On Sunday, I returned to Beaver space sleepover after my nigh out at the ball. I arrived in time for breakfast (cereal and then bacon, scrambled egg and beans). During breakfast, I heard all about the activities the Beavers did the previous evening; they did mosaic space pictures, painted rockets, went outside and did some stargazing and saw the International Space Station fly by before they then made blanket forts to sleep in.
Rocket Pencil Toppers
After breakfast, it was time for another rotation of activities – there was a board game on launching rockets, space jigsaw puzzles and finally a bean bag toss at a space scene. These activities were then followed with space hopper races outside in teams.
Soon, it was time to go and so the Beavers gathered all of there kit together before they proceeded to be picked up. Once the Beavers had gone, there were a few more items to pack away before I headed home to catch up on sleep and to do my homework.
I interrupt my blog post scheduled for today to wish my very good friend Happy Birthday. She reads most of my blog posts and has turned 17 today. Today at lunch she had a birthday cake and we sat in our Sixth Form Common Room. One of my other friends brought candles (I left my candles in the car) and we borrowed a lighter. We lit 17 candles (well in the end it was 15 due to us not wanting to set the fire alarm off) and sang Happy Birthday. Most of the common room joined in and afterwards she cut her cake. I’m pretty impressed we didn’t set the fire alarm off except the next few people who entered the common room exclaimed how they could smell burning! However, we were very lucky and that wasn’t the most problematic problem today in the common room as previously that day, someone cleverly put a metal tin of soup in the microwave and someone else nearly burnt their cheese toasty. But, I guess it was just another day in the common room.
On Saturday, it was the Beaver Space Sleepover. After waking up late to arrive early, I was only 10 minutes late in the end overall. Initially, we were briefed before I made Ham sandwiches for the Beavers lunch as well as cutting cucumber and carrot. It was then time for the Beavers to arrive.
The Beavers painted Solar Systems
The first activity of the day was to go on a small walk to the nearby park. The Beavers had to find laminated picture of aliens and astronauts before being allowed to play in the park before heading back. One of the Beavers thought we were in London and so politely asked whether we could go to Mayfair – we were definitely NOT in London. Once we got back to the Scout hut, it was time for a buffet style lunch.
After lunch, it was the start of activities where the Beavers painted plates black to be space and then painted the different planets in our solar system to later on stick onto the plate once a spiral had been cut out. After this, the Beavers then completed some of there Space Ranger Book whilst the next activity was being set up.
Barry the Beaver and Blue the Bear in space
The next activity was a scavenger hunt with facts and clues which would be filled out in there space Ranger book. Previously during lunch we had hidden the facts around the room and during this activity I helped to create the space scene. Barry the Beaver and Blue the bear both insisted on having there photo taken in space.
After the Beavers had completed this activity it was time for the Beavers to tell one another about a space mission. Some had facts about the first moon landing whilst others had facts to tell about the International Space Station. During this activity, all the Beavers out in paint decorator suits and had their photos taken in ‘space’.
They then put their trainers on to take part in a circuit activity as the astronauts on board the International Space Station have to exercise for a minimum of 2 hours a day. The Beavers did skipping, ball passing, dribbling, front crawl, star jumps and a mini bleep test as part of this activity.
Afterwards, it was time for the Beavers to paint some rockets and stick there planets to there back paper plates (as made earlier). It was then time for me to go and get ready for the Explorer and Network ball.
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.
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!
My crafts at the Spa Evening all ready to fundraise!
On Wednesday, I was busy creating new craft items such as hair bobbles to sale at a spa evening on the Saturday. On Thursday, I had dance where we did some contact and contemporary improvisation. On Friday, I was busy sewing making some hand sanitiser holders to sale the next day.
Looking at different style fingerprints
On Saturday, I went to a university open day where I was looking at the Forensic Science course. I learnt about the different machines, which can help analyse different samples as well as different machines which can help solve key points in a crime scene. We learnt about how you should enter a crime scene and what evidence should be taken first as well as how to take a fingerprint sample. I saw versions of university accommodation as well. That evening, sewed on buttons before I headed out to fundraiser at a spa event.
