14 BER 20 M E V O BER/N OCTO
‘This wall was sooo dirty!’
ts to see Scou Blipp here ver with co is th te crea se! elbow grea just some
INSIDE THIS ISSUE… YOUR COMMUNITY GRAFFITI | UPCYCLE | EXPLORE
Welcome G
et Active! takes great pride in being able to offer you fun and practical ideas to help you bring Scouting at its finest to your Group and this fun-size issue is no different. To tie in with Scouting magazine’s community theme, we’re bringing you some great activity ideas we know you’ll be dying to try in your own neck of the woods. We show you how to make your mark with reverse graffiti – this eco activity adds a fantastic final flourish to any community clean-up project and will have your Scouts brandishing their cleaning kit with renewed enthusiasm. On page 6 we introduce you to upcycling with Neil Wragg’s great canvas kit bags. Your Group will be amazed at the discarded items they can repurpose – bags really are just the beginning! And lastly, we finish with five fun ways to explore your local area. Whether they’re enabling you to rediscover old haunts or taking you down undiscovered paths, these activities will help you get to know your neighbourhood in entirely new ways.
Scouti ng’s fleu r-de-lis gets a reverse gra ffiti ma keover
Contents Create…
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Reverse graffiti We show you how to get to grips with this easy-toachieve street-art style, which can act as the perfect sign-off to your community rejuvenation project
Learn… 6
To sew simple kit bags Upcycle unwanted canvas into handy bags with this easy-to-follow how-to guide
Explore… 8
Alex Drew, Editor
scouting.magazine@scouts.org.uk
The national magazine of The Scout Association, Gilwell Park, Chingford, London E4 7QW Tel: 0845 300 1818 Get in touch at scouting.magazine@scouts.org.uk. Read Get Active!, Instant Scouting and Scouting online at scouts.org.uk/magazine Please note that the views expressed by members and contributors in the magazine are not necessarily those of The Scout Association. Get Active! Editors Alex Drew, Lee Griffiths, Vicky Milnes and Kevin Yeates Art Editor James Daniel Content Advisers Laura Butler, Rachel Jones and Michael Regan With thanks to... Ashley May, West Monkton Scouts, Neil Wragg Cover Brook McAllister/James Daniel Project managers Duncan Reid, Celia Beale Director of Immediate Media Branded Content Julie Williams Group Publishing Director Alfie Lewis ISSN 0036 – 9489 © 2014 The Scout Association Registered Charity Numbers: 306101 (England and Wales) and SC038437 (Scotland) Get Active! is produced by Immediate Media Branded Content, 6th Floor, Tower House,
© Immediate Media Branded Content. Printed in the UK by William Gibbons. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without written permission. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material. In the event of any material being used inadvertently, or where it proved impossible to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue.
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Your community Try any of our five fun activities, designed to help you learn more about your neighbourhood
Point Blippar here to watch our wonderful windy-pop pie recipe come to life!
INSTANT SCOUTING
For the first time ever, we have incorporated Instant Scouting with Get Active!, so flip the issue over to see this issue’s amazing content from our partners.
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GET ACTIVE! 3
… e t a Cre Point Blippar here to see our reverse graffiti step-by-step!
Reverse graffiti Whether part of a clean-up campaign or just a fun project, now Scouts can really leave their mark on their community Suitable for Beavers+ Also known as green graffiti, clean advertising or grime writing, reverse graffiti is the method of removing dirt to leave a semi-permanent image behind. First discovered by Moose (English artist Paul Curtis) it has since been used by many street artists, including perhaps most famously Banksy and Alexandre Orion, the latter of whom was responsible for the first large-scale piece of reverse graffiti in 2006. He spent a full 13 nights creating 3,500 skulls in one of São Paolo’s grubbiest road tunnels. Since then, reverse graffiti has been used in guerilla marketing campaigns everywhere. The practice itself highlights how grimy the world around us is and can be used by Scouts as part of a wider rejuvenation project. From a legal standpoint, reverse graffiti falls into something of a grey area, as cleaning public property doesn't break any laws (whereas applying paint etc does), but you should seek permission from the property owner/council before you embark on a reverse graffiti project.
