scouts.org.uk/pol The magazine for Cub Scout Leaders ... · USE YOUR HEAD Create a helmet worthy of...

scouts.org.uk/pol

The magazine for Cub Scout Leaders October/November 2008

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH Contacts to help you become a greener Pack

USE YOUR HEAD Create a helmet worthy of a knight

ECO GAMES Bring an environmental flavour to your meetings

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3The magazine for Cub Scout Leaders

INTRO

Graeme Hamilton is UK Adviser for Cub Scouts

Contents

3 Round-upWhat your Cub Scout support team have been up to over the summer

4 Games for a greener conscienceActivities that are great fun and great for the environment too

8 POPNeed a quick meeting fi x? Programmes on a plate is the answer

10 A crafty mindHow to make a knight’s helmet

12 Team up and clean upOrganisations to help you become a greener Pack

Making tea and coffee for leaders at the Beaver and Cub Scout Fundays at Gilwell Park. Serving hundreds of Cub Scouts in the tuck shop at the record-breaking West Lancashire Giant Sleepover. Getting to know a world of explorers at the All Wales Cub fun day…

These are just a few of the events and activities that you’ve invited me to over the summer. It’s been a great thrill to chat with leaders, hear what’s working well in the programme and in running the section, and what still needs to be improved.

By far the biggest cry is for more adult leaders, not just helpers. Plenty of you say that parents come on board easily but securing commitment for taking even more responsibility remains the challenge.

Hopefully the work that the UK Cub Scout Working Group is doing will help. In particular, we are now working on a booklet to support District Commissioners in growing, developing and sustaining Cub Scout Packs, numbers and quality of programme across the whole country.

A growing sectionWe’ve seen two years of growth in the section now. Our challenge now is to make it sustainable. Key to success is people like you – dedicated, committed and creative leaders, supported by an army of assistants, parent helpers, trained Young Leaders and an understanding Group Scout Leader.

During the autumn the team and I will be out and about at various meetings and events. If you would like us to visit your District or County during 2009, let us know at [email protected] We can’t promise to visit every event but we’ll do our very best.

Let’s see if we can wipe out our waiting lists before the census comes round at the end of January.

Round-up

Cub crackersDraw a circle using chalk on the fl oor. Shout ‘run.’ • Cubs have to run and stand with both feet totally in the circle. Draw • another smaller circle somewhere else on the fl oor. Those whose feet are on the fl oor outside the circle are out. • Keep doing this with diminishing circles until only one Cub is left.•

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4 October/November 2008 scouts.org.uk/pol

Games for a greener conscience

This issue, Dave Wood looks at environmental activities for use in your Pack meetings

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PROGRAMME IDEAS

While you are busy preparing and running weekly meetings and events to deliver the Balanced Programme, what’s the betting that one of the awards passes under your radar?

The challenge and activity badges seem to provide more than enough of a framework to keep your Pack occupied throughout the year. However, have you ever stopped to think about undertaking the Environment Partnership Award?

This is truly a great award to work towards in a team, perhaps linking with another Pack, Section or your Group as a whole. Its beauty is that you, working with the Cubs, decide upon a worthy environmental project, plan what you will do and then do it. There are no time restraints and the work can be done during Pack meetings, at weekends, at camp or in the holidays.

Your Pack could:build and locate birdboxes at a campsite, old people’s •home or public woodlandclear up a churchyard•create a carnival float on an environmental theme•stage a campaign of posters and leaflets encouraging local •people to use litter binsfind out how to save water at home (place bricks in •cisterns; not cleaning teeth under running taps, and so on.) You can then create a set of posters or cards for householders to use.

Remember to carry out a full risk assessment for whatever you do. This can be a fun part of the project for the Cubs, where they can try and think about all the things that could go wrong. If litter-picking or clearing woodland, be sure to give the Cubs strong gloves for protection.

The following games and activities can all be used to help bring an environmental flavour to your Pack meetings, whether or not you use them towards the Environment Partnership Award.

Game: Busy beeYou will need:

One football – the ‘bee’. •What you do:

The players are all ‘flowers’. •Divide the Pack into two teams, with one team wearing scarves. •The ‘bee’ is passed into the playing area. The ‘flower’ •who grabs the ball first passes it to a team mate without getting it intercepted by an opposing team member. The object is to pass the ball around a team 15 times – if a team achieves this they win a point. More importantly, of course, is that the bee has managed to pollinate the field of flowers!

