Are you looking for ideas of story books to read to your otters during meetings? This list, complied by Haley Skaer, has some great ones! She has even added a short note after each title to tell you a little more about that book. Many of these go with a certain holiday or time of year. It may be helpful...
As part of a happy and healthy Outdoor Service Guides group, you should plan for your guides to have a lot of fun. One easy way to make every meeting more fun, is to start with a game! This is a list of games that work well for groups of guides. There are Icebreakers for the start of the year,...
Recently I wrote up how to complete the Red Paw for otters in a set of meetings. Below, I’ve done the same thing for the Blue Paw. This set includes needing to have 5 meetings, one of them focused on your service project, plus a camping trip. If you want to work on the blue paw and red paw both...
Forms and Leader Guides / GSM Tips
by Laura Sowdon · Published July 2, 2021 · Last modified April 1, 2022
I adore having an hour-by-hour schedule for troop camping trips. Why? Because it takes much of the stress out of the experience for me. Having every adult in camp know what time we will be starting to cook dinner, eat, clean up, hike, do flags or play games means they know when they can rest, and when they need to...
Story time is part of many otter meetings. Kids just love stories, and picture books can help them relate to others, grasp new ideas and develop empathy for others and our natural world. Amazingly, you can even do a story time over zoom, if your group can’t meet in person. But if you aren’t a children’s librarian, how do you...
Despite the pandemic the 901st Buffalo group in Bartlett, TN has hit the ground running with the newest group in the South! Thanks so much, GSM Aislinn for sharing these pictures of your otters meeting outside in masks. Way to be Busy and Bright!
Finding our way into scouting this fall is challenging. The pandemic means that many groups aren’t able to return to “normal” with meetings and activities. What are some reasonable ideas? The 17th Black Bears has decided to do a 3 pronged approach. Those 3 prongs are on-line meetings, home projects and monthly in person, socially distant activities. Each one is...
Recently, I saw a neat way to do leaf rubbings with kids to make art, and though it would be great for our otters! First, you gather leaves of various shapes. If possible, you can ask scouts to learn what kind of tree or bush their leaves come from. However, that isn’t technically necessary. I find that casually mentioning, “Oh,...
by Laura Sowdon · Published June 19, 2020 · Last modified August 16, 2020
Are you looking to be a better scout leader when it comes to being anti-racist? Several Rovers have put together this list of recommendations to help.
Having an Otter Raft is a lot of fun. It can also be a lot of work! We have some ideas on how to work on badges and have fun.
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