This series of books all share similar traits. The illustrations are drawn with bright colors and are plentiful and interesting to even young children. The books are filled with recipes, guidelines, safety tips, craft ideas and skill lessons. The small size allows for portability and for small hands to grasp and turn pages.
These books would be a great addition to the library of any budding outdoors man or woman. Before a camping trip, one of these books could introduce concepts and activities. A school could use them for a week long lesson on nature. As a stay at home mother, there are loads of activities for me to use to keep my kiddos busy and out of trouble.
Some of the other books in the series that look good for the outdoors are Hiding in a Fort, Fishing in a Brook and Trekking on a Trail. Find them here.
Cooking in a Can (Katherine White)
This book provides a number of interesting ways to cook in the outdoors. Fires, rock pits, solar ovens, cooking in a garbage can, buddy burners and more are explained and relevant recipes provided. I loved the Asparagus Forest and Eggs and Bacon cooked in a paper bag! A sweatshirt wood carrier is shown and there is a short how to on making an apron from a pair of jeans. A great pre-camp activity would be to make fire starters with their great methods.
Packing Up a Picnic (Rick Walton and Jennifer Adams)
I now know how to pack a breakfast picnic, haunted picnic and snow picnic! There are games and activities for each type of picnic. A little ant gives tips and tells jokes (who did the ghost take with him to the picnic? His ghoul-friend!). There are recipes for the typical picnic food such as ants on a log, tuna sandwiches and italian club rollups that every child can make. Fun ideas such as snow olympics and "eggs to sea" (hard boiled egg people for your castle) look amusing!
Cooking on a Stick (Linda White)
An introduction explains how to gather firewood, different types of fires, necessary equipment and a packing list. It starts with a "beary basic biscuit mix" and moves you along the cooking spectrum to "Bandit's Stuffed Fish." There is a lesson in making a tin foil bowl and how to make your own chopsticks. I learned how to make "Moose Lips" (a cousin to ants on a log) and "Hop Toad Popcorn" over the coals. I have a friend that is a Girl Scout troop leader and this book would be great for her to use as they take the kids camping!
Sleeping in a Sack (Linda White)
This was my favorite of the books and I would love to gift this to a child with a sleeping bag before a camping trip! It has all the necessary information for a camping trip from planning, gear, clothing and setting up the campsite. Little campers can learn about "toiletting" in the woods with a pit toilet. Lessons teach you how to make a sleeping bag and tent and tips such as that you should turn out your flashlight while changing in a tent at night are very handy. There are pages about the constellations, campfire songs and morse code. I especially liked the small parts about "green camping" and leave no trace ethics. All in all, this is a great little book for campers!
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