Scouts Meeting Schedule – Week _ Theme: Earth Day (April 22) Objective: Through games and activities, Scouts will understand why it is important to take care of the environment. Time
Activity
Program Details
15 mins
Gathering Activity
How Much Energy Does it Take to Eat?
10 mins
Opening Ceremony
40 mins
Theme Activity
Shoebox Habitat
10 mins
Game
Recycling Tag
20 mins
Theme Activity
Bits and Pieces
15 mins
Patrol/Troop Meeting
10 mins
Closing Ceremony
15 mins
Leader Discussion Time
Leader Responsible
Meeting Notes: ————————————————————————————————————————————— ———————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————
JUMPSTART—SCOUTS: Spring
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Scouts Meeting – Detail Planning
Introduction Earth Day is an environmental awareness event and celebration that began in the United States in 1970. The first international Earth Day took place on April 22, 1990. Canada joined 140 nations around the world in celebrating environmental awareness. Earth Day has grown to include a multitude of events across Canada, ranging from tree plantings, waterway cleanups to concerts. An Earth Day meeting is a great opportunity to get outdoors, enjoy nature, and become aware of environmental concerns. It’s an opportunity to empower the children in your section – there are things that they can do to help!
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JUMPSTART—SCOUTS: Spring
Gathering Activity How Much Energy Does it Take to Eat? Objective: To help Scouts understand how their food selections can contribute to climate change. Optional: This activity is ideal to tie in with planning a menu for a camping trip. The end objective would be to reduce the greenhouse gas contribution of food items selected as part of the camping menu.
Background Information: One transport truck shipment of food creates as many greenhouse gases as one person does in an entire year. Buying food that has traveled from far distances uses fuel, which creates greenhouse gases.
Instructions: Ask each Scout to bring in one piece of packaging from a food item (a chocolate bar wrapper, pop cans, cereal boxes, fruit with country of origin stickers, etc.). Each Scout tells the group where their item originated. Whose item was transported from the furthest away? The closest? How would each item have traveled to the store where they bought it? Which item created the most greenhouse gases, based on distance and likely mode of transport (air travel is the most greenhouse gas intensive)?
JUMPSTART—SCOUTS: Spring
Bring in a map of the world and have Scouts place pins, stickers or marks on the map to represent where their product originated. Tell Scouts that the average meal traveles 2500 kms before it reaches their plate. Ask Scouts to guess how far that is by comparing it to a distance between their city/town and another location. Demonstrate the distance by drawing it on a map. Are they surprised by the distance? Why does our food travel that far? How could we change this? What foods are we buying that cause the most greenhouse gases (travel the furthest)? Do the Scouts eat certain fruits all year round (bananas, strawberries, etc)? Where do they come from? Are we making good choices when we buy our groceries? What impact would buying local products have on energy conservation?
Optional: Ask Scouts to take into consideration as they plan the menu for an upcoming camping trip. How can they plan a menu around foods that are locally produced or non-energy intensive? Don’t forget to think about packaging! When possible, buy in bulk rather than packaging-heavy individual servings. Buy local produce in season, etc.
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Theme Activity Shoebox Habitats Objective: Scouts will understand the components of a habitat by making a shoebox diorama. Before beginning this activity, discuss habitats and the essential needs of all animals: food, shelter, water, and space. Research and discuss various kinds of animal habitats, for example, grizzly or polar bear, dolphin or whale, etc. Have Scouts determine which kind of habitat they want to build previous to this activity.
Equipment: • Shoebox with lid for each Scout • Tempura paint and paintbrushes (green, blue, brown, white, etc) • Box cutter/utility knife • Wax paper • Tape • Glue • Sand • Dirt • Moss • Dried Leaves • Rocks or pebbles • Plasticine
Each Scout should bring a shoebox with lid to the meeting. With adult assistance, cut a small “viewing” hole in one of the short sides of the box. This will allow the Scout to view the habitat once it is completed! Take the lid of the box and cut a square in the middle, leaving enough of the box that the lid is still structurally stable. Glue or tape a piece of waxed paper to cover the hole, on the underside of the lid. Paint the inside of the box according to the type of habitat that you are creating. Use blue paint for the sky, green or brown for the ground, paint white clouds, volcanoes, houses, etc. If using tempura paint, it should dry fairly quickly – play a game while it dries! Glue sand, dirt, dried leaves, pebbles, rocks, or moss to the bottom of the shoebox. Glue other items into the box to create the habitat: pinecones, small trees or branches, etc. Use plasticine or glue to attach the animals to the bottom of the box, placing them near the “viewing” hole. Optional: attach cotton balls to the lid to represent clouds. Use other items appropriate for the habitat – you can even take a nature walk to gather materials from the ground Let everything dry, then put the lid back on the shoebox and view the habitat through the hole! What do you see?
• Cardstock paper to make fish, birds, animals, plants, seaweed, etc. • Cotton balls (optional) • Small toy animals (optional) • Pinecones (optional) • Small trees or branches (optional)
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JUMPSTART—SCOUTS: Spring
Game Recycling Tag Objective:
Equipment: For each Patrol: Mixed plastics (sandwich and grocery bags, six-pack holders, packing material, soda pop bottles, straws, etc)
This game will reinforce the concepts of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
• Scissors
Equipment:
• Balloon
• A large, defined playing area
Instructions: Review the 3Rs with the Scouts. Talk about examples of Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. Examples could include reducing power usage (turning off the lights) or fuel consumption (walking or riding a bike), reusing clothing (having clothing swaps, wearing hand-medowns, fixing items instead of buying a new one), and recycling bottles and cans, having a worm compost, etc. Make a “starting area” and a “safe area.” One or two Scouts should be “it” in the middle, and as Scouts attempt to run to the safe area, they can reverse a tag by yelling out a reducing, reusing, or recycling tip, for example, “recycle your bottles!”, “reuse yogurt containers for plant pots!”, or “reduce by turning your computer off at night!”
Theme Activity Bits and Pieces (indoor) Objective: Scouts will understand that there are different kinds of plastics, with different properties. They will begin to understand how these different kinds of plastics are sorted at a recycling facility for processing.
• Container with a lid (a large coffee tin is perfect) • Dishpan with water (optional) • Tape • Broom and dustpan for clean up
Instructions: Precut the plastics into small pieces. Mix together into a pile, on a table or on the floor (it might be a good idea to have this pile on a piece of newspaper, for ease of cleanup). Blow gently on the pile. Which plastics separate from the others? What do these plastics have in common? Look at your tools: balloon, container, dishpan with water, tape. How could you use these tools to further separate the plastics? Experiment! Each patrol should try various techniques to sort each type of plastic into its own pile. Balloon could be blown up and used to create static electricity. The container could be used to shake the plastic or spin it, like a washing machine.
Optional Follow-Up Activity Visit your local recycling facility and learn how they separate materials.
Background Information: There are seven different kinds of plastics, and some are not recyclable in certain areas. Check with your municipality to see which kinds of plastic are recyclable in your area.
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