outdoor challenge? - Scouts

R U YO

R O F Y D A E R U O ? Y E G E N E L AR L CHA

R O O OUTD

S E T O N S ’ R E LEAD

N O I T C U D O INTR The Scout Association is delighted to be working with National Express to create this activity pack to support the Outdoor Plus Challenge Badge. It offers fun, activity ideas, which, if completed, enable Cubs to earn their Outdoor Challenge Plus Badge. They will also understand how to plan and prepare for an outdoor adventure.

This pack is split into three key areas:

1. Where shall we go? The first thing to identify is your destination. The Cubs need to know what they want to do, and which different places can offer this. This pack aims to introduce to a range of the fantastic days out on offer in Britain.

2. How do we get there? How are the young people going to get there? Help them compare modes of transport and seek out the advantages and disadvantages of each. Here you’ll find ideas about what they need to consider when planning how to get somewhere. 3. Let’s get planning You’ve identified the destination and method of getting there – now the real planning begins – what to take, what to wear, how to stay safe – and how to have fun!

page 2 • National Express Outdoor Challenge Resource Cubs Activity Booklet

GO? E W L L A H S E R E H W 1: T R A P National Express offers services to all parts of Great Britain, so the choice is virtually unlimited – thus it’s vital to first determine what your Cubs want to do on their trip, and where they will be able to do it. This resource focuses on British destinations, but you can stress to them that the principles of planning a trip are valid for anywhere.

INATIONS ACTIVITY A: POPULAR BRITISH DEST This activity will test and teach your Cubs a basic geography of Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales. What you will need: • Cubs’ Activity Booklets, Page 1 • Pens or pencils • A large blank map of the UK to stick up on the wall or board • A marker pen

THE ACTIVITY On Page 1 of the Cubs’ activity packs is a list of 12 British destinations, each numbered 1-12, and a map outline. Ask them to write the numbers of the destinations on the map according to where they think they all are. When they’ve had enough time, gather the pack together for their answers and ask them to swap their booklets with each other. Go through the answers to see who got most right.

Edinburgh Newcastle Lake District York Manchester Birmingham Cardiff St Ives Plymouth

Cambridge London Brighton


ACTIVITY B: WHAT’S THERE? The Cubs now know where a few key UK destinations can actually be found on a map – but do they know what’s at each one? This activity will give an insight into some of the differences there are around Britain in terms of its foods, attractions, landscape, and even clothes. What you will need: • Separate labels or signs with each destination marked on them and something to stick them up with – or if you can write in chalk on your HQ floor, a piece of chalk. • The 48 clues on the next page photocopied and cut out, and more written out if you want to

THE ACTIVITY Dot the 12 destinations around the HQ as ‘stations’, either sticking them up on the wall, or marking circles on the floor and labelling them clearly. As you put the stations around the HQ, let the pack familiarise themselves with where each is. The signs must be clearly visible. Depending on the numbers in your pack, split the pack into twos or threes. Give each group or pair a card. They should read it and move to the destination station they think it describes. Some of the clues may be relevant to more than one destination, and they may not know some – so make sure you have your key with you (the numbers on the left of the table in your notes relate to the numbered destinations on the map, so 1. is London, 2. is Edinburgh, etc). When they all get to a station, ask one of the group to shout out the clue and where they have got to – and the rest of the pack can yell out whether they are right or wrong. Go around the destinations and when they are all done, give another clue out each and repeat until all the clues have been done. Point the young people to Page 2 of their activity pack where they can write down or draw a symbol of what they can do at each destination.

WHAT’S THERE – ANSWER SHEET DESTINATION 1. LONDON

2. EDINBURGH

Write down or draw symbols about what you can do in these places Home of Big Ben

The capital of Scotland

Capital of England

Dick Whittington & his The River Thames flows cat came here to see the through here Queen

Take day trips to spot the Has a huge castle right in Loch Ness monster the middle

3. MANCHESTER

Has two fantastic football teams in the Premier League

4. BRIGHTON

King George IV used to Famous for its pebbly come here to get more beaches and seaside rock sea air.

5. LAKE DISTRICT

Local food is Kendal Mint Cake

The world’s first canal built here.

There are a lot of beautiful lakes there.

Men wear kilts, and haggis may be on the menu

People have lived here since the Romans.

On the edge of the beautiful Peak District

Has a pier

On the South East Coast of England

Home of the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike

You will see lots of sheep there


6. CAMBRIDGE

One of the world's top universities is based here

7. PLYMOUTH

On the south coast of England

A city famous for its population of bicycles

Home of the pilgrims who Being by the sea, has a left to colonise America huge famous aquarium

8. ST IVES

In Cornwall, in the South Famous for pasties and West of England clotted cream

9. YORK

An old walled city dating back nearly 2000 years.