Victorian Christmas Market
On Sunday, I headed to the local Victorian market – it was very pretty and bustling. That afternoon, I headed back home to complete my homework and plan the Beavers meeting which is being run by the young leaders.
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!
My last World Scout Jamboree meet up camp stared with boarding the minibus and drinking custard – a tradition we have upheld since our very first camp as a unit. Soon, we realised we had no speaker to play music with so started playing I-Spy.
This did not last very long.
Soon, we got the radio on and began listening to BBC Radio 2 – at first the music was substantial until it soon became clear it was mostly 60s music (which none of us knew). We then proceeded to sit in silence for the rest of our journey.
That evening, it was patrol 1s cooking duty where we cooked hot dogs with onion – the onions were so strong that we were all in tears cooking. After supper, we watched a movie called Hot Fuzz before heading to bed.
The next morning we all awoke at 8 o’clock due to the sound of unfashionable music – to say the least. Personally I’m still loving golden hour from our journey up. We then waited for the rugby to be put on except that ITV hub seems to be down – due to the amount if traffic.
Blue watching the Rugby
We watched the rugby – no spoiler but we lost which was disappointing. Nevertheless, we then played a game of ‘Pigs’ which some of our unit learnt on the Jamboree before doing some reviews. We reviewed our personal unit kit, selection process and then fundraising – which was followed by lunch.
Blue writing down his favourite fundraising ideas
After lunch we played an odd version of netball before heading back inside to review how many camps we had and whether this was substantial enough as well as reviewing our leaders leadership. Following this, we then listened to the county commissioner of Shropshire discussing the Queen Scout Award as well as other Scouting activities happening. We then a went back outside to play the odd version of netball.
In the evening, we were supposed to go on a hike to see a firework display except our dinner was running very late – I learnt a couple of new card games during the wait. After dinner (of chicken and … PASTA!), my patrol quickly finished washing up before we headed on a mini walk to try and watch the fireworks. We saw a few fireworks before heading back and eating pudding.
Chicken and pasta for dinner
In the evening, we watched a movie of our World Scout Jamboree experience which included photos and videos from all of our pre-camps. Many laughs later, it was time to head to bed which was around 00:45.
The next morning, we woke up at around 8:30 and started to pack away. Breakfast consisted of pancakes with maple syrup – taking me back to Canada. This was then followed by free time as well as a whole unit reflection. We also played with frisbee and a a game of Ninja.
Top 3 fundraisers
It was then time to say goodbye to everyone before we headed back home via the minibus. This was very sad with lots of I’ll see you very soon, before we grabbed some lunch and headed back home.
And so it’s not a goodbye, it’s more of a see you later …
Today I have been busy updating my personal development goals and submitting them. I then followed by quickly creating a Pinterest board of Pumpkin carving ideas before I started de-gutting my pumpkin.
With the pumpkin seed I toasted them in order to make toasted cinnamon sugar seeds. These turned out very delicious.
I soon decided to carve my pumpkin as a dinosaur which you can see within the top photo. I personally think it turned out very well.
This evening, I started packing for my reunion camp making sure that I will not forget anything important and most importantly will not get cold – the UK weather has certainly gotten very cold very quickly (soon I guess it’ll be snowing – *touch wood*).
This past week 84 has been out and about sharing her Jamboree experience with a local Cub and Scout group and she also visited the little red ninja’s again.
I love going to see people, I especially like going to Rainbows as I get to hang out with Olivia. But boy were they noisy this week! They asked 84 lots of questions including asking, when shown any photo with boys in – “is that your boyfriend?”
Everyone really enjoyed watching the video and I think they’re leaders are going to have to do their best to make their meetings more adventurous. 84 has also been busy making and selling her crafts, I’m excited as 84 has been making Christmas things. Did you know that there are only 65 days until Christmas.
