Activities for Venturers Edition 2

Activities for Venturers Edition 2

Contents

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Games ……………………………………………………………………..………………...…………………..…..4 1.

The Key Game ...................................................................................................................................... 4

2.

Cup Game ............................................................................................................................................. 5

3.

The shuffle/chair game .......................................................................................................................... 6

4.

The box game ....................................................................................................................................... 6

5.

“PIG”, otherwise known as “Pass the card” or “Spoons”. ..................................................................... 7

6.

The chocolate game .............................................................................................................................. 8

7.

Eyes Down, Eyes Up ............................................................................................................................ 8

8.

9 Truths and One Lie ............................................................................................................................ 9

9.

The Interview Game .............................................................................................................................. 9

10. The Rule Game ................................................................................................................................... 10 11. Nuclear War ........................................................................................................................................ 11 12. Murderball ........................................................................................................................................... 11 13. Zombie Game ..................................................................................................................................... 12 14. Rainforest Destruction Game .............................................................................................................. 12 15. Hopes and Fears ................................................................................................................................. 13 16. Paranoia Game ................................................................................................................................... 13 17. The Trading Game .............................................................................................................................. 14 18. The Building Game ............................................................................................................................. 14 19. Water carrying game ........................................................................................................................... 15 20. Helium stick game ............................................................................................................................... 15 21. Dodgeball ............................................................................................................................................ 18 22. Touch bulldog ...................................................................................................................................... 18 23. Crocodiles ........................................................................................................................................... 18 24. Rachet Screwdriver ............................................................................................................................. 19 25. Swedish Hospital................................................................................................................................. 21 26. Ninja .................................................................................................................................................... 22 27. Points on the floor game ..................................................................................................................... 22 28. Call my bluff ........................................................................................................................................ 23 29. The Title and Picture game ................................................................................................................. 23 30. Man John – Big Booty!! ....................................................................................................................... 24 31. The Pony Song ................................................................................................................................... 25 32. Mixing the Vents up games ................................................................................................................. 26 Drama ......................................................................................................................................................... 27 1.

Whose line is it anyway? ..................................................................................................................... 27

2.

Improvisation Game ........................................................................................................................... 27

3.

Mafia/Werewolf Game......................................................................................................................... 27

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Debating ..................................................................................................................................................... 31 1.

Debating/Voting/Planning term ideas Technique. ............................................................................... 31

2.

Woodcraft is going Broke! ................................................................................................................... 31

Crafts .......................................................................................................................................................... 32 1.

Decorating Mugs ................................................................................................................................. 32

2.

Wicker Lanterns .................................................................................................................................. 32

3.

Making Bath Bombs ............................................................................................................................ 33

4.

Seasonal Craftwork ............................................................................................................................. 33

5.

Making a Flag or Banner ..................................................................................................................... 33

6.

Making your own slippers .................................................................................................................... 33

7.

Juggling Balls ...................................................................................................................................... 34

8.

Mini Cooking........................................................................................................................................ 34

9.

Blind Tasting........................................................................................................................................ 35

10. Other Cooking Ideas ........................................................................................................................... 35 Activities .................................................................................................................................................... 36 1.

Bird Song (best done in April or May) ................................................................................................. 36

2.

Retro Day/Weekend (not done yet..) .................................................................................................. 36

3.

The Newspaper and Magazine activity. .............................................................................................. 36

4.

Trailing and Tracking ........................................................................................................................... 37

5.

The night time string course ................................................................................................................ 37

6.

Knitting and making friendship bands ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

7.

Egg Drop Challenge ............................................................................................................................ 38

8.

Chain reaction machine ...................................................................................................................... 38

9.

Spaghetti towers ................................................................................................................................. 39

10. Lucky Hike ........................................................................................................................................... 39 11. Woodcraft songs ................................................................................................................................. 39 12. Alka-Seltzer Rocket............................................................................................................................. 40 13. Time Capsule ...................................................................................................................................... 40 Courses and training ................................................................................................................................ 41 Themes ....................................................................................................................................................... 41 Fundraising ................................................................................................................................................ 41 1.

Jumble Sale......................................................................................................................................... 41

2.

Promises auction ................................................................................................................................. 41

3.

Bizarre Bazaar/Pea Fair ...................................................................................................................... 41

4.

Woodcraft Quiz.................................................................................................................................... 42

Additional info and thoughts ................................................................................................................... 42

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Games 1. The Key Game What do you need?

One chair for everyone who is playing, one chair for the coin flipper, one chair for the keys. This game needs equal numbers of players on either side, if you have an odd number of players I suggest that you make this person in charge of the coin or keys – more on that later.

How do you set the game up?

Essentially you will need two rows of chairs facing each other. The players will sit in these chairs with their arms behind their backs holding hands with the person next to them.

The coin flipper sits in the middle of the two rows – but at one end facing the two rows as below.

*apologies – it should say hands behind their backs – not arms.

The Game itself So, the coin flipper on the end flips the coin and shows it only to the nearest two players (one from each team). The other players have to face towards the keys – otherwise what happens is people cheat and they watch the two front people and squeeze from further down the line nearer the keys.

The first two players should only squeeze their hands when they see heads on the coin – not if they see tails.

The aim of the game is for team A or team B (top and bottom teams in the diagram) to squeeze their hands in a chain as quickly as possible. The last person on the end then grabs the keys to win.

When the person grabs the keys, they move from the end of the row to the start of the row and everyone in their team shuffles along. The winning team is the team which rotates fully first – so the person who started at the front ends up back at the front. If one of the teams squeezes when they shouldn’t and therefore someone grabs the keys at a point when they shouldn’t then they go back the opposite direction as a penalty for cheating/making the mistake. We also say that anyone who accidentally squeezes and shouts “ooh, no, I didn’t mean too” gets automatically penalized and therefore the team goes back a person. I would also ensure that the last two players nearest the keys hand their hands on the chairs – not hovering over the keys. And the keys should be adjusted back to the center of the chair after each go.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

If you have an odd number of Vents then either make them the coin flipper or the key person (adjusting the keys and ensuring that everyone apart from the front two are facing them). + Additional fun – after a few rounds, the kids will get jumpy. I count down the release of the coin so there is some expectation as to when to squeeze but sometimes I reveal the coin earlier to the front two to cause some indecision. You can also put obstacles between the last two players and the keys (i.e a bench to run across or a mat to do a somersault etc).

How long does it take?

Depending on the size of the team. I would not recommend playing with anything less than 4 people on each team and there is no limit to how big you want the teams to go. I would say you can get twenty minutes of game in before it starts getting a little stale. Its good because theoretically you can play it sat down anywhere (without the chairs).

2. Cup Game What do you need?

A cup/mug for up to 8 players. If you have more mug/cups then split the players into groups with a final at the end.

How do you play?

Every player in the team starts by placing their fingers on the rim of the cup. Each player takes it in turns to count down 3-2-1. At this point every player has two options.

1) You can leave your finger on the cup.

2) You can lift your finger off the cup.

The aim of the game is to guess how many people are going to leave their fingers on the cup when you try to guess.

So, if you are playing with 5 people the theoretical guesses can be 0,1,2,3,4,5. Zero if everyone (including yourself) takes their fingers off, or 5 if everyone leaves their fingers on. Or any combination in between.

If I think that 4 people will leave their fingers on the cup then the countdown would sound like this, “Three, Two, One.. FOUR!” The countdown and the guess should all be made in the same rhythm which should be just quicker than a second. To start with you should count down slower till everyone has a turn and is comfortable with the format.

When you guess correctly, you are “out” which means you win, you then watch to see who will be in the last person two guess correctly. The suspense builds when you get to the final and players are trying to outwit each other. +Additional fun – You can create a leader board assigning points to who goes out first (and therefore wins) or you can introduce forfeits/dares/penalties for the last person remaining, just depends on the group and group dynamics. It is worth pointing out that there are some psychological elements you can point out to players or use as a leader to win J Very often the players who intend to leave their fingers on the cup will be pushing harder and the tips of their fingers will turn from pink to a white. I’d guess they will keep their fingers on the cup. Also look for patterns in players behavior. Do they leave on, then take off then leave on alternately?

The game will go for about half an hour.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

3. The shuffle/chair game This is a great ice breaking game which also breaks up the kids from sitting with their friends or by gender.

What do you need?

Everyone needs a chair.

How do you play?

One person gets nominated to stand up inside the circle. That will leave an empty chair. One of the people next to the empty chair then slides across into it. This leaves a spare chair on the other side of them, which the next person tries to jump into – and repeat. What you should end up with is you get this kind of Mexican wave of people moving around the circle moving from chair to chair. The aim of the person in the middle is to get their bum onto the empty chair. It is not an easy as it sounds!

If they do get their bum onto the chair then the person who should’ve filled that seat then has to stand up in the middle. The trick is to run/stand and jump at the chair ahead of the speed of the circle or you will always miss it J It warms everyone up and breaks up any groupings you are unhappy with. I would recommend making sure there is nothing behind the chairs which anyone could impale themselves on. Its often that a chair might fall back when someone lands on someone! All in the spirit of the game of course! + Additional fun – In large groups of 20-30 you can potentially put two people on in the middle with one chair missing. Also you can swap directions by hopping into a seat and then back into your original seat thus changing the direction of the flow.

4. The box game The box game is very simple. Usually it is played indoors but it can be played outdoors too.

What do you need?

A cereal box (or a tallish rectangular cardboard box).

How do you play?

Everyone playing sits in a circle around the box. Ideally you want to ensure there is a safe distance between the box in the middle and the Vents around it. I would suggest a meter minimum all away around the box. The leader will then carefully rip the top off the box and place it into the center of the circle.

The aim is to pick up the box with your teeth but you are not allowed to touch the floor with any other part of your body other than your feet. If when you are trying to pick it up with your teeth, you accidentally put a hand/knee/elbow/forehead/limb down then you lose a life. It works like pole vault, you get three lives per round.

Once everyone has had a go at the first height (most people can pick up the box at this height) then the leader will tear off a couple of inches off the box to lower the height of the box. Then you go around again. If you lose three lives then you are out but to be honest, losing and then watching people falling over or trying is equally as fun as watching yourself.

