Speed poling is an art. Throw bags are often carried but ineptly used. Send sticks downriver and set kids to hitting them with stones, then with lumps of dry and then wet wood, first with cord and later rope attached, and finally a throw bag, until they attain an accuracy range. They might save a life one day. Kids can love the power to track or line a canoe in pairs or single-handedly.
Children love difficulty and mastery, especially when no one focuses on right or wrong.
The action of the canoe and body response will guide mastery. Hand 'em a bagel and keep one in your own mouth when they run the postmortems. Cheap kiddie kits and lightweight specials with nothing but plastic pseudo scissors, pins, and Band-Aids are dangerously useless. Stage a camp disaster and teach your kids the whys of pressure and elevation, immobilization, sterile covers, and the recovery position. Help them figure out triangle bandaging, splinting, and pulse rates.