My boy has been watching a ton of minecraft and nerf videos and he has been after my wife to help him shoot videos while I am at work.
The pair did TNTell’s First Nerf Video on a cell camera, and he doesn’t know what he is talking about, but its cute how he is trying to emulate what he sees.
What does a 6 year olds video on nerf guns have to do with DIY and preparedness? Nothing, but it has everything to do with why I work so hard to be prepared for disasters. I love my family, and want them to be safe and secure, but also happy.
It makes me feel good to support my son, even more so that at this moment, he chooses to like the same things I do.
I bet that at some point he will start listening to music and doing things that I don’t like, but I figure I will still love him when he is a teenager.
But, as Exhibition shooter Herb Parson said, you can hunt with your kids, or hunt for them. WT is not ready for hunting yet, but we can still let him get his gun fix in other ways.
I have worked with Survival Hax for several years now, and I love their inexpensive gear. I believe that every family ought to have a good 3 season mummy sleeping bag for every person in their household. Even if you don’t camp, they store easily and are great for emergencies.
Now that my boy is starting to want to go camping, it was time to get him a first bag, and this is the one I chose. Now it is not a kids bag, it is a full size mummy bag, but for the price he can deal with the extra legroom.
Shell: 190T Polyester
#1 NEW RELEASE – Just released mummy bag and best seller in Sleeping Bags & Camp Bedding.
ULTRALIGHT MUMMY BAG – Crafted for maximum comfort while being lightweight for camping, backpacking, and traveling.
COMPACT CARRY SACK – Sleeping Bag includes compact carry sack which is 14*7*7 inches when packed.
WATER RESISTANT – 190T Polyester Pongee repels water so you never worry about waking up with a soggy sack again.
COMFORT – Sleep like a baby in harsh conditions. Your Mummy Bag is filled with 200GSM Hollowfibre to keep you cozy.
This bag doesn’t cost much, at $25.00 it is affordable, and I like the design of the stuff sack, it easily stores the bag for use.
My boy has sleep in this bag every night since he opened it, and the only problem we have had is his begging to go camping – at cold as it is, I just don’t have time for that….
I think its funny as can be, WT’s first video was supposed to be him showing you the world he and I built and explaining the mods we used to create it, But that was a little too structured for my boy and he changed his mind and now he just wants show you his building in minecraft.
Actually he wanted to build by HIMSELF, so we tried again, this time he wanted me to site right next to him because he did not want to build all by himself….
Fun times with a 5 year old
There are a couple of ways to play minecraft, and not a lot of rules – you can focus on playing the game, building a house, completing advancements, protecting yourself from monsters. basically surviving. If you want to sleep you have to make a bed, to do that you have to build an axe to cut down a tree and then convert the wood to planks, you have to pick flowers and find sheep to shear to make wool you dye. Combine the colored wool and the planks to make a bed…. It can get involved.
Personally I like to build perfect villages and castles with roads and infrastructure. My boy likes fighting monsters with me….
He plays in survival mode – meaning everything he has he has to earn in the game – and if he dies he loses it. I play in what he calls “cheating mode” the game calls it creative. My mode allows flying and unlimited build material. I rarely let him play in that mode because I like to see him figure out how to decide and prioritize when he builds in minecraft. This means he gets a treat when I let him play in creative – he can build much much faster (and can destroy my perfect towns in the blink of an eye (its okay dad we can fix it together….) LOL
I think mostly my boy doesn’t like building in minecraft, he likes playing with me. Which is actually why I like playing the game too.
WT Building in Minecraft: First Video
WT has his own channel for his grandparents to watch his stuff, but he wanted to do some videos with me.
When my boy said he wanted to make minecraft videos like hobbypig and toy reviews like Ryan I figured I would let him. It is a great feeling when your boy wants to do things with you.
My wife was not really excited about adding more technology into the household, but after seeing what minecraft can teach (mostly coding, but some cause effect and resource management) she relented.
I make videos sharing what I do, and to me its a positive. I’m not in it for fame or fortune. This isn’t here to make my boy a YouTube star or to line my pockets, I want my boy to feel good doing what his daddy does while learning to be independent.
My boy sees that and he sees people on YouTube like Ryan’s toy review that he connects with and he wants to emulate. We tightly monitor what our boy does while still giving him freedom to grow in his own direction, so I keep a firm hand on him so he does not see the negatives or the trolls but his mother and I support his creative endeavor.
I could probably do a whole post on why Minecraft is positive, but almost anything can be positive if it is monitored and the child parented. This maybe something you would not do with your child, and I get that, but for mine we are going to test it out.
WT Building in Minecraft: Parkour
I am sure 90% of the readers of this site don’t subscribe to see this kind of content, but it makes my son very happy when I take the time to share his work.
He worked very hard on his minecraft world, and he wanted to share it like the YouTube he watches do with their creations.
I like supporting my son, and while too much technology can be a bad thing with developing children, I think exposure to it at appropriate levels is also important.
I had to “fight” with his mother about allowing him a minecraft account because she did not want him to veg out on the computer all summer.
