A Virtual Cubs Camp

Over the summer, D moved up from Beavers to Cubs. For various reasons, he didn’t move to his most natural cubs group, instead, we found a spot in another local group.

We have been lucky that the one local to us had continued to run via zoom during the lockdown, it was great for the children to have something that was a constant and the leaders did a fab job of linking the Beavers to the local community.

When D moved up to cubs it was a bit of a change; it’s not been as smooth as I had hoped it would be, but he hasn’t noticed some of the teething problems and has thrown himself into it. I’ve even ended up running a session for the cubs, and have another pencilled in. I’d be very happy to continue on running the virtual meetings and I suspect when things are a little more normal I’ll end up volunteering with the scouts at some stage.

This weekend, we found out via another cub parent, that our District was hosting a Virtual Challenge Camp. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but D wanted to do it so we signed up.

I think it’s fair to say we were all super impressed. The organisation, energy and enthusiasm from the District team were superb and the challenges that they set for the Cubs were good fun and a wide variety of things for them to have a go at.

What did the Challenges involve?

The cubs were given details of a number of zoom calls to join, and at each one, they were set a task. The first task was a series of things to find to take selfies with; these included a phone box, an oak tree, a wild animal, a post office etc. As soon as the call ended we headed out into the rain to try and snap the selfies. We managed to find them all which D was happy with. It was then home for some lunch before another zoom call.

The challenges during the rest of the camp included a map reading challenge, cooking a meal outside (D wanted to do a boiled egg!), a quiz and building a marshmallow and spaghetti structure.

There was also a series of 18 mini-tasks for the cubs to complete across the weekend and an activity pack that they were sent.

So Much Fun!

D really enjoyed the weekend! Had it been a little drier, I would have camped in the garden with him. However, it was a horribly wet day with relentless rain so he opted to set up camp in the living room (in the tent!) He thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend and it was great to see the energy, drive and enthusiasm from the District team. I feel fortunate that we have been able to continue the older two with the scouting journey, and I hope leaders can continue to support their groups via zoom as lockdowns and the such prohibit the face to face meetings. I’ve been impressed by the energy that leaders continue to exhibit so many months on!

Scouting was never a part of my childhood, and we reserved a spot for D when I saw an advert in a local Facebook Group. It’s been a brilliant thing for both him and Em, and H can’t wait to get to Beavers! It’s been great at helping them develop different skills and enjoy a range of new experiences and I’m glad it’s something that we are now involved in and enjoying. I do hope we can soon return to face to face events… I’m not sure I want a weekend of a tent in my living room again!