Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature and Survival for Children

Good information that is not in other Tom Brown Jr. books

This is a beautiful book about exploring the wonders of nature with children. I love giving this book as a gift to other parent friends and I highly recommend it whether you are a parent or a teacher.

While the informational content itself is good, there is so much judgement and criticism to get past it becomes somewhat unapproachable. Almost immediately, the author gets very preachy very fast. Instead of instilling a sense of wonder and appreciation in the introductory sections, the author immediate sets in intensely critizing public education and modern society. Nothing is going to dampen the desire to read further than having your way of life and your schooling insulted and heavily criticized.I own the Army Survival manual, FM 21-76, which is basically straightforward information with commentary on attitude and mindset, which I prefer. I recommend it to anyone; I started reading it as a teenager and it shaped my outlook and capabilities for the rest of my life. I hope this book will be a positive influence on my young one, but I also worry about the author's heavy handed sharing of personal values and judgements.

Mr. Brown does an excellent job informing us trainee parents about what is important, actually effective, and how to develop children in this arena. The data is far better than one can get from the Scouting [organized camping] experiences and is spiced up with occasional & fascinating personal experiences. Reading his 'Tom Brown, Tracker' and 'The Way of the Scout' beforehand gives a wonderful context.

This book has been a mainstay for me while teaching children outdoor skills for the past 7 years. Both educators and parents will benefit from the "projects" described in the book, the stories and anecdotes woven throughout, and a fresh perspective, not often found these days, of freedom and joy.

So glad this is still in print. We are using it as a textbook of sorts for my younger students next fall.

For any survivalist at heart! Field guides are never a bad idea. Give it to your Dad... Brother boyfriend husband grandpa heck! Even one of your outgoing girlfriend/wife wouldn't mind this is her backpack! Tom brown is a true genius when it comes to survival method and tracking. Plus it's just a cool read. the knowledge doesn't hurt either. Gifted this to my husband and we ended up going through it together!

As I was a great proponent of Tom's philosophy, the arrival of my children made me rethink the approach to nature that I needed to teach them. this book is great to guide parents in presenting a new relation to nature to the little ones. You can start early with simple things. My 4 years old is already picking up dogs, cats and squirrels tracks!

A great book! there are very little of the 'required' or 'standard' bushcraft skills that are not included in this book.It is written in a way that an Adult can guide a child through the skill rather than being a 'cartooned kids book'. It goes into good levels of detail on fire, shelter, tracking, food (hunting and foraging) and nature awareness along with practical exercises that can be set up to aid learning. These skills are suitable for children but I would also say for adults too!If you have kids and want to get them (and maybe yourself) into bushcraft this is a good book! unless you are a quite experienced woodsman you, as well as the children will learn from this book!A dual purpose book! Use it yourself to learn the skills then use it to teach the skills to children! Unless you really want to go deep into the topic (as I do) than you may only ever need to buy one book, this one!

My 11 yr.old nephew loves this book and won't put it down. It is a guide to full-on nature connection, not just bushcraft.

Great book for parents organising a camp. I was unsure how to SAFELY run a camp. This book was incredibly helpful and my camp went very smoothly without injury

Good reading with good ideas. I like his honest homely views and his general outlook on life. Two thumbs up.

Great book - kids are learning a lot