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Welcome to the Woggle

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Spring 2021 Edition

Notice anything new?

Yup, we’ve made a few changes to the newsletter for this edition.  We’ve spruced up the layout at bit, added some new sections and are introducing some new re-occurring features.  The Woggle has always been Scouter focused, with a goal of providing our Scouters with the tools and fresh ideas to bring the program to life.

And we want to hear from you!  What did you think of this edition of the Woggle?  What would you like to see more of in the next edition?  Got a cool twist on an activity you did with your section that you want to share with other Scouters?  Drop us a line and make sure to complete the quick poll and let us know how we’re doing. 

Feature

Broadcasting the Super Bowl May Have Been Easier

Volunteers are the heart of Scouting and over the last 12 months our Scouters have stepped up to the plate again and again.  Last fall, we put out a call for nominees for the “Virtual Scouting Oscars” as a way to recognized those Scouters who went above and beyond during the pandemic.  We received well over 100 nominations! This is the profile of one of those volunteers, Greg Bolton. 

 

Scouter Greg's Profile

What's New

Scouts Seeds is Back! Thyme to Start Planting!

Get the dirt on Scouts Seeds by jumping over to the Scouts Seeds page and making sure your group is registered (don’t worry, it’s not too late!)  You can also find all the marketing materials your group will need to promote this fundraiser locally. The Scouts Seeds fundraiser runs from Feb 1st to March 31st.  

And once you’ve signed up, check out this super cool Trail Card for a vertical garden.  It’s really easy, no green thumb required.

Vertical Garden

Bored? Can’t think of anything to do with your Section?

Don’t forget, we just launched the Activity Finder last November (that’s still new-ish in our books!) This is an easy-to-use database of activities that can be sorted by Section, Program Area, Time and Season. Location is soon to be added allowing searches for indoor, outdoor and virtual activities.  We know, pretty cool eh?

Start Exploring

Webinar dates for the Great Canadian Scouting Adventure!

March 3 & 4

The Great Canadian Scouting Adventure, partnered with Heritage Canada was launched in late December.  And to further expand on the program, we’re offering webinars to our Scouting community.  Hear from Parks Canada Ambassadors who will speak about their jobs, and further discover the Great Canadian Scouting Adventure program.  Make sure to save the date and check the News & Events page for more details!

If you can’t make the webinar, keep exploring the Great Canadian Scouting Adventure which has lots of fun activities connected with National Heritage Sites and Parks. Choose between what is a great career, animal sounds, biodiversity, connecting with the sites and finding out about our great Canadian artifacts.  There’s so much to learn!

Webinar Dates (English)

Webinar Dates (French) 

Take a virtual Trip Around the World!

Have you ever wanted to go to Ireland, South Africa or Japan?  The Program team has pulled together some great Virtual Meeting itineraries that let your section explore this amazing world we live in.  With eight itineraries to choose from you can go on a virtual African safari, explore volcanos in Hawaii or take a tour of a bamboo forest in Japan.  These are great for Beavers, Cubs or Scouts.  Check them out now! 

Take A Trip

Program: Spring

Check out some of these other great Spring Activities!

Campsite Clearing

How Big is…?

Alphabet Hike

Jamboree on the Trail

Ticks You Off

Get Active

It's My Feelings

Mapping Challenge

Spring Season Icon

Top 3 Tips for Planning Your Spring Cycle Outdoors

  1. Frozen pen? Don’t worry. Get creative!
    It can be hard to write things down outside, so it’s a good time to find creative ways to record your thoughts! Use voice memos on your phone to record ideas, sculpt your favourite activity idea out of snow, or create a skit about all the things you’d like to do.

  2. Break it Down. 
    It can be overwhelming to plan three months of programming across six Program Areas, multiple Outdoor Adventure Skills, SPICES and more. Work in small teams and assign each team a theme – maybe an OAS badge they’d like to work on, a Program Area or a theme (like a trip to the moon). Each team should brainstorm their ideas and find a creative way to present them to the rest of the Section. Then, working as a Section or back in small teams, talk about your favourite adventures – which ones will you do first? 

  3. Rock the Vote (literally)
    Many Sections decide on activities by voting on what they’d like to do. Rather than just having everyone raise their hands for ideas, you can use your body to vote yes or no (raise your hands above your head to make the letter ‘y’ for ‘yes’ and cross your arms across your chest like an ‘x’ for ‘no’). You could even have one simple dance move (like the sprinkler) to vote yes and another (like doing the shopping cart) to vote now. Getting moving to get out the vote will help you plan and keep you warm!

