Beaver News
Monday 21st and Wednesday 23rd October - Halloween
Despite it being half term for some, we met for an early Halloween celebration. We decorated monster biscuits, ate doughnuts on string without using our hands, tried to bounce eyeballs into cups and dressed our friends up as mummies!
Monday 7th and Wednesday 9th October - Catapults
We continued our teamwork challenge this week by building pyramid catapults. Each group of 3 had 6 sticks, one cup, some elastic bands and lots of masking tape to make their catapult. At the end of the meeting we tested out their fire power using ping pong balls!
Monday 30th Sept and Wednesday 2nd Oct - Challenge Night part 1
For the Teamwork award, Beavers have to demonstrate that they can be a good leader as well as a kind and helpful team member and friend. We ran 2 activities this week to help them show this.
The first was goal ball, a game played wearing blindfolds and a ball with a bell inside where players have to score a goal by rolling it past their opponents and over the goal line.
The second activity was matching up the habitats, tracks and diets of 5 common UK animals. The answers were printed on cards and spread around the room for the Beavers to collect and organise.
Monday 23rd and Wednesday 25th Sept - Leaf Art
For our My World badge, we completed 4 nature activities - leaf necklaces, leaf rubbings, leaf collages and a nature quiz. We also awarded a Bronze Award to one of our Monday Beavers.
Monday 16th and Wednesday 18th September - Litter Picking
For part of our My World challenge, the Beavers had to meet someone who helps the community and then do something helpful themselves. One of the volunteers from Friends of Longford Park came to talk to us about the litter picking they do and why it is important to keep the park clean. The Beavers were then given a litter picker each and let loose in the park to collect as much rubbish as possible!
Monday 15th and Wednesday 17th July - Teddy Bear’s Picnic
For the last meeting of term, the Beavers were invited to bring a soft toy along for a picnic. We played some games and enjoyed some food. We said goodbye to 9 Beavers who are swimming up to Cubs and gave out the final Bronze award of the term.
We also announced the winners of our weekly points competition and the tallest sunflowers!
The tallest 3 sunflowers for the Monday colony were: Alexandra 221cm, Edward M 203cm and Joseph 140cm.
The tallest Wednesday sunflowers were: Alix 219cm, Ruaridh 200cm and Rupert 174cm.
Monday 8th and Wednesday 10th July - Fire lighting
We were hoping to do some fire lighting and bread toasting but the weather was against us. Monday’s Colony did get outside to collect wood and light small fires in barrels while Wednesday’s Colony stayed inside and lit candles instead. Everyone also took part in our termly Log Chew, where the Beavers tell us what they would like to do next term ahead of our Leader planning meeting.
Congratulations to Kai and Stella who received their Chief Scout Bronze awards!
Monday 1st and Wednesday 3rd July - Obstacle Course
To count towards our Adventure and Outdoor Challenges, this week we are taking part in an obstacle course. There were 6 obstacles to overcome in small teams, including climbing, jumping and balancing.
Monday 24th and Wednesday 26th June - Local quiz
This week, we took advantage of the lovely weather and went for a walk around the park and local roads. While walking, we answered quiz questions about things we could see or read and we demonstrated our understanding of the green cross code by crossing Cromwell Road.
Monday 17th and Wednesday 19th June - Cyclist badge
This week we took to the paths of the park to demonstrate our cycling skills. Split into 3 groups, we went on a short ride, showed our control and manoeuvring skills on the slab, and learned how to pump up a tyre and why it’s important to wear a helmet.
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Monday 10th and Wednesday 12th June - Making bird boxes
In recognition of Father’s Day and to contribute towards our Outdoor and Creative badges, this week we made and painted bird boxes. The wooden pre-cut pieces needed slotting together, something that some Beavers found tricky but all persevered. The painted finished products looked amazing and hopefully the local wildlife will be grateful!
Monday 13th/20th and Wednesday 15th/22nd May - Archery and Knots
Over the course of a fortnight, everyone tried their hand at archery and had a go at learning 3 knots - reef knot, sheet bend and clove hitch. The archery was very exciting and some of us even managed to hit the targets! Knots were a bit tricky but were made more entertaining by the addition of knots with strawberry laces!
Monday 6th and Wednesday 8th May - Creative badge
Both Colonies met despite the bank holiday and completed 2 out of 4 activities needed for the Creative badge. Each Lodge put on a short performance of a well-known fable linked to the Beaver Promise. Everyone also had a go at ordering pictures of well known technology by age and then imagining what some of that technology might be like in 100 years time.
Monday 29th April and Wednesday 1st May - Nature Craft
For part of our Outdoor Challenge, we had to do something using natural materials so we went out into the park to collect small twigs, pine cones, leaves and grass. Some of us were a bit ambitious with the size of the sticks we wanted to collect (one was a branch that needed 2 Beavers to lift it…!)
Back at the Ranche, everyone had a small amount of clay to model an animal or character and used their collected natural materials (and a couple of googly eyes) to bring that animal to life!