Desert Island Survival Day
10 Feb 2022
On Thursday, we spent the day finding out as much as possible about how to survive on a desert island. We learnt lots o
f new skills which we feel confident that we would be able to use if we were ever in a real life situation - which hopefullly, we won't be!
This visit linked in with our current guided reading work on Kensuke's Kingdom and also our geography work looking at natural disasters.
We started the day considering what the 4 things are that we would need in a situation like this. They are: food, water, fire and shelter.
We began with fire. We were shown different ways to start a fire with only natural resources, these included using friction, using glass and using flint and steel or iron. The children were very successful at starting their fires despite the wind!
Next, we moved on to food. The children all had the opportunity to try a mealworm and a cricket. It's fair to say that some enjoyed them more than others, and some didn't fancy giving them a go at all.
After that, we focused on water. We created our own water filters using only a water bottle and the resources we could find on the school field. We then filtered some very very dirty water through our filters to see which was the most successful. Remarkably, the water came out much cleaner, even though it was only passing through stones, leaves, moss, sticks etc. We still didn't fancy drinking it though!
Finally, it was time for the most difficult task which involved building a shelter from some bamboo canes and tarpaulin. The weather was definitely against us by now as it was blowing a gale and had started showering, but it didn't deter the children. Myself and Rob, the wilderness expert, were so impressed with the children's grit and determination, and lack of moaning about the weather. They just got on with the task and didn't once mention how cold they were.
The shelters were a challenge, but each group ended up with a structure that they could shelter under. There was super teamwork on show; they discussed and listened to each other so well; I was very proud.
We had a really great day together, and if we do ever need any of these skills, I feel confident that we would give them a good go!