Unfortunately, that was not the case. The well-known recreational stores offered little in outdoor educational equipment. Instead, their shelves were filled with colorful Frisbees, popguns that shot marshmallows, and a lot of oddly shaped kites. What exploring tools I could find were overly complicated and cheaply made.

As I quickly learned, and my mother probably knew, the best explorer's kit was one my daughter and I assembled ourselves. Thus, together we set about creating a versatile assortment of gear Kimi could use on afternoon hikes as well as weeklong camping excursions. Spontaneity, after all, does not come packaged.

First, no cardboard box to carry her gear. Instead, we picked the Grommet daypack from Kelty, the renowned manufacturer of adventure equipment. Designed for kids 5-10 years old, the pack has 850 ci of storage in its large main pouch and the front organizing pocket. This, in turn, is segmented into multiple inner sleeves, perfect for keeping small gear in order. Kimi liked the orange color (there are five choices) and netted water bottle pockets. I liked that it had padded shoulder straps and back panel.

Like most kids her age, my daughter has a fondness for butterflies, so a specimen collector (i.e., a butterfly net) went on the equipment list. At CampSurvival.com I found a sturdy example from Coghlan, a Canadian manufacturer of recreational equipment.

For subsurface investigations, I purchased a set of simple gardening tools. Kimi was not particularly keen on a pink hand shovel and digging fork, but unless we were camping on Avatar's planet Pandora, I knew there was little chance of losing them in the dirt.

While Kimi and I agreed her bug collecting was strictly a catch-and-release affair, for nonliving specimens I assembled several clear plastic boxes and jars from the Container Store. They have a wide variety of shapes and sizes. If you are feeling particularly nostalgic, they even carry Stagioni jars, those ubiquitous canning jars with the sealable, brass-colored lids perfect for scooping up pond water.

Although I did not expect Kimi's digs to become full-blown research studies, I did include a few real measuring instruments. Kids, after all, love to compare things. Into the pack went a plastic measuring tape, a small steel ruler, and a 4-in-1 whistle that included a compass, a magnifier, and a thermometer, also by Coghlan. To further the scientific feel of the kit, I added a notepad for field notes and drawings, a few pencils (regular and colored), and a large eraser.

Since one never knows what an expedition might find, I supplied Kimi's kit with an 8-inch aquarium net with a 16-inch handle. It was primarily for collecting pollywogs and trout fry from mountain streams, but it would work as well on our desert excursions. After all, even the sun-baked Death Valley hosts a unique species of pupfish in some of its hidden watering holes.