Get Active! October/November 2014

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE…
YOUR COMMUNITY
GRAFFITI | UPCYCLE | EXPLORE
Welcome
G
et Active! takes great pride in being able
to offer you fun and practical ideas to
help you bring Scouting at its finest to your
Group and this fun-size issue is no different.
To tie in with Scouting magazine’s community
theme, we’re bringing you some great activity
ideas we know you’ll be dying to try in your own
neck of the woods. We show you how to make your
mark with reverse graffiti – this eco activity adds a
fantastic final flourish to any community clean-up
project and will have your Scouts brandishing their
cleaning kit with renewed enthusiasm.
On page 6 we introduce you to upcycling with
Neil Wragg’s great canvas kit bags. Your Group
will be amazed at the discarded items they can
repurpose – bags really are just the beginning!
And lastly, we finish with five fun ways to
explore your local area. Whether they’re enabling
you to rediscover old haunts or taking you down
undiscovered paths, these activities will help you get
to know your neighbourhood in entirely new ways.
Scouti ng’s
fleu r-de-lis
gets a reverse
gra ffiti ma keover
Contents
Create…
4
Reverse graffiti
We show you how to get to grips with this easy-toachieve street-art style, which can act as the perfect
sign-off to your community rejuvenation project
Learn…
6
To sew simple kit bags
Upcycle unwanted canvas into handy bags with this
easy-to-follow how-to guide
Explore…
8
Alex Drew, Editor
[email protected]
The national magazine of The Scout Association,
Gilwell Park, Chingford, London E4 7QW
Tel: 0845 300 1818
Get in touch at [email protected].
Read Get Active!, Instant Scouting and Scouting online at
scouts.org.uk/magazine
Please note that the views expressed by members and contributors in the
magazine are not necessarily those of The Scout Association.
Get Active! Editors Alex Drew,
Lee Griffiths, Vicky Milnes and
Kevin Yeates
Art Editor James Daniel
Content Advisers Laura Butler,
Rachel Jones and Michael Regan
With thanks to... Ashley May,
West Monkton Scouts, Neil Wragg
Cover Brook McAllister/James Daniel
Project managers Duncan Reid,
Celia Beale
Director of Immediate Media
Branded Content Julie Williams
Group Publishing Director Alfie
Lewis
ISSN 0036 – 9489
© 2014 The Scout Association
Registered Charity Numbers:
306101 (England and Wales)
and SC038437 (Scotland)
Get Active! is produced by
Immediate Media Branded
Content, 6th Floor, Tower House,
© Immediate Media Branded Content.
Printed in the UK by William Gibbons.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised
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In the event of any material being
used inadvertently, or where it proved
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owner, acknowledgement will be
made in a future issue.
This magazine can be recycled, for use in
newspapers and packaging. Please remove
any gifts, samples or wrapping and dispose
of it at your local collection point.
We are proud to say Get Active! is PEFC
certified. For more information go to
pefc.co.uk. Promoting sustainable
forest management.
Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN
ADVERTISING
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Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0117 314 7356
116,700 average
circulation of Scouting
(1 Jan–31 Dec 2013)
Your community
Try any of our five fun
activities, designed to help
you learn more about your
neighbourhood
Point Blippar here to watch
our wonderful windy-pop
pie recipe come to life!
INSTANT
SCOUTING
For the first time ever, we have
incorporated Instant Scouting
with Get Active!, so flip the issue
over to see this issue’s amazing
content from our partners.
PEFC/16-33-795
The Scout Association
GET ACTIVE! 3
…
e
t
a
Cre
Point Blippar here to see our
reverse graffiti step-by-step!
Reverse graffiti
Whether part of a clean-up campaign or
just a fun project, now Scouts can really
leave their mark on their community
Suitable for Beavers+
Also known as green graffiti, clean advertising or grime writing, reverse
graffiti is the method of removing dirt to leave a semi-permanent image
behind. First discovered by Moose (English artist Paul Curtis) it has since
been used by many street artists, including perhaps most famously
Banksy and Alexandre Orion, the latter of whom was responsible for the
first large-scale piece of reverse graffiti in 2006. He spent a full 13 nights
creating 3,500 skulls in one of São Paolo’s grubbiest road tunnels.
Since then, reverse graffiti has been used in guerilla marketing
campaigns everywhere. The practice itself highlights how grimy the world
around us is and can be used by Scouts as part of a wider rejuvenation
project. From a legal standpoint, reverse graffiti falls into something of
a grey area, as cleaning public property doesn't break any laws (whereas
applying paint etc does), but you should seek permission from the property
owner/council before you embark on a reverse graffiti project.
