Spring is here!
This particular season is quite exciting for our youth, bringing milder weather so that they can experience more adventurous programming without the bulky snowsuits.
Themes to explore during the spring
- Park clean up
- Camping
- Bug hunt
- Fishing
- Biking
- Tree planting
- Boating activities
- Outdoor Adventure Skills
- Family activities
- Picnics
- Stargazing (nights still come early)
Top 3 tips for planning your spring cycle outdoors
- Frozen pen? Don’t worry. Get creative!
It can be hard to write things down outside, so it’s a good time to find creative ways to record your thoughts! Use voice memos on your phone to record ideas, sculpt your favourite activity idea out of snow, or create a skit about all the things you’d like to do. - Break it down
It can be overwhelming to plan three months of programming across six Program Areas, multiple Outdoor Adventure Skills, SPICES and more. Work in small teams and assign each team a theme – maybe an OAS badge they’d like to work on, a Program Area, or a theme (like a trip to the moon). Each team should brainstorm their ideas and find a creative way to present them to the rest of the Section. Then, working as a Section or back in small teams, talk about your favourite adventures – which ones will you do first?
- Rock the vote (literally)
Many Sections decide on activities by voting on what they’d like to do. Rather than just having everyone raise their hands for ideas, you can use your body to vote yes or no (raise your hands above your head to make the letter ‘y’ for ‘yes’ and cross your arms across your chest like an ‘x’ for ‘no’). You could even have one simple dance move (like the sprinkler) to vote yes and another (like doing the shopping cart) to vote now. Getting moving to get out the vote will help you plan and keep you warm!
You can also label jars with different adventures and give everyone tokens (like small rocks) that they can vote with – put tokens in your favourite jars!
Make a plan
Take a moment with your sections leadership team to build the ultimate bucket list for this spring. Things they wish to accomplish or experience. Don’t be scared to break the mold, think beyond your usual meeting night.
At your meetings: For our evenings, what fun could we have in the spring?
During a full day: If we could do something all together for a day, what would it be? Where? Beach? Lake? Park?
At camp: Set the stage, ask them if we were camping for a weekend, what activities or adventures could we go on.
Another Brainstorming activity: To help you gather ideas from your section, try the flip chart activity. Place a flip chart or large craft paper on the floor or a table. Draw a few items from the location you would like to host the meeting, event or camp. Example: at a camp draw the lodge, fire bowl, beach and lake. Areas where the camp will happen. Have the youth add items and activities they wish to experience on the chart. You can even draw a picnic table and have them add food they would like to eat.
Some ideas and resources for your youth to explore this spring
- Great 8 Challenge – Yup, the content is still up, take on some of the challenges in a different way: https://modxtest.scouts.ca/great8-challenge/the-great-8-challenge.html
- Check out the Spring trail card: https://modxtest.scouts.ca/resources/activity-finder.html?season=spring
- Vertical garden: https://scoutsca.s3.amazonaws.com/2021/01/vertical-garden-trail-card.pdf
- Campsite clearing: https://modxtest.scouts.ca/resources/activity-finder/activity-finder/campsite-clearing.html
- Alphabet Hike: https://modxtest.scouts.ca/resources/activity-finder/activity-finder/alphabet-hike.html
- Activity about ticks: https://modxtest.scouts.ca/resources/activity-finder/activity-finder/ticks-you-off.html
- Getting active: https://modxtest.scouts.ca/resources/activity-finder/activity-finder/get-active.html
If you have too many ideas, you can always bank them for the summer!
