Winter, 27/02/09

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

Chat - Talk about the winter and cold weather

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

Make miniature igloos using marshmallows and frosting.

OR

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

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

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

A Quiet Hero

Barry Bonds probably hit another home run last night. Now, I know I’m going to ruffle a few feathers when I say this, but, Big deal! Another run. Yawn, hooray, ho-hum. It will be in the papers and discussed on sports talk shows, I’m sure. The guy is a real hero, right? A couple of years ago at summer camp, I met another hero. He was a very small 13-year-old. And he was a very homesick Scout.

“Big deal,” I hear someone out there echoing my comment, “a little wimp who can’t stand to leave his mommy.” That’s a pretty insensitive thing to say to a kid whose feelings are tearing him up to the point of crying in front of his friends—a kid who probably hates himself for being weak and feeling homesick. To make things worse we were at the base camp for our annual canoe trip on the rain-swollen Kippewa River in Canada and more than one boy (and leader) was having second thoughts. The homesick Scout came to me as we were loading the canoes. “Mr. Sterrett, I don’t think I want to go. I think I want to go home,” he said. When he had made similar comments the night before, the other Scouts and leaders had joked and tried to distract him. But there comes a time when a boy has to either go forward or back.

We walked away from the others and I put my hand on his shoulder. “In five minutes, we’ll be leaving,” I said, “You can be in the canoe with us or you can be in the truck going back.” And then, oh, how hard it was to do—I walked away and left him to his thoughts.

He came with us on the trip. A couple of his buddies gave him a friendly punch on his shoulder, but nobody cheered. His accomplishment wasn’t printed in the papers or discussed on talk shows. Now, Bonds—he’s okay. But to me, that Scout is a special kind of hero. The quiet kind.

Walk to School Day, 20/02/09

Let the Beavers cut out and decorate a card Wellington boot

Walk to school day (Oct 2^nd) is to save pollution, money on petrol, friendlier way to travel. Less stressful, healthier, allows you to get to know your locality, quality time with the kids. Enables you to put road safety into practice. Meet people etc.

See who can throw their welly the furthest

14 numbered bus stops. 14 separate cards with instructions for each stop ie NO 4 bus only room for 1 beaver if there are three 2 are out. You can remove a bus stop and card if you want to or use them all through the game.

Safety bands

Using black bin bag and reflective tape make arm bands and chest bands

Walk in the dark

With torches - have a short walk around your HQ.

Try ideas to let the Beavers -  stop, look and listen

Snow, 13/02/09

Snowflakes

Let the Beaver Scouts cut out snowflakes and stick them around the room - see who can do the most or the most decorative one.

Snowmen Aboard (as Captain's Aboard)

The Beaver Scout run around and when one of the following is called out they have to complete the actions - the last one to complete the action is out.

Snowman - stand still

Blizzard - cover eyes and stand still

Snow Balls - curl up in a ball on the floor

Eskimos - Beavers rub noses

Sledges in 2s - Beavers pair up and sit on a pretend sledge (could be done in 3s or4 s etc)

Igloos - Beavers make an arch in 2s

Snow Flakes - Beavers lie in floor with arms and legs outstretched

Ice Skating Animal

Materials

Old CD

Construction Paper or Felt

Pom-Poms

Pipe Cleaners

Wiggle Eyes

Glue

Snow Shaped Sequins (optional)

Method

Make a small person or animal using pom-poms by gluing 2 larger pom-poms together, one will be the head and one will be the body.

Use the paper or even beads to make the face.

Use smaller pom-poms or pipe cleaners for arms and legs. Cut 2 pieces of pipe cleaner approximately 1 inch long.

Glue them on the bottom of your pom-pom animal's 'feet'. Set aside and let the glue dry.

Lay the CD down so the shiny side is up.

Glue your animal to the CD.

Finally, you can decorate your 'ice rink' and skater more using snowflake shaped sequins if you like. You can also use a large pom-pom to look like a rock glued on the CD where the middle hole is.

Chat and drink

Why does it snow? What is snow made of?

Try some of the new white chocolate finger biscuits or what about snowballs?

Snow Circle

Beaver Scouts sit in a circle (on chairs if possible). Name them - snow, frost, cold, wind around the circle.

When snow is called out all the Beavers with that name swap places - and so on. Try calling 2 out at once.

