Beavers – Explorer Scout 84

hi 2022.

So a new year, a new resolution. I would say my resolution for 2022 would be to be more frequent in my blog writing but with university exams throughout January, I knew this would not be the case. I do not really have a resolution for this year other than to wake up earlier and be more productive during the day. My university semester starts back on the 31st so I currently have a week of ‘freedom’ and during this I am exploring the city.

This past week has been semi eventful. On Tuesday, I had the last of my exams after which I had my booster jab (as an end of exam present). On the Wednesday, I went on a walk along the local canals before starting season 2 of Cheer on Netflix (and subsequently finishing it by Friday). (see photos of canal walk below)

Thursday was a quiet day, however in the evening I had Beavers and Scouts. The Beavers learnt all about Australia to help them with their international badge whilst the Scouts made their catapults in their patrols. I made my own catapult at the same time (which worked better than the Scouts’ catapults!). I was then invested as a leader into the Scout Group which I definitely was not expecting – I now have another neckerchief to add to my collection.

On Friday, I choose to go on a mini hike around Lickey Hills where I walked over 22,000 steps (around 15km). It was a very therapeutic walk even with the strong winds and in the cold. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to wander around the woods and find look out points to try and spot my University’s clock tower (Old Joe). As I was returning back onto campus I was proud of myself as pre-WSJ, 84 would never have done anything like this. (see photos of Lickey hills walk below)

On Saturday, I tagged along to visit the Guide shop. I found some old badges in a lucky dip bag as well as the county Guiding badge which I had to buy. I avoided saying the banned word ~~Scouting~~ in the store – though it may not actually be banned, I didn’t want anyone catching on that I was an imposter! I got back to my flat and one of my flatmates had returned from the Christmas break. We caught up before going out shopping to grab some food before watching the Incredibles 2 (I worked out the villain within the first 30 mins – my flatmates can back me up) and an episode of Dawson’s Creek.

On Sunday, my flat and I headed to the Winterbourne house and gardens; where Blue has previously gone on a Bear hunt. We then ate some food before tidying the flat to have a small party in the evening. Look out for Blue’s blog where he heads on a Bear hunt!!

Hi again

Hello blog, recently I have not been very active with my blog due to being back at school (in real life) rather than on online school. This has meant that I have been very busy, especially getting back into the school routine, as well as preparing for exams. Hopefully, by the end of May, I should be back to blogging weekly as I should be finished with school for the Summer.

On Monday the 19th of April 2021, we had our first Beavers meeting outside in over a year after being on Zoom since March 2020. This was really enjoyable and the Beavers seemed to enjoy the evening playing games, sat at a safe distance apart, as well as learning about the patron saint of Scouting, St. George. We played games such as Splat, Heads and Tails and Simon Says before finishing the evening by designing our own shields – which mine had a snail on.

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!

Autumn Term One Review

For the last 8 weeks, I have been settling back into my school routine (COVID-19 edition). Even through the last few weeks, school have made many changes such as now making face coverings compulsory in all shared areas as well as making the loud noisy common room a quieter study area. It is very weird having my science lessons in a DT room and my Maths lessons in random classrooms however luckily the majority of my Chemistry classes are in a science lab.

For the first few days of the year I was very stressed over returning to school. We were sent our reopening plan and I was unhappy with the changes in place and was very anxious however, I have slowly adjusted to school. It is not as strict as it was before Summer but there are specific doors and areas of the school we are allowed in. The weather has been fairly warm so I have been able to sit outside rather than in the hot common room. However, as it neared the end of September and start of October, the weather got colder so I have been sitting inside more often.

This term at school, we have been focusing on sorting out UCAS and our personal statements as well as sorting out my American applications. Halfway through the term we had Recovery Assessments to catch up on our work from March. These tests were low stakes so it was more for the teachers to check our understanding compared to being grades. As part of my USA application, I have been partaking in many virtual webinars in my evenings and attending UK open days.

I have also been continuing my extracurricular activities from dancing weekly on a Wednesday evening to completing virtual Beaver meetings on a Monday. I also am counting watching Home and Away as an extracurricular! Over the past month or so, I have nearly finished watching The Flash season six and participated in DC’s virtual comic con.

Overall, this term has improved as the weeks have past. The leaves are falling and soon we will be converting back to GMT time. Summer is over, and autumn is in swing getting closer and closer to Christmas. During half term, I am planning to complete some school work, revise and finish up my university applications. On top of this, I am going to relax and carve pumpkins whilst decorating the house for Halloween.

Microwavable mug-cakes

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.

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

BLOGMAS (day 16)

Today was another one of my friends birthdays so happy birthday to her! We also got given hot chocolate at break which was pretty nice (none of the watery hot chocolate)!

Also today at Beavers was a Christmas themed night. We decorated foam Christmas trees, played snowball egg and spoon races as well as coloured in Christmas cards. I also created a mosaic art.

I then went to a young leader meeting in the evening where I finished my modules and then we played some Christmas games. We played musical chairs, blind man’s bluff as well as table football. We got given lots of sweets for winning games and there were only 3 of us. It was a very good evening.

BLOGMAS (day 15)

Today I helped at the Beaver District Christmas Party. This was in the afternoon. There were many different activities to part take in.

Once my Beaver unit arrived, we sat and wrote letters to Father Christmas. We then played snap before creating reindeer decorations. This was followed by a one hundred piece puzzle which the Beavers completed very quickly. Next was pin the nose on the reindeer and then it was reindeer ring toss. The Beavers then had a Christmas photo shoot with different props.

During the rotation of activities, there was also musical statues and musical bumps being played as well as some food at the end. It was an enjoyable afternoon and now I am back to revising for my Chemistry test as well as completing my Mathematics homework.

BLOGMAS (day 4)

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.

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.

BLOGMAS (day 2)

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 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.

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!