As displayed on Vcamp in our village, with the right techniques you can literally get to the point where it is just a flat piece of card on the floor where you can pick it up using your teeth. Encourage the Vents to try different techniques depending on their frame, flexibility and height etc.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Be aware that if you are really trying and you fail you can end up bouncing off the floor! Therefore this game is great for playing on camp or in a park where there is a relatively soft landing on grass.

Alternatively if you have access to a blue mat then it would be fine to use that. + Additional fun - Its good to encourage people as they get up to attempt a new height. We found chanting the person’s name or singing an uplifting song (Eye of the tiger etc) while they attempt usually adds to the spirit of the game while the participant gets a mental boost J 5. “PIG”, otherwise known as “Pass the card” or “Spoons”.

Probably the most popular game in our Village at Vcamp, it's a simple card game that anyone can play.

How many players? Minimum 4, maximum – gets a bit silly with more than 7/8. Sit them in a circle.

Aim: The aim is to get four of a kind in terms of number. E.g. Four Aces or four Kings or four Queens or four Jacks or four Tens etc etc..

How do you set it up?

To start with count how many people are playing and then separate the applicable cards you need to from the deck. For instance, if I have four players I will take out the Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks (four numbers). If there are 6 players then separate the 10’s and the 9’s as well. Start with the highest cards and work your way down. In reality the values don't matter but it just makes it easier to keep track of what is what.

When you shuffle and deal out, every player should have four cards in their hand.

How do you play?

The person who dealt counts down “3-2-1 pass”, this can be shortened to just “pass left” when everyone gets used to the game. In this time you pick a card you wish to pass on and you pass it to the left (face down) towards the next player. You then pick up the card passed to you from the player on the right.

There are two aims of the game: 1) To collect four of the same number (8’s/9’s/10’s/jacks/queens/kings/aces etc) just depends on the number of people you are playing with. You cannot win by collecting four of the same suit (e.g. 4 spades) or by creating a “run” (cards in order). They must be four of the same numerical value. If you get four of the same before anyone else then you should put your finger to the tip of your nose. If you are the first to do this then you win.

When someone does “win” and gets all of the same number then they put their finger to their nose. At which point anyone and everyone must also try to put their finger on their nose as quickly as possible.

The last person to do so loses.

2) So the second aim of the game is to look around you at all times while picking up and putting down cards in order to see if anyone else has already got four and put their finger to their nose.

You don't want to be last J do you? nd

+ Additional rules/fun – We play that the loser gets first a P, then the 2 time they lose they get an I, then a G to make PIG. At which point there is a dare/forfeit. The reason the game is sometimes called “spoons” is because some people play that instead of touching your nose or ear, they put a collection of spoons in the middle (one less than the total number of players) and so it is down to the players to grab a spoon either when they have four of a kind or after someone else takes their first spoon.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

6. The chocolate game This game is for about 5-15 players. Lasts about 20 minutes+ Equipment: Biggish bar of dairy milk chocolate (or alternative to chocolate), fork, spoon, oven gloves, apron, silly hat, dice.

How to play Everyone sits in a circle around the chocolate and the other props/clothing. Someone starts by rolling the dice in front of them (so people can see), if they roll any number other than a 6 then it goes to the next person and they roll and so on. |If someone rolls a 6 then its chocolate time!! They have to get up, put on all of the clothing, the hat, apron, gloves etc and then try to eat the chocolate with the fork and spoon. Note that they need to try to get the wrapper off!! Also no breaking of the chocolate is allowed by hand.

You can vary what the kids have to put on, in winter it is played with a hat, scarf, gloves etc, in summer its played with the apron etc. Oven gloves work well as it is tricky to cut/hold anything with them!

While the Venturer who threw the 6 is trying desperately to get to the chocolate and eat the others are going around in the circle rolling the dice. If someone rolls a 6 then the person in the middle needs to take off all of the garments and the new person starts dressing up etc. Needless to say the first person usually only gets as far as tearing off a bit of the wrapper, later on in the game the chocolate is exposed so it is a race to see who can eat/scoop it up.

Comedy arises when someone is half way through getting dressed eagerly anticipating eating the chocolate but then is interrupted by someone else who rolls a 6.

The game ends when all of the chocolate is consumed! If the game is taking too long and no one is getting to the chocolate then just make the Venturers put on less garments etc. The game works well with Venturers and Pioneers so is good for inter-district nights.

7. Eyes Down, Eyes Up Again a very simple game, no equipment is necessary.

How to play Everyone stands in a circle – and make sure that everyone can see each other. Then you have a caller who will call “Eyes Down!” at which point everyone in the circle looks at the floor. Then the caller calls “Eyes Up!” at which point everyone in the circle looks up at someone. They have to look at someone directly in the eyes.

If two people look at each other then they lose and are out of the game. They sit down and do not partake till the game starts again. The smaller the number of people the quicker this game will cycle through. The beauty about this game is there is no real skill or tactics. You might want to include the rule that you cannot look at the same person twice in a row.

We played this as an introduction game where you had to introduce yourself to the person you did not know if your eyes met. However you can play this in a group with people who do know each other, it is just as fun. The winners are the two last people left.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

8. 9 Truths and One Lie Equipment: Two pieces of paper for each person and a pen.

How to play: Each person writes down ten things about themselves. 9 are true and 1 is a lie. Then you go around the circle, each person reads out their own and everyone else has to guess which is the truth.

Afterwards, try to go around and do 9 lies and 1 truth. In both cases the aim is to disguise the single truth or single lie.

E.g. Nine Truths One Lie 1) I love apple juice more than any other drink 2) I have two middle names 3) The longest hike In a day I did was 19miles 4) When I was 7 I was locked in a public garden and had to be rescued by the groundskeeper 5) I have played cricket at lords and the oval grounds 6) I collect trainers and my collection is over 30 pairs 7) I used to sing in a church choir and sang in Cathedrals all over the country 8) I play Mafia game online 9) I was in a dance competition and broke my finger trying to do breakdance 10) I am in the top 3% in the world at Tetris Nine lies One Truth 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

I love marmite I have my own office at work My friends call me “Sir Gaffikin” I know my times tables up to 14 off by heart I have been up the tallest building in the world Every night I am sleeping I always snore I don't drink any hot drinks at all I only own 4 socks and just wash them a lot My birthday is my favourite time of year I have met Harold from Neighbours

The good thing about this game is it gets everyone to know a bit more about each other.

9. The Interview Game No equipment necessary.

Everyone sits in a circle and sends one person out of the room or somewhere so that they cannot hear the rest of group.

The group then decide to give the person a job. The job can be anything, janitor, police person, bus driver, architect etc etc.

Once you have agreed on a role for this person you invite them back into the circle and then the Vents will ask them questions related to their job to see if the person can guess what job it is they are being interviewed for.

Example: If you decide that the Venturer will be a police person, when they come back into the circle you might ask them questions such as “Are you good at handling conflict?”, “Are you a good driver?”, “Do you like wearing a uniform?”.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

The trick is to ask them questions but not too obvious, be discrete or slightly ambiguous and vague.

The Venturer in the middle can answer how they like, but must try to answer formally as if they are in an interview situation. Some of the answers might be funny J You can randomly pick who goes out each time. Its normally best to pick the more confident Vent’s as it gives the others more of a chance to communicate.

There is a very similar game where the Venturers pick a style/in the manner of. So when the Venturer comes back into the room and people are asking questions then they ask them “in the manner of.. “ which could be anything from “in the manner of an animal” or “in the manner or a posh butler” J 10. The Rule Game This is a more complex game for older Vents. It can get frustrating so it is wise to assess the level of your Vents before playing.

There are two ways to play which I will outline.

Game A. The way to play game A is that the leader picks an object, for this illustration I will pick scissors. Everyone then sits in a circle and the leader will create a rule in their mind. They will then pass the scissors (or any prop) to the next person and say something like “These scissors are open”.

They will then follow this up with “And that is correct” (if they are following their own rule).

The rule can be anything but for the example the rule could be that if you pass the scissors with your legs crossed then you have to say the scissors are closed (even if the scissors themselves are open) and if your legs are not crossed then you say that the scissors are open. Effectively you are referring to your legs being open or closed – not the scissors. The other Venturers do not know this rule so they will then try to pass the scissors to the next person saying “these scissors are open (or closed)”. The leader will then say “correct” or “that is incorrect” depending if they are right.

Hopefully what will happen is that a Venturer (or 5) will pass the scissors open but have their legs crossed and so when you say “that is incorrect” they will start to realize that it does not matter solely on the scissors but on something else (in this case how your legs are open or closed).

The game ends when everyone knows the rule. If the game is taking too long or someone isn’t getting the rule then you can exaggerate the rule as much as you like. Take note that its often easier to show someone the rule by displaying how to get it wrong!

Game B. The way to play game B is that one of the Venturers leaves the room while a rule is agreed on. Then when that Venturer comes back into the circle they will ask the Venturers questions and the Venturers have to apply the rule to their answers. The Venturer in the middle has to then work out what the rule is by asking the Vents in the circle questions (can be any questions).

A few examples: i) A rule that when you give an answer to the question you must start the answer with the first letter of your name. ii) A rule that when you give an answer you must scratch a part of your body iii) A rule that when you give an answer you must say the word “umm” (or any specific word) iv) A rule that when you give an answer you must not use the word yes or no.

These are just some examples which we use in the rule game, they can get far far more complicated – again this is dependent on the level of your Venturers.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

I would suggest that game A can last up to 45minutes with a group of 20, just depends on the size of the group. Game B is usually quicker, 5 minutes per round or so. Keep rotating the Vent who goes out each time.

11. Nuclear War Equipment: Chairs, one per person Additional equipment maybe used (mats, or any other gym equipment as you see fit and safe).

Aim of the game: To get from one end of the room to the other without your feet touching the floor.

How do play the game: Split the group into groups of 4 or more. Align the chairs so that they are facing sideways left/right in a line heading towards the other end of the room.

When you say “Go”, the Venturers must climb onto the chairs and then co-operate to move one of the chairs at the back to the front so they can move forwards. They repeat this process to get to the other end of the hall. The first team wins. No feet/body can come into direct contact with the floor.