When storm is called all the Beavers swap places

Weather, 06/02/09

Weather Wheel

Let the Beaver Scouts draw and cut out 2 circles of card (can be larger than samples below)

Divide one into ¼ s and let the Beaver Scouts draw the weather signs – as sample

Divide the other into ¼ s and cut away one quarter (do not cut right into the centre – see example - as this is needed for the fastener)

Fasten to together with a paper fastener through the centre

The Beaver Scouts can then turn to top show the weather and mark onto the chart

Game:  Weather corners

Using sunshine, rain, snow and clouds as the corners

Usual rules

Game:

Traffic lights

Using weather actions:

Sun – lie on floor and sunbathe

Rain – run on the spot

Wind – run around the room

Snow – move slowly like snow flakes

And of course FREEZE

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“In Scouting you are combating the brooding of selfishness.”

Pearls of Wisdom—Quotes from Baden-Powell

“Can we not interpret our adult wisdom into the language of boyhood?”

Very Wet, 30/01/09

As the Beavers come in let them change into their old clothes - then they can go outside and the fun can begin!

Water Relay

You need 2 buckets per lodge and paper cup per Beavers

The Beavers have to transfer as much water as possible from one bucket to another - make it harder by putting holes into the paper cups

Target practice

Ask the Beavers to bring a washing up bottle each (or water pistol)

See who can fill paper cup the quickest

or

Score the highest amount by firing at a paper target

Get Akela

See if Akela will become a target in some stocks

Let the Beavers throw wet sponges at him!

Water painting

You need buckets of water and large paint brushes.

The Beavers paint pictures on the paving slabs - how long do they take to dry?

What floats

Fill a paddling pool with water and let the Beavers try to float various items (some that will, some that won't)

Chat about the results

Philmont

I remember my first Boy Scout meeting. One of the older Scouts gave us a slide presentation on his recent trip to Philmont. I went home so excited. I really wanted to go there. So I told Mom and Dad that when I was 14 I was going to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Dad asked how much it would cost. I told him only £150, plus maybe another £50 for expenses on the trip. (Things were a lot cheaper back when I was a kid.)

Dad asked who was going to pay for the trip. I told him that I thought he would.  Well, Dad set me straight right then. He reminded me that I had an allowance and I could save to go to Philmont. I went up to my room and started figuring out how long it would take to save that much. Every week, Dad gave me 10p for each grade level I’d reached in school. In sixth grade I got 60p a week. In seventh grade I would get 70p, and so on. That night I figured out that if I tithed my 10 percent to the church and spent nothing else I could afford to go to Philmont after my senior year in high school. I was crushed. I didn’t think that I could go five years without spending anything. What was I going to do? The next day Dad took me aside and suggested that I open a bank savings account and keep my money there so I wouldn’t spend it. He added that Aunt Rae had heard about Philmont and she thought it would be a good idea if I started saving my money for a chance to go there. Well, Dad and I went to the bank and opened a savings account with the £25 Aunt Rae had given me and the £1.10 I had already saved. I got a job delivering newspapers and saved half of everything I earned. Then I found something out that I didn’t know. The bank paid me to keep my money there. They called it interest, but to me, it was free money! That encouraged me to save even more. Our neighbour, Mrs. Finney, asked if I could cut her grass during the summer, and I said, Sure! I put all of that money in the account. It wasn’t easy. I still remember having to deliver those newspapers in the pouring rain and the freezing snow. And then, cutting Mrs. Finney’s grass when I wanted to be playing baseball. But by the time I turned 14 and was an Explorer Scout I had enough money for my trip to Philmont. I had earned the money—no one else. I could pay my own way. That trip was all mine and it felt good going there. To this day, I’m still saving for things I want. Going to Philmont taught me how and it turned out to be a lifelong lesson.

Visit to the Park, 16/01/09

Game: Catch the ball

Equipment: 1 ball

The Beavers stand in a circle with the leader in the centre. The leader throws the ball to each Beavers in turn giving instructions:

Catch - Beavers has to catch the ball

Head - Beavers has to head the ball

Clap - Beavers has to clap before catching the ball

Slap - Beavers has to slap their thighs before catching the ball

Scavenger Hunt 

Equipment: pencil and carrier bag for each team

Divide into team of 4 with an adult with each team

Scavenger Sheet

Find something: prickly, smooth, rough, soft, hard, smelly, tiny, flat, round, long, tickly, squishy, flaky, crackly, something somebody else has dropped

See who can find the most

Game: I spy

Usual rules - make sure each of the Beavers have a turn

Time in the play area