Fire Games & Challenges

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Requirements

• Age 7+
• Players usually 3 - 4 people per group
• Time Depends
• Location Areas where it is approved and safe to build fires
• Energy Medium (walking, stalking)
• Materials Firewood, fire starters
• Lead by Pathfinder
• Guides Usually 2

Story

What is the essence of this game?

Action Call

Compelling questions / challenges to get kids excited to play.

Game

Safety

• Many of our program areas don't allow fires or have very restrictive rules about fire. Check with your program coordinator or site director about fire rules for your site.
• In areas where fires ARE allowed, consider the following before choosing to build fires:
  • How dry it it
  • How windy is it
  • How much fuel is available
  • Do we have means to extinguish fires if they start burning larger than anticipated
• LINK to a separate page that lists all fire rules? These could be fire rules from the SQM.
• Scout playing area for hazards: tripping objects, stinging insects, trash, and much more.

Missions

Fire fundamentals

1. Fire fundamentals lesson. Teach/demonstrate/discuss safety, fuel gathering and sorting, fire structure, lighting strategies, fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat), etc.
2. Match lighting practice (how to light, how to hold). Everyone circles up around an empty firepit, is given a box of matches, and is asked to light six to ten matches to practice the technique of lighting a match AND to practice how to hold a match to get the biggest, most useful flame (try angling it 45 degrees downward!) Spent matches are discarded into the fire pit.
3. Firesteel and fireball lesson. Demonstrate how to use a firesteel (ferrocerium rod) to make sparks, and how to use a "fireball" (cotton ball covered in petroleum jelly) to catch the sparks and make a small fire that will burn for 3 - 4 minutes.

Fire Challenges

Notes about fire challenges

1. Several of the games below involve a "fire challenge," meaning that a small group must make a fire according to certain criteria or restrictions.
2. For fire challenges, small groups of 3 to 4 people work well. All these challenges can, of course, be done by 1 or 2 people, but having 3 or 4 people in each group divides up the labor AND challenges the participant's use of teamwork, leadership, and communication skills. But, if the groups are too large (more than 5 people), it's easy for certain members to "fade into the background" and not get involved.
3. It's best to divide a large group into groups of 3 or 4 people using the "line up by skill and count off" method so as to distribute skill among the various groups.
4. Because each one of multiple groups is building a fire, you'll need to have multiple fire pits. Make sure each fire pit is in a safe location and has a bucket of water nearby in case a fire starts burning out of control.
5. One measure of success is to have the group build an “adult” fire, meaning a mature fire that can burn on its own for several minutes without the group adding or moving wood in the fire or blowing on it. In contrast, a "baby" fire is a small fire that needs constant feeding and attention or it will go out. A "teenage" fire is somewhere between the two.
6. For advanced groups, consider mixing and matching the challenges. For instance, you could make blindfold one person in each group, make one person unable to speak, give them only one match, and tell them they need to burn through a suspended string within a specified time limit.

Specific fire challenges

1. One-match fire. Each group must build an adult fire using only ONE match. At the start of the challenge, give each group a cardboard matchbox with a single wooden match in it. If they fail to get their fire lit with the first match, additional matches can be purchased for 10 push-ups, 15 jumping jacks, or 1 difficult nature knowledge question per match.
2. String-burn or newspaper-burn fire. At each fire pit, either a) hammer two sticks into the ground on either side and tie a string across the sticks 2 - 2.5 feet above the ground, or b) jam a stick into the ground at a 45-degree angle so its tip is over the fire pit and about 2 - 2.5 feet above the ground. Poke a small piece of newspaper onto the tip of the stick. Each group must light a fire in their fire pit, and the first group to burn through the string or set their piece of newspaper on fire wins.
3. Silent fire. Each group must build an "adult" fire without any talking.
4. Five minute fire. Each group must build an "adult" fire in only five minutes.
5. Blindfolded fire. Each group must build a fire while one, two, three, or all of the people are blindfolded.
6. No-metal water boil challenge. Each group must boil water without using any metal objects. The recommended method is to do hot-rock boiling in a natural vessel (this could be a coal-burned wooden bowl, a pottery vessel, a gourd, a pit in the ground, or a pit lined with an animal hide). Groups will need to find, make, and/or be given a vessel and several rocks suitable for hot rock boiling. Tongs (made from carved wood or bamboo) are very useful for moving the hot rocks from the fire into the vessel. Heating the rocks enough to boil water takes time; even a very skilled group that was provided with a vessel, rocks, and tongs would probably take at least an hour to build their fire, heat their rocks, and boil the water. Less skilled groups, or situations in which you require the groups to acquire vessel, rocks, and/or tongs themselves, will take even longer.
7. One wet stick fire. Each group must build a 30-second fire using nothing but "one wet stick." Have each team choose one dead, non-rotten stick that's about two-thumbs thick and twelve inches long. Relatively soft woods that are easy to carve work best for this. Place all these sticks in a lake or creek, anchored under rocks so they stay submerged. You can also put the sticks in a five-gallon bucket that's full of water, put the lid on to force the sticks underwater, then put a rock on the lid to weight it down. Wait about an hour, then have each team retrieve their stick. Teams then use knives to split the sticks and split or scrape away the bark and outer wet wood until they get to dry wood inside. Teams then carve dozens of slivers of dry wood, make a fire structure with the slivers (include an ignition cave), and light it. Their goal: get the fire to burn for 30 seconds.