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What can Scouts earn?
Beavers can earn the Creative Activities Badge, while Cubs and Scouts can use it to earn their Artist Activity Badges. Additionally, Explorers can earn the Creative Arts Activity Badge and Network their DofE Skill badge.
October/November 2014
What to do You will need • Large sheets of paper • Adhesive stencil material eg lino, thick wallpaper or foam sheets • Scissors or a Stanley knife (use only with adult supervision)
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Create a stencil
Ask Scouts to sketch out their image on paper, then cut it out and stick it to the stencil material eg lino. Carefully cut around the shape using scissors, or a Stanley knife for those tricky-to-reach parts.
• Electrical tape • Dirty exterior surface • Pressure washer and power source • Water source (hose pipe)
Why not try?
If you don̕t have access to a pressure washer, you can try a more low-tech approach by instead using a toothbrush dipped into cleaning fluid to achieve much the same results. Just keep scrubbing away at the dirty surface until it comes up clean. You can also buy Grime Writer pens (pictured below) relatively cheaply online, which will work similarly.
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Choose your location
Let your Group choose their canvas, and remember the dirtier it is, the better! Make sure there is easy access to water and power – you may need to use extension cables and additional water hoses.
TRIED AND TESTED
‘It looks cool! I’d like to use reverse graffiti in my room. I’d do stencils of Stampylongnose and Iballisticsquid.’ Daniel, 9, Cub
Chief Scout Bear Grylls is immortalised in dirt!
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Stick ’em up!
Make sure their stencil is securely held in place, either by electrical tape if it’s up on a wall, or by protected/waterproofed feet if it’s on the floor. This is also a good time for them to practise wielding the pressure washer – but not by pointing it at fellow Scouts! The Scout Association
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Hose ’em down!
Get Scouts to point the pressure washer directly at the exposed surface areas, avoiding any sudden up or downward motions that may displace the stencil. Once you’ve cleaned the necessary areas, peel off your stencil and marvel at your graffiti.
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…
arlow Bridge, M d 3r t a r e d a le t u tents Neil Wragg, Sco te bags from old ea cr to w o h u o shows y
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Draw out the template for two bags. The rectangle on the left will use the tent seam (at the bottom of the picture) as part of the top seam of the bag. The rectangle on the right will form a drawstring bag as it already has a number of eyelets that can be used to close the top of the bag.
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Cut out a piece of canvas to 46cm x 100cm. To create a top edge to the bag where you don’t have a ready-made seam, fold over a small hem then fold over a larger hem and, if you can, press with an iron to make it flat. Ask an adult to help you. With the right sides of the canvas together, sew down each side. Encourage your Scouts to try out a sewing machine – the stitching will take seconds! Otherwise a blanket stitch will keep them occupied for longer (if you’re unsure how to do a blanket stitch, take a look at the box above and to the right).
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To keep the edges from fraying you can either use a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine, cut the fabric with pinking shears or fold the seam allowance over to cover the raw edge and blanket stitch.
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With the bag turned inside out, lay it as flat as possible with the side seams facing upwards in the middle. A triangle will form at the bottom edge of the bag.
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October/November 2014
How to… blanket stitch
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Anchor your stitch by pulling the needle through the fabric at the place you want to begin, then put the needle up at the very edge of the fabric and pull it through to the back until the thread is taut.
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Pierce your needle through the fabric around 1cm along from your original entry point. Pull through. Before the thread becomes taut, feed the needle back through the loop of cotton. Pull tight and repeat.
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Measure 5cm from the tip and draw a line at a 90° angle across the seam. Sew along this line and then cut off the excess. This will create a square base, helping the bag to stand.
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If your section of tent fabric includes the original eyelets, you can thread through a length of old guy line to create a drawstring closure.
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For bags without existing eyelets you can create handles using an eyelet kit (one that you would use to mend tarps and shelters) and more unused guy line.
