Resources

Resources for You to Try

Some useful items that you may like to try out are given below :

Fylde District Beavers Campfire Song Book

A collection of 45 campfire songs and a story, with detailed actions, used at Fylde District's annual Beaver Party and Campfire from 1995 to the present day. These popular songs are used by all sections. Compiled by Kevin Jacomb, our Beaver Scout Leader.

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Fylde District Beavers Favourite Games

This booklet describes the favourite games of Beaver Colonies in the Fylde District. The 23 games are therefore well tried and tested and can be recommended to others.

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Origami Bangers

The instruction sheets describe how to make origami come alive with noisy paper bangers. A simple and effective single banger is illustrated, together with a double banger. The double banger is not much noisier and considerably more difficult to make but can, if it doesn't have two simultaneous bangs, allow a second bang to be made - a repeater (by accident!). The single banger is the best to teach. Use paper about A3 in size, the stiffer the better.

Single Banger Double Banger

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Paper Air Rockets

Instructions on how to make a simple and inexpensive (Ł2 - Ł3) rocket launcher and associated paper or card rockets are given below. The rocket is powered by stamping on an empty lemonade bottle and is very effective. A sheet with drawn out fins for cutting out and taping to the rocket is also given - cut along the solid lines, bend along the dotted lines. With some bottles, you can quickly destroy them and therefore may need a large supply. An improved version using velcro to hold the vertical tube steady is also shown - when children jump on the bottle it can twist and may hit someone by accident. Here you wrap velcro around the pipe, then fix a strip of the 'opposite' type of velcro to one side of the tube alongside the velcro on the pipe. Opposite that fix a small piece of velcro. To steady, unwrap the velcro, aim the tube, then pull the loose end of the velcro strip down across the tube and onto the small strip to secure it. Our thanks to Matthew Nightingale, CSL - 1st Ribchester (St. Wilfred's) Scout Group, for mentioning this rocket and for his excellent diagram.

Paper Rocket launcher Rocket Fins Template Basic Setup Basic Setup Improvement to Steady Tube

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Water Rockets

Simple and brilliant. Everyones' favourite item at events. Fire bottles safely into the sky and get your feet wet.

Water Rocket launchers Setup Best Pump to Use Adaptors Connection

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Dimensions (mm) & Instructions for Making

Pipe - 1000 long, 103 inside diameter, 110 outside diameter
Wooden spine - 1210 long x 95 wide x 44 thick (giving a 210 free section to push the bottle into the pipe)
Tape pipe to wooden spine using 54 wide Duck Tape at 3 locations shown
Legs - 1000 (15mm copper pipe or anything suitable). Flatten end of tube, drill hole and screw into wooden spine 260 from the top (highest point). Add rubber feet (e.g. walking stick rubbers) if wish.
Vertical hand pump or foot pump. If you use a foot pump you need a support board - Wood or MDF 608 (2ft) long x 200 wide x 14 thick or similar (any scrap board will do). Drill 4 holes near each end of the pump to thread a cord through. Tighten cord and knot. Securing the foot pump to a wooden board stops it being bent and kids falling off it
Adaptors - a cork through which a plastic lilo inflator (slim cone shape) has been inserted with its wide end attached to a foot pump.

Instructions for Use

Take a 2 litre lemonade bottle. Fill it 25% (only) with water. (Too full and it will balloon along the ground)
Into its open mouth jam the cork adaptor as tightly as possible
Push the bottle up the pipe that has been securely aimed somewhere safe
Pump away and it self launches at about 20-25psi - flies about 60-80ft high then tumbles slowly and safely down where we normally have Beavers and Cubs waiting to catch it. It takes an adult about 4 or 5 big pumps, Beavers about 10 short pumps to launch.