Guy Fawkes was from here

Capital of Wales

Home to the Millenium Stadium

10. CARDIFF

11. BIRMINGHAM

12. NEWCASTLE

More canals than Venice!

Famous for its Geordie accent

In the county of Has lots of rivers through Cambridgeshire, which is it where people go very flat punting Sir Francis Drake was based here

Beautiful sandy beaches Take a day trip to the Isles and plenty of holiday of Scilly from here homes Situated among the Yorkshire dales

This was once a Viking settlement called ‘Jorvik’

Hosted the first game Home to the Great British of the London Olympics Cheese Festival 2012

Famous for the home of People here speak with a Very famous Black Cadbury chocolate 'Brummy' accent Country Museum nearby

Very close to Scotland

Named after an old castle Football team is called built by the son of William 'The Magpies' the Conqueror

ITE PLACE TO GO? ACTIVITY C: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOUR Go into more detail about favourite and potential destinations by holding a log debate. This will give those who wish to speak an opportunity to wax lyrical about their favourite places to go to – and those who are less inclined to take the stage will get the chance to vote on where they would and wouldn’t like to go. What you will need: • A small log or branch per group, or just one if the whole pack is doing this activity together.

THE ACTIVITY Get your group or groups into circles, either sitting or standing, and explain that they are going to decide on a trip. First they have to agree on where they are going to go, so will be voting for the most convincing argument. Whoever would like to speak grabs the log or branch and tells the rest of the group about a favourite holiday or day trip they have had, explaining where it was and why they liked it so much. Only the person holding the log may speak. When they have finished, the next person who’d like to speak grabs the log and tells of his or her experiences. When everyone who wished to speak has had a turn, get the group or groups to vote on each destination on the basis of what they have heard from the speakers. When answers have been agreed on, turn to page 3 of the activity pack and ask the Cubs to fill out the answers.


‘WHAT’S THERE?’ QUIZ Ask the Cubs if they now know, based on what their friends have told them and what they have discovered during these activities, where they could go if they wanted to do the following: • • • • • • • • • • •

Lie on a sandy beach Climb the tallest mountain in Britain (not to be confused with the tallest in England) Visit a castle Go to an adventure park See a world-famous university Swim in the sea Eat Haggis Go surfing Walk in the countryside Watch a world-famous football team To see a desert*

* Obviously they will have to go abroad for this one – see if anyone picks that up

PART 2 Your Cubs should now have some idea of where they want to go... but do they have any idea about how they’re going to get there? You can help them look at the different modes of transport with these simple activities which will start them thinking about the practical side of travelling.

TO GET THERE? ACTIVITY A: HOW ARE YOU GOING What you will need: • Cubs Activity Booklet Page 3 • Pens or pencils Groups get your Cubs to think about the different kinds of transport available to them for travelling. Then ask your Cubs to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type of transport and fill in the table they have in their Activity Booklets on Page 5. Your table below gives some pointers and ideas about what they should be considering: Mode of transport

Advantages

Disadvantages • Takes slightly longer • Doesn’t go to every single place • Need transport to and from the coach stations

Coach

• • • • • • • •

Affordable Guaranteed to get a seat Can all travel together Uses less fuel when all travelling together Can take lots of luggage Can play games on the way Can have lunch on the go A dedicated driver looks after you


Train

Car

On foot

• • • •

Quick Can travel together Can take a fair amount of luggage Can stretch legs along the way

• • • • •

Quite expensive unless planning way ahead Transport needed to and from train stations Not door to door Can’t divert off the train tracks to avoid any delays Don’t always get a seat

• • • •

Can go anywhere Comfortable Convenient Door to door

• Expensive • Not environmentally friendly because can’t take many people • The pack can’t travel together • Difficult to co-ordinate timings with other’s cars because of traffic problems, etc • Limited on luggage for a full car load

• Healthy • Free • Environmentally friendly

• Can only go short distances • Inconvenient in bad weather

• Healthy • Cheap

• Must take great care, can be dangerous on busy roads • Can’t go on motorways • Can only go short distances • Inconvenient in bad weather

By bike

ACTIVITY B: COACH VS CAR We’ve chosen a comparison between coach travel and car travel to get the Cubs to think about planning their trip. Tell your session they are going to imagine there are 19 Cubs and 10 leaders in the Pack, and they are planning a trip somewhere in Britain, starting in Birmingham. They need to decide how to get there, and put what they have talked about – the pros and cons of different modes of transport – into practice. What you will need: • The Cubs’ Activity Booklets, Pages 6-8, which each have a National Express timetable and route planner, and a table showing the distance and price by car to various destinations • White board • Calculator • Carbon Footprint calculator table (Cub Activity Booklet)