However: There are other rules to introduce as you play; i) You can suggest actions in accordance to certain calls by the leader. For example if the Leader calls out “Fire” then the kids need to jump up and down on the chairs as if they are stepping on hot coals, if the leader calls out “Acid Rain” then the kids need to stop and make a rain motion with their hands and fingers. ii) You can remove chairs throughout the game. This makes it harder for the kids to move, it slows down the game and the kids will be more prone to falling off.

You can play this game without chairs but substitute the chairs for pieces of paper (like Lilly pads).

But the chairs require better balance so use chairs.

12. Murderball This is a very active game, I would suggest playing this with larger groups. This game is actually very similar to the original game of football.

Equipment: A soft ball (beach ball) and two mats (or alternative scoring zones) The aim: The aim of the game is to get the ball from one end of the room to the other end of the room and to put the ball on the mat or in the scoring zone on the floor.

How to play: Divide the group into two equal teams. Throw the ball into the middle of the field of play and then let them get on with it. No biting, punching or kicking etc but it is a contact sport. The way to score is to put the ball down onto the mat/scoring zone. Once a goal is scored, start again from the middle.

Additional Rules: - you can play this using a touch rugby type rule where if someone touches you then you must release the ball.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

13. Zombie Game Stage 1: Set the scene with the Vents as being survivors of a virus which has spread into the world.

They are the only remaining survivors. Lay it on thick with descriptions of the carnage which is happening around them (people dying horrible ghastly deaths etc etc.. ). Get them to write down/brainstorm ideas about what they would need to do to survive, what do they need?

Stage 2: Once the ideas have dried up, try to group them with the Vents. A lot of them will fall under certain categories, like Shelter, Aid, Food.

Stage 3: When you have the main groups formed, assign a grouping to a group of Vents and ask them how they would go about implementing them under the conditions/scenario you have outlined.

Stage 4: Bring the group together to discuss the other areas. Then ask them to prioritize them in order.

It is recommended that you put a time limit on the whole scenario – maybe one hour. I would put a visible clock in the corner so that they are aware of the time. Split the stages into 15mins each or maybe ten minutes with extra time for Stage 4. It's a debate, encourage everyone to get involved.

Alternatively use it as a mechanism for them to understand communication and who/how communicates in a crisis. Ask the question, “did you act differently/communicate differently under pressure or in the crisis?”

14. Rainforest Destruction Game Equipment: Week 1: Bring in approximately 50 plastic cups (not see-through) and paints. Get the Venturers to spend time painting nice designs of trees, bushes and forests on to the cups. Maybe spend half a session on this and do not tell the Vents what the purpose of this is.

Week 2: Bring back the cups from last week along with another 50-100 cups.

Setting the game up: Separate the group into three groups; 1) Developers/Loggers 2) Tree Huggers 3) Campaigners Arrange the cups in the middle of the room and inform the tree huggers that they have to protect their nice trees (the painted cups). Tell them that if they protect them then they get to keep the trees at the end of the game.

Tell the campaigners that they need to try to get a their cups either from the Tree Huggers or the Developers. They can negotiate/steal from either.

Tell the Developers/Loggers that they need to get the cups from the Tree Huggers.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Aim of the game: It starts off with negotiation, how many cups will the Tree Huggers sacrifice to the developers or the campaigners. However, there is nothing to stop people physically coming in and taking the cups. The game can rapidly turn from calm and peaceful discussion into a frenzied melee where people are stealing each other’s cups. More-so when they realize that some of the cups have “goodies” underneath.

Additional Rules – The leaders act as the UN, so they can get involved if things get out of hand.

After the game it is essential that you debrief the Vents so they get a chance to express themselves and how they felt in the game and how that may apply to the real world.

This game can last between 30mins – an hour and a half depending on how quickly the negotiation breaks down.

15. Hopes and Fears Equipment: Wool How to play: Get everyone to stand in a circle. Give someone the ball of colored wool. I advise this to be someone fairly confident to start you off. This person then starts off by saying their Hope for the future. Then they give/throw the ball to someone else in the circle while still holding onto their initial end. The next person says their Hope and passes the wool to someone else. After about 6/7 people you will start to see a spider web forming in the middle of the group. This is good.

Once everyone has had a go, by all means encourage the wool to go back to people who have more than one hope.

Then cut the wool and get out a new ball of wool with a different color. Get the same person to start and this time they have to say a fear. If you think it is better to start the game yourself then do it, the Vents might feel quite self conscious. Pass the ball around saying yours fears until everyone has had a go.

By now everyone should have some string. Everyone feels connected by their hopes and fears which is a really solid binding between Vents. At this point you can try go get them to pull the wool tightly and gently lean back so they are all supporting each other using the wool. Again this re-enforces that they can depend and rely on each other.

You might want to keep a mental note of some of the things which are said and use them for future workshops/groups sessions etc.

16. Paranoia Game Equipment: Paper cut into small strips, scissors (to cut the paper into strips), pens.

How to play: The game works in stages; 1) All of the Vents get three pieces of paper and a pen. Either pre-write or get them to write “The person most likely too…” on them.

2) Then the Vents form a question or action; for example “The person most likely to win the lottery” or “The person most likely to become a footballer” or “The person most likely to go to university”.

There are no limits as long as it’s not rude or offensive.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

3) The next stage is that everyone in the circle then folds up the pieces of paper and hand them to someone who they think would know someone who would know the answer.

4) The next stage is that whoever has the pieces of paper (not everyone might have one). Go in turn to give the piece of paper to the person they think is the answer.

So Jim might give me the piece of paper with “The person most likely to go to university” and now I give it to Jennifer because I think she is the one most likely to go.

5) The recipient of the piece of paper then goes on to read it out to the group.

The game is a good way for an existing group of Vents to get to know each other more closely. Some people will write quite personal things and some will write more vague things. Be prepared for either.

Might be worth vetting them first if possible or explaining that if someone is uncomfortable reading theirs out then to call the leader over to check it.

Another way to set this up is to get them all to write the “The person most likely to xyz” and then pull them out of a hat and get them to vote or discuss who they think and why. This gets around those who are weaker at reading and writing.

This game lasts about 25minutes if you have a group of 10+.

17. The Trading Game This is the source where I got my framework for the Trading game. (http://learn.christianaid.org.uk/YouthLeaderResources/trading_game.aspx) The PDF’s on the right hand side have templates to cut out etc.

The Balloon Debate is also fantastic (http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/balloonDebate.htm) 18. The Building Game Equipment: Plenty of newspaper, some card, scissors, sticky tape, bluetack (optional), straws. A blindfold for each team (scarf will do).

How to play: Split the groups into groups with 4 Vents per team. Explain to them that they have to build something (tallest tower, a bridge to hold the most weight across two tables or a floating boat type thing) using only the apparatus given to them.

However, they must elect one person in the team to wear a blindfold. They must elect one person in the team to not be able to speak for the entire game and they must also elect someone who will only use their “wrong” hand/arm in the game (so if they are right handed to use their left hand). The final person is fully functioning.

They get 30 minutes to build whatever it is. And everyone must participate throughout the whole game. Keep an eye on the blind person and make sure that they are full involved. Also ensure the person who cannot speak does not speak.

The winner is the group with the tallest tower, strongest bridge, strongest boat etc. It is definitely worth getting the kids to debrief after the activity to help them understand what is it like for people who have disabilities or problems with carrying out tasks in the wider world.

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19. Water carrying game This came from my memory of watching ‘It’s a Knockout’ as a kid.

Equipment 4 buckets Some plastic bottles with holes punched in with a pair of scissors/screwdriver Lots of water This is an outside game and best for summer as people might get a bit wet. Good for co-operation.

Split everyone into 2 teams (mixed ages is advised).

The challenge: Get the most water from the bucket at one end of the course to the bucket at the other end. All you have to transport the water are the leaky bottles. You run it like a relay but there’s no restriction on the number in a group moving between buckets at a time.

Tips: Make sure you’ve put enough holes in each so that one person can’t cover them all with their hands. The idea is that they have to work with a partner to carry the bottle whilst covering the holes.

You could introduce obstacles to make it harder.

How long Can take anything form 20 mins to much longer depending on how many times you do it 20. Helium stick game How to I did this as a quick activity for about 20 Venturers. I used one of the slot together tent poles a lot of dome type tents have – the ones that have lots of pieces linked by string and that form a pretty long, light, slightly bendy pole when assembled. We got everyone either side of the pole to lower it to the ground. It was a quick activity but the pole did go up initially even though they were trying to get it to go down.

For teams of three upwards, subject to the type and length of 'stick' used in the activity.

Aim The basic exercise requires all team members to: support a long stick or tube - each person using one finger lower the stick to the ground with no fingers losing contact with the tube.

The tendency is for the stick to rise, hence the name of the exercise, because the collective force used to keep fingers in contact with the stick is greater than the gravitational force (weight) of the stick. For this reason use a stick for the exercise that is light enough for this effect to occur, given the number of people in the team. For example a broomstick is too heavy for a team of three people, but would be fine for a team of ten. See the suggestions for stick types per team size below.

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Other rules and guidelines: The stick must be rigid and not too heavy to outweigh the initial 'lift' tendency of the team size. If it's not rigid it makes it easy for team members to maintain finger-contact.

Start with the stick at about chest height.

Team members can be positioned either on one or both sides of the stick - depending on stick length and team numbers.

The team must return the stick to the starting position if any finger loses contact with the stick.

The stick must rest on fingers - the stick cannot be grasped or pinched or held in any way.

Typically teams are instructed to rest the stick on the outside (nail-side or 'backs') of fingers, however specifying a side of the finger is not critical to the activity.

Optionally you can instruct that a finger from each hand is used, which increases the lifting effect and the difficulty of the task. The length of the stick and the number of team members are also factors in this, i.e., two fingers per person requires a longer stick.

Clarify the point at which the stick is considered 'lowered to the ground' - underside of fingers or hands touching the ground is easier to monitor than actually depositing the stick onto the ground, which depending on the ground surface can be very tricky.

Team size of just three people is not ideal - the activity works best with six to a dozen per team, or even more subject to having a stick long enough. Teams of three would be used mainly for splitting a group of six or nine when a competitive element is required.