4 GET ACTIVE!
What can
Scouts earn?
Beavers can earn the Creative
Activities Badge, while Cubs
and Scouts can use it to earn
their Artist Activity Badges.
Additionally, Explorers
can earn the Creative Arts
Activity Badge and Network
their DofE Skill badge.
October/November 2014
What to do
You will need
• Large sheets of paper
• Adhesive stencil material eg lino,
thick wallpaper or foam sheets
• Scissors or a Stanley knife (use
only with adult supervision)
1 Create a stencil
Ask Scouts to sketch out their
image on paper, then cut it out and
stick it to the stencil material eg
lino. Carefully cut around the shape
using scissors, or a Stanley knife for
those tricky-to-reach parts.
• Electrical tape
• Dirty exterior surface
• Pressure washer and power
source
• Water source (hose pipe)
Why not try?
If you don̕t have access to
a pressure washer, you can try
a more low-tech approach by
instead using a toothbrush
dipped into cleaning fluid to
achieve much the same results.
Just keep scrubbing away at the
dirty surface until it comes up
clean. You can also buy Grime
Writer pens (pictured below)
relatively cheaply online,
which will work similarly.
2 Choose your location
Let your Group choose their
canvas, and remember the dirtier
it is, the better! Make sure there
is easy access to water and power
– you may need to use extension
cables and additional water hoses.
TRIED AND TESTED
‘It looks cool! I’d
like to use reverse
graffiti in my room.
I’d do stencils of
Stampylongnose
and Iballisticsquid.’
Daniel, 9, Cub
Chief Scout
Bear Grylls is
immortalised in dirt!
3 Stick ’em up!
Make sure their stencil is
securely held in place, either by
electrical tape if it’s up on a wall, or
by protected/waterproofed feet if
it’s on the floor. This is also a good
time for them to practise wielding
the pressure washer – but not by
pointing it at fellow Scouts!
The Scout Association
4 Hose ’em down!
Get Scouts to point the
pressure washer directly at the
exposed surface areas, avoiding
any sudden up or downward
motions that may displace the
stencil. Once you’ve cleaned the
necessary areas, peel off your
stencil and marvel at your graffiti.
GET ACTIVE! 5
…
arlow Bridge,
M
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Neil Wragg, Sco
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1 Draw out the template for two bags. The
rectangle on the left will use the tent seam
(at the bottom of the picture) as part of the top
seam of the bag. The rectangle on the right will
form a drawstring bag as it already has a number
of eyelets that can be used to close the top of
the bag.
2 Cut out a piece of canvas to 46cm x 100cm.
To create a top edge to the bag where
you don’t have a ready-made seam, fold over
a small hem then fold over a larger hem and, if
you can, press with an iron to make it flat. Ask
an adult to help you. With the right sides of the
canvas together, sew down each side. Encourage
your Scouts to try out a sewing machine – the
stitching will take seconds! Otherwise a blanket
stitch will keep them occupied for longer (if
you’re unsure how to do a blanket stitch, take a
look at the box above and to the right).
3 To keep the edges from fraying you can
either use a zigzag stitch on the sewing
machine, cut the fabric with pinking shears or
fold the seam allowance over to cover the raw
edge and blanket stitch.
4 With the bag turned inside out, lay it as
flat as possible with the side seams facing
upwards in the middle. A triangle will form at the
bottom edge of the bag.
6 GET ACTIVE!
October/November 2014
How to… blanket stitch
1 Anchor your stitch by
pulling the needle through
the fabric at the place you
want to begin, then put the
needle up at the very edge
of the fabric and pull it through
to the back until the thread
is taut.
5 2
Pierce your needle
through the fabric around
1cm along from your original
entry point. Pull through.
Before the thread
becomes taut, feed the
needle back through the loop
of cotton. Pull tight and repeat.
3 Measure 5cm from the tip and draw a line at a 90° angle across
the seam. Sew along this line and then cut off the excess. This
will create a square base, helping the bag to stand.
6 If your section of tent
fabric includes the
original eyelets, you can
thread through a length
of old guy line to create
a drawstring closure.
7 For bags without existing
eyelets you can create
handles using an eyelet kit (one
that you would use to mend
tarps and shelters) and more
unused guy line.
