Preparedness Kit #5 – Kid Kit – Why You Need One and How to Put One Together

This is part six in our Preparedness Kit series.

10 Kits to Put Together Today to Be Ready for Tomorrow

Kit #1 – Providing Your Family with Light

Kit #2 – The Kit Your Family Needs This Winter

And

Kit #3 – Clothing Repair Kit and What to Do If You Don’t Sew

Kit #4 – Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Kit

I’m a mom to five kids.   They tend to fall into three different age ranges.  I have two sixteen-year-olds, two twelve-year-olds, and a seven-year-old.  Each of them needs different things to keep them occupied when they aren’t engaged in school or chores.

Having two older ones, two middle children, and a younger child (or just out of that age range), I find that they each need different things to keep them occupied.  If life were to get hard I’m sure each child would pick up some of the slack created by new jobs to keep the family going.

Why Do We Need Kits for Our Children?

That being said, sometimes children need ways to keep themselves occupied during emergencies short-term or otherwise.  In the spirit of helping children to get through emergencies, putting together a “Kid kit” as one of our preparedness kits makes good sense!

Some of you may wonder why we need kits when our kids already have toys and books, and games, etc.  Why do we need MORE?  Why should I spend my money on MORE toys?   What do your kids do when you give them the same old toys?  They are bored with them.  But what if we either get some new toys?  Or maybe we take some of the toys that they have and put them away so that they don’t have then to play with them on a regular basis.

When the toys that they already have aren’t around so that they are more novel, they will be more interested in playing with them during a difficult situation.  They will WANT to play with them instead of HAVE to play with them?

How Do We Put the Kid Kits Together?

So what you will find below are suggestions for different types of things that you can either purchase or set aside so that your kids have toys that they will WANT to play with if something difficult ever happens.

So how do we go about putting together kid kits?  Let’s look at some different age categories and the types of things that should go into a kit for each age group.

Young Kids

For the purposes of this article, I would consider young children to be ages 2-6.  With your children in the mix, most of what you want to have around will probably already be at your fingertips.   I’m going to make suggestions, but if you already have these things, pick up just one or two more that you set aside specifically for this kit.  These will be something special, new, and novel that they don’t get to play with often.  That will make them special and they won’t be bored with them already when you need to give them a diversion during a difficult time.

Timeless Toys

These can include items such as blocks, wooden toys (we love Melissa and Doug Toys), Duplos, Lincoln Logs, trains and tracks, puzzles geared toward younger children, shape sorters, matchbox cars, stuffed animals, and baby dolls.

Board Books and Read Aloud Chapter Books

As a family, we’ve enjoyed different board books, but our favorite board books were from Sandra Boynton.  I think they are pretty much-considered classics now.  Some of our favorites are Barnyard Dance; Moo, Baa, La La La; Pajama Time; and Snuggle Puppy.   Other board books that we’ve enjoyed include The Little Blue Truck, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and Goodnight Moon.

As to read-alouds, we have loved Brambly Hedge, the Heartwood Hotel, Frog and Toad, and many of the Great Illustrated Classics.

Coloring Supplies  

Even little children can color.  They may just do it differently than we do.  Get some chunky crayons, finger paints, thick paper, and let them go at it.  We also love the “paint with water” books.  These books have colored ‘paint dots’ on the paper.  Your child dips his or her brush in water and drags it across the paint dots which dissolve and become the color on the page.

Middle Kids

For the purposes of this article, I would consider middle children to be ages 7-12.  Middle children can both entertain themselves more than young children but are also harder to contain, so we have to get a bit more creative.   While being more creative, we can also allow them more leeway with various projects.

Books

Books for middle kids can be very different from books that both younger kids and older kids prefer.  If you have a child who has a hard time reading, make sure that you provide ample reading material at or even slightly below his reading level.  This will make reading more enjoyable to that child and will encourage them to read more than if you felt the need to really challenge them with harder books.  Remember, this kid is meant to keep children occupied so that other people can get more work done instead of having to constantly supervise children.

For this age consider action-adventure books, fantasy, and books about kids their age.

Classic Toys  

Legos are the quintessential toy for this age group.  There are so many different sets and combinations.  My children love army men or wild west figures (which are just like army men but are cowboys and Indians), tinker toys, baby dolls, games, Madlibs, and cards.  Buy a slew of decks of cards and a Hoyle card game rules book.  Your whole family can have hours of fun!

Craft Supplies

Kids this age can do more than just fun crafts, but they may enjoy doing fun crafts more than they enjoy doing productive crafts like crocheting, knitting, sewing, mechanics, whittling, and other crafts that actually produce something useful.

You can purchase individual craft supplies or you can purchase something like this chest which has a bunch of different types of craft supplies.  Keep plenty of paper, glue sticks, Elmer’s style glue, glitter, sequins, Popsicle sticks, and other fun stuff.

Yes, provide them with tools too, but this age may just need fun stuff.

Older Kids

Older children don’t need as many things to keep them occupied.  First off, in an emergency, they will be more likely to have to work the most of all the ages to keep the family running.  That being said everyone needs a little downtime to keep themselves going.

Books

Everyone in our family has a Kindle down to my seven year old!  I love it because I can buy a book once and EVERYONE can read the same book at the same time.  They can each be in different places in the book while not affecting where the others are in their reading.

Besides that, we do have about 10 bookcases with books on them as well.  These are more varied in topic than just historical fiction (which does comprise more than half of our book collection).  We have history books, theology books, books on government, preparedness books of all flavors, even different songbooks.  Make sure that your book repertoire is varied.

Craft Supplies

While craft supplies can be just to de-stress and just for fun, more often than not, these can be a secondary blessing by providing a finished product that can be used.  Provide your older children with yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, blocks of wood, whittling knives, fabric, fabric scraps, needles and thread, books on various types of crafts.

Music books

Kids this age are very able to play musical instruments.  Besides instruments, having books around which are designed for specific instruments.  Yes, you may have to put up with their screeching for a while, but the reward will be paid back more than 100 fold.

Family Games 

Even before an event of epic proportions occurs, family games should be a staple around your house.  There are so many wonderful games out there that allow you to laugh together, to build camaraderie as a family, to remember that you were put together as a family for a reason.

What About You?

Do you have suggestions for other things that should be included in a “kid kit?”  Do you have items ready for your kids to help keep them occupied during an emergency? Together lets Love, Learn, Practice, Overcome

There are links in this post.  Some of the links may be affiliate links.  Some of the links may not be.  My promise to you is that I will only recommend the most economical version of the best quality of items to serve you. These are the items that I have bought for my own family.  You can feel free to use my affiliate links, of which I will get a small amount in compensation, or you can choose to search out your products on your own.