Game: Who am I?You will need:

Per Six: Paper and pencil. •What you do:

Divide the Pack into their Sixes.•In each Six, one Cub thinks of a plant or animal and •secretly writes it on a piece of paper. The others then take it in turn to ask a question to see if •they can identify the item. Questions can only be answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. If •they guess the item within 20 questions they win, if not, the individual wins. Repeat until everyone’s had a turn.•

Wide game: Food chainYou will need:

Lots of plastic bags or envelopes (one per player); about •400 white dried butter beans and 100 red dried kidney beans, and a large field or park with defined borders.

What you do: Divide the Pack into three unequal groups and give each •group the name of part of the foodchain: ‘plants’ than ‘herbivores’ and very few ‘carnivores’. There should be far more plants than herbivores, and very few carnivores (eg: 12:8:4).The ‘plants’ must find a space in the ‘habitat’ (the field) •and, on the whistle, the plants run around and collect as many of the beans that you have previously scattered, putting them in their bags. After two minutes, the whistle blows again and the •herbivores can go and tag (or ‘eat’) the plants and take their bags of beans.After three or four minutes (or until all the plants are •eaten), the whistle blows again and the carnivores are set off to catch the herbivores. Again, every herbivore that is caught has their bag of beans taken.After another three or four minutes, blow the whistle and •

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gather everyone together. Have any plants or herbivores still got any of their beans? Which part of the food chain has the most beans? Explain that the white beans are the healthy ones and the •red beans are polluted food – toxic food that has entered the food chain. Award one point for anyone’s white bean but deduct 10 •points for any red beans collected. Now, who’s the winner?•

Game: Habitat damageYou will need:

Enough chairs for all players, bar one, a sticker for •everyone with the name of a woodland insect, or animal (female or male), including pollinating creatures such as bees and butterflies. Also include pollinating animals such as bees and butterflies and a few odd plants, such as meadow grass and dandelions.

What you do: Set out a traditional musical chairs game, with one chair •per player down the centre of the hall. Issue each player with a sticker, on which you have •written the name of a woodland insect or animal. The stickers should be in pairs, so that there is a male and •female of each animal. Also include pollinating animals such as bees and butterflies and a few odd plants, such as meadow grass and dandelions.

The chairs are the players’ habitat and, when the music •starts, they run around them as in musical chairs. When the music stops, they find a vacant chair and sit down. •Players then stand and two chairs are removed from the •middle, representing a road that has been carved through the habitat, and the music restarts.The music stops and players again try to find a chair •each. Those without a chair must identify themselves by their label. If a player is part of a breeding pair, the other player of their species must also stand up and are out of the game as one of a pair cannot survive alone. Likewise, if a pollinator (such as a bee) is out, then the plant it pollinates (such as a white nettle) is also out. Repeat, taking out more chairs so that there are always •one or two less than the players. Life’s tough in the woodland!•

Scout’s Own: Apple oceanYou will need:

An apple and a knife.•What you do:

Hold up an apple – this represents the world. •Cut it into quarters. Three quarters of the world’s surface •is water, a quarter is land. Put the three quarters aside.Cut the land quarter in half. Of the world’s land, •only half of it is habitable – the rest is desert, ice caps, mountains etc. Put half aside.

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Take the remaining piece and cut it into four pieces. The •food for our consumption only comes from one of these pieces (ie 1/32 of the world). Put the three pieces aside and hold up this remaining tiny piece.Ask the Cubs what would happen if this tiny piece of •arable land was destroyed. Eat this piece – there’s nothing left.Go back to the three quarters from the start, representing •the water. Take a tiny slice off one piece and say that less than one per cent of our water is drinkable – mostly in the atmosphere and underground. What would happen if water was polluted or wasted? Eat that tiny slice.Round up by saying how valuable the world’s resources •are and that we all have a part to play in not wasting anything.

Activity: Litter sweep treasure huntYou will need:

An area that needs a litter collection, permission to do this, •and strong gloves and bags.

What you do: Wearing work gloves, Cubs visit an area to collect as •much litter or rubbish as they can find, putting the items in plastic bags.Gather everyone together and examine what has been found. •Use the following chart to find out how long it all •takes to decompose. This will hopefully highlight the importances of putting litter in bins.

