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Four kids &mdash; and the adults who accompanied them to an Outdoor Survival program for children at Nescopeck State Park &mdash; had just spent 40 minutes weaving sticks into a lattice and stuffing leaves between them for insulation.
				&ldquo;Good teamwork, everybody!&rdquo; environmental education specialist Megan Fedor said as the little group stood back and admired the shelter they had crafted from completely natural materials.
				The shelter had been fun to build. It looked pretty snug. But would anybody really want to sleep there?
				&ldquo;No,&rdquo; 9-year-old Allison Sutliff from Mountain Top said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be out here alone.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;No, it would be too cold,&rdquo; said 7-year-old Monty Long from Bloomsburg.
				&ldquo;Not unless I had a blanket,&rdquo; said Monty&rsquo;s sister, Alyana, 10.
				The youngsters had the right idea. The shelter, which they dismantled quickly, in keeping with the Outdoor Survival program&rsquo;s rule about leaving no trace, would not be an ideal place to sleep.
				But if someone happened to be lost in the woods without supplies, knowing how to build that kind of shelter could keep them warm, dry and alive through a night that might be cold and wet enough to induce hypothermia.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not supposed to get too cold here tonight,&rdquo; Fedor said. &ldquo;But in November the night time temperatures can be anywhere from the 20s to the 50s.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;You can live three weeks without food&rdquo; Fedor told the group before they started building. &ldquo;Three days without water, three hours without shelter, and three minutes without air.&rdquo;
				So shelter from the elements is important. And, after a discussion about ways to avoid getting lost in the woods in the first place (bring a map, consult a GPS, tell other people where you&rsquo;re going and how long you&rsquo;ll be gone) and what to do if you become lost (stay in one place, think, observe and plan) the group headed into a wooded area to begin their their hands-on experience.
				Soon 10-year-old Alyana was dragging a fallen branch, quite a bit longer than she was tall, toward a clearing. Fedor looked it over and approved. It was strong. It wasn&rsquo;t rotten.
				She could brace the branch against a tree and it would make a fine ridge pole, or backbone of the shelter.
				Allison and her dad, Chad Sutliff from Mountain Top, and Alyana and her mom, Laurie Long from Bloomsburg, plus Alyana&rsquo;s brothers, Monty, 7, and Shay, 14, got busy gathering branches and sticks and leaning them vertically against the ridge pole, like ribs against an animal&rsquo;s backbone.
				Then they gathered smaller sticks and wove them horizontally through the vertical sticks, and stuffed bunches of leaves into every hole.
				&ldquo;This is how squirrels build their nests,&rdquo; Fedor told them. &ldquo;Ideally you should have walls that are two feet thick.&rdquo;
				Insulating leaves carpeted the floor, too, which Fedor said would make spending a hypothetical night in the shelter more comfortable.
				&ldquo;But let&rsquo;s be honest, you wouldn&rsquo;t sleep,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d hear every noise the forest makes and you&rsquo;d be scared.&rdquo;

125957824_web1_shelter.finished

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125957824_web1_shelter.taking.shape

125957824_web1_shelter.girls.work

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125957824_web1_shelter.almost.done

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‘Good teamwork, everybody!’