As a newcomer to the “prepper” lifestyle, I’ve been devouring the wonderful information I can find on SurvivalBlog. These articles have prompted some deep and serious thinking from both me and my wife. But one day, as I was reading about food handling and storage and how to survive after the crunch, I began to consider what it would be like to spend many long months locked up in a safe-house somewhere with two young children. I remembered the Diary of Anne Frank, and how much they suffered from boredom while locked up in the attic of their safe house…and I suddenly realized that we may have overlooked a very important part of post-collapse survival: entertainment and pass-times. Yes, I know there will be a lot of work to be done that will keep survivors very busy during most of the day. But think back to the early settlers; after a very long day mending fences, caring for livestock, or plowing fields, the family retired to their homes and engaged in down-home entertainment. And periodically, neighbors came by and they enjoyed some wholesome fun. One amusing thought occurred to me as I thought this through: In a post-TEOTWAWKI world, much of what I do today for “entertainment” would no longer be for fun, but for survival: hunting, fishing, gardening, camping. So obviously, those topics are not included. I guess we have that to look forward to! In a post-TEOTWAWKI world, husbands won’t have to beg for permission to go fishing or hunting! This led me to do some research into the kinds of entertainment that would work off-grid. Forget your X-box, forget NetFlix. We’ve now entered a realm of entertainment that, in some parts of the country, has been forgotten. Board games and other indoor games can be both educational and simply entertaining. They can be enjoyed silently, or as part of a raucous party. They are cheap, can be found used in consignment shops for pennies, and really help pass the time on rainy or snowy days. My personal favorite is Chess, as it can be enjoyed as a beginner or, if you want to improve, literally offers a lifetime of learning and improvement, and has been proven to be one of the finest games for actually improving thought and intelligence. Even if you don’t play chess today, get books such as Guide to Teaching Chess, Chess for Children, Chess Tactics for Children, Chess Workbook, on chess openings. This one game alone will give you years of learning and enjoyment with one simple game. Also, it would be helpful to get a few extra pieces just in case they get lost or broken. Suggested games include:
1. Chess
2. Checkers
3. Backgammon
4. Monopoly
5. Sorry
6. Uno
7. Charades
8. Pool (billiards)
9. Ping Pong
10. Darts
11. Cards (don’t forget the chips)
12. Any others you enjoy
I personally am not a fan of puzzles (I guess Chess is my puzzle), but just about everyone else I know enjoys puzzles of some sort.
Here are a few puzzles to look for:
1. Easy child-friendly puzzles
2. Hard multi-thousand piece jigsaw puzzles
3. Cross word puzzle books
4. Sudoku books and games
5. Rubik’s Cube
6. Any others you enjoy
My family watches very little television and instead engages in various arts & crafts activities. There are many kinds of art that could be enjoyed, but I’ve left out sculpting and other similar ones because storing clay for long periods of time is difficult, it’s bulky and expensive, and ultimately you’ll burn through that kind of material quickly.
Here are just a few art supplies:
1. Wood crafting/whittling tools
2. Knitting supplies
3. Sewing supplies
4. Quilting supplies
5. Paints
6. Art Paper
7. Crayons, coloring pencils
8. Origami Paper (With instruction book)
Educational supplies:
1. Old fashioned bound-copy Encyclopedias
2. Dictionaries/Thesaurus
3. Writing materials
4. Manual type-writer and extra ribbons, ink
5. Math flash cards (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication)
6. Math exercise books
7. Geometry and Algebra text books
8. History books
9. Geography books
10. Anatomy & Medical books
11. Farm/animal husbandry books
One of the most important things I realized I’d not heard or read mention of, is Music. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I had to live the rest of my life in a post-TEOTWAWKI world without any music. Since I already play many instruments, I plan to have a stash of them at my retreat, and books to teach the young’ns how to play and pass on the skills. The instruments I list below would give you enough to literally have a small band. Believe it or not, places like Musiciansfriend.com often have many of these instruments for less than $100. I bought a fantastic Mandolin for about $100. I’ve seen fiddles by the same makers for around that. The point being, you don’t have to spend $800 or more per instrument. Also, search on Craigslist, you’ll find steals there. I got my daughter a $600 flute for $80. (Note I don’t put a Piano in there because they are just too darn cumbersome, but if you have the space at your retreat, that’s the best instrument to learn music on…but they require tuning):
1. Fiddle
2. Guitar
3. Banjo
4. Mandolin
5. Harmonica
6. Melodica
7. Accordion
8. Flute, penny whistle, or recorder
9. Acoustic bass or hollow-body bass
10. Hand drums (bongos, Irish “Bodhran”, congas, tambourine, maracas, etc)
11. Introductory books for each instrument teaching note-reading, scales, and basic theory
12. More advanced music for reading
13. Tuning forks (assuming an off the grid lifestyle, this solution requires no batteries)
Let’s not forget all those fun, traditional outside games and of course, the supplies necessary to enjoy them for years without being able to run down to a market and buy items:
1. Flag Football
2. Baseball/softball
3. Basketball (anyone going to have a court at their retreat?)
4. Volleyball
5. Badminton
6. Dodge ball
7. Soccer
8. Kick ball
9. Archery (obviously fun for kids and great training for survival)
Before I conclude, there is one more area that I should cover. One thing I learned years ago as a camp counselor was that there will be rainy, cold and miserable days when the children might be bored with their usual games, or those games have broken or worn out, and it will be important to give them something to do. Make sure you have a great book on games that do not require supplies. I highly recommend this book: 175 Best Camp Games On Wikipedia, I also found another list of traditional games people used to play and you might want to compile a list like this one for those rainy days.
JWR Adds: Here at the Rawles Ranch, we have stocked up on enough home-schooling books for a full-blown total isolation Blast From the Past