarios. This
project will involve critical thinking, anticipation, and problem solving.
Research Questions

What are the tools that go into a simple survival kit?
Survival is our main goal as animals. Living in the comfort of a home with all the amenities it’s
easy to forget this basic instinct. Stories of survival exemplify our human capabilities when faced
with nature's wrath. Although you may never anticipate becoming stranded on an island, lost in
the woods, or isolated in the snowy mountains it is always good to be prepared. For this projects
students will create a simple survival kit with the basic tools for survival in various scenarios.
Materials:

Students will brainstorm on what materials are needed.
Experimental Procedure
1. Brainstorm: List various survival scenarios.
2. Based on the basic human requirements for survival what is fundamental in each of these
scenarios? For example, we all have to eat to survive.
3. What natural resources can you utilize? For example, people stranded on an island have a
vast water supply.
4. What are tools would be helpful for each survival situation? Do any tools work for all
scenarios?
5. Create your survival kit:
1. Based on the questions above you must create a kit that is:
1. Compact & portable. The person must be able to carry it comfortably.
2. Describe why you choose each tool and how it can be used in multiple
situations.
3. Do not use technology. Although we may have our cellular phones with us
they do not always get reception.
4. You can design new tools as well.
Terms/Concepts: What are the basic human needs?; How long can people live without water or
food?; What are the various scenarios that others have experienced (news articles, movies, etc.)
http://vaughanrockets.typepad.com/christy_garvin/2011/08/4th-and-5th-gradesurvival-guide-project.html
4th and 5th Grade Survival Guide Project
As part of our ASCAN training, we will be learning outdoor
survival skills. Should a T-38 or space capsule go down in the
wilderness, it would be essential for you to have skills that would
help you survive until rescue teams could arrive. You will be
working in teams, and each team will be responsible for producing
an emergency survival guide that would help an individual survive in
the wilderness. Each person on the team will be in charge of
publishing two chapters of the guide and helping with the front
cover and table of contents. The final project will be due on
YOUR TARGET DAY during the week of September 26th; we do
have a field trip on Friday of that week, so you will need to drop
off your survival guides on your Target day. Each student should
choose 2 of the following topics to research. Once you have
completed extensive and detailed research on your topic you
should then publish a typed report for each topic; in order to
thoroughly cover the material, I would expect reports to be a
minimum of 300 words each. Along with each explanation should be
a FULL page color illustration, drawn and colored by hand. We will
have some time to work on the project in class, but the majority
of the project will need to be completed at home; this will be a
large part of your homework for the next month. The final
project should be turned in with a creatively decorated front
cover, and it must include a table of contents. Please take your
time on this project and do your very best work. Thanks!
1. Water survival- what happens if you land in the water?
2. How to build different types of outdoor shelters.
3. Methods for obtaining and purifying water.
4. Different methods for trapping or hunting animals.
5. How to use a compass/map for land navigation.
6. Signaling to get help
7. Methods for starting a fire when you have no matches.
8. Edible plants and how to find and prepare them/ dangerous plants that
should be avoided.
9. Injuries and illness-medical care
10. Dangerous animals and environments to avoid
Each section will receive a grade from 1-10 points and your final grade for
the project will be the sum of these scores.
_____ Front Cover- neat and creative
_____ Table of Contents- complete and neat
Chapter 1
_____ amount of information meets and/or exceeds requirements (minimum of
300 words) and adequately covers topic
_____ information is accurate, has details, and demonstrates evidence of
thorough research
_____ quality of writing (grammar, spelling, sentence fluency, paragraph
construction, organization)
_____ illustration is neat, detailed, and creative
Chapter 2
_____ amount of information meets and/or exceeds requirements (minimum 300
words) and adequately covers topic
_____ information is accurate, has details, and demonstrates evidence of
thorough research
_____ quality of writing (grammar, spelling, sentence fluency, paragraph
construction, organization)
_____ illustration is neat, detailed, and creative
Project Total ___________ Grade________
Here are some websites to help get you started on your research:
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/shelters-1.php
http://www.SurvivalIQ.com/
http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/survival/
http://www.wilderness-survival-skills.com/
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/
http://www.natureskills.com/articles/survival/
Making clothing:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_making_textiles.
htm
Gathering Food:
http://www.foragingtexas.com/
Brainstorm:
If all the world as we know it went dark, no power, no running water, to vehicles, no grocery stores, etc,
what things/skills would you need in order to survive?
http://africafreak.com/blog/how-to-survive-in-the-african-savannah
http://www.survival-africa.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=71
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelwXPrr1M0&feature=related
water crisis http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663673/infographic-video-how-to-solve-the-worlds-watercrisis