The bigger the team, the longer the activity will take to complete successfully. This is an important point - for example given a limited time you'd be better splitting a group of twenty into two or three teams rather than run the risk of failing to complete the task, which is not great for teambuilding or for creating a successful mood.

Two fingers per person (one finger each hand) creates more lifting effect and challenge but requires a longer stick than one finger per team member.

Positioning team members on both sides of the stick enables bigger teams, but can make it more difficult for the facilitator to monitor finger-contact.

Games variations: Split large groups into teams, each team with their own stick, and have a race between the teams for the first to lower the stick to the ground. Watch for cheating. If appropriate appoint and rotate observers for say three rounds or a knockout contest.

Use a suitably sized square or other shape of cardboard instead of a stick. This achieves a closer team grouping for large teams and adds a different element to the activity if team members already know the stick activity. Cut a big hole in the shape ideally so you can monitor finger-contact Use a hoopla hoop instead of a stick - a hoop also offers better visibility than a sheet of cardboard.

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Start with the stick (or whatever else is used) at ground height, raise it to shoulder height and lower it back to the ground. The challenge is stopping it rising beyond shoulder height when it gets there.

Issue two sticks per team - one finger for each stick - very challenging.

Mix up the teams for different rounds to explore the dynamics of working in a new team even after all members understand the challenge and the solution.

Just before starting the exercise ask team members to press down hard with their outstretched fingers onto the edge of a table for 30 or 60 seconds. This confuses the brain still further and increases the tendency for the stick to rise.

Ideas for sticks and team sizes (rough guides): joined-together drinking straws (3-6 people) houseplant sticks (3-6) kite struts (3-6) rolled sheet(s) of newspaper (3-10) straightened-out wire coat-hangers (6-10) wooden dowel rods (6-12 - cheap from most hardware stores) bamboo poles (5-20 people) telescopic or interconnecting fishing rods (6-20 people or more) inter-connecting tent poles or gazebo poles (6-20 people or more) drain clearer/chimney-sweeping rods (10-30 people) 21. Dodgeball This is near enough the same as the sport.

Equipment: A ball, something to mark out a playing area (as shown below).

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Start off by getting both teams to stand on the lines furthest away from the benches. Then place the ball(s) in the middle of the playing area and shout “GO!”. They then rush into the middle to grab the ball(s).

Rules are: If you have the ball your aim is to hit someone on the opposing team below the waist. If someone is hit below the waist then they sit out.

If RED throws the ball at BLUE but the BLUE catches it before it hits the floor then they are allowed to bring back in someone BLUE who is already sitting out on their team. If no one is sitting out then you carry on.

The winning team is the team still left. You will find that the trick is to stand as far back from the middle as possible when you do not have the ball. If you have the ball then the trick is to then run to the central line to throw the ball (close as possible).

It is advisable to mix up the teams in terms of athleticism.

Introducing more balls should help speed up the game. Also I would recommend you have an adult or two on hand to retrieve balls when they go outside of the playing zones.

The game will last anything up to 20minutes but often groups will want to play more than once. You can play with as many people as you want, the trick is to make the playing zones fairly small so that it’s not easy to stand on the back line and be “safe”.

22. Touch bulldog We play this in a hall but you can play this in a field too. Line up the Venturers at one end of the hall/field. Someone is “on” and stands in the middle area. They then call someone’s name who is standing along the line. That venturer can then choose to run by themselves (to the other side without being caught) or call “bulldog all”. If they shout Bulldog all then everyone has to try to get past the person in the middle and get to the other side.

There are versions of this where you are to pick people up or pin them down to the ground. The version we play (successfully!) is just that the person in the middle has to touch someone for them to then join them in the center for the next round.

So, if someone from the line shout bulldog all and 15 (however many are playing) run across the hall and the person who’s on catches/touches 3 people then those three people join the middle group of catchers and start to make it more difficult for the group to pass.

The game finishes when everyone is caught.

Variations: Recently we tried playing this in the dark (well we turned off the hall lights and you could still make people out through the windows of the building).

Also try getting them to play on their knees or all fours, running backwards including the people in the middle etc.

A normal game should last about 10minutes and the more people you have the bigger the space you need.

23. Crocodiles This is a game for 12 or more Venturers and ideally played in a hall but I’ve seen it played on hikes too!

It can be played in two ways. Number everyone 1-2-1-2 and ask the two teams to line up facing each other. They sit down with their legs together infront of them so that the soles of their feet are touching.

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Now number each pair, 1-X. Pick a marker about 5 foot away from the first pair. This is a point that each pair will try to run to.

Now, call out a number and both of those Venturers need to jump up, and run across the legs (hopefully not treading on anyone) to get to the marker. Once they touch the marker they have to run around the back of their team to the end, then back down over the legs back to their place and sit down. The winner is the person who manages to sit down first.

Usually the “marker” is a leader who high 5’s both Vents before they turn and run!

The variation on this game is essentially a relay race where the front pair run up, touch the wall, run back across all the legs to where the last pair are and sit down. As soon as the person in your team sits down then you can get up, run to the wall, run back across all of the legs and sit down on the other end. In doing so your team gradually starts shifting along the hall till the last person sits next to the wall and that team wins. When one team is ahead you will have situations where some people are sat without someone in-front of them.

24. Rachet Screwdriver This is quite a physical game. Needs a minimum of 11 or13 to make it work well. Start by numbering the Vents. Then 1’s form an inside circle, 2’s form an outer circle behind the 1’s. They should form a pairing. Everyone sits down, ensure the diameter of the circle is quite big, cross legged (very important) and the game begins with the person who doesn’t have a partner. They call the name of someone else on the inner circle. The person called, then tries their hardest to reach the person who called their name.

The person behind then tries their hardest to stop them getting away/across the circle to the other person. This is usually a grapple fest mixed with a level of reaction time! If someone manages to get to the person who called their name then they sit behind them and the game continues with the person who doesn’t have a partner calling a new name.

If someone is not getting away from their partner behind then the person without a partner continues to call other names from the inner circle and in some sense becomes a race for the people who have had their names called to get to the name caller.

The last rule is that at any point the name caller calls “rachet screwdriver!!” (instead of a name), at which point all of the Vents on the inner circle try to get to the person who called it. And it's a melee.

Those who didn’t make it to the name caller then go and sit behind their partner. This overcomes the situation where someone smaller in front is getting stopped every time from getting away.

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We played a variation of this the other night where instead of playing it in a medium sized circle, we spread the pairs right across a big hall. This changes the tactics for some players. Can also be played in the dark. Another variation is to play where the person who is calling doesn’t call someone specifically but says “anyone wearing blue” and everyone in the front circle wearing blue tries to get to them, this works in much bigger groups.

It is advisable to play this with a soft floor if you are playing with Vents who are quite physical. Also note that Vents should not grab around the neck.

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25. Swedish Hospital

Game needs to be played with 10+ Venturers. This game works very well in large numbers/40+.For apparatus you will need two jumpers (or something else) to use as two “homes”. Essentially it's a cross between Stuck in the Mud and “It/Tag/Had”.

This is a diagram of how the game is played. The instructions are below.

1) The Virus’ (select probably 1 person to be a virus for every 4-5 people) tries to catch everyone else.

2) The blue dots/others continually run away within the boundary lines of the game area.

3) If caught they have to lie down and shout “ambulance” or “save me” really loudly.

4) At which point 2 other people (blue dots) need to go and save them. In the original game (played on grass) they (4 people) can pick up the person by arms and legs and carry to them to hospital.

Once someone is touching the injured in order to rescue someone you become immune to being caught/catching the virus until you take them back to hospital and everyone is then live again.

5) I’d say go with 2 or 3 people to save someone. I suggested two above because then people can link arms or hold hands to rush them back to hospital without too much carnage. The more people needed to save someone the harder it is. So if the virus’ are struggling to catch people either add more virus (spreading) or make the blue dots/Vents need more people combined to save someone (mutation?). You can also reduce the playing field which should in theory give the virus more of a chance. Its much easier to start with less virus players and increase them than to start with too many and try to switch them back to escapees.

The second part of point 4 is really important and when running the game you will probably need to make judgment calls to if someone was tagged before or after they were in contact with the injured they were trying to rescue.

Games typically last about twenty minutes.

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26. Ninja This is a fun game we learnt at Stubbers weekend. The game can be played by any number of players however as the game is turn based I would advise a game no bigger than 20 or you have to wait some time before your next go.

I admit, this game is not particularly easy to explain in writing and is much easier to watch and learn!

So, the game starts with everyone standing in a circle about 3 foot apart from each other. Everyone bows – like a ninja and then jumps into a stance. Then someone starts (they are nominated). The aim of the game is to try to touch any hand of the person to your left or right while avoiding yours being touched. The best way to describe the game is in motions, each player gets upto 3 moves/motions.

You are trying to touch the persons left or right hand (whichever is most available in reach).

Player 1: Steps and swipes towards player 2. If they hit then Player 2 puts their hand behind their back.

If they do not hit then they freeze in the position they are (usually leaning over towards Player 2). If they do hit then they will be close to Player 2 so should be ready for an immediate avoid motion.

Player 2: Steps and avoids contact on the hand during Player 1’s motion.

Player 2: Then has the option of A) Trying to swipe back towards Player 1 who is usually in a vulnerable position or B) Trying to swipe at Player 3 Player 3: Does two motions depending on above and the positioning of who is there. Each person (after the first) then ends up usually with the three motions; Avoids, swipes, avoids. You can only unfreeze after the swipe when the next Player moves – so it is reactionary.

When a player loses both hands then they are effectively out. The game continues until there is one winner. The game becomes very fast flowing when down to three and has quite a strong mix of strategy and speed.

You only get one step as movement but you can step/jump in any direction. In a circle, some players might want to jump forwards as their one step, therefore moving them away from the players either side. This can work to their favour, if two experienced players are along side each other they might also move in/away from each other to avoid early elimination. Obviously there is nothing to stop people jumping in elsewhere in the circle during their go which means you can end up with inner and outer circles or people just in any random formation. I would probably suggest stating that no one can jump out of the circle otherwise you could end up with two (or more) players going in opposite directions (spoiling the game).