8 Tadaa! Your bag is
complete. Once your
Scouts have the sewing bug
they will be able to whip up
bags from almost anything.
Check out morsbags.com
to download a free pattern
showing you how to make
a reusable bag from an old
sun lounger.
The Scout Association
What is
upcycling?
This is when you transform
old stuff into something
new. It saves money and
prevents things going
to landfill. If you’re new
to upcycling, head to
upcyclethat.com for ideas.
Ask family and friends
for unwanted clothes and
furnishings. Local charity
shops, jumble sales and
car-boot sales can also be
treasure troves. Some local
councils run projects and
workshops on upcycling,
so contact them to find out
more. The charity Traid
specialises in upcycling
clothing – find out more
at traid.org.uk.
TRIED AND TESTED
‘We had two old
mess tents that were
no longer waterproof
with broken zips and
torn windows, so
instead of throwing
them away we
recycled them into
bags for keeping
kit dry or carrying
muddy boots.’
Neil Wragg, 3rd Marlow Bridge
GET ACTIVE! 7
…
YOUR
COMMUNITY
Think you know your neck of the woods? Try our five fun ways
to discover even more about your local area
Pictures: Alamy, Thinkstock. Richmond, Yorkshire (pictured), has been used for illustration purposes only
1 THE CONFLUENCE 2 THE COIN TOSS
What’s the easiest way to explore
PROJECT
Did you know you’re never more
than 49 miles away from a
confluence line? This worldwide
project aims to visit each of
the latitude and longitude
intersections in the world, and to
take pictures at every one. The
lines occur in the most unlikely of
places and using your map-reading
skills and/or digital apps you can
locate the closest one to you and
contribute to this amazing project.
Find out more at confluence.org.
your community? Simply flip a
coin! Heads, you go right; tails, left.
This fun trip adds an unexpected
nature to your exploring and, with
correct supervision, safety and
provisions, can become a random
but affordable way to explore parts
of your community your Group has
never before seen.
3 VIRTUAL
EXPLORATION
Here, Scouts use Google Earth or
Google Street View to navigate
through their neighbourhood. It’s
also a great way to explore other
communities, for instance why not
encourage your Scouts to explore
Japan to tie in with the forthcoming
World Scout Jamboree? They can
use Google Earth to wander the
streets of Japan,
fulfilling a set of
tasks, eg ‘climb
Mount Fuji’!
More info
Check scouts.org.uk/a-z for activity guidance and make sure you have a risk assessment and an InTouch system in place.
Visit scouts.org.uk/intouch for more info. If you get any snaps of your young people out and about, please send them
through to [email protected].
8 GET ACTIVE!
October/November 2014
4 QR-CODE
TREASURE HUNTS
The familiar fun of a treasure
hunt gets a gadgety makeover in
this fun activity. A great way to
refamiliarise your Scouts with the
local community, you simply need
a phone or device with a QR code
generator/reader. There are heaps
of free apps available online.
Once you have this, you can
turn your treasure hunt clues
into QR codes, print them out
and distribute them along your
route. Your clues don’t need to
be instruction-based – they can
lead to websites or videos, contain
mobile numbers or picture clues.
Then divide your Group into
teams, making sure each team
has a QR code reader and a map,
and away you go! Scouts will
love scanning the QR codes to
access the clues concealed within
and with a little creativity many
badges can be completed along
the way. Check out your options at
members.scouts.org.uk/badges.
s
The Scout Association
5 GEOCACHING
With over two million
active geocaches
worldwide, this is a
great way to explore the
world around you, both
at home and away. The aim is to
navigate your way to a series of
geocaches (hidden containers)
using GPS coordinates. Often these
caches contain little treasures, to
which you can help yourself, and
a logbook. All you need is a GPSenabled device or phone and a free
membership to geocaching.com.
Once you’re registered, you can
search for nearby caches, enter the
coordinates into your GPS device,
and off you go.
There are a few rules: if you
take something, you need to
exchange it with an item of equal
value, and note down your find
in the logbook. Afterwards, you
should then log your experience on
geocaching.com. It’s that simple!
Now you can plot your adventure
and let your Scouts lead the way.
What Scouts
can earn
These activities can cover
a range of badge material
including the Explorer
Activity Badge (Beavers),
Map Reader Activity
Badge (Cubs) and the new
Geocaching Activity Badge
(Scouts). Explorers can also
plan for their Community
Activity Badge. For all
badges go to members.
scouts.org.uk/badges.
GET ACTIVE! 9