child vs. wild

(the toy links I mentioned will be posted another day....)

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Lucky for us, we've watched several episodes of Man vs. Wild lately.

Why lucky? Well, because we knew just what to do when we recently encountered a dangerous adventure on a family hike.

 

You see, there was a creek.

And the only way across the creek was to carefully inch our way across this fallen tree.

(Nevermind that the creek was running parallel to the hiking trail. This mission was imperative. Track with me here.)

First went Daddy Bear (that's my little homage to Bear Grylls.)

He made it across safely and kindly positioned himself to help the little Bears.

Next went Brother Bear. He started on two feet. Then decided that the pants legs were in the way. Rolled those up. Took a few more steps. Then decided that the best way to approach the log was the "sit and scooch" method.

 

He made it across.

Then went Sister Bear. In an efficient and time-saving move, she decided to go directly to the sit & scooch.

  

She made it across.

And then, so did I. (Mama Bear.)

Mission accomplished.

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We've been tempted by this lately. It's not going to fit into the Christmas budget, but perhaps we'll be able to swing it by the time someone's birthday comes around. These episodes are so, so much fun. The series is available via Netflix, btw. But we like them so much that we hate to send the discs back. :-)

One of my favorite books as a middle schooler was  Gary Paulson's The Hatchet. (And also The Giver--wow. But that's another post for another day.) When I finished the book, I remember wishing that there were 100 more like it. Little did I know there would be such a fun series someday (Man vs. Wild) in which the whole process of trying to survive/find civilization was repeated time after time. Hooray!

Other books/films with survival-related plots (some for children, some for adults):

My Side of the Mountain

Island of the Blue Dolphins 

Castaway  

Swiss Family Robinson

Robinson Crusoe

(pls help me add to my list!) 

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I've joined a blog project called the "December Photo Project." You can see the blogroll of participants on the right hand column of View from the Prairie Box. I've made my way through the 'A's.' Lots of great pics! 

Comments

[Lori]

great list - i don't know if you read it on my blog, but i wrote not long ago about my 11yo asking the children's librarian for help finding adventure books that weren't series or about wizards (lol) .. and the librarian was all, "uhhh .. errr .." ?!?! hello?! classic adventure books?!

i would add

tom sawyer

huckleberry finn

treasure island

kidnapped

king solomon's mines

around the world in 80 days

three musketeers

robin hood

ooh, i could go on! :^)

[RT]

Oooh. We really enjoyed Man vs. Wild! We still like to quote the show and laugh in amazement at some survival techniques. Elephant dung, anyone? Have you see the Planet Earth series? It's pretty incredible and well worth you time. We're still editing it when our 4 year old is in the room though.

I'm glad you've joined the DPP!