The winner is the last Vent with a hand left but obviously all ninjas are winners really! Games last approximately 20 minutes but depend on how many players you have.

27. Points on the floor game Points on the floor. The leader shouts a number and group have to arrange themselves so that they have that number of contacts with the floor i.e. if 6 players, 12 points would be two feet each, 6 points standing on one leg, 24 points hands and knees, 5 points would mean group have to lift someone and stand on one leg....!

Activity lasts about 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the group!

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28. Call my bluff Get the Vents to sit in a circle. They are given a few minutes to think first then they have to tell the group 3 things about themselves, 2 are true and 1 lie. Group have to guess lie.

29. The Title and Picture game Equipment: A4 paper or bigger and pens/pencils.

How to play: Give each of the Vents a piece of paper and a pen. Sit around a table or in a circle and get the Vents to write the title of a picture/painting at the top of the piece of paper. Once they have written it they turn over the top of the piece of paper and give the piece of paper to the next Venturer. They then (only this time) look at the title and then draw a picture (not very big) which fits the title written at the top.

The Venturer hands it on to the next one. This time, they only look at the drawing above (not the first title) and they give the picture a new title. Then they turn over the title and pass it to the next Vent.

What should happen is that each Vent sees the picture or title and interprets it with their picture or title.

At the end you unfold the piece of paper and show everyone the chain of thought when people drew or titled.

30. Man John – Big Booty!! *Man John and Big Booty are essentially very similar games* Equipment: Chairs help but are not a necessity.

How to play Man John (MJ): Everyone sits in a circle and the leader picks someone to be Man John. Number the circle round e.g.

Man John, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 etc so everyone gets a number. Note Man John is referred to as both “Man John” and “Number 1”.

Man John starts each round by saying “Some say this, some say that but I say number…”

At this point MJ chooses any number and then starts counting to 5 as quickly as possible. E.g. Four!

One, two, three, four, five. During this time the person who is number 4 needs to shout FALSE! Or STOP! If they do so then they pick a number and then count to 5 as quickly as possible. This continues at a frantic pace!!

If someone does not say stop/false in time then they become the last number so they stand up, everyone moves along and they will be sat next to MJ. Everyone who had a higher number than the person then drops down a number. So it's the chairs/seat position which has a number which is fixed, the players move. All players need to remember/work out what number they are each time, they will often forget . The game is supposed to be very quick though so do not stop the game to remind the players of their new numbers regularly.

So the aim is to become Man John. Players 2,3,4,5,6 etc all want to try to get the people with lower numbers to make a mistake so that they can move along a position. Man John just wants to try to stay in their position as MJ. If someone wants to try to get Man John to make a mistake then they can either say “Man John, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5” or “1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5”. Man John has to concentrate because others have two options to try to make MJ mess up!

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When someone makes a mistake then they move to the end and MJ starts again with “some say this.. some say that”.

The game lasts normally about 15-20 minutes depending on how fast they are.

Tips: The ole “look at someone to your left but saying someone elses number” works very well! Also if players collaborate to put pressure on Man John.

In terms of managing the game, try to hurry players who are taking too long to pick another number. If someone hesitates then they go to the end, if someone says false or stop when it’s not their turn then they go to the end, if someone doesn’t answer in time they go to the end.

31. Big Booty!

Get at least three people. The game is best played in large groups of at least five. Arrange yourselves in a circle, standing or sitting.

Number the players. Establish one player to be "Big Booty," which is essentially just a name for the leader. Number the other players as "Number One," "Number Two," and so on, going around the circle in order.

Start clapping. "Big Booty" will establish a simple 4/4 rhythm which consists of the pattern "pat, clap, snap, clap". (You pat your thighs or a table surface with both hands then clap your hands.) Start at a moderate tempo. The group joins in with the leader, so that everyone is patting and clapping simultaneously.

Begin the game (assuming you're the leader) by singing "Big booty, big booty, big booty, oh yeah!"

This is to be sung in time with the rhythm Pat - "Big booty" Clap - "Big booty" Snap - "Big booty" Clap - "Aahhhh yeah!"

Pick a person in the group by stating the number of any other player in the circle. That player is then to state his own number, followed by the number of a different player (or "Big Booty" if they wish to pass the turn to the leader), and so on. All this is to be said in time with the given patting/clapping tempo.

For example: All: "Big booty, big booty, big booty, oh yeah!"

Big Booty: "Big booty, number seven!" (said with a single pat and a single clap) Number Seven: "Number seven, number three!" (said with a single pat and a single clap) Number Three: "Number three, number eight!" (said with a single pat and a single clap) Continue the pattern until someone makes a mistake by doing one of the following (in which case they must leave the circle): falls out of rhythm (usually because they didn't realize their number was called) talks during the chant when it is not their turn picks their own number picks the number of the player who just picked them (Example: "Number Five" picks "Number Three" then "Number Three" picks "Number Five" again--"Number Three" is out) The player who gets out go to the end of the circle (next to Big Booty) and be the last number. For example, if "Number Three" messes up or speaks out of turn, and there are ten people playing, then he becomes "Number Nine," or "Little Booty" (a standard name for the last player) and everyone moves down. If you play this way, though, there is no winner. However, you can deem the player who holds the position of "Big Booty" the longest as an unofficial winner.

Tips: If you get stuck in a jam - a person can yell out - "Big Booty, break it down". This then turns into an eight-count break out dance for everyone. Then returns to the Big Booty to start the song again to

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begin. Everyone stays put and gets a chance to do a silly little dance, sing again and go on with the game.

The leader, "Big Booty," should wait only a few seconds before starting a new round; this gives people less time to become familiar with their numbers, and keeps the momentum of the game going.

The rhythm can be as complicated as "Big Booty" wants it to be, as long as the players can handle it reasonably well.

A good number of players is about ten. If there are too many, then the game slows down and people may get grumpy. If there are not enough people, then it won't be fun, because the rhythm of the game is harder to get into.

To raise the difficulty level of the game, when a player gets "out" and rotates to the end they then up the number. For instance, if there are five players and number four gets out... when they go to the end they become number six and the number five no longer exists. Eventually you may end up with numbers 22 through 26 but no 1 through 5.

32. The Pony Song This is a great game for getting Vents active! Everyone stands in a circle and then one person jumps into the middle dancing around pretending to be riding on a pony and starts to sing; “Here comes the one and only, riding on a big fat pony, here comes the one and only, its time to have a party”. At which point they choose to stand in front of someone and begins the dance.

“Front, front, front, my lady” (while doing a shakey dance facing the the person in the circle. They also mirror what the person on the inside of the circle is doing).

“Back, back, back my lady” (turns away from the person and does the shakey dance while facing away from each other).

“Side, side to side my lady” (turns to the side, does the shakey dance for a second or two) “This is how we party” (they link arms with the person who they are facing and spin round once/twice).

At this point the person who started AND the person who they stopped in front of go galloping off around inside the circle till they get to “its time to have a party”.. then they repeat the sequence.

Obviously this time there are two people inside dancing, next time it will be 4 then 8, then 16 and it keeps doubling so you can play with as many people as you like as the game won’t ever last longer than about 5minutes! It is also quite tiring if you get into the galloping and dancing so keep that in mind . From googling the lyrics it seems that people change the lyrics to how they see fit, some people say “baby” instead of “lady” for example.

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33. Mixing the Vents up games Sometimes you can find that the Venturers will split into boys on one side of the circle and girls on the other. Alternatively you might find that you might want to move some Vents from sitting next to their best friends to increase the interactivity.

These two games will help you do that: “Everyone change places if you… “ Game A Ask one of the Venturers to stand in the middle of the circle and remove their chair (there always has to be one chair missing). Then they say “everyone change places if you….” And at this point they pick whatever they feel like, it could be “are wearing jeans” or “if you have a vowel in your name” or “if you like camping” etc. Then whoever it applies to has to stand up and move to another seat. The only rule is you cannot sit back in your own seat or in a seat next to you.

The person in the middle who called out then jumps into a seat (or should do) and so you have another Venturer in the middle next time who calls.

This is the first game.. stop when you’re happy everyone has had a few goes etc. Usually lasts about 10 minutes or so.

Game B This time instead of the Venturers crossing the inside of the circle you are trying to get everyone into the same seat.

Everyone sits in a chair in the circle.

So, you start by saying “everyone who… ******, move 3 spaces to the left” (you can pick how many spaces and if they go left or right) at this point not everyone will move so it will end up with people sitting on each other’s laps. From now on only the top person on the seat can move. If someone is underneath they are stuck and can’t move. So now you try to pick things which slowly but surely get more and more people onto the single seat. “Move 2 spaces to the right if you like dancing” etc etc.

You should end up with everyone sitting on a single seat  which is amusing and fun.

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Drama 1.

Whose line is it anyway?

Equipment: Some comedy props How to play: Taken from the TV show, the kids act out certain scenarios which are created by the audience (other Vents). Pick a couple of Vents to go up to the front and act out sketches/improvisation using the kids to call out every now and again a different scenario.

One of the funniest games is 'Party Quirks', one friend is the host of a party, and three others are guests. The host has to guess what the guests are. They can be anything, from a giraffe to Indiana Jones.

Finally give them a prop and get them to go up one by one and use the prop in a different way ď Š

2.

Improvisation Game

No Equipment needed.

How to play: i) ii)

Get the Vents to write down some famous people on pieces of paper.

Get each one to pull out a piece of paper and then act out the famous person for the others to guess. iii) Write down another set of people, but this time when they act it out they can’t speak at all. iv) Lastly get them to write down another set of people but this time they can only use facial expressions to convey who it is.

This is a fun game which opens up the lines of communication and also encourages the Vents to think like each other.

3.

Mafia/Werewolf Game

BASIC GAME Group size 10-20 and a facilitator(you) who doesn't play(and keeps their eyes open) Sit in a circle, or round a campfire Takes about 30 mins-or more or less Equipment Needed Pieces of paper (one per person), pen and a hat Preparation piece of paper for each person for a group of 12, write "werewolf" on 2 pieces "seer" on 1 piece "villager" on the rest Objective The game is a competition between the werewolves, and the villagers for survival .The werewolves (who keep their identity secret-and can lie if suspected) try to kill the villagers (day by day), before the villagers can lynch the werewolves (night by night). The game alternates between days and nights until the last person or a team wins, if the last person is Town then Town wins, if the last

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person is a werewolf/mafia then they win.

