60-Minute Activity Plan: The Emergency Backpack Challenge

A practical emergency preparedness activity for Scouts that gets young people thinking about what they might need when an ordinary outdoor plan doesn’t go quite as expected.

Teams are given a fictional situation and a collection of equipment. They must decide what belongs in an emergency backpack, explain their choices and then adapt their pack as the situation changes.

The activity is designed to teach preparedness and decision-making, rather than frightening young people with worst-case scenarios.

Before You Start

Collect a selection of safe, ordinary outdoor items.

Useful examples include a torch, whistle, waterproof jacket, water bottle, first-aid kit, map, compass, spare clothing, food, emergency shelter, notebook, pencil, gloves and a mobile phone.

Add some deliberately less useful items such as a book, toy, large cup or unnecessary spare equipment.

You can use real equipment, pictures or cards representing equipment.

Prepare several scenario cards before starting.

For example:

Scenario A: Your group is delayed returning from a walk.

Scenario B: The weather becomes much colder.

Scenario C: One person has a minor injury.

Scenario D: You have lost your planned route.

Keep the situations realistic and age appropriate.

Safety

This is primarily a planning activity, so no dangerous survival situations need to be recreated.

Use safe equipment and don’t include medication, blades, fire-lighting equipment or other hazardous items as game pieces unless they are being demonstrated and handled by an appropriate adult.

If using backpacks, keep them lightweight.

Make it clear that the activity is a simulation. Young people should not be encouraged to deliberately put themselves into real-world risky situations to test their equipment.

Any discussion of first aid should stay within the young person’s level of training. Don’t expect them to diagnose or treat injuries beyond what they’ve actually been taught.

0–10 Minutes: Something Has Gone Wrong

Begin with a simple scenario.

Tell the group:

“You’re out on a walk. Everything was going well, but you’re going to be out for longer than expected.”

Ask:

“What might you need?”

Write their suggestions down.

Don’t judge the answers yet.

You may get suggestions ranging from food and water to phones, blankets and enormous quantities of equipment.

Use this as an introduction to the idea that emergency preparation isn’t about predicting exactly what will happen.

It’s about having enough useful resources to deal with reasonable problems.

10–20 Minutes: Build the Backpack

Split everyone into small teams.

Give each team a selection of equipment cards or objects.

Their first task is to choose eight items for an emergency backpack.

There is one rule:

Every item needs a reason.

Once they have chosen their eight, ask each team to explain its most unusual choice.

This is often more interesting than asking about the obvious items.

A team might choose spare socks because they’re thinking about keeping warm, while another chooses a notebook because they plan to record information.

There isn’t necessarily a single correct answer.

20–32 Minutes: Rank the Priorities

Now ask teams to rank their eight items from most important to least important.

Give them several minutes to discuss the order.

Then introduce a problem:

“Your backpack is too heavy. You can only take five items.”

Teams must remove three.

This forces them to think about priorities rather than simply choosing everything that might possibly be useful.

Ask:

“What did you remove?”

and:

“What would make you change your mind?”

This is a valuable opportunity to introduce the idea that emergency planning involves making choices.

32–45 Minutes: The Situation Changes

Now introduce a series of new scenarios.

Give the teams one at a time.

Scenario 1: Darkness

“It is taking longer than expected and daylight is fading.”

Give teams two minutes to reconsider their equipment.

Scenario 2: Cold Weather

“The temperature has dropped and someone is becoming uncomfortable.”

Again, give them time to adapt.

Scenario 3: Navigation Problem

“Your team isn’t completely sure where it is.”

Ask what equipment or information could help.

The important point is that teams shouldn’t simply shout out an answer.

Ask them to explain what problem the item solves.

45–53 Minutes: The One-Item Challenge

Now remove almost everything.

Tell the teams:

“You can only take one additional item. What would you choose?”

Give them a new scenario.

For example:

“You’re going on a short walk in unfamiliar countryside and the weather forecast is unsettled.”

Each team chooses one item and explains why.

This creates a surprisingly good discussion because young people have to balance different risks.

For older Scouts, make the scenario more specific by providing information about distance, weather, terrain and group size.

53–57 Minutes: The Emergency Check

Ask teams to imagine they’re about to leave for an activity.

Give them one minute to mentally check their backpack.

Then ask:

“What are you most likely to forget?”

Discuss why small things such as spare clothing, water, a charged phone or a means of communication can become important when plans change.

This is a good moment to reinforce that emergency preparedness starts before an activity begins.

57–60 Minutes: Final Review

Bring everyone together.

Ask each team to give one piece of advice they would give to someone preparing for an outdoor activity.

Finish with the simple message:

“Think about what could reasonably go wrong, prepare for it and know what to do if it happens.”

There’s no need to make emergency preparedness sound frightening.

Good preparation is simply another outdoor skill.

Adapting for Different Ages

Beavers

Use pictures rather than written cards.

Give Beavers five or six obvious items and ask them to choose three for a short walk.

Use simple situations such as rain, getting cold or needing to see in the dark.

Focus on recognising useful equipment rather than detailed emergency planning.

Cubs

Give Cubs a wider choice of equipment and introduce the five-item challenge.

They can explain what each item is for and decide which items are most important.

Simple scenarios involving weather, darkness and getting delayed work particularly well.

Scouts

Make the scenarios more realistic and detailed.

Give Scouts information about the route, weather, group size and expected duration.

Ask them to design an emergency pack and justify every item.

You can also introduce a limited weight or volume and ask them to find the best balance between preparedness and practicality.

Leader Notes

The strongest part of this activity is the discussion.

Avoid turning it into a test where the leader has a secret list of “correct” emergency equipment.

A compass might be extremely important to one group but less useful to another depending on the situation. The same applies to extra clothing, food, shelter and other items.

Keep asking:

“What problem would that solve?”

That question encourages practical thinking.

You can also use the activity to introduce the concept of Plan B.

A good outdoor leader doesn’t necessarily expect something to go wrong, but they think about what they would do if it did.

For experienced Scouts, a useful extension is to ask them to prepare two packs: one for a short local walk and another for a longer or more remote activity. They can then compare how the contents change.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the activity, young people should have had opportunities to:

Final Thought for Leaders

Emergency preparedness doesn’t need to be dramatic.

For young people, one of the most useful lessons is simply learning to ask:

“What if things don’t go exactly according to plan?”

The Emergency Backpack Challenge makes that question practical and approachable. Young people learn that being prepared isn’t about carrying everything imaginable. It’s about understanding the situation, making sensible choices and having a plan for when something changes.