Virtual Games

Today’s blog post will be discussing different games you can play via. Zoom or any other online Scouting meeting. These are different games I have played with Beavers however, they could be played with any age group.

The bean game:

The leader or young leaders call out different types of beans and the young people will act them out once called. You can call out more than one beans so they act two or more at the same time. The different beans are as follows:

Runner bean – run on the spot

Jelly bean – wave arms like a jelly fish

Broad bean– stand with arms out in a star position

String bean – stand with arms up in air long

Jumping bean – jump up and down

Baked bean – crouch down in a ball

Beans on toast – lie on floor with arms out

French bean – say ‘oo la la

Mr Bean – say ‘where’s my teddy

Finally, you can combine different actions together such as jelly bean and French bean.

Simon said:

Use your Leaders name and play Simon said. For example, my Beaver name is Snail so if I say ‘Snail said clap your hands’ and the young people will follow and copy. However, if I say ‘stop’ then the young people will continue clapping as I/ the leader did not say “Snail said”

NESW:

This game uses the North as pointing your fingers up, East as right, South as down and West as left. You can also incorporate different ‘pirate’ actions including:

Scrub the deck – kneel down and pretend to scrub the floor

Climb the riggin‘ – move arms up and down as if you are climbing up a ladder

Captains coming – salute and stand to attention

Crocodile – snap your arms in front of you like a crocodile making a snapping noise

Life boats of *insert number here* – hold the number on your hand using your fingers i.e. lifeboats of 3, you will hold 3 fingers up

Walk the plank – lie on the floor off camera

Shark attack – pretend to have a fin and become a shark

True or false:

For this game, you will say different facts and the young people will decide if they believe they are true or false. If the young people believe they are trues, they will put their thumbs up and if they believe the fact is false, they will put their thumbs down. You can vary the facts and questions to make them more difficult for older groups.

Alphabet game:

For this game, you go around the young people asking them to name something beginning with A. The next young person will say the previous A word and add a word beginning with B. This can be done with a theme such as animals, household objects or even items you would take camping.

If you have any games which I have not mentioned feel free to comment them on this post!

Founders Day

Happy Founders day to all of my Scouting friends or World Thinking day for all Guides. Today marks the 164th anniversary of the birth of the founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden Powell.

In today’s Beaver meeting we held a quiz to discuss the history of Scouting as well as had a few Beaver investitures. We retold our promise and played a few games.

Microwavable mug-cakes

The final result

This week at Beavers we learnt ‘virtually’ how to make mug cakes. Here is the recipe we used.

Ingredients (dry)

  • 1/4 cup of flour
  • 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • a pinch of salt

Ingredients (wet)

  • 1/4 cup + tablespoon of milk
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Ingredients (optional)

  • 1 tablespoon of mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

1/ place all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together

2/ add wet ingredients into the same bowl and mix until smooth

3/ place into a microwavable mug (you may have to scrape sides of bowl to get all mixture into mug)

4/ sprinkle chocolate chips (or extra ingredients) onto top middle of mixture – no need to stir them in

5/ with a microwave of 950W place into microwave for 70 seconds or for an 850W microwave place in for 80 seconds etc.

The final result

6/ take care when removing mug from microwave as it’ll be hot

7/ if your cake does not feel ‘cakey/spongy’ place in microwave for an extra 10 seconds

8/ wait for cake to cool down before eating

EJ2020 Update

Today’s blog is going to be slightly different- it is an update on EJ2020. A few weeks ago we were told that it has been postponed until next year due to the current pandemic however, due to turning 17 recently, I will be over the age of 18 next summer. At the time, we had to wait for our national organisations to respond with what they will do and on Saturday (2nd May) I discovered that UK Scouting decided that over 18s will not be able to attend as participants whom if the Jamboree was put on this summer would have been.

I am very disappointing by this decision made due to having spent the last year fundraising with many of my peers. This action has not been taken very well by all year 12 students as other national Scout organisations are still allowing those who will turn 18 to attend including UK Girl Guiding.

I would like to challenge this as why should we be disadvantaged after all our hard work fundraising?

Happy Founders Day!