Cigarette end 1-5 yearsSheet of paper 1-5 monthsAluminium cans 80-100 yearsPlastic beer can holders 450 yearsOrange and banana peels up to 2 yearsPlastic bags 10-20 yearsNylon fabric 30-40 yearsLeather up to 50 yearsTin cans 100 yearsWool 1-5 yearsGlass UnknownPolystyrene NEVER

Activity: Rainbow scavenger huntGive the Cubs a sheet with the colours of the rainbow on. Working in their Sixes, they must go around an area out of doors and collect or identify items in nature for each colour of the rainbow.

More infoUse climate change as a basis for a discussion with the Pack. Talk about what the implications are for everyone on the planet if the climate changes drastically, if the ice caps melt, water levels rise, and so on.Find resources, games and activities at www.scouts.org.uk/climatechange

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ACTIVITY/GAME POL ID TIME ZONE METHOD INSTRUCTIONS

PROGRAMMES ON A PLATE

POP This issue’s theme is Self Awareness, compiled by Steven Moysey

Opening ceremony 24640 10 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Themes Discuss the theme for the meeting.

The waiting game 20748 15 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Prayer, worship and refl ection

- Give each Six a bucket half fi lled with water with a high value coin on the bottom (£1 works best). - Give each person a larger, but lower value coin (2p) to drop in to try to cover the high value coin. This

is almost impossible and many people allow someone to keep the coin if they manage it, which also encourages participation.

- Afterwards discuss the need for patience and when and why it might be needed.

Celebrate Scouting tree

10412 45 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Make things - Cover an area with newspaper and place lots of trays of paint and white paper on it. - Cubs should take their shoes and socks off.- Ask the young people to make about three or four handprints. Use brushes to paint to give a more even fi nish.- When fi nished, let them wash their hands and then make footprints. Make sure there are plenty bowls

of soapy water to wash feet. - Whilst the hand and foot prints are drying ask the Cubs to write what they enjoy about Scouting in a

few words. - Cubs cut their hand and foot prints out and help to position them on the wall display, the feet making

up the trunk and branches, followed by the hands as leaves. - You can ask the young people to cut out their quotes, but it might be better to take them away and type

them up before sticking them in the leaves. - Add to the tree by taking pictures of events and activities that the section does. This way you will have a

tree celebrating Scouting and letting everyone know what activities can be enjoyed.

What’s special about you?

1066 15 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Outdoors; Try new things; Team challenges

- First ask the young people for positive words that are used to describe people. Examples could include kind, friendly, clever, good at sport or funny.

- Write a list of these so that it can be seen by everyone. - Split the young people into small groups and hand out a sheet to each person including the adults.- Cubs write their names on the sheet and pass it to another person. Starting at the bottom of the sheet,

each person writes why the owner of the sheet is special, either referring to the written list, or any other complimentary words they can think of for that person. They then fold the sheet, so that that the next person can’t see what they have written, and pass it on. Each person has to write a compliment about the owner of the sheet.

- Following review by the leaders, each person should be given their sheet for feedback on the comments that were made about them and why they are so special.

Closing ceremony 24641 5 mins Beliefs and Attitudes

Themes; Prayer, worship and refl ection

Ask the Cubs if they enjoyed thinking about the good times they have had, and link ‘What’s special about you?’ to the Promise and Law

For more great ideas visit www.scouts.org.uk/pol

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Activity/GAME POLiD tiME ZOnE MEthOD instructiOns

Opening ceremony 24640 10 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Themes Discuss the theme for the meeting.

The waiting game 20748 15 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Prayer, worship and reflection

- Give each Six a bucket half filled with water with a high value coin on the bottom (£1 works best). - Give each person a larger, but lower value coin (2p) to drop in to try to cover the high value coin. This

is almost impossible and many people allow someone to keep the coin if they manage it, which also encourages participation.

- Afterwards discuss the need for patience and when and why it might be needed.

Celebrate Scouting tree

10412 45 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Make things - Cover an area with newspaper and place lots of trays of paint and white paper on it. - Cubs should take their shoes and socks off.- Ask the young people to make about three or four handprints. Use brushes to paint to give a more even finish.- When finished, let them wash their hands and then make footprints. Make sure there are plenty bowls

of soapy water to wash feet. - Whilst the hand and foot prints are drying ask the Cubs to write what they enjoy about Scouting in a

few words. - Cubs cut their hand and foot prints out and help to position them on the wall display, the feet making

up the trunk and branches, followed by the hands as leaves. - You can ask the young people to cut out their quotes, but it might be better to take them away and type

them up before sticking them in the leaves. - Add to the tree by taking pictures of events and activities that the section does. This way you will have a

tree celebrating Scouting and letting everyone know what activities can be enjoyed.

