Just saw this thread. Knew I wasn't alone.

These are items I have purchased for my Nephew. Light when he was 5, Scrapivore now that he's 7. I also place thos little push on LED lights on his school backpack. When the batteries are drained or the lights are damaged, I put a fresh one on the bag.
Do gear checks for functionality every chance I get to make sure his gear functions properly when it's most needed.

Some kind of power bar or long term food. Here are a few links.

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_FM%20R360_A_name_E_MAINSTAY%E2%84%A2%203,600%20Calorie%20Food%20Bar

http://www.maydayindustries.com/mayday_food.html

https://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_FM%20R400_A_name_E_FM%20R400

These are just links to the products that you might want to look at for him and or yourself.

How about one of the small pry bars?

Thanks Skunk your power bar suggestion sparked that idea.

Glad I could help.

Toys: Coloring book, favorite action figure etc ...

More as an add on idea, a subscription to Your Big Backyard magazine...

What else?? My son loves all the walking sticks I cut him, books on area animals/birds, tracking cards, glow sticks, hand crank flashlight, gloves, one of those survival kits in a bottle, little first aid kit...

Are air guns a go? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Nice ideas...you are a good uncle! Guess we have to wait on saying Mud Puppy, huh?

When my kids were young I had little survival kits for them when we were hiking and camping
I chose a pealess whistle so it would work when wet but many prefer the fox 40 whistle
Space blanket
Rain poncho in bright color
Family picture
Sak
Disposable camera however today I would replace this with a cheap $20 digital
gloves
Magnifying glass
Flashlight
Mini wineskin (for water but they thought they looked cool)
Granola bars
Pocket book on animals in our area
Fak
Hair doodles ( my daughters had long hair)

Thanks everyone for the ideas. This is great. I can't wait to get started on this.

I was thinking about adding a breacher bar from countycomm. The little mid sized one. He could use it to baton with or as a pry bar.

http://countycomm.com/eodrtool.html

or one of these little mini pry bars.

http://countycomm.com/straightwidgybar.html

What do you guys think?

BC I love the wineskin idea!

I think the EOD tool would be better but that may just be the engineer in me.

I have the EOD bar and it does the trick for what i need it for. In the hands a of small child it can be a source of endless fun. Or destruction. Possibly both at the same time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

They are almost the same thing are they not MB? lol

I own the Breacher Bar and a Ti version on the mini pry bar. The smaller version of the mini pry is handy on a keychain, but less practical for some tasks, so I went a little bigger.

I 550 wrapped them for comfort...innards removed on the Ti mini pry.

I don't know if it's good for children, but they come in handy from time to time.

You Will use them. For example, the BB is great at removing lids from paint cans. And the mini Ti pry has come in very handy as an improvised screwdriver / similar.