Today across the world we celebrate Founder Day. Robert Baden Powell was born on February 22nd 1857. However, previously I have celebrated World Thinking Day – which is the Guiding version of Founders Day after, Robert Baden Powell’s wife, Olave – whom also has the same birthday just in 1889.

I like to spend today thinking about my fellow Scouts and Guides from around the World. Having had the opportunity to attend WSJ2019 I feel honoured to be part of such a giant group of people.

On the crest of a wave

So this week I have become involved in my district’s gang show. I am now a tea girl for the Sunday session as well as helping with the set painting and decorating as well as maybe being backstage during show week. Now Sis84 I do not think is very happy with me due to gang show being her thing due to her performing on stage. Nevertheless, I have started making paper cranes for one of the scenes as we need 1001 of them. I am aiming to be able to say that I have made 20% of the cranes on the stage but I have lost count of how many paper cranes I have already made. However, Mum84 has made 10 cranes so she is able to say that she has made 1% of the total cranes. Whilst I was making some of the cranes, Blue came along with me and made friends with Olivia the rainbow from a different unit to Mum84’s unit.

BLOGMAS (day 1)

Hi all, to get into the spirit of Christmas (and writing more blog posts more frequently), I have tasked myself with taking part in a challenge I like to call BLOGMAS. It requires me to write a blog post each and every day counting down the days until Christmas. Blue might write a few blog posts as well here and there. For now, lets get into todays blog.

Yesterday evening I attended my County’s Explorer and Network ball. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I got to see my friends from across the County. I got to see Santa and sang many classic Scouting songs. To top off the night, the World Scout Jamboree Participants all sang Country Roads swaying together in a circle.

The badge we recieved

There was a Pick ‘n Mix, Buffet and drinks all to our delight. We even got a badge from the event (I can’t say enough how there is a badge for everything in Scouting!). It was a lovely evening and I cannot wait to see all of my Scouting friends again soon.

5 senses

Last Monday it was time for myself and my fellow young leader to run the Beaver meeting. We planned a night based on senses which linked in with their termly theme of Personal. The 5 senses are: Touch, See, Hear, Taste and Smell – and we created different activities based on these senses.

To start the evening they played a new version of NSEW but instead of shouting the instructions, I held up cards. They then were split into 4 groups to take part in a rota of activities.

At the Smell station, the Beavers were blindfolded and had different smell to sample. Some included vinegar, lemon juice, toothpaste and concentrated squash. At the Taste station, the Beaver were blindfolded again and had different foods to taste. This included: Dark chocolate, carrots, pickled onion and cucumber.

At the Touch station, the Beavers were blindfolded once again and were given different objects to touch to guess what they were. This was filled with laughter as the objects varied from being a fork to a frog woggle to a paintbrush to a jigsaw puzzle piece. At the See station the Beavers guessed cards which contained fruit and vegetables zoomed in to test whether they could figure out the food.

After the Beavers had visited all the stations, they then sat in the middle of the room for 2 minutes in silence. After the time was up, they told me what they could hear.

The Beavers fully enjoyed themselves that evening and I’m already thinking of ideas for our next meeting!

84’s Busy Weekend

Howdy readers, it’s me again. I’ve taken over the blog again! Which means that yes, I am now living with 84 permanently. I’m super excited as I know that we are going to get to go to the European Jamboree next year.

84 and I have had a fairly busy few days with Scouting activities – starting with the Remembrance parade on Sunday morning. 84 made paracord poppies and if I do say so myself they are marvellous. Not wishing to moan but she didn’t make any purple ones to remember all of the animals who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I think I’m going to have to raid the paracord stash and make one myself ready for next year.

The afternoon of Sunday was spent on the Young Leader’s module K first aid course. I stayed out of the way as I didn’t fancy being bandaged again.

On Monday evening 84 had an EJ2020 meet up, where they perfected their culinary skills and made meatballs and pasta. I feel a song coming on … On top of spaghetti all covered in there sat my poor meatball, until somebody sneezed. It rolled off the table and onto the floor and then my poor meatball it rolled out the door. (Note: no meatballs were harmed in the making of this blog post)

Last night 84 and I climbed a mountain at her Explorer meeting. It was a clear night so I got to see plenty of stars. I stayed warm in 84’s bag but did enjoy the sneaky burger she got on the way home. It made a nice change to chicken and rice!