What’s special about you?

1066 15 mins Beliefs and Attitudes Outdoors; Try new things; Team challenges

- First ask the young people for positive words that are used to describe people. Examples could include kind, friendly, clever, good at sport or funny.

- Write a list of these so that it can be seen by everyone. - Split the young people into small groups and hand out a sheet to each person including the adults.- Cubs write their names on the sheet and pass it to another person. Starting at the bottom of the sheet,

each person writes why the owner of the sheet is special, either referring to the written list, or any other complimentary words they can think of for that person. They then fold the sheet, so that that the next person can’t see what they have written, and pass it on. Each person has to write a compliment about the owner of the sheet.

- Following review by the leaders, each person should be given their sheet for feedback on the comments that were made about them and why they are so special.

Closing ceremony 24641 5 mins Beliefs and Attitudes

Themes; Prayer, worship and reflection

Ask the Cubs if they enjoyed thinking about the good times they have had, and link ‘What’s special about you?’ to the Promise and Law

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Make and do

Tab A

Edge B

A crafty mind

Charlie Dale uses his head to create a helmet worthy of a noble knight

Ask the Cubs to think of as many types of helmet and hard hats that are used today. What are the differences between them and why are they designed that way?

One kind you may or may not have thought of is the kind of helmet worn by a medieval knight. There were lots of different styles of helmet, changes being introduced over the years. Some changes were the result of fashion, while some resulted in improvements in metal working. Others were influenced by changes in how battles were fought and in response to new weapons. Why not investigate some different forms of armour and how it changed over the years? And you might just find that the old idea of knights being so heavy in their armour they had to be winched onto their horses is complete rubbish.

A great helmHere’s a simple style of helmet to make, not out of iron, steel or bronze, but from card. This style of helmet is called a ‘great helm’ and dates from about the end of the 12th century, and continued in use until the 14th century. The style we are making here has a simple flat top; however, they were also made with curved and conical tops.You will need:

Card – flexible enough to bend without breaking but •strong enough to keep its shape, scissors, glue or staples, ruler, paints, pens or crayons and large feathers – ostrich or something similar to make a plume. Buy card that is either silver or gold in colour to give the

effect of being metal. If that is not available try plain grey card, or just paint the card a metallic colour.

What you do:Recreate the template (above). You can scale it to the •relevant size. Please note this is only half of the ‘great helm’. Once you have drawn this half onto your card you will need to flip it along Edge B and draw the other half in the same way, except for Tab A.Once the template has been transferred to your card you •can cut out the shape. Don’t forget the eye slits! It will be worth double checking the position on the eye slits before cutting to make sure you can see out once the helmet is finished! Handy hint: draw the eye slit on the inside of the helmet, that way if you get it wrong you can re-draw it and it won’t show on the finished helmet.The tab at the top will be what you attach the top of the •helmet to. When it has been cut out you will need to make some cuts into the tab on the top, this will make sure the card can bend once these have been folded over. The more cuts you make, the smother the curve of the helmet will be.Now temporarily bend the two sides of the helmet •

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Make and do

together so that Tab A is inside. If you fold along Edge B first you will get an authentic point at the front of the helmet and more room for your nose! Use the natural shape of the helmet as a guide to help you draw the shape of the top of the helmet from more card.Your helmet will need ventilation holes. These •traditionally went on the cheeks of the helmet. You could go for a simple pattern of holes, alternatively you could cut out matching cross shapes, which were quite common, or thin vertical slits.Before you glue all of the pieces in place, including the •top, it will be worth double checking you can still get you head into it! Then set to one side to dry. For a quicker fix (but less authentic looking helmet) you can use staples on Tab A, but be very careful with any sharp edges.

When the helmet is ready you can decorate it further by •adding pieces of card of different colours to the outside of the helmet. Re-enforcing pieces were common on all of the edges and along the eye slits, sometimes making the front look like another cross. Another common decoration was to put mythical or actual beasts on the helmet, often matching the shield or coat of arms of the knight.A final touch is to add a couple of large, plume like •feathers to the top of the helmet. This is best done by making a small cross shaped cut in the top and pushing the feather through. They can then be secured in place with some modelling clay and or sticky tape.Now you just need your faithful charger – horse that is, •not a device for powering mobile phones – and you’re off to the Joust!