Fire by friction

1. Intro to bow drill / bow drill practice time. Strive to do minimal talking and demonstrating; rather, get the kids trying it as soon as possible!
2. Intro to hand drill / hand drill practice time. Strive to do minimal talking and demonstrating; rather, get the kids trying it as soon as possible!
3. Straighten hand drill drills over a fire. Most of the stalks one might gather to use for hand drill won't be perfectly straight once they're dried. But, they can be straightened with the help of fire. First, hold the portion of the hand drill stalk that you want to straighten over the coals (NOT flames) of a fire until the area is almost too hot to touch. Then, bend that area in the opposite direction of its curve, bending PAST the point of straightness. You can push the center of the bent portion against another object (a half-round of a log laying on the ground) for extra leverage. Hold for ten seconds or so until the heat starts to dissipate, then release. The stalk will rebound, but ideally less than before, leaving it a little straighter. Repeat this process in all curved areas. Go gently - it's better to heat and slowly bend an area multiple times than to try to do all the straightening at once and crack the stalk.
4. Giant bow drill. A great team-building activity is to make (huge) coals from giant bow drill kits! Make your spindle from a 40-inch long x 4-inch diameter log. Make your fireboard from a log so that its cross section is 6 - 8 inches wide by 3 inches deep. Make your bow from a curved sapling that's about 10 feet long. To use it, two people can stand on either side and pull it back and forth like a crosscut saw sawing wood. For the string, use a piece of retired rock climbing 6mm accessory cord or other strong, medium-sized rope. For the handhold/socket, you'll need to use a log that's at least 5 feet long, with a divot carved in the middle, so that anywhere from 3 to 6 people can hold it steady and pull it downwards against the spindle as it turns.
5. Bow drill "trick flames." Once you are proficient at bow drill using excellent materials, parts, and technique in favorable conditions, you can challenge yourself by making things more difficult. Here are some suggestions:
   1. Make a kit out of really hard wood (oak, hickory)
   2. Make a kit out of really soft/resinous wood (pine)
   3. Make a kit with extremely small components
   4. Make a bow drill kit without using a knife
   5. Use natural cordage for your bow string
   6. Make a bow drill fire while blindfolded or in the dark
   7. Make a bow drill fire using wet wood (make a kit after it's rained, or soak an existing kit in a bucket of water)
   8. Make a bow drill fire in the snow
   9. Make a bow drill fire with your off hand
   10. Make a bow drill fire on a steep slope
   11. Two people work together to make a bow drill fire, but each person can only use one of their arms/hands

Fire "Makes"

1. Find and gather tinder; make tinder bundles.
2. Make fire starters (roll up cardboard and dryer lint; dip in wax)
3. Make fuzz stick
4. Make a coal carrier tube

Flint and steel

1. Intro to flint and steel fire making / practice with flint and steel.
2. Make char cloth

Fire - Misc

1. Fire fuel lesson: how to make fire when the woods are wet, “ultraflammable” plants in your area.
2. Pirate's Cursed Treasure challenge. This game involves significant material gathering and prior set-up, but kids love it. Click here for specific instructions.
3. Making fire in uncommon ways: lenses, batteries and steel wool, etc.
4. Banking a fire overnight. USE CAUTION - banking a fire involves leaving a fire essentially unattended for about 8 hours while everyone is asleep.
5. Swedish Fire Torch. Click here for specific instructions.
6. Fire reflector walls. Fire sends out heat in all directions; fire reflector walls help to concentrate that heat. Using 1 fire reflector wall can reflect up to 2/3 of a fire's heat, allow you to burn less fuel, and protect your fire from wind. Using 2 fire reflector walls can keep your back, not just your front, warm. Fire reflector walls can be made with survival cement, dirt, dry rocks, green/wet wood, clay, etc. The smoother, the better. Their size and shape depends on their purpose. Whether to build one (or two) involves weighing the conservation-of-energy costs vs. benefits.