Points to note

It's safe as long as no one is allowed to peer down the drainpipe.
It's fast to relaunch - 2 to 3 goes a minute.
You don't need many bottles.
Some smaller bottles have the same size neck and fly well
Corks are not so easy to get . Build up a supply. Plastic corks tend to be too narrow. Rubber bungs of the right size are rare. Corks of cork are good though some may leak slightly - only about 10% seem to fit.
We used bicycle valves for a long time as adaptors - got through a lot. One day we ran out of them and a Scout used the LILO ADAPTOR in desperation. It is far better, the air goes straight through into the bottle and the adaptor lasts and lasts and lasts.
The adaptors are normally included with a new foot pump. Morrisons' pump is only Ł3-49.
A foot pump will probably need replacing about every 2 days of full use. The piston bends eventually with the wear and tear. This is brought on partly by the retaining cords gradually slackening. They need tightening up every so often.
Vertical hand pumps are much better - I bought some for Ł3.99 from Lidl in a special offer. They contain lilo adaptors as well as bicycle valves. They are so much easier for everyone to use than foot pumps and do not buckle - well worth buying.
The kids get their feet wet which everyone likes.
The ground will get soggy
Cost : pump with adaptor ~Ł3-50. + cork (free) + bottle (Free) . Just add drainpipe ~Ł5 or less ??, In fact, the wooden spine and legs are optional extras - say, around Ł10 - 15 total + paint. Best Ł10 - 15 we have ever spent. We have 2.

Water Pipes

Simple relay to fill a pipe which leaks. Participants get wet. This small pipe is one of 4 that are used for a water pipe relay. 4 teams each have one youngster holding a pipe. They each then run up with a container of water and tip it into the pipe. As the water leaks out of the pipe, the youngster holding it has to put fingers over the holes to stop the leak. Depending on how many holes you drill, a number of youngsters may be needed to control the leaks. Put a ping-pong ball in the pipe so that you can easily see where the water level is. First team to get their ball to the top wins.

Basic Pipe Rubber End

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Instructions for Making

Pipe - 50cm long, 11cm outside diameter
End - rubber stop end to fit. All bought from B+Q
Ping-pong ball - to show the water level
Drill about 4-6 large holes around the pipe at varying heights in the lower part of the pipe

You can drill as many holes as you like and place them all the way up to make it difficult.

We also have 2 large water pipes made from standard drain pipes with plastic stop ends. Large holes are drilled all the way up. Best used next to a river where water can easily be found to fill them with. Choose someone gullible to hold the pipe - they just have to hold the pipe for their team! Fill with buckets of water. Everyone gets soaked.

Footballers

We have a set of 4 wooden footballers which we use as football targets. They are hinged at the base and this is stabilised by two bars which swivel out. When hit by a football they fall over.

Wooden Footballers Rear View showing Hinges

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Dimensions (mm) & Instructions for Making

The dimensions below are for rather wide footballers. With the sheet of MDF bought, four could be made easily by having them wide. Narrower ones would have meant more sawing but could be made with just a single hinge. So adapt the sizes to suit.

Footballer - 608 (2ft) wide x 915 (3ft) high x 12 thick. Doesn't need a strengthening bar behind to stop the head being knocked off! Tried them but they were not needed. Paint and finish lines with a black permanent marker to make them stand out
Base block - 600 long x 48 wide x 73 thick
Hinges - (two) 100 x 40 with 4 screws in both sides. Centred 65 from the end of the base block.
Base board - 890 long x 145 wide x 16 thick
Stabilisers - (two) 600 long x 45 wide x 20 thick. Screwed at the centre 180 from each end of the base board. The stabilisers swivel for ease of storage

Indoor Campfires

Something that every Scout Group should have is an indoor campfire. When the weather is bad or when you don't have time or facilities to hold an outdoor campfire, an indoor one comes into its own. It is safe, provided that you exercise due control of the audience, and it doesn't take hours to cool down! A simple one is illustrated - successive layers of progressively shorter and thinner logs are built up and nailed or, better, screwed together. Have it as thick and as high as you like. Underneath is placed a simple bulb holder with a red bulb inserted, the bulbholder being screwed to a wooden base and also connected to a long lead and 5 amp fused plug. The wooden base is best made larger than that shown such that it covers the base of the fire and can be screwed to the bottom logs to keep it all neatly together and to stop the logs from moving. They work a treat and are indispensable for creating a good campfire atmosphere anywhere, anytime.

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