2019 NOVEMBER ACTIVITY
BEAVERS
In November, the Beavers were asked to come along to the British Cemetery in Madrid to help clean up and keep the place tidy. Many of the children had never visited the Cemetery before, and there was plenty to see and learn during the visit.
We started off by chatting about a cemetery, its purpose and how you should behave while in a cemetery. We played a quiet game with Scout Leader Joris, testing our listening skills, and then it was time to start the hard work. Beavers split up into teams of 2 or 3 and, accompanied by a Leader or parent helper, got to work collecting dead leaves and weeds from amongst the gravestones. The kids did a great job and Julio, the gardener, was very impressed!
After a quick stop for a snack, we then played Zombie Tag with some of the Scouts. Finally tired out after all that running, it was time to head back to the Cemetery and start our treasure hunt. Felix had printed out various pictures of the graves, each one missing a key detail: a surname, date of birth, place of death etc. The Beavers had to find the grave, identify the missing word and then use that to solve a puzzle.
We had a great time and it showed the Beavers how important it is to help your community. We also managed to tick off plenty of badge work along the way!
CUBS
After the opening ceremony we did community work by cleaning the site. We filled and emptied many bags of bad soil in the waste container which we filled to the brim.
Afterwards we played a game based on the cemetery map. We divided into groups and gave them pictures of different tombs. They had to search in the cemetery for the tombs of the pictures and mark them on a map.
EXPLORERS
On Saturday morning, the Explorers pitched the tents with the Scouts and followed the same multi-adventure activities than the rest of the group, using the facilities of the campsite
.
In the afternoon, they were involved in two different activities:
- Treasure hunt.
The Explorers had to find 4 little boxes buried in the ground, located in different parts of the “multi-adventure” area.
The input they had was the azimuth to be measured from the box, regarding 3 different visual elements around. The explorers had to use the compass to triangulate the 3 elements in order to find the exact position of each box.
The last 2 boxes were supposed to be found using the sun position and a goniometer, instead of the compass. Unfortunately, the day was quite cloudy and rainy, so the sun was nowhere to be seen.
The four boxes had the clues inside and they have to be put together to be able to figure out the location of the treasure (a box of Turkish baklava brought from Istanbul).
- Problem solving activity.
Background story: The explorers were running away from a pack of wolves, which were hunting them for breakfast.
They encountered a river of about 8m wide, with a tree in each side of it, which could not be crossed due to it was swarming with crocodiles and piranhas. Only one of them (first one) could cross the river before the beasts had time to react and chase him/her.
The Explorers had a 30m rope, a 3m rope and 2 carabiners to cross to the other side of the river before the wolves arrived.
The explorers learned how to tie a rope between the two trees at each side of the river and they also used the proper knots to tight it up strong enough.
They have learnt how to make a Swiss harness with the 3m rope, and the technique to pass to the other side.
On Sunday morning Explorers and Scouts joined together to prepare their breakfast.
Once ready, we went for a hike. The explorers were given a topographic map and the destination point. The hike started easy and comfortable.
But the day turned out to be not so nice and it started to be cold and windy. We even had itchy hail later on. This weather conditions forced us to change destination and come back from an easier but less interesting path.
A nice meal was waiting for us back at the camping, well deserved.
