It seems that the kindergarten class at Elmhurst Academy in Elmhurst, Illinois became fascinated with the practical aspects of the show “Survivor”, asking their teacher:  How do you survive in a storm?  How do you make shelter?  Can trees help you survive?  Is there a way to make something cold in warm places?  And more.

So their teacher, Heather Escobedo, reached out to us and asked that we try to give her class some guidance.  With only a 60-minute window we couldn’t cover all that the inquisitive minds had thrown at us. So Ron limited his presentation to shelter and the benefit of trees.   And that proved to be more than enough.

We learned the Rule of 3’s and talked about insulation, squirrel nests, getting really cold (hypothermia), and shelters.  The class was involved, asking good questions, giving good answers, and sometimes just volunteering “information” as 5 and 6 year-olds often do.

By far the most exciting part of the program was the outdoor construction of the skeleton of a debris hut.  Enthusiasm was high and the finished product looked great.

The morning finished up with some show-and-tell of other beneficial items that trees can provide–things like spoons, cordage, shafts for arrows, and parts for a primitive bow drill.

The class had found answers to some of their questions and appeared to have had a good time doing it.  Ron certainly did,