01What you need
- One straight stick about a yard long and thumb-thick, for the ridge poleFree
- About ten sticks a little longer than your ridge is highFree
- Two forked sticks, or two chairs, to hold the ridge pole upFree / have
- Two big armfuls of fallen leaves, grass or pine needlesFree
- A stuffed animal that can stand a little water, and a watering canHave
- Work gloves for anyone who wants themHave / borrow
Where: A backyard, or woods where you're allowed to gather fallen sticks and leaves.
Stick and yard safety: read this first
- Carry sticks pointing down, and no sword fights. Eyes are the injury to worry about.
- Look before you grab. Leave anything with "leaves of three" (poison ivy or poison oak) where it is.
- Build in the open, not under dead branches that could fall.
- Use only fallen sticks. Don't break branches off living trees, and only gather where it's allowed.
- Check everyone for ticks when you come in, if you were in long grass or woods.
02Steps
Pick the spot and feel the wind
DadFind flat ground in the open with no dead branches overhead. Wet a finger and hold it up, or watch the leaves, to find which way the wind is coming from. The back of the lean-to will face the wind.
Gather the frame and the thatch
KidHunt for one straight ridge pole, about ten sticks for the roof, and two forked sticks if you aren't using chairs. Then pile up two big armfuls of fallen leaves, grass or pine needles. Dad checks the pile for anything with leaves of three.
Set the ridge pole
Dad showsKid copiesPush the two forked sticks into the ground about a yard apart, or set two chairs back to back, and rest the ridge pole across them at about knee height. A full-size lean-to uses the same idea: a pole tied between two trees at waist to chest height.
Lean the roof sticks
KidLay the roof sticks from the ridge pole down to the ground, all on one side, with that sloped side facing into the wind. Space them a hand apart. Then weave thin sticks or vines across them, over and under, so the leaves have something to sit on.
Thatch it from the bottom up
KidCover the roof with leaves, starting at the bottom and working up, so each layer overlaps the one below like shingles on a house. Rain runs over the top of a shingle instead of under it. Make it thicker than you think it needs to be.
Run the watering-can test
Dad coachesPut the stuffed animal inside. Dad makes it rain from the watering can for thirty seconds, right on the roof. Check the animal: dry, damp or soaked? Find the leak, add more leaves there, and test again. Two dry tests in a row is a win.
03Variations
Ages 3–5
Build a lean-to for a toy figure on a tabletop with pencils for a ridge pole and craft sticks for a roof. They can still do the shingle trick with paper leaves, and the watering can becomes a spray bottle.
Ages 6–9
The full plan. Let them be in charge of the thatch and decide when it's thick enough before the test.
Ages 10+
Build only the frame of a person-size lean-to together: a pole between two trees about two arm-spans apart at waist to chest height. Talk through what it would take to finish it. Don't sleep in it.
WindyFace the back into the wind and lay a few sticks on top of the thatch to hold it down.
RainLight rain is the best test there is. Build fast and check the toy. Thunder means go inside.
ColdGloves on, and keep it to the frame and one test. Dry leaves are easier to find after a few dry days.
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04Optional story
Two buildersMatthew 7:24–27 · 5 min
Jesus told a short story about two men who each built a house.
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." Matthew 7:24–25 (KJV)
The other man built his house on sand. The same rain came, the same wind blew, "and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (v. 27).
Ask while you build: Both houses looked fine on a sunny day. What made the difference? What does it look like to build your life on something solid?
Plain-language retelling. Quotes from the King James Version (public domain).
05Sources
- Lean-to method (ridge pole, backside into the wind, thatching from the bottom up like shingles). U.S. Army Field Manual 21-76, Survival (June 1992), chapter 5, "Field-Expedient Lean-To."
Filed under: Outdoors · Faith (optional)