THE ACTIVITY Ask each Cub to get their booklet out and turn to pages 6-8 Explain that they are going to imagine they are all starting off from Birmingham, there are 29 of them including 19 Cubs and 10 Leaders, and they have decided to go to the following destinations for the following times (write them up on the board): • • • • • • • • • •

London for 4pm Edinburgh for 8.30pm Manchester 9pm Brighton for 3pm The Lake District for 3.30pm Cambridge for 4.30pm Plymouth for 9.30 pm St Ives for 3pm York for 10pm Cardiff for 3.15pm page 7 • National Express Outdoor Challenge Resource Cubs Activity Booklet

Split the Cubs into groups and explain to them they are going to decide how to get to each place, but they must have reasons for their choice so should bear in mind: • Length of the journey • How long will it take By car By coach • How much it costs By car By coach • How many young people can travel in each car and how many leaders? • How many young people can travel in a coach and how many leaders? • If they go by car, how many cars do they need (don’t forget luggage)? • If they go by coach, how many coach tickets do they need to buy? • What is the carbon footprint likely to be with these two modes of transport, and if a lot of people travel to the same place, is it better to use as few vehicles as possible to cut down on fuel consumption? For each, they have to explain if they would choose car or coach because... • • • • •

It was the quickest It was the cheapest It was the easiest It was the greenest It was the most fun!!

Ask them to fill in the table on page 7 of their activity pack for each destination showing how long it will take and how much it will cost.

ANSWER SHEETS – JOURNEY PLANNER Cost per child /per return ticket*

Cost per adult /per return ticket*

Total cost per return journey by coach

Distance in miles there & back

Time in hours one way

168 x 2 = 336

4.5 hrs

£9.50

£18.90

£369.50

99 x 2 =198

2.5 hrs

£12.45

£21.20

£448.55

Cardiff

107 x 2 = 214

2.5 hrs

£6

£9

£204

Edinburgh

293 x 2 = 586

7.5 hrs

£10

£27.85

£468.50

Lake District

157 x 2 = 314

4.5 hrs

£8.50

£16.50

£326.5

Destination

Brighton

Cambridge


London

118 x 2 = 236

2.5 hrs

£5

£6

£155

Manchester

84 x 2 = 168

2 hrs

£5

£14.40

£239

Plymouth

201 x 2 = 402

4.5 hrs

£19.20

£20

£561

St Ives

268 x 2 = 536

8.5 hrs

£31.35

£62.70

£1,225.50

York

133 x 2 = 266

3.5 hrs

£14.50

£28.60

£561.50

*coach prices calculated on 19 child return tickets and 10 adult return tickets (June 2014)

JOURNEY PLANNER – CAR STARTING FROM BIRMINGHAM Distance in miles there & back

Time in hours one way

168 x 2 = 336

3

£168.00

£1000

99 x 2 =198

2

£100.00

£600

Cardiff

107 x 2 = 214

2

£107.00

£642

Edinburgh

293 x 2 = 586

5.5

£293.00

£1758

Lake District

157 x 2 = 314

3

£157.00

£942

London

118 x 2 = 236

2.5

£118.00

£708

Manchester

84 x 2 = 168

2

£84.00

£504

Plymouth

201 x 2 = 402

4

£201.00

£1206

St Ives

268 x 2 = 536

6.5

£268.00

£1608

York

133 x 2 = 266

3

£133.00

£798

Destination Brighton Cambridge

Total cost per car Total cost per journey for 29 people at 50p/mile using 6 cars

Cost per car calculated at 0.50p/mile Then ask them to fill in the table on page 9 to show which mode of transport would be best and why.


G IN N N A L P T E G ’S T E PA R T 3 : L All sorts of things now have to be thought about, and hopefully the work you all put into these activities will be put into practical use with a real planned trip for you and your Cubs.

ACTIVITY A: WHAT DO WE NEED? Explain to the Cubs that the activities so far have given you the where and the how to get there, and all the remains is to plan the smaller but just as important details – what you need to take. This will be based on what you are going to do, the location (mountainous terrain, near water, urban setting) and seasonal conditions. What you will need: • Pieces of paper • Pen As many as possible of the following items (depending on how many teams you have) : • Sun hat • Woolly scarf • Sun cream

• • • • • • • • • •

Sunglasses Walking boots Compass Umbrella Torch Walking Map (see Appendix 1) Coach Timetable (Seee Appendix 2) Walking stick Raincoat Swimwear

• Flip flops • Camera • Energy food such as Kendal Mint Cake, or chocolate • Water • Binoculars • Travel board games • Thick socks • Plasters in case of blisters • Backpack

