[13] International games

This week we are finishing off our work on the Great Indoors badge and also doing some work towards the My Outdoors challenge award.

International games.

Scouts is an international movement which means there are people in almost every country of the world who are also Scouts. When you are in cubs or scouts, you may get the chance to go and meet them in another country! In this country we love to play football, cricket and tennis. Other countries have other favourite games. This is your chance to have a go!

In West Africa, playing drums is a traditional game. A djembe (pronounced ‘jem-bay’) is a drum originally from West Africa. People play djembes with their hands. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying ‘Anke djé, anke bé’, which translates to ‘Everyone gather together in peace’. The saying also explains a bit about the drum’s purpose.

Have a look on a map and work out which countries are in West Africa. Try making a drum.

To make a drum, you will need

Scissors
Elastic bands
String
PVA glue
Masking tape
Coloured pens or pencils
Paint
Paint brushes
Plant pots or Paper cups (It’s up to you whether you use paper cups or plant pots to make your drum – both work well.)
Old plastic bag (with no holes)
African symbols, African prints or fabric, African beads to decorate the drums (optional)

Make a drum

Use masking take to stick the bottoms of two cups together.
Decorate the cups with colouring pens and pencils. Why not try using symbols and colours inspired by an African country?
Tie an elastic band loosely where the two cups join. It should be over the masking tape.
Lay a plastic bag out flat. Put a cup upside down on the bag and draw a circle around it using a marker pen.
Take the cup away and draw a larger circle around the circle you’ve just drawn. Don’t worry if it isn’t a perfect circle.
Cut carefully around the bigger circle with scissors. It’s OK for an adult to help with this.
Put the plastic bag circle on top of the drum. Pull the plastic tight, and use another rubber band to hold it in place. Don’t worry if it’s a bit tricky.
Cut a fairly long piece of wool.
Tie one end of the wool onto the rubber band in the middle of the drum.
Loop the wool up and underneath the top rubber band, then pull it so it’s straight and tie it on with a knot.
Keep zig-zagging the wool around the drum, going over and under the two rubber bands and tying knots to secure it in place. Don’t worry if you run out of wool (or want to use more than one colour). Just trim the wool after you’ve tied it to an elastic band, then tie the new piece of wool on next to it and keep going.
If anyone wants to, they could create a handle by looping a piece of wool from the rubber band around the top of their drum to the one around its middle.

Have a play on your drum and send us a photo!!

Make something to help animals in the wild This is part of your My Outdoors challenge award.

Bug hotels

An insect hotel, also known as a bug hotel or insect house, is something that we make to give shelter for insects. Bugs are having a tough time. With old walls increasingly knocked down, the cracks and crevices that bugs use to shelter, live and breed are being destroyed. A bug hotel is simple, a great way of recycling, and provides all kinds of creepy crawlies with somewhere to live. They can come in lots of different shapes and sizes depending on the type of insect or home you are aiming to make. The idea is to make them out of natural materials, providing hidey-holes for creatures galore. It could shelter anything from hedgehogs to toads, solitary bees to bumblebees, and ladybirds to woodlice.

You might already have an idea of how to make one, but here are some instructions and a video to follow.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/build-a-bug-hotel/. The video is more straightforward than the written instructions so maybe watch this first!

Send us a photo of your hotel when you finish so we can see what it looks like.