The Science Behind Scouts

Investigate the science behind some of your favourite Scouting activities and create a comic strip to show how they work.

Grow a Veggie Patch

Spend some time outdoors in your backyard creating your own vegetable garden. It is so much fun planting seeds, watching them sprout, and eventually harvesting what you have grown.

World Turtle Day

World Turtle Day is an annual event to educate people about turtles and tortoises and the things that they can do to protect their habitats around the World.

Safe Hands

The Safe Hands Challenge is a health-focused challenge aimed at educating people about best practices for hand-washing. Demonstrate your hand-washing technique by recording your own #SafeHands video.

Star Breathing

You can use this breathing activity whenever you need, including in class situations such as tests and exams, at home before trying to sleep, or when you’re feeling upset or worried.

Week 6

The Science Behind Scouts Challenge Area

Ages Joeys and Cubs

Number of People Required One

Investigate the science behind some of your favourite Scouting activities and create a comic strip to show how they work!

Instructions

1. Design a comic strip that explains the science behind an element of Scouting. This could be buildinga fire, pioneering, kayaking or your favourite hobby, like sport, which involves biology, or music,which is based on maths and is created by sound waves.

2. Research your chosen activity or hobby to find out how it works, making a list of the most importantpoints. Try to go into as much detail as you can. YouTube has lots of useful videos that explain thescience behind things.

3. Grab some paper, pencils and pens and print out a comic strip template. You can download a freeone here.

4. Transform your list into a step-by-step comic strip, with captions to explain each stage.5. Share your comic with a friend!

Reflection This task was designed to help you learn more about the science behind Scouting, and to encourage you to express your newfound knowledge in a creative way!

Grow a Veggie Patch Challenge Area

Ages All

Number of People Required The more the merrier!

Spend some time outdoors in your backyard creating your own vegetable garden. It is so much fun planting seeds, watching them sprout, and eventually harvesting what you have grown.

Instructions

1. Decide where you will place your vegetable garden and what you are going to growin it. It is a good idea to choose a sunny spot.

2. Make a raised veggie bed in the location you have chosen. Raised beds allow you tocontrol the soil quality and keep plants protected. Since raised beds tend to warm upsooner in the spring, you’ll also find you have a longer growing season. Best of allthough, raised beds reduce weeds and lawn grass invasion.

3. Go to your local shopping centre and find some of your favourite vegetable seeds toplant. Good options include peas, strawberries, sunflowers, cabbage and mint.

4. Make sure to check the growing instructions and water your veggie patchaccordingly.

5. Once your seeds have grown, take a big bite, share what you have grown andcongratulate yourself for growing your first vegetable or fruit!

Reflection Gardening teaches us the responsibility by highlighting the importance of nurture, self-confidence and a sense of achievement that stems from growing your own garden. You will feel a great sense of joy tasting something you have grown yourself. With this in mind, growing a vegetable garden with your family is one of the best activities you can do together.

World Turtle DayChallenge Area

Ages All

Number of People Required One

What is World Turtle Day? World Turtle Day is an annual event that has been taking place since 2000. It was founded by American Tortoise Rescue. The purpose of World Turtle Day is to educate people about turtles and tortoises and the things that they can do to protect the habitats of turtles and tortoises around the World. Here's an activity you can do to celebrate World Turtle Day.

Reflection Sea turtles play a fundamental role in the marine ecosystem, primarily by grazing and promoting the health of their environments. All sea turtles contribute to the health of beaches and the stability of the shorelines they nest on. Their eggs help to provide needed nutrients to the sand. Many organisations protect turtles. Ask your parents and carers to see if you can research some of them or share your creations online to spread awareness.

Instructions:

1. Make a stone turtle.2. Make a woven turtle by gluing 3 paddle pop sticks together

and draw on the turtle's face and feet. then weave a longpiece of wool across the centre until it mimics the shape of aturtle shell.

3. Design a poster to help people understand the importanceof not throwing plastics away properly and by not doing thishow it impacts our marine life.

Safe Hands Challenge Area

Ages All

Number of People Required One

The Safe Hands Challenge (which you can find on social media under the hashtag #SafeHands and #SafeHandsChallenge) is a public health-focused challenge aimed at educating people about best practices for hand-washing. Demonstrate your hand-washing technique by recording your own #SafeHands video – bonus points if you sing along to a song!

Instructions

1. Ask a parent or sibling to record a video of you completing the #SafeHands challenge.2. Wet your hands with water (but then turn the faucet off until it's time to rinse to conserve water).3. Apply enough soap to cover all hand surfaces.4. Rub hands palm-to-palm.5. Scrub with your right palm over your left hand and fingers interlaced. And then vice versa.6. Scrub palm to palm with fingers interlaced.7. Rub the back of your fingers against the opposing palm with your fingers interlocked.8. Practice rotational rubbing of your left and right thumbs (do this by gripping your thumb with the

fingers of the opposite hand and rotating).9. Do rotational rubbing with clasped fingers.10. Rinse your hands with water.11. Dry thoroughly with a towel.12. Use the towel to turn off the tap.13. Edit your video.14. Share your video with us via email to communications@nsw.scouts.com.au or by tagging

#ScoutsNSW on social media!

Reflection Proper hand hygiene is critical for a healthy life. The Safe Hands challenge teaches us how to wash our hands properly. Have you changed the way you wash your hands?

Star Breathing Challenge Area

Ages All

Number of People Required One

You can use this breathing technique whenever you need, including in class situations such as tests and exams, at home before trying to sleep, or when you’re feeling upset or worried.

Instructions

Reflection Breathing techniques are really important tools to assist us with managing our emotions, mind and improve our relaxation and focus. Our breath is our life force, paying attention to it and learning to focus on it can be helpful in times of high emotional distress, such as anger, sadness and fear. Did your breath change? Speed up, slow down, become deeper, shallow?

1. Find somewhere comfortable and quiet to sit.2. Pay attention to your breath, noticing the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe in

and out.3. Hold your non-preferred hand in front of you.4. Spread your fingers apart to form a star.5. Take your preferred hand and with your index finger, touch the outside base of your

non-preferred hand's thumb.6. Focus back on your breath. With your next breath inhale through your nose at the

same time to move their index finger gently along the side of their thumb, in time withyour inhaled breath. You are tracing up and down the outline of your hand with yourfinger as you breathe in and out.

7. When you exhale the breath, move your finger down the other side of your thumb,again in time to the exhaling of your breath.

8. With the second breath in, trace up the side of the pointer finger and on the exhaledown the other side of the pointer finger.

9. Keep doing the tracing up and down of each finger.10. Repeat this sequence twice for a total of 10 breaths.11. Notice how you feel before the exercise and after the exercise.