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Team up and clean up

You don’t need to be a Pack on a solo mission to save the planet. There are a number of organisations out there who can help you be greener. By Barbara Beck


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ENVIRONMENT


Sustainable development depends on adults and young people understanding how their actions or lack of action can impact on the environment now and in the future.

By changing attitudes and tackling issues such as recycling, better use of energy and water, changing our carbon footprint and improving insulation we can ensure a sustainable future for our young people.

There are many organisations who can help with conservation and environmental issues:

Woodland Trust They have downloadable worksheets and activities on their website including the Trees for all and Nature Detectives. You may have already helped with the tree hugging this summer. www.woodland-trust.org.uk

GroundworkGroundwork support communities in need throughout the UK, by providing local youth workers who can help with conservation and environmental projects. Grants are also available.www.groundwork.org.uk

WWFProbably one of the best known of the conservation charities, WWF provides activities, an online community and campaigning opportunities. www.panda.org

Public and privateLocal authorities and businesses have recycling areas, scrap stores, paint stores and other reuse and recycle initiatives. You should be able to fi nd out if any of these are in your local area. Scrap stores are common across the country although these function differently in each area. Some provide a bag and you can go and fi ll it with lots of items for a fi xed price whilst others have individually priced items. All items are sourced from local businesses and individuals and you will fi nd such things as used fi lm cases, large

sheets of card and paper, boxes, plastic components, ‘soft’ craft items, packaging, wallpaper books, promotional items and much more. Get your Cubs to express their individuality by providing a selection of ‘scrap’ items and asking them to invent something to help the environment. If you can take them to the store let them choose their own items.

FreecycleThe Freecycle network, which was originally set up to keep usable items out of landfi ll now has over one million UK members giving their unwanted goods to those who have a use for them. When sourcing items for a camp we put a wanted advertisement on the local Freecycle network for wool, small pieces of wood and fabric and received a good response. We also asked people who lived near the giver to collect the items for us thus saving on fuel. After camp we listed the items remaining and these were collected by a youth group who were going to do some collages with young people. Perhaps they ‘freecycled’ their unused items to another group?www.freecycle.org.uk

Create the right environmentFinally, enjoy the environment but take care not to cause any damage and look after your community areas so that future generations may enjoy the pleasure of nature just as you are doing now.

Autumn is an ideal time to consider the environment. Parents and Cubs can all get involved in tidying around the meeting place. Leaves and grass cuttings can be composted – your local council will have details of where to dispose of garden waste for central composting or parents may have their own compost bins and will gladly help by taking the waste home. Just imagine next spring planting seeds in compost which you have made yourself and the achievement in seeing those seeds grow. Whilst tidying up, perhaps make a pile of stones or thick branch pieces where insects can hide away then return in a few weeks to fi nd out what is living there. Cubs like creepy crawlies and this could contribute towards the Naturalist Activity Badge. Remember to make sure there is food and water for birds during the winter – recipes and ideas are available on Programmes Online at www.scouts.org.uk/pol

Get out there today

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SCOUT SHOPS

i.SCOUT is the official merchandise of the Scout Association. All profits go back into Scouting. The Scout Association Registered Charity Numbers 306101 (England and Wales) and SCO38437 (Scotland).

i.SCOUT ad.indd 1 18/9/08 13:58:39

At the beginning of the year, new resources were published to support the updates to the balanced programme. These have proved to be a success, particularly the new Pack Programme Plus resource. However, not every resource is essential. Here, Programme and Development Adviser Jenny Winn explains which are most suitable for you:

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Pack Assistant R R U U U U

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CSL E E E R R U R

ADC (CS) E E E U U U

ACC/AAC (CS) E E R U U U

E Essential – considered essential that an adult in this role has immediate access to this resource in order to fulfil the role

R Recommended – access to this resource will help an adult carry out this role more effectively

U May be useful – an adult in this role may find it useful to access this resource from time to time

All available from www.scouts.org.uk/shop

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IBC_Cubs.indd 1 12/9/08 17:06:39

For October & November our No.1 selling Chillerz products have been discounted by 10% + FREE P&P!! This exclusive offer is open to all Chillerz products orders.

OBC_Cubs.indd 1 12/9/08 17:07:59

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