Are not well known, cheap and simple for a child to do. I'm going to be teaching Scouts a class on fire starting without a lighter.

I know we have flint and steel, fire steel, old bow drill, and other common methods. Yet I want the Boys to think outside the box and see other ways to make a fire.

Since most hikers do carry a lighter be it a Zippo or disposal I was going to show them the prison match way. If you don't know it's where you take paper works best with cheap one ply toilet paper, roll one sheet of TP up and make a little cup at the end then you pluck the lint from you cotton clothes or use the lint that I'm going to suggest they carry. Fill the TP cup with lint then use the flint from your light to light! Easy to do and used all over by prisoners who don't want to buy another lighter after the fuel runs out to light there smokes.

Yet I'd like to find out some more way like are fire pistons any good? Also solar fire starters I'm not talking about the magnifying glass but that might also be a good one. Since we do live in Southwest Texas and have good sunlight here!

Thanks for the advice I'm asking now because I want go practice before I teach.

Check out Bushcraft USA's Bush Class:
https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/forums/bushclass-usa.132/

Each class has a youtube video thread. Then a response thread where forum users show their work via pics.
Lots of good fire building / starting type training. I learned a bunch myself.

9v battery and fine steel wool.   You need the kind without soap.  It’s made for wood finishing.

came to post this. it's dramatic, too!

also magnifying glass and the sun. bonus points if you can do it with someone's glasses or a partially filled water bottle. or ice.

jumper cable and car battery might be a good way to show it, too, as people would need fire when stuck with a dead vehicle.

Lets see, I have used a 9v battery and steel wool, a magnifying glass, and one of those striker rods with some char cloth.
Still trying to use a bow and drill, as of now all I get is some smoke.

Cotton balls with Vaseline mixed into them.
Keep a bunch in a plastic 35mm film canister.

Fire pistons are hard to make. Buy one if you use one.

Also, you can try the "gum wrapper and battery" method which is tricky but very cool if you can get it done.

Drier vent material. It burns great.

Fat rope, duh

No, no, no. Do something that teaches them how to start a fire *AND* teaches them not to do something stupid at the same time:



ETA: Be sure to tell them not to leave a cardboard box filled with water bottles out where the sun can get to it.

ETA2: Glad this didn't happen in the back of my car.

flint and steel with dryer lint. If in wet/windy country kneed some peanut butter into the dryer lint but make sure to leave some regular lint exposed to start it. doesn't take much of a spark to get that going.

I also saw this tool when I was looking up fat rope. Like to he the guys email who makes the fatwood don't have Facebook.

Old school flint and steel with charcloth and jute fibers is a fun challenge.

Can that be done with a water bottle? That would be a good exercise if possible.

Cut up a battery from  a cell phone

A better link for the Bush Class:

https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/bushclass-index.27234/

5 man made tinders:
https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/b-5-manmade-tinders.27276/

Chocolate bar and a Coke can.  You don't actually need the chocolate but it does make it a little easier to get the polishing started.  Bow drill, pump drill, watch glass, Fresnel lens, eye glasses, battery and spare light bulb from your non-LED flashlight, battery and steel wool, battery and very thin wire, fire piston, flint and steel, tinderlighter (essentially a flintlock with no barrel),  etc.

You can make a working fire piston from a clean out stub, a dowel and an O-ring; obviously not things you're going to find in the wilderness, but it's neat to see the diesel/compression technique work.

potassium permanganate and glycerin. Pour together and wait

potassium permanganate and sugar.  Mix together and apply friction

Items can be bought over the counter but I had issues tracking everything down in the Midwest.  (E.g. one out of 20 stores knew what I was talking about and only one in 40 stores had the stuff.)

YMMV

or stuff cotton and vaseline/neosporin in plastic drinking straws burn time will in crease.

Came to post this. The glycerine mix has a quite energetic reaction which is fun to watch.

We used dry pine needles in beeswax that was cut into squares....

Toilet paper roll packed with a mix of wax and dryer lint with steel wool at one end to act as a fuse. Touch it off with a nine volt and boom, nice little fire brick. Might get the little guys to think that just because it’s trash, doesn’t mean it can’t be useful.

Novelty fires are great fun and effective attention getters.

After that, learning:

Efficient tinder collecting.
Best woods and how best to procure them.
Different fire lays and their purposes. A cooking fire is different than a night fire for warmth, etc.
How to start a fire under difficult conditions. Wet, windy, numb hands, etc.
Where to situate a fire for safety and best utility for cooking, sleeping, etc. (I suppose the whole safety thing should be first. )

From there you can go into fire beds, Dakota holes, ember holders for retaining coals to start a fire later, assorted implements made from natural materials to help with various fire tasks. Tongs, hearth, pot suspenders, spit, etc.

Getting that first flame is important and quite fun but is really not very useful without the rest of the picture. Knowing how to properly lay and maintain the fire for the desired task makes all the difference.

9V battery and 000 steel wool.

Can also do this with two 1.5V batteries (like 2 Ds or Cs or AAs), it's a bit more difficult because you have to hold the batteries in series to mave 3V.

Fire plunger.