How to play?

First you fold up the pieces of paper, and each person picks out a character, and keeps it secret.

Then you set the scene; "Night-time falls in the sleepy village of.....(all close their eyes), but there are 2 werewolves in our midst, who are hungry and wanting to kill" You then ask "Would the 2 werewolves like to identify themselves, by opening their eyes" (they open their eyes, and see who each other is) "would the 2 werewolves like to choose a victim"(they both non-verbally agree, and point together at "a victim") "would the werewolves close their eyes" "would the seer open their eyes" (The seer is allowed to "ask" you (by pointing) whether a person in the group is, or is not a werewolf(you know, because you saw) and you answer with a thumbs up or down depending on whether the person they chose was or was not a werewolf) "would the seer close their eyes" "morning time, everyone open your eyes, and.......has had their throat ripped out in the night!"

What next?

The group then needs to discuss who they think the werewolves are. Of course, they don't know(except perhaps the seer, who can choose or not to reveal their information - they are at big risk of being the next "victim" if they admit, but may do so for the greater good of the village, of course a werewolf could also claim to be a seer, to divert attention away from who they really are), but the group individuals may have clues "so and so is very quiet", " I thought I felt a rustling at night time", "so and so is quick to accuse", "he was laughing-must be guilty".

At the end of the "day" the village needs to decide whether they are sure enough of a person to accuse them of being a werewolf, and lynch them (they may decide they don't have enough info in the first round and not lynch at all!). I usually do this by getting them to vote after discussion. The accused gets a chance to make a speech to defend themselves, but if no-one changes their mind, they are lynched, and either the villagers have successfully got rid of a werewolf(hurray), or have wrongly lynched an innocent villager,(in which case they are now 2 villagers down, the one that was bitten, and the one that was wrongly lynched).

Night-time then falls again, and you repeat the process, again and again, till either both the werewolves have been lynched, or all the villagers have died.

VARIATIONS If more than about 12 play, I usually make 3 werewolves and a Seer 1 and a Seer 2, who open eyes and ask at separate times.

It can boring to be OUT, so we make the rule that if dead, they can continue to play as ghosts, so long as they keep their eyes shut at night (the werewolves and seer(s) however know too much, and need to just observe when they are dead).

Give a second piece of paper to each person (give werewolf/seer/villager out first, then the nd second piece, to avoid confusion), to introduce more characters (2 lives).

For a group of 12 try writing: Healer on 2 pieces Cupid on 2 pieces Wolfbane on the rest

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

"the Healer" can in the course of the game, bring a villager who has been werewolf bitten, or mistakenly lynched back to life (they can only do this ONCE in the game, and only on the round that the person has died, they cannot bring a werewolf back to life) "the Cupids" -if one cupid dies, either by werewolf bite, or if a villager accidentally lynched, or if they are a lynched werewolf, they must confess that they are a cupid, and the other cupid must die of a broken heart too-very sad. (if a healer heals a cupid, their broken hearted fellow cupid is also healed(2 for the price of one), but NOT if either is a werewolf( too bad) " Wolfbane" is a herb that protects you from werewolf bite. The holder may use it ONCE in the game.

Before"night time falls" the Wolfbane holder tells the village that they are “protected "that night. The werewolves cannot kill them just for that night. If the seer has confessed who they are, and can usefully be "investigating" people for the village during the night, anyone can donate their Wolfbane (only once) to protect the seer from being the obvious victim that night.

(The healer and Wolfbane can be useful diversions for werewolves who hold them-makes them look all good and innocent, when really they are not) Again, depending on numbers you may want 3 healers, 2X cupid 1 and 2X cupid 2 etc You can play this game with any theme you wish depending on the players. Essentially you have goodies (Town) and baddies (Werewolves/Mafia) but you could give the town any background story as long as you have enough characters to fulfill the roles.

For example you could play with a Simpsons theme, giving the “Town” characters like Homer, Bart, Marge, Maggie, Lisa as the “town” and then changing the werewolves to characters like Side Show Bob or Kang and Kodos (the bad aliens!). Other variations I’ve played are Lost (as in the tv show), Pokémon (there are many many characters), Simpsons, Lord of the Rings.. again, anything which has a large cast and a potential story. You can get cast lists from Wikipedia.com A good facilitator will craft the story in their mind, making the kills and lynches as dramatic as possible while commentating through the day “It seems like the town are leaning towards Tom and Bridie but is there a conspiracy afoot?!”.

It is worth evaluating at the balance of your game, Bridie’s example above plays the game with 2 Werewolves. If you find that the Vents keep playing and that the Werewolf team keeps losing then you can balance the game out the next time by adding another Werewolf. The players often get a feel for this too.

The game can be played to involve many more “power” roles – similar to the “seer”, or “cupid” as described above. But this is more advanced play for both the facilitator and the players – I would stick to the original version outlined above as BASIC at least 10 times before using some or all of the roles below.

Advanced Game: Full Role List MAFIA Schizo - can target 1 player per night, randomly Poisons/Paralyzes/Protects them (poison works especially well, give the victim a piece of paper saying “you must only say this phrase during the day…….”, paralyzing basically means they are silenced during the day and must not speak – this usually means that they will be lynched for not defending themselves).

MAFIA Strongman - can make mafia's night kill completely unstoppable one time MAFIA Psychic - is told the name of any player who visits him at night MAFIA Bulletproof - cannot be killed at night MAFIA Vanilla TOWN Doctor (can save anyone he wants each night)

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

TOWN Cop (scanner-seer) TOWN Insane Cop (all scans give opposite results) TOWN Intimidator - can target 1 player per night, preventing them from making any kills (except Mafia Strongmans kill) TOWN Vigilante - 2 kills over 2 nights TOWN Votestuffer - 1 use (blocks someone else vote the day before) TOWN Doublevoter - can cast additional anonymous vote TOWN Unlynchable - if lynched during the day, lynch will be canceled resulting in No Lynch (1 use) TOWN Vanilla You can also throw in a third team (potential winner of the game) INDEPENDENT - 1 kill per night, shows innocent in scans, wins when all other players are dead One of the interesting things found at V-camp was that the facilitator did not tell the town if their lynches were Mafia/Werewolves or not at the end of each day or night. The way we usually play is that if the Town makes a lynch in the day then that person’s role (Town/Mafia) is revealed by the facilitator. So if Town lynches a Town by accident then they know, if they lynch a mafia/werewolf by day then they find out too.

The same for any Mafia night kills. This adds strategy because if someone starts the pressure or voting onto someone who is revealed as mafia then it should imply they are Town (unless it's a mafia double bluff). It also gives town a rough idea of how many Town players are left. There are pro’s to playing with role reveals on or off so try each way!

As a final thought, it might come across that the game is quite violent in its sounding (kills etc). It is not, it is entirely up to the facilitator how you “dress it up”. The essence of the game is about Venturers learning about two things; 1) Each other! They will be interacting, watching and more importantly having to listen to each other.

It gives the quieter members of the group a fair footing in a group situation.

2) How to interact, negotiate, think creatively, understand body language, work as a team and can open there minds as to how to think and strategize.

Lastly debrief after the game!

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Debating 1.

Debating/Voting/Planning term ideas Technique.

Equipment: Paper, Pens, Monopoly money or buttons Method: Write down all of the ideas on to pieces of paper and spread them around the floor. Then give all of the Venturers some Monopoly money or a quantity of buttons. They then anonymously go around voting on what they want with the value they have. They can choose to put all of their money onto one activity or game or session or they can evenly distribute it around onto three or four of the ideas.

An activity you can run straight after a planning session is to get the Vents to brainstorm on a subject like “If you were running the country, what is the first thing you would do?” Get them to write their answers our and lay them over the floor. Get the Vents to all then vote on what they would go for/like most and then openly debate afterwards.

2.

Woodcraft is going Broke!

No equipment needed: Unless someone can take the time to create a genuine looking “fake” letter from Folk House to make it look like the following is true.

How to play: Tell the kids that an email has come from Folk House, basically the Woodcraft Folk has gone bankrupt (cue disaster music!).

Create a plausible back story – the recession should be enough and outline how the Scouting movement has stepped in and asked if they can buy the Woodcraft Folk. Explain to them that this is being put out to all of the groups in the UK and that there will be a vote taken at the end of the week.

It is entirely up to you how you would like to get them talking about it but you might want to suggest that there are caveats in the Scouting movement buying the WF. What implications there would be (uniform etc) and potentially discuss if the group would prefer to fold than to change into something else.

This can last at least 30 minutes. Just don't forget to own up at the end of the session and tell them that you made it all up 

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Crafts 1. Decorating Mugs Equipment needed: Cheap cups from somewhere like Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10193343). Paint which will stick to the cups, news paper and paint brushes. I think if you are painting onto a cup then you will need to bake the paint onto the cup?

2.

Wicker Lanterns

Equipment: Wet wicker, masking tape, tissue paper, secateurs, tea lights, cardboard.

From what I can gather, you are to create a wicker (or bamboo if you had some?) base as per the diagram below + left.

When you have made the base, affix a small piece of card to one side in the middle and this will be where your tea light/candle will sit. Then you want to cut all of the wicker into strips, presumably about 10-15cm long. You want a minimum of four strips, one to start from each corner that then meet at the top in the middle. Use tape to attach the wicker at the bottom and at the top.

The next step is to cover the outside with tissue paper to create the color of the lantern. Admittedly I am unsure as to how you light it with the tissue paper in the way.. but I am sure you can figure something out ď Š The other thing you can make with wicker (if you have some left over or want something slightly easier) is just making wicker people. You don't need a guide for this, just give them the apparatus and suggest to them to try to make wicker people!

This should take a whole session.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

3.

Making Bath Bombs

Step by step here: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Bath-Bombs/ These can be made within an hour. There are also other eco-cosmetics you can make – a google search brought up this http://www.ehow.com/how_2050984_make-own-massage-oil.html Here are some resources you can use to discuss cosmetics and the pros and cons.

cosmetics_refs.pdf

4.