    You can also label jars with different adventures and give everyone tokens (like small rocks) that they can vote with – put tokens in your favourite jars!

Top 3 Tips for Virtual Spring Cycle Planning

  1. Run a Poll 
    Voting on which activities to do (or how to do them, etc.) can be challenging during a virtual meeting. Some voices may overpower others, some youth may be uncomfortable speaking over a virtual platform, etc. If your participants have cameras, doing a thumbs up/thumbs down poll can be a quick way to figure out which activities interest the group. For participants without cameras, asking them to type in the chat can be a good alternative.

  2. Use different idea-sharing websites to allow everyone to suggest ideas. 
    For older Sections where youth are able to write down ideas, using an idea-sharing website can also be a great tool. Google Jamboard allows participants to contribute their own ideas on a sticky note – you could even make individual pages for each Program Area. You could also use a word cloud website and have youth contribute their ideas to build a word cloud. Mentimeter allows participants to contribute to a single word cloud to see which ideas are the most popular. Share your screen with the youth to allow them to see ideas as they flow in!

  3. Try our Activity Finder!
    Scouts Canada’s new activity finder is live and new activities are still being added! Sort by Section and Program Area to narrow down the activities to ones that fit your Section’s needs, or use a keyword search to find something that interests you! Of course, these activities don’t represent every possible adventure but it’s a great jumping off point!

Safe Scouting

Don’t Walk on “Thin Ice” when it Comes to Ice Safety

An integral part of Scouting in Canada is getting outside to enjoy nature safely – no matter the season! Though temperatures are warming and our Quinzees will soon be melted, in some regions, there is still plenty of opportunity to get outside and delight in the wintery wonderland while it lasts.

Planning an icy adventure? Ponder these tips before venturing out onto the frozen pond:

  • Conditions – check local conditions and advisories before leaving.
  • Location – river and lake shoreline ice can be weak.
  • Snow on Ice – snow is an insulator, and warms and weakens ice.
  • Cold Snaps – extreme cold snaps in weather patterns actually weaken ice.
  • Cloudy Ice – stay off! Only go on clear, thick ice.

Boldly Go – Don’t “Coldly” Go, and Always be Prepared:

  • What to wear: Wear brightly-coloured clothes in layers. The bright colours will increase visibility, and the layered thermal underwear, wool or synthetic mid-layer, an insulated shell, scarf, hat, and waterproof mittens will protect you from the cold.
  • What to pack: Ice picks or claws, a throw rope, a test pole to check the thickness of the ice, crampons, and goggles are all good items to bring along with you on an adventure on the ice.

Review these ice safety tips on how to perform an ice rescue and what to do if you fall through the ice/

A Cold Incident 

A Section of Cubs had planned a snowshoeing hike along the creek near their meeting place.

Their hike route took them onto an area of the ice covering a creek. While hiking on the creek a Section of the ice gave way, and a Scouter’s leg pushed through the ice to the frigid waters beneath.

The Scouter was able to pull his leg and foot back up onto the surface of the ice, and the other Scouters and the rest of the Section immediately exited the surface, using the banks of the creek. Thankfully, the Scouter didn’t obtain any serious injuries, and didn’t become hypothermic.

How could this incident been prevented?

  • Be prepared to adjust the plan to keep everyone safe – map an alternate route in case of unexpected conditions.
  • Create a space between people when on ice to spread out weight.
  • Take the local conditions into account. The warm late winter weather had caused the ice to melt and the running creek water from under the ice caused it to weaken.
  • When in doubt, stay away from the ice. Unknown ice is unsafe ice.

Pink Shirt Day

Pink Shirt Day 2021

February 24th is Pink Shirt Day, a day were everyone dons their pink shirts in support of anti-bullying.  Scouting is a safe space for all and Scouts Canada supports the Pink Shirt Day movement. To find resources and to learn more, make sure to check out the Pink Shirt Day link.  And for specific tips about cyberbullying — check out the Cyberbullying Tip Sheet.

 

Cyberbullying Tipsheet

Around the Campfire

5 Campfire Meals You Need to Try

What’s that saying? Practice makes perfect! Get ready for a summer filled with delicious campfire meals to share by practicing campfire cooking skills as a Section. Check out these scrumptious meals:

  1. The Perfect Stew – using a Dutch oven
  2. Campfire Breakfast Skillet – Using a cast-iron Skillet
  3. A classic – Pizzadillas!
  4. Campfire Cinnamon Twists – yummmmm!
  5. Freezer Bag Cooking Recipes – Make this environmentally-friendly by preparing these in reusable silicone bags instead of plastic!
Try a Master Chef challenge to test a variety of skills!

