The kids had a blast hooking Rocket to an old tire and watching him train. The kids also raced an experienced dog while both pulled a tire. I took an old rowing machine I had and disassembled it, put the pieces in the snow, and had tools out for them to figure out how to repair this apparatus. This was to simulate how tough it is to repair a sled in the middle of Alaska. This activity was held indoors, although it need not be.
Mushers are required to have certain items in their sled bag, other items are there by choice.
A musher must consider what is important, and the weight of the item when evaluating what should be packed. When coming to this station I had the students rank the importance of each item, and where it should be stored in the bag. A scale was at this station so students could weigh the amount of their load. A ranking sheet was filled out by each group, and a discussion with our musher at the end of the day gave his insights on packing the bag. At this station the students learned the difference between temperature and wind chill.