The Carnival

I must have been only 5 or 6 when my grandfather took me to see the carnival that had come to town. It was really great. First we went to see the parade. It came right down the middle of

Main Street

. Then we went into the big top tent to see the acrobats and the lions.

Afterward, as we were leaving, I saw where the elephants were tied and I just had to go over and see them. I was very surprised when I noticed that the smallest elephant, just a baby really, was tied up with a very heavy chain, but its mother was tied with what seemed to be only a piece of old clothesline. I asked my grandfather why the elephants were tied so differently. He replied, “The older elephant has learned that she can’t break free and run away. Her baby hasn’t learned that yet, so the people in the circus have to chain her to one place. Learn from this. The older elephant could easily break free from that old rope and run away, but she has long since stopped trying. Don’t you ever be like that and stop trying.”

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“We are not a club or a Sunday school class, but a school of the woods.”

Hands, 11/12/09

Feeling Game

Make some fabric bags, number them and put a small object in each.

 Tie them to a rope and stretch between chairs. 

Beavers have to guess what is in them

Head & hands catch 

Beavers in circle, leader in centre. 

Throw the ball and shout hands – the Beavers have to head the ball. 

Shout head the Beavers have to catch the ball. 

If they do it wrong they sit down for 4 throws

Repeat as often as you want.

Hand Tree

Beavers draw round their hands and colour, put on their name and cut out. 

Then stick them on a tree shape and you have made a helping hand tree

Pass the woggle game

Beavers sit in circle, close together, with one Beavers in centre. 

They pass a woggle in closed hands. 

Beavers in centre has to guess where the woggle is.

Hand Collage

Let the Beavers draw around their hands and cut them out - save them for later

Hand catch

Try any ball games that use your hands. then try with just one hand - see how hard it is

Hand Collage

Using the hands from the coming in game - let the Beavers make:

Hedgehogs, peacocks, doves or red Indians to decorate your hall

Helping Hands

Everyone draws around their hand and to a piece of paper

Then they take it home and write a good turn that they have done each day onto a finger (Monday to Friday). They write the good turns for Saturday and Sunday in the palm of the hand.

Hand paints

Very messy but fun!!!!!

Make a fist - use the space between finger and thumb to make a mouth - paint on lips, eyes, nose and have some fun!!!

Hand Signs

Show the Beavers some Deaf Sign Language

Hot and Cold, 04/12/09

Leave food / drink that should be hot, cold in a dish. Some that should be cold make hot etc - ready for the Beaver Scouts to try as they come in. Create a simple questionnaire for them to complete - did they like cold custard, hot lemonade etc?

Dress up relay

Have a pile of clothes per team (woolly hat, coat, sunglasses, beach towel, gloves etc). On the command (eg: it is very hot today) the first Beaver Scout runs to their team's pile of clothes and put on the appropriate piece of clothing.

Hot and Cold collage

Pile of magazines, old catalogues etc.

Draw a line down the middle of either individual pieces of A4 or one large piece per lodge. The Beaver Scouts have to create a collage of pictures of things that are hot on one side, and cold on the other.

True and False

Make a list of questions to which the answer is true or false - to do with hot & cold things:
We get snow in winter - true
Snow is hot - false
We get cold in the sunshine - false

Tell the Beaver Scouts that one wall is the true wall, the other the false wall. They have to run to the correct wall when the question is asked. Last one there is out!

What is hot, what is cold

How can we tell without touching?

Do hot things look different?

What different foods can we have hot and cold?

Spicy ones are hot to taste but not to touch - try some.

Winter Craft Ideas, December 2009

45 things to help programme planning in the winter

1. Gather several pairs of mittens. Let the Beavers sort them by size, colour, design, left hand, right hand, etc. Make it a game.

2. Make a 'tent' using blankets draped over a table or chairs. Pretend it is a bear cave and the Beavers are a bear getting ready to hibernate. Try singing the Bear Hunt song

3. Use white clay to make tiny snow people. Embellish with small twigs, pebbles, chenille stems, scrap material, etc.

4. Make a pin the nose on the snowman game. Play by seeing who, blindfolded, can pin a paper carrot nose closest to where it belongs.

5. Trace your winter boots, gloves, mittens, hats, etc and colour them.

6. Paint a snow scene on light blue paper using glue. Sprinkle the glue with white glitter or salt and let dry.

7. Make a mini ice castle using coloured ice cubes (use salt to 'glue' them together). May be a bit hard !

8. Make miniature igloos using marshmallows and frosting.

9. Draw out snowflake designs on wax paper using glue, sprinkle on glitter if desired. Once the glue is dry, peel off your snowflake and it should stick to the window.

10. Draw a winter scene on black construction paper using white chalk.

11. Make a snow gauge by marking inch lines on a coffee can and setting it outside to catch snow in.

12. Have snowballs for a snack (the ones from the supermarket)!

13. Place an ice cube or snowball in a large bowl. Set it in the middle of a table and observe how it melts. Let the Beavers write down their findings

14. Have an indoor snowball fight using wadded up pieces of paper or marshmallows!

15. Make a winter clothing collage by cutting pictures of clothes you where in the winter and gluing them on paper.

16. Pretend it is summer and have a beach party! Everyone can where their bathing suits and sunglasses inside. Sit on lawn chairs and sip lemonade.

17. Design your own snowflakes using white play dough and with silver glitter mixed into it.

18. Make a snowstorm inside by tearing up several pieces of white paper. Place them on a sheet or towel, have everyone grab around the edge, and toss the snow into the air.

19. Cut snowflakes out of coffee filters and hang them around the room.

20. Blow bubbles outside when it is very cold and see what happens!

21. Make large snowmen indoors by stuffing large, white rubbish bags with newspaper.

22. Experiments with the effects sand and salt have on ice on ice.

23. Make a winter picture by gluing Honeycomb cereal on construction paper to look like snow.

24. Place small Styrofoam balls on spoons and try to carry this mini "snowballs" across the room without dropping them.

25. Make ice cube lollies by freezing juice in ice cube trays and inserting cocktail sticks or lolly sticks cut in half.

26. Make hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.

27. Give everyone an ice cube and see who can find ways to melt them the fastest.

28. Make snowman prints using a marshmallow dipped into white paint.

29. Put on some music and pretend to be snowflakes gently flying around.

30. Make round bean bags out of white material to look like snowballs. Have a snowball toss competition!

31. Collect different pairs of gloves. Mix them up and set them in a pile. Take turns finding the matching gloves.

32. Fingerpaint snowflakes on the windows using white tempera paint mixed with a bit of dish soap!

33. Learn about different kinds of snowflakes.

34. Cut snowflakes out of paper. Experiment with different folding techniques and cuts.

35. Have a scavenger hunt and look for objects that are white.

36. Make your own puffy, snow paint by mixing equal parts of glue and shaving cream.

37. Build an igloo inside using empty milk jugs taped or glued together.

38. Pretend to be a snowman melting on a warm day.

39. Make a snowman snack using marshmallows, pretzel sticks, chocolate chips, and peanut butter (to hold them all together).

40. Make a winter white collage by cutting white objects out of magazines and gluing them on paper.

41. Hide a mitten in the room somewhere and let others try to find it. Give them clues by telling them whether they are 'hot' (near the mitten) or 'cold' (far from the mitten).

42. Write a poem or story about snow.

43. Blow up several white balloons and pretend they are snowballs! Toss them around, or try to build something with them (using tape).

44. Make snowflakes on cookies by placing a small doily on top of a cookie and sprinkling on some powdered sugar. This well for cakes also.

45. If you have slippery hardwood or tiled floors, pretend to ice skate in your stocking feet.