Prettynasty.pdf

Seasonal Craftwork

Many of the group leaders implied they do a variety of seasonal craftwork. Anything from Christmas gifts to carving Halloween pumpkins (see below).

There were a lot of suggestions for using felt. At camp we made face masks relatively quickly and easily using some felt (and a cardboard template) with some elastic to go around the head.

5.

Making a Flag or Banner

How to?

It is completely up to the group!

The aim is to create a Venturer group or district flag or banner to take to events or camps.

Equipment needed?

Material or sheets, felt, thread, scissors, anything you wish to attached to the banner or flag!

I expect this would be a group activity which could last a whole hour, maybe longer.

6.

Making your own slippers

How to?

Get some thick card or corrugated card and draw around your feet as if you are creating the sole. Cut it out. Then get some felt or fabric material and cut a horseshoe/U shape out of the fabric and simply attach it to the base with some strong glue or a needle and thread.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

7.

Juggling Balls

Equipment Needed Packet of fairly thick balloons + few bags of rice and some scissors (how much rice depends on how many Juggling balls you will make).

How do you do it?

Give each Venturer two 6 heavy duty balloons each (two balloons per ball). They then fill up 3 balloons with some rice. Note that they need to fill the balloon with rice to make balls which are reasonable in size, easy to fit into the palm etc (get them to do this in pairs). Get them to tie a not in the balloon, cut nd any spare bits off. They then use a 2 balloon to wrap around the other balloon with the rice inside.

Then tie and cut off the overlapping bits. Do three times so each Venturer has three balls.

There is a really simple link here which explains this with pictures and also more precise (http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/jugglingballs.htm) What we intend to do is to make these at the start of term and then every session for 5 or 10 minutes each week for a whole term we will ask them to practice juggling. The Venturers told us that they wanted to learn skills and this is a fun skill to learn. According to the website it takes about 30 minutes to learn to juggle but we think its gets easier if you keep practicing. It also encourages the Venturers to bring their Juggling balls each week (a small sense of responsibility).

8.

Mini Cooking

What do you need?

1 or 2 empty cans of fizzy drink per person. I would suggest a pair of scissors for every 3 children, a tea light for each child (maybe additional if some Vents would like to cook two things at once), matches or a lighter, news paper (it can get messy), cocktail sticks to pick up the food when it is hot and food.

Step 1 Ok, so the first step is to lay some news paper down on the table.

Step 2 Then cut the fizzy drinks can in half. Throw away the end which has the ring pull – up to now we have found no use for this end of the can. Then turn the can upside down so that you can see the underside of the can facing up. There should be a small bowl shaped area on the underside (see picture below).

Step 3 Now you need to cut two slits upwards from the side of the can approximately two centimeters apart and 3 cm long. This should create a small flap which you should use to get some air to the candle. If you don't create this flap then the candle losses oxygen and goes out L Step 4 Light the tea-light and insert it under the can.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Step 5 Add a tiny little oil to the bottom of the cooking part and then add food.

What food can you cook? Our Vents usually tell us what they would like to cook, in the past we have cooked the following; small pieces of cut up bacon, scrambled egg (using an additional whisk etc), thinly sliced sausages, mushrooms and strawberries covered with melted chocolate.

This activity can last about an hour depending on how much the Vents do (cutting cans/food up etc).

Works on pretty much any scale and we let them sit with their friends and socialize.

9.

Blind Tasting

What do you need?

A selection of different flavored food and optional pegs (for noses) We find that crisps are pretty handy as Venturers often like crisps and also crisps come in a pretty wide range of flavors across brands. We also include some herbs and spices into the game/activity.

How to do it?

You can set it up how you want to but we sit the Vents into a circle and then get them to blindfold themselves with clothing or ask them to close their eyes. Then we bring around a crisp or a herb/spice and then get them to discuss out loud what they think it was.

The exercise should help them to understand how much they rely on their other senses (sight, smell etc). To make it harder give them the choice to try with a nose peg as it is much harder without smell.

This activity should last about 15/20 minutes depending on the group size and the amount of flavours you would like to use.

We also had fun by buying some bars of chocolate which had varying levels of cocoa in. We then asked them to say what % of cocoa they think was in that piece and then if they thought there was more or less chocolate in the piece compared to the one before.

10. Other Cooking Ideas Things which groups across the UK have cooked on a week night; Pasta, pizza, smoothies in a blender, fortune cookies (also putting a little note inside), pancakes, bread + butter and jelly.

Ideas for what can be cooked around a campfire; Dampers, sweet corn, crumpets, jacket potatoes, soup, chocolate bananas, popcorn (using two sieves together), toasted marshmallows.

Other Lots of groups also meet up once a term at one of the Venturers houses (whoever has a kitchen big enough or willing) and hosts a dinner party where the kids can dress up smart and also make some food or bring some food. They can pretend to be who they want.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Activities 1.

Bird Song (best done in April or May)

Equipment: A person who can record a CD. Cardboard. Felt tips. CD player. Four or so bird books with colour pictures.

How to play: We had a game where we recorded a CD from the internet of some common bird songs. We chose four, blackbird, song thrush, chaffinch and great tit, but, for instance, green woodpecker would also be good if you live near woods – chose the birds according to your locality. The CD had the four bird songs (just a few seconds is fine – nice loud song though) in random order with a gap in between and the CD went through each bird four or five times. Get them in groups to draw a coloured picture of these four birds with the name of the bird in big writing. Have enough bird books to hand (we came prepared with the pictures actually). Four people hold up the four pictures in the four corners of the room, or any adults present can do this, or prop them up on chairs. Vs stand in a huddle in the middle of the room and the game is done in complete silence. Play the first bird song and stop the tape. Don’t teach them the birdsongs first, the idea is to do it ‘blind’. Without any noise the Vs move towards to bird they think was singing. You will find there is confusion between, e.g. blackbird and song thrush. Some Vs will change their mind and go where the majority is going and not stick to their own opinion, so it is an exercise in resisting peer-pressure and not feeling stupid if you get it wrong because you are all leaning at the same time. Call quiet if anyone shouts out. When everyone has stopped at their chosen corner you quietly say the name of the correct bird. The birdsongs thus are just about the only sounds in the room. Then play the next random bird, and so on.

Keep going until they are all getting it right and moving in a group towards the correct picture. Thus it is non-competitive and a group activity and they have all learned something together. If they are interested you can get them to say what characterises each song and how they are different (song thrush – loud repeater, great tit – squeaky bed etc) If you can do this the week before an outing in spring you can also get them to listen for the birds in real life. They can lie on the ground with eyes shut and listen in silence. Some of them will learn something which will be impossible for them to forget throughout their lives!

2.

Retro Day/Weekend (not done yet..)

Aim: A challenged to complete all of the Elfin badges or Pioneer badges in one single day or in one weekend/camp.

Equipment: You will need potentially quite a lot of equipment (not least the badges at 35p each!). When we have done this I will take a list of the equipment needed, someone else might do this first. So please email me if you do.

3.

The Newspaper and Magazine activity.

Equipment: A variety of newspapers and magazines.

Aim: The aim of the exercise is to let the Venturers discover for themselves that news is presented in many different ways. What is the implication of that?

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

How to: Cut out articles from each paper (and magazines) which cover the same story, arrange them onto a table and then ask the kids to discuss which newspaper or magazine each of the articles comes from.

We wrote a list of the newspapers and magazines we had used on a big sheet of paper then the kids had to stick the articles up along side the names of them.

Afterwards we showed the correct format and asked the kids to discuss the ones they had got right and the ones they had got wrong. Questions we posed were; 1) Why did you think this article was from this paper?

2) What did you think of the article compared with the others covering the same topic?

3) What differences can you see between how article A and article B, C, and D? 4) Why do you think different articles are like this?

5) How would you write an article covering this topic or which did you like the most?

4.

Trailing and Tracking

Aim: A fun activity for Venturers to try to lead each other from A to B. Equipment: If you are doing this activity in an urban area then chalk (different colors). If in woods then maybe some flour (you can decide yourself when you understand how this works).

How to?

Basically the Venturers split into two or more groups, one set to set the trail and the others to follow and track. Set one group off (with a leader depending on the circumstances) to set the trail. Get them to use chalk symbols on the pavement/walls/trees etc. If you are in wooded area then you can use flour to create arrows in the mud or broken twigs and branches to direct your trackers to the end point.

This activity works best for groups of 3 or 4 and lasts for anything between 1-2 hours. You can do this activity on camps as well.

5.

The night time string course

Aim: To make an assault course for the Venturers to follow blindfolded using string in woods.

Equipment: 4 or 5 big balls of string (one ball of string will get you approximately 50 yards). Scarves or something that the Vents can wear to cover their eyes.

How to?

Two leaders (or you can get some older Venturers to do it in the future) go into the woods with the string late afternoon while it is still light. At this point it is worth noting; A) You will need to collect the string afterwards B) If you are on a public footpath or an area where people mountain bike you do not want to decapitate anyone!!

So, tie up one end of the string to a tree and then unwind the string from tree to tree or from tree to logs. Make the string go high and low, through tree forks, around rocks etc. The string line has to be continual so that they can follow it. Do not make it too hard, it is actually quite disorientating as it is being blindfolded so keep it fairly simple.

Once you have built your assault course, it is worth getting a leader to trial it out first in case you miss any stray branches which might hurt anyone etc.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Later in the night time take the Venturers down and blindfold them at the start. Put someone at the front who is quite loud, it is their job to communicate to the rest of the group when there are potential hazards. They go all at the same time in a line (cue bumping into each other and general amusement/havoc).

Extra Value If you are on camp with younger groups you can get the Elfins to go around it while it is light and the Pioneers to go around it in the night time before the Venturers try it blindfolded.

6.

Egg Drop Challenge

This is an old favourite in our group even though many of the young people have done this activity on school challenge days. It doesn’t need much preparation so is a good standby activity.

Equipment A selection from things such as paper, card, straws, bubble wrap, sticky tape, cotton wool, fabric, string, disposable cups, card tubes, foam. Not all of these things though! Often it’s a case of what we’ve got in our group cupboard.