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Tadaa! Your bag is complete. Once your Scouts have the sewing bug they will be able to whip up bags from almost anything. Check out morsbags.com to download a free pattern showing you how to make a reusable bag from an old sun lounger. The Scout Association
What is upcycling?
This is when you transform old stuff into something new. It saves money and prevents things going to landfill. If you’re new to upcycling, head to upcyclethat.com for ideas. Ask family and friends for unwanted clothes and furnishings. Local charity shops, jumble sales and car-boot sales can also be treasure troves. Some local councils run projects and workshops on upcycling, so contact them to find out more. The charity Traid specialises in upcycling clothing – find out more at traid.org.uk.
TRIED AND TESTED
‘We had two old mess tents that were no longer waterproof with broken zips and torn windows, so instead of throwing them away we recycled them into bags for keeping kit dry or carrying muddy boots.’ Neil Wragg, 3rd Marlow Bridge
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… YOUR COMMUNITY
Think you know your neck of the woods? Try our five fun ways to discover even more about your local area
Pictures: Alamy, Thinkstock. Richmond, Yorkshire (pictured), has been used for illustration purposes only
1 THE CONFLUENCE 2 THE COIN TOSS What’s the easiest way to explore PROJECT Did you know you’re never more than 49 miles away from a confluence line? This worldwide project aims to visit each of the latitude and longitude intersections in the world, and to take pictures at every one. The lines occur in the most unlikely of places and using your map-reading skills and/or digital apps you can locate the closest one to you and contribute to this amazing project. Find out more at confluence.org.
your community? Simply flip a coin! Heads, you go right; tails, left. This fun trip adds an unexpected nature to your exploring and, with correct supervision, safety and provisions, can become a random but affordable way to explore parts of your community your Group has never before seen.
3 VIRTUAL EXPLORATION
Here, Scouts use Google Earth or Google Street View to navigate through their neighbourhood. It’s also a great way to explore other communities, for instance why not encourage your Scouts to explore Japan to tie in with the forthcoming World Scout Jamboree? They can use Google Earth to wander the streets of Japan, fulfilling a set of tasks, eg ‘climb Mount Fuji’!
More info Check scouts.org.uk/a-z for activity guidance and make sure you have a risk assessment and an InTouch system in place. Visit scouts.org.uk/intouch for more info. If you get any snaps of your young people out and about, please send them through to activities@scouts.org.uk.
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October/November 2014
4 QR-CODE TREASURE HUNTS
The familiar fun of a treasure hunt gets a gadgety makeover in this fun activity. A great way to refamiliarise your Scouts with the local community, you simply need a phone or device with a QR code generator/reader. There are heaps of free apps available online. Once you have this, you can turn your treasure hunt clues into QR codes, print them out and distribute them along your route. Your clues don’t need to be instruction-based – they can lead to websites or videos, contain mobile numbers or picture clues. Then divide your Group into teams, making sure each team has a QR code reader and a map, and away you go! Scouts will love scanning the QR codes to access the clues concealed within and with a little creativity many badges can be completed along the way. Check out your options at members.scouts.org.uk/badges.
s
The Scout Association
5 GEOCACHING
With over two million active geocaches worldwide, this is a great way to explore the world around you, both at home and away. The aim is to navigate your way to a series of geocaches (hidden containers) using GPS coordinates. Often these caches contain little treasures, to which you can help yourself, and a logbook. All you need is a GPSenabled device or phone and a free membership to geocaching.com. Once you’re registered, you can search for nearby caches, enter the coordinates into your GPS device, and off you go. There are a few rules: if you take something, you need to exchange it with an item of equal value, and note down your find in the logbook. Afterwards, you should then log your experience on geocaching.com. It’s that simple! Now you can plot your adventure and let your Scouts lead the way.
What Scouts can earn
These activities can cover a range of badge material including the Explorer Activity Badge (Beavers), Map Reader Activity Badge (Cubs) and the new Geocaching Activity Badge (Scouts). Explorers can also plan for their Community Activity Badge. For all badges go to members. scouts.org.uk/badges.
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