ScoutBox

Sometimes, in between activities around other companies, we might forget our own country! There’s a lot to learn about Britain, even if you’ve lived here all your life. And there’s an amazing resource to find it all out.

Mandy, the creator of the Woodlands Junior School site (see Useful calendar of events), had created so much Britain centered content, that she started a ’spin-off’ site, Project Britain.

The site’s tagline is ‘All About British Life and Culture’, but it’s much more than that. In addition to all the usual stuff you’d expect (history, geography, monarchy, national holidays etc.) there are sections such as etiquette and customs, daily life, stereotypes and superstitions.

So at your next planning meeting, why not spend a week or more looking at the country we (most of us) live in.

Project Britain

The Woodlands Junior School site is a great resource for planning as you may wish to find out details about calendar events in order to help with your programme. They Mandy (it’s just one person!) must spend hours updating the site.

Just click ‘Calendars’ on the right hand side menu.

Woodlands Junior School

Posted by MikeJ.

There are a lot of sites with Scouting resources once you start looking. But not all of them are updated and you probably won’t look again unless there’s a lot of things to look at. These sites aren’t all UK specific, but should keep you busy nonetheless.

Scouting Resources

Scouting Resources is run by an ACSL from 9th Barking & Dagenham Scout Group. It’s packed full of stuff, including sections on badgework, camping, codes/signs, compass work, cooking ideas, different countries, games, jungle book, knots, mapping, pioneering, songs, skits and weather.

They also have programmes from as far back as 2001, and camp programmes from even further! Well worth a look.

Scouting Resources

Shurdington Scout Group

My groups Scout Leader swears by the stuff on the Shurdington Scouts site, most of the stuff he uses his from here.

For members of their group, it’s got plenty of information about what they’re doing, how to join etc. But it really comes into it’s own for other leaders. There are 8+ pages packed full of programme ideas and other resources. Just click the RESOURCES or DOWNLOADS links.

15th Cheltenham (Shurdington) Scout Group Website

Scoutorama

This site is aimed at Boy Scouts of America, but has loads of resources which apply to ANY Scout. The best bet (for a food lover, anyway!) is the massive list of camping recipes. Also of note are the EAGLE PROJECTS and SCOUT SONGS links.

Scoutorama

Erith and Crayford District Scouts

There are some different resources on this district site, including instructional knot videos, a scouting quiz and a few ides for Scouts Own.

Erith and Crayford District Scouts

MacScouter

Another American site, has various campfire cookbooks, stories (including how Scouting reached America), and a selection of Scouting clipart and fonts.

MacScouter

ScoutBase UK

Seemingly obvious, but a great resource nonetheless. The more ‘public’ Scouts.org.uk seems to have overshadowed this recently. But it’s still the best place to find POR, factsheets, badge requirements and programme information.

ScoutBase UK

The World Organization of the Scout Movement site has quite a few PDF files for download featuring educational activities for the Cub Scout age group. They come from a book originally published by the World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region, for Cub Scout leaders and educators. There are over 60 ideas, split into six ‘growth’ areas (similar to our Programme Zones).

Activities for the Cub Scout Section (at Scout.org)

The cub supplement from the February/March issue of Scouting Magazine had an article on Programme planning (‘Easy Does It’ p.4). The author writes about how to get the best from your planning meetings, suggests resources and gives a few activity ideas at the end.

One of the tips suggests going to planning meetings with a blank master programme sheet – one for each week. The example given had space for each activity, leader and necessary equipment. I’ve recreated the example and made it available for download below. The download includes a printable template and example, as well as the original publisher file.

Master Programme Sheet (Weekly)