THE ACTIVITY Split the group into three or four groups, depending on how many items you have gathered and the size of your Pack. Your Pack may be small enough to all do it together. Lay the items out on a table where everyone can see them. Get each group to allocate an ‘adventurer’. Write down destinations (some ideas below) on different pieces of paper and give a different one to each group. Each group must dress their ‘adventurer’ in the appropriate attire for the destination they have been given. They must race to the table, grab what they need and dress them before the other groups have got theirs dressed. The team who gets their ‘adventurer’ ready the quickest wins – but the groups will check each other have completed the task properly. Some ideas: • Bask in Brighton in summer • Go to Legoland in winter • Visit the Natural History Museum in spring • Hike the hills in the Peak District in autumn • Ride the rollercoasters at Alton Towers in April Once the Cubs have completed the task ask them to fill in the kit list in Part 3 Activity A of their resource pack.


ACTIVITY B: DESIGN A COACH WRAP FUN ACTIVITY FOR YOUR CUBS They’re going to be on the road soon – and how better to show the world the Cubs are on tour than by putting up a coach wrap telling them about it. Show this image to your Cubs as an example of what a coach wrap looks like and ask them to design their own. You could make this into a competition with each Cub displaying their design and then all voting for the wrap they would like to take on their road trip.

GO TO THE END OF THIS PACK FOR A LARGER COPY OF THE COACH IMAGE

THE SIGNS/SYMBOLS MEAN? ACTIVITY C: COACH INFO: WHAT DO

Overview of your coach

20kg MAX

First Aid kit

Fire extinguisher

Wheelchair lift

Onboard toilet

Break glass hammers available throughout coach

Emergency exit

Layout is typical of most National Express coaches. Coach layout may differ slightly depending on vehicle age and model.


IES T I V I T C A N U F O T KEY ACTIVITY 1: TRAVEL QUIZ 1. a, b, c

5. All

9 a, b

2. All

6. All

10 b

3. a, c, d

7. a, c, d

4. c

8. All

ACTIVITY 2: WORD SEARCH

A C B S M I A L Z E T Y M S B

F V N T I M E T A B L E N E E

G B J E N I A H X H Y M G A H

S N S E A S I D E J R V Q T E

M D P R W B A S J M U S W B A

O R O I E C V B K N C A R E D

U I V N Q O B M D V K S G L L

N V M G Y A L Y Y X S F S T I

T E Z W H C G S T A T I O N G

A R E H D H D A N X C P F A H

I R X E A O F T I C K E T B T

N V D E S T I N A T I O N E S

S L Z L K S X H S S K P U K G

Y M O T O R W A Y S L O I S W

U L L U G G A G E L A B E L J


S E I T I V I T C A D A O R ON THE If it’s going to be a long journey you might need some things to do to take the youngsters’ minds off it. Here are some simple but fun games you can play on the way.

A. TWO CAR SPOTTING GAMES

You can turn both of these into competitions between each side of the coach. 1) Colour Spotting Each side chooses a different coloured vehicle. They have to count the number of vehicles they spot with their colour, with the team leader at the front keeping score. You could use different makes or types of vehicle, eg. the first side to spot 5 coaches or 5 white vans. 2) Place Spotting In the UK, the vehicle registration mark system was changed in 2001. The first two letters now tell you where the car was first registered. You could split your group into teams and give them a place each as follows, and keep a tally of numbers: A = East Anglia B = Birmingham C = Wales (Cymru) D = Deeside to Shrewsbury (Cheshire and Shropshire) E = Essex and Hertfordshire F = Forest and Fens (Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire) G = Garden of England (Kent and Sussex) H = Hampshire and Dorset K = Kettering and Luton (Northamptonshire) L = London M = Manchester and Merseyside N = Newcastle and North O = Oxfordshire P = Preston and Pennines R = Reading and Berkshire S = Scotland V = Severn Valley W = West Country (Avon, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall) Y = Yorkshire

B. YES-NO GAME

This requires two players at a time, and the whole coach can listen to them. One player starts as the questioner. His or her aim is to get the other player to answer a question by saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’, while player two must answer all questions without saying either of these two words. For example: Q: Is your name John? A: It is. Q: Do you like that name? A: I do not. One trick with this game is for the questioner to ask open questions (ones that will require all sorts of answers) as well as closed questions (those normally answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’), and then slip in a closed question when their opponent’s guard is down.

C. EYE-SPY

If all else fails, there’s always the classic Eye-Spy – or you could play it with a twist, ie, ‘What Eye Doesn’t Spy. In this case the player must think of something that cannot be seen, and the guessers try and guess what that is. This depends on the player being completely honest! page 13 • National Express Outdoor Challenge Resource Cubs Activity Booklet

ACTIVITY B: DESIGN A COACH WRAP