Eggs – one per person/team Groundsheet or newspaper to protect floor from broken eggs Height from which to drop eggs (we use balcony in school hall, you could drop out of a first floor window, from the top of a step ladder etc) Aim The challenge is to drop a raw egg from a height without it breaking. You are given a set of materials and you can use them in any way you like. Can work in small teams.

How to Some will pack the egg in soft wrappings, others may try a parachute. The most successful usually include some sort of crumple zone – maybe making cones from paper and attaching them sticking out (so you have a sort of spiky sphere).

How long Give them at least 30 minutes to design and make their package and then test.

Variation: they have to buy the materials. You give them a fixed amount of money (from Monopoly maybe) so they have to decide what they’re going to buy from the ‘materials shop’.

7.

Chain reaction machine

Aim The challenge is to construct a machine that bursts a balloon at the end with as many moving parts as possible.

Materials: selection from balloons, pins, elastic bands, glue, sticky/masking tape, cotton/string, dominoes, plasticine, scissors, paper, card, card/plastic tubes, pencils, plastic bottles, marbles, any other bits of junk you can find.

Work in small teams. You can run this as a competition or you could get each team to develop their own stage and then see if they can join them all up.

Rules: 1. Items other than those supplied may be used only with the agreement of the judge/organiser.

2. The machine may be manually started after which it should run itself.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

If you want to run it as a competition then you could award 50 points for a machine that works and bonus of 10 points for each moving part (e.g. a set of dominoes counts as one moving part).

This could take a whole session because you have to keep testing and tweaking your set up.

You may get some inspiration from videos such as: Honda Cog ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh4zWeUDW-E. Creme that Egg! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrCb_fNmSTA The Contraptions videos at http://www.baynhamtyers.com There are loads more videos on the internet of domino toppling and other home made chain reaction machines, often called ‘Rube Goldberg machines’.

8.

Spaghetti towers

Aim The challenge is to build the tallest tower using only spaghetti and marshmallows/jelly babies.

Materials: Spaghetti (uncooked) – a good handful per team Marshmallows or jelly babies – say 20 each You just tell them the challenge above and nothing more. They work in groups of 4 max. The key is to use triangles in your construction to ensure stability but that’s for them to discover. The best method is to build pyramids. They often build cubes which are not very stable at any height. They have limited materials (which prevents them from eating all the sweets before they’ve used them). I usually have a spare bag at the end so they get some to eat.

How long Takes 20 to 30 mins. You’ll need a brush for the bits of broken spaghetti at the end and possibly a damp cloth for the marshmallows that get very sticky.

9.

Lucky Hike

This is a good one for on camp or if your district is in a safe and remote area. In small groups go for a walk, at each junction toss a coin to decide which way to go, left or right? Stop when you get lost or have gone round in a circle!

Alternatively try this in a larger group. At each junction split off according to who got heads and tails – until only two in each group – continue to run right or left according to fall of penny 10. Woodcraft songs Choose a couple of the songs from the song-book – learn them – look at what the meaning is behind the words. Relate to aims and principles. Ask questions like “do they relate to today’s society and how?”.

Most of the songs in the woodcraft book can be quickly researched with a google search. Otherwise folkhouse might have some more information on where some of the songs originated and their original messages.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

11. Alka-Seltzer Rocket An oldie but a goodie. The only problem now is that it’s getting harder to source the film canisters. You make little rockets using film canisters. They go pretty high with a very satisfying pop.

Materials • Empty film canisters (enough for one each) • Alka-Seltzer tablets (or effervescent vitamin C tablets) • Water 1. Place half an Alka-Seltzer tablet in the film canister.

2. Add ~1cm of water.

3. Fit the lid on the canister, making sure the seal is tight.

4. Turn the canister upside-down (so lid at bottom) and place it on a flat surface. Stand back!

How does it work?

When water is added to the Alka-Seltzer tablet, bubbles of carbon dioxide gas are given off. When the lid is fitted tightly to the canister this gas is contained within an enclosed space. As more gas is given off the pressure inside the canister rises until there is enough force to overcome the seal of the lid. The built up pressure exerts enough force to shoot the canister into the air, forming the rocket.

Tips for Success Make sure the film canister lid is tightly fitting or you will only get a disappointing 'fizz'.

You should check the canister lip and lid between demonstrations so that no pieces of AlkaSeltzer get stuck between them, ruining the seal.

The warmer the water you add, the quicker the reaction so don’t go for very warm water because you won’t have time to get the lid on and move away.

It can be pretty messy so is best done outside.

Ensure you take it in turns to set off the rockets and designate a rocket launch pad so you don’t have rockets launching all over the place. They’re small but do go fast so there is a hazard.

You can make a rocket body, nose cone and fins out of paper if you like. Can even decorate them. They do get very soggy though. There’s a template at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/rocket.shtml 12. Time Capsule This is dependent on a leader having some space and a safe place (like an attic). We brought in some paper, pens, envelopes and sealing wax. The week before we told them they could bring something to put inside it if they wanted to. Then we spent 15 minutes writing a letter to ourselves in the future.

Then the Vents sealed their own envelopes with the hot wax, wrote their full name on the front with some contact details and the leader has taken them all home. I think we have agreed to re-open them in 2025.

It is interesting to discuss what people write to themselves and discuss different topics. It is also cringing the following week when you think about what you have put in!!

This kind of activity is probably easier now than it ever has been with people being more easily found with online social communities like facebook (who knows if that will be around by 2025?!).

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Courses and training There are many courses the Vents can do over a few weeks.

Try looking into; First Aid Baby Sitting Course Jewelry Making Sound and Audio

Themes Some groups have over-arching themes throughout their terms. Some examples of these are Theatre, Dance and relaxation. Relaxation is a particularly good one as the Vents often have examples and are stressed out.

Fundraising 1.

Jumble Sale

Printed Leaflets and posted through letter boxes two weeks before (saying who we are, when the sale was and when we would collect jumble etc) then also put an advert in the local free papers. Painted a sign to put on the building where the event was to be held for ten days before the event. collected door to door (books, toys etc), asked everyone they knew for bric-a-brac, proceeds to WF and a % to another charity. Contacting the local council for a market stall (rented at a nominal fee). Charged 10p to come in, sold for 1.5 hours and made £187. Suggestion to call it a “flea-market” instead of a jumble sale. Just to add from a practical point of view, you need the kids behind you, adults to man the hall, doors locked where people can't come in and a quick risk assessment for the grounds, we held it outside and some of the grass banks were full of holes extra, so we put the tables over them. This is important you don't want anything in the hall going missing or someone falling over.

2.

Promises auction

Our most successful event was a promises auction. I'm sure everyone has had some experience of these - we made it fun with a really good (parent) auctioneer and some previews of some of the more fun promises. We approached local businesses as well and ended up with promises ranging from Venturers coming to your house to cook a meal for 8 - 10 people, through to free use of a carpet cleaner, free belly dance performance and someone offering to take rubbish to the tip!

3.

Bizarre Bazaar/Pea Fair

I've always thought of these as having a long WCF tradition? Basically a simple version of a school fete with various stalls - run by the Pioneers and Venturers - everything from fortune-telling to minitreasure hunts to lucky dips. The emphasis is on everyone being able to take part so we keep the prices really low - 10p to 50p depending on whether there is a prize involved - but its surprisingly easy to make a couple of hundred quid in an evening! It is also a good event for mixing the groups. Other ideas for stalls - ice your own biscuit (and decorate with sweets) - whack the rat (stuffed sock in a cardboard tube) pasta stuffed with raffle tickets which the kids whack with a mallet to get to the ticket (needs preparation but stuffing the pasta is a surprisingly therapeutic way to spend an evening), "photo booth" (which produces cartoons of the person, great if you have a talented artist) and guessing the number of marbles/sweets in a jar.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

4.

Woodcraft Quiz

Last year we ran a quiz where we invited all of the parents from our district (and invited them to bring their friends) to a quiz night in the local school hall one evening. We had a mic/speaker and a compare and about 15 teams in total. It was £3 to enter the hall/partake. There were approximately 6 to a team so there was quite a large turnout. The prize was a third of the money made on entry and also some things which had been donated prior. Make up the prizes as you see fit! We also “sold’” wine, beers and soft drinks throughout the night at a great profit. When I say sold.. we had a jar for people to put in donations (marked) as its illegal to sell on alcohol etc without a license. There are hundreds of free quiz questions online and you can always make up your own quiz questions “what is the name of the activity whereby you are to clean, air and keep your tent tidy on camp?” 

Additional info and thoughts It was apparent in some of the discussions that people are unsure of where to get skills or equipment which appears at first to be unavailable, costly and out of reach.

Depending on what it is my first point of call would be to contact people who are willing to help for free.

In my experience this will be students (A-level and Degree). These are the people who can help you if you would like videos to be edited or a sound track to be made for something. Maybe you just want someone to come in and show you how to build a district website?

Contact the college or university department in your county/city and ask to speak to the head of department for whatever you need help on. Drop them an email or call them explaining that we are a charity and we are looking to do this with the help of a student who has the expertise and that it would suit someone who is looking to start/grow/improve their portfolio + C.V of work.

This is a short term solution as I know that the DF’s are building a central database of skill sets that leaders could tap into from all over the UK. I would however say that is probably some way off.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6

Hello, This document has been created to bring together all of the best activities we can use for our Venturer group nights or on camp. This list is a current, realistic and proven list of games, activities, drama, debating, craft, course, themes and fundraising.

The informal structure for each item is: 1) What is the aim of the game/activity and what do you do?

2) What equipment or planning do you need?

3) How many people is it for?

4) How long does it usually take?

5) Any other advice There are no age ranges attached to this document however this has been assembled based on feedback with the Venturer age group.

This is has been put together by Venturer leaders from across the UK. Many hands make light work and if every group in the UK contributes 2 or 3 of their best ideas then we would all have enough material for 3-4 years of group nights. Not everything in this list is going to fit with your group so a surplus of ideas is necessary.

If you try anything off the list and it doesn’t work then please feed this back to the group so that we can find ways to improve. This is very important.

Otherwise if you get any new ideas or if there are things which you are including in your term plans which other people might benefit from then please email them to me (tom.gaffikin@reach.com) and I will update the list.

Prepared by Tom Gaffikin

08/03/2012 V.1.6