We had a hike planned for our Beaver Scouts tonight but Mother Nature isn't cooperating. That means our Emergency Preparedness lesson gets called into action. Any ideas?

We've got about an hour with the kids in the gym. I thought we could set-up stations to talk about and have activities around:

1. Prevention - wearing seat belts, bike hemets, life jackets, cross streets at corners and wait until cars have stopped, looked both ways, etc.

2. 911 - when and how to use it (know your name, phone number and where you are, don't hang-up until help arrives, etc.)

3. Fire Safety - having and practicing an evacuation plan (i.e. we could run a fire drill - stay calm, get out, go to meeting place), stop drop and roll, campfire safety

4. How to help someone who's hurt - VERY basic first aid like call for help, make sure it's safe for you, cover them with a blanket or jacket and keep them still

We obviously don't want to scare anyone so need to keep it light, fun and memorable.

What to do if you get lost on a hike: hug a tree, blow a whistle three times at intervals.

Absolutely Chaos! Hug a Tree is an important part of oir program and will definitely be on tap tonight.

Scouts Canada has three jumpstart programs on the theme of emergency preparedness for Beavers. We did these over 3 weeks earlier this year and they worked well for the most part.

I was doing some planning last night too and I've got to say I am pretty impressed by the program tools Scouts Canada has.

I agree Denis. The jump start programs are fabulous. I'm going through them now actually. I wanted to do a month of Emerg Prep but our parents over-ruled me because half the kids are "too youngz" to worry about that, and the other half are swimming up to Cubs soon. (Half brown tails, half white tails, and one fourth year blue tail in the middle.) Emerg Prep is a big part of our Cubs program. and for some reason, they shy away from too much over-lap. IMO this is one topic that would be served well by that.

Really I found those jumpstarts are introducing concepts at a simple, age appropriate level. For example, the first aid skill was how to properly put on a band-aid (using a stuffed animal as the patient). Also they use things like relay races or crafts to teach what is in an emergency kit as opposed to actually lecturing about it or trying to create one.

I found that those jumpstarts are as fun and engaging for the kids as any other themed night. I think the difference between an emergency preparedness night and a night on outer space or pirates is the underlying message and teaching the activities are meant to convey; one is no less serious or deep than the other and, conversely, one is no less fun than the other when done right.

Regarding overlap, I agree with you that this is a good thing, not a negative. As with any subject, we start teaching the youngest very basic concepts and build on it as they get older. There is no subject I can think of that we only teach once to one age group and then never again; to do so would be a virtual guarantee that the subject isn't really learned at all.

Honestly, I'm just starting out, but I don't think we've ever run our program by the parents. That said, one approach might be to show that the programming calendar for Beavers provided by Scouts Canada includes 2 weeks of emergency preparedness themed nights.

As I understand it most of these programming tools are fairly new so not everyone knows everything that is available; but I think our group is going to start relying more heavily on these types of programming rather than trying to do everything ourselves.

As a side note, these emergency preparedness programs are different than a Hug-a-Tree program; we actually have someone coming in to present this to the kids next week.

Hope I am not too late. One of the things our Bears had to do was make a floor plan of their home and plan escape routes, meeting places, etc. Our Bears are typically 8 to 9 year olds so should work for your group (parents can help the younger scouts).

You might rig up a simple parcourse. Have one station where the kids get on and ride a bicycle down and around some cones. The trick on this station is to put on the helmets, use the horn and check for traffic. Substitute in whatever the lesson says.

Get a friend's car, ideally a beater, and the kids have to make sure the two kids in the back seat are buckled in and then get into the passenger-side seat and fasten their own seat belt.

Each station get graded and there is enough of a run between stations to keep the kids winded. Runners are timed and missed points count as time. There is also an age and 'fudge' factor applied for effort and things they knew but couldn't get to do right so a jammed seat belt isn't held against them. Younger kids get a little prompting but older kids are pretty much on their own.

This is one of the things the military does. The mix of physical exertion and memory, after both a class and hands-on training, tends to lock in the lesson.

Make it fun and encourage cheering.

Thanks gang! The night was a huge success.

We did fire safety as a group, including a fire drill. After that we played dodgeball to warm them up. (it was cold and wet ladt night.) Then we broke them up into three groups, and rotated them through a swimming safety, bike safety and basic first aid stations. Then we brought them back together to talk about calling 911. Every station had a little game and we ran them between stations.

The kids had a blast and everyone went home with some basic safety lessons:

-safety first! You can't help anyone if you get hurt too.
-use proper and properly fitting equipment. Your helmet/lifejacket/seatbelt can't help you if it's too big or too small.
-get help from a grown-up! whistle, yell, go get them or call 911.
-stay put until help arrives

Their favorite formal activities were practicing throwing a life preserver ring and pretending to be hurt.

Their favorite informal activity was trying to put as much gear on aas possible and then trying to play dodgeball (picture lifejacket, bike helmet, life preserver and wool blanket cape)

Thanks for the ideas! I;ll use More of them for next our EP night next month.

Sounds like a very productive session. You are going to develop some pretty capable folks....