She has a valid point, but also minecraft is a way to learn basic computer coding, and because you have to manage wood, stone, food – and other resources in the game it does teach concepts like cause and effect and resource management.
I am not quite ready to let him play with others, but when he is older it is also a way to manage group dynamics as people have to work together to build towns and such.
This article shows how to build a computer with your kid using the Kano OS and a Raspberry Pi. The kit cost $70.00. However, if you have a USB wall charger and a HDMI cable you don’t need the kit. You can do the same basic thing for the cost of the chip alone ($35.00).
If you want a cheaper kit with a little less functionality the Pi zero kit is less than $25.00.
I got the more powerful Pi 3 because I was not sure if this would hold my boy’s attention. If he discards it I want to make a network attached storage (NAS) server so that I can store all my prepper files in a intranet.
My goal is to put all my files in a WordPress setup and run that from a blackberry pi so that when we move to the land (the land without internet) I can access my documents from wherever I am teaching or working at.
So far though, my son is having a good time watching youtube and exploring the features in the KANO operating system.
The kit I bought has a micro SD card preloaded with the typical operating system used on raspberry pi builds, but I wanted to use the kid friendly Kano OS. In a later post I will show you how to load that on a micro SD card.
Snapping this kid built computer together is pretty easy. Simply install a couple of heat sinks, snap the board in the case, plug in a power supply, a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. Stick in the micro SD card with an operating system and its ready to go.
The hardest part of this build was doing it and holding the camera. Somehow my tripod broke so please forgive the wonky footage.
How to Install the Kano Operating System
Buy at Amazon a Kano
The process to download and install the Kano OS is very well documented on the actual Kano website. I recommend just buying their setup. It is not that much more expensive than DIY, but the kit and the kit documentation is much more kid friendly.
You are not going to find a better kid sized keyboard than you will from Kano.
I used my own because I wanted a Pi for a NAS setup and this give me the opportunity to use it for my own stuff later.
First thing you will need to do is to get a micro SD card, a computer adapter and download two programs,
Next, insert the micro SD into the adapter and plug the adapter into your computer
Open the etcher software and follow the prompts.
The image you are using is the Kano OS you just downloaded
Make sure the only SD or memory device you have plugged in is the one you want to install the Kano OS on. It will permanently wipe the drive selected.
Once selected hit the flash button to get started – it takes a while, this is a big program on a small card
Once its done, close it out and insert in your device to get started with your kid built computer.
How to Set Up the Raspberry Pi with the Kano OS
Buy at Amazon a Kano
This is my son and I powering up his blackberry pi mini computer and setting up the Kano OS.
Once again, the footage is wonky. My wife was holding the camera and as this was the first power up of the computer neither of us knew what would happen on screen.
Our only problem with this device and the operating system is that while it is very kid friendly my kindergartner can’t read well enough to navigate on his own. However it is simple enough he thinks he does not need help in using his computer.
This leads to a lot of him pressing buttons and not really knowing what is happening. As long as he is exploring and having fun on his own I try to bite my tongue and let him use it his way.
Setting up the Kano OS did not take long. It is pretty simple. This makes sense as it is designed for kids ages 6 and up. Basically, all you have to do is follow the screen prompts and type what is asked.
It allows the child to tell the computer the name they want to be called. They can also set up the avatar they want to use.
My son made a zombie looking blackbelt, no surprise there.
Once your done setting up the kano OS, the child can set up an account to share their creations with other children online.
We then spent some time playing with the Kano, exploring how to code minecraft and play pong.
I wanted to get my son more than just toys for Christmas, I wanted to get him stuff that he will both use, and will nurture a curious mind. To that end, I bought him the book Greg’s Microscope and gave it to him a couple of months ago and we had many talks about all the cool things Greg discovered in his microscope (with William’s microscope already hidden in the present closet.)
It did not take long before WT started asking for a microscope (and a chemistry set) and the die was cast.
I also bought a scope adaptor so I could take pictures of his microscope adventures on my phone. Unfortunately it was too big and I needed to adapt it. Later I plan on using this on a .22 rifle scope.
So this is just a toy microscope, for under $50 you get plastic lens and a small frame. That’s okay though if he likes it I will get him a better one – I just didn’t want to spend good money on a good scope for a 5 year old.
In using his kid’s microscope he will learn techniques that will still work on a “real” one. Start at a lower power and move up as necessary, how to prepare slides, how to adjust focus, how to adjust the light.
One thing I liked about this particular kid’s microscope is that it has both a mirror and a battery powered light. This makes it much easier to use.
We have started small by recreating many of the things he read about in his Greg’s microscope book, and he has been busy finding other things to look at.
This was a good investment, not in the toy microscope, but in my boy.
My dad always gave me the option to either grow up smart OR strong – I want my son to be both.
I have worked with 
This article shows how to build a computer with your kid using the Kano OS and a Raspberry Pi. The kit cost $70.00. However, if you have a USB wall charger and a HDMI cable you don’t need the kit. You can do the same basic thing for the cost of the 
The process to download and install the Kano OS is very well documented on the actual 
I wanted to get my son more than just toys for Christmas, I wanted to get him stuff that he will both use, and will nurture a curious mind. To that end, I bought him the book