Competitors have to prepare a dish or a meal, and judges decide who’s come up with the tastiest creation. Mix in your campfire specific cooking skills to add to the challenge.

To keep it simple or for younger Sections, instead of each team planning their own meal, have one specific meal for everyone to make. Give each team the recipe and ingredients. Which team can follow the recipe the best? Which meal tastes the yummiest? Looks the best?

To take it further, or for older Sections, add a required secret ingredient. Turn this into an Iron Chef challenge by requiring all teams to use a secret ingredient. It could be something simple, like chocolate, or something more difficult, like durian! You can also ask teams to make multiple dishes. For the most challenge, have each team make multiple dishes (appetizer, main, dessert, or meals to practice different skills) and include the secret ingredient in every course.

As a bonus, tie in cooking competencies from various Outdoor Adventure Skills. You can find cooking-related competencies in a variety of areas – from Camping Skills, to Trail Skills, to Winter Skills. 

Bon appétit! 

Calendar Icon

Mark your Calendars

Scout Week – Feb 21-27, 2021.  Join the FUN as Scouts and Scouters from across the country come together virtually to celebrate all things Scouting!  Spread the word! Scout Week events are open to everyone this year, not just Scouts. So, invite your friends and family and let them see what all the FUN’s about!   This week-long event will host a series of activities for every evening of the week.  BONUS: We will be launching small activities to get your section ready to attend the main event.  Check out the program, sign up information and upcoming bonus content on the News & Events page.

Senate Speaker Series - March 1st — Know a youth in your Section or Group who might be interested in participating? Learn more about this great opportunity on the News & Events page.

Webinar – Great Canadian Scouting Adventure – March 3 and 4 — Earn a free crest and learn more about the Great Canadian Scouting Adventure from former Parks Canada employees and current Park Ambassadors.  Pick one of the dates as a great one-hour webinar to do as a group activity! Keep an eye on the News & Events section for more details and how to sign up.

Webinar – International Women’s Day – Girls in Science STEM Evening – March 8th — Designed especially for Cubs and Scouts, this one-hour interactive webinar will showcase three leading women in science, exploring everything from optical illusions to human behaviour and even infrared imagery.  More details will be coming soon, so make sure to check out the News & Events page. 

Scout Popcorn Starts Mid-April. Keep your eye on the News & Events page of Scouts.ca for further details about Scout Popcorn!

Spring ScoutCon – April – The Program Support Team is hard at work planning the next National ScoutCon Virtual Event. More details will be coming out soon so make sure to check out the News & Events section regularly!

Get Your Quarantime Badges! Did you love our cheeky Quarantime Badge series? Are you looking for a unique, quirky badge (that doubles as a conversation-starter) to add to your fire blanket? In late March, you can support Scouts Canada and get a chance to win a one-of-a-kind Quarantime Badge in our upcoming online auction! Details coming soon.

Don’t Forget these dates:

#ScoutsDoStuff

WOW! If you haven’t already done so, you need to check-out Scout Sophia’s great Scouting videos! 

In this one she shares how to make cupcakes in the kitchen and then how to make cupcakes when you’re camping by using hot coals and a dutch-oven.  Everyone needs cupcakes when they’re camping! Make sure to watch right to the end when the taste-testing takes place!!

(Great video intro BTW!)

What a terrific idea for an all-section virtual session.  The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, in Mount Hope, Ontario (south of Hamilton) has one of only two WWII Lancaster Avro aircrafts that are still flying today! So cool!

Knot to be outdone, the 1st Haney Scout Troop got to practicing their knot skills.  Just in time for Scout Week Skills Nights!

OK, it’s not Spring just yet which means there’s still time to join the 36th Ottawa Cubs Winter Challenge!  Hike, Skate, Bike, Snow-shoe or Cross-ski and stay active all winter long!

Tag @scoutscanada in your #ScoutsDoStuff pics for your chance to be featured in our next edition of The Woggle. 

Coming up in the Next Edition of The Woggle

Tick and Lyme Disease Awareness

Great Summer Program Planning Ideas

Watch your Inbox for the next edition of the Woggle – May 12th

Ideas? Questions? Comments?

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