Beaver Scouts : Programme Ideas

Tree houses and dens

Children of all ages but especially those of Beaver age love to make dens, bases, and secret locations in which to play. The more adventurous will build tree houses. If you have some scrub land around your den or are close to a local park, wood or forest you should consider a den making day . This activity will introduce may basic scouting skills into your programme -knots, use of tools, planning, using pulleys etc.

Getting organised

If you do not have the skills required to undertake this activity then seek help. Parents who have basic wood working skills will be an advantage. You should also beat a track to the door of your Scout Leader or Venturer Leader and request the assistance of their members. By using the Patrol Leaders, older scouts and Venturers it will also Unit bonding and co-operation to take place. You will probably need some extra timber to make bases and walls. Pallets are excellent for this task. Local builders may also have some scrap timber which they may give you if they are approached. Some basic tools can be had from the Unit stores -saws and axes (to be used by Scouts and Leaders not Beavers).

The area you will be using needs to be surveyed to identify locations for each Lodge to build in. For example in a local scrub area you may have 3 or 4 areas so that each Lodge can work in isolation. In order to build even a basic lean-to structure you will require sticks, grass and ferns etc. and if the Lodge are too close to each other they can run out of materials quickly. Roofing is often a problem as you require a lot of grass, ferns and leaves to cover your roof you might consider using plastic sheeting as a simpler method if you wish.

Let the Beavers do it

It is important on an activity such as this that you let the Lodge do it themselves. That is, let them design it and set out or decide a building plan. The Scouts, Venturers and helpers can then assist in the building process. There will be a tendency for the helpers to take over so a word to all before you start will allow your Beavers to shine. Let their imagination run wild and encourage it to run wild. If they want to build a tree house then the helpers should try and facilitate them. Some of the illustration shown here will allow them to see the possibilities. Each location will be different so you need to design on site using it to best advantage therefore not all the designs shown here will work everywhere.

Time

The building will take some time so allow plenty of time to build. The event is best run as a day activity allowing the morning for building and following up with a number of games using the bases and dens. You might like to include a barbeque for each Lodge. Use disposable barbeque packs to cook on - the Scouts can help and supervise. Issue out the required number of sausages and burgers and let your Beavers at it. If you are building a tree house it will probably require more time and so it may become a bigger project over a number of days. The likelihood is that if you are considering such a project that it will be in a permanent location - perhaps on a local campsite or in someone?s back garden or beside the den so it is possible to extend the project. Whereas temporary structures build in a scrub area can be taken down or left up to be repaired with new grass and fern for the roof, or expanded on later visits.

Their own back gardens