Dream building

You’ll need

Access to a computer
A ball
Art equipment (optional)

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.

Dream big

Part of doing something new together is learning what’s possible – if you dream big, you might end up going big. You could try a version of the activities below where you do a fantasy build, consider methods of modern construction, as well as a more 'traditional' Scout meeting place design. See where your imagination could take you.

By the end you’ll need to have decided on the following things (and anything else you want to add):

Whether you want to consider a modular build, standard construction, renovation or extension?
Weigh up the pros and cons of standard construction vs. methods of modern construction.
What are the three most important things to be considered?
What do you want included in the space?
What do you not want included in the space?
What would you like the outside of the site to be like?
What could you include to make the building environmentally sustainable?
How big should it be?
What works in your current building, and what doesn't?
How might you welcome new members of your local community into the space?

Quarter ball

You’ll need a ball, a whistle and a way to make lines on the floor, such as cones, masking tape or chalk.

The aim of this game is to share the worst possible idea. You can have some fun with some terrible building suggestions!

It'll help get everyone thinking creatively about what they might want (or not want!) included in the plans.

Split the space into four sections and split the group into four teams. Each team should stand in a different section.
Throw a ball into the middle of the space. Each team should try to keep the ball out of their quarter.
The person running the activity should keep their back turned from the game.
They should blow a whistle at random. When the whistle blows, everyone should freeze.
The team that has the ball in their quarter should answer one of the questions above with their worst idea.
The winning team is the one who has to answer the least!

If you’re meeting online, you can use everyone’s cameras. Everyone should turn their cameras off and the person leading the activity could count down. Then everyone should turn their cameras back on again, and whoever shows up last should give their worst idea.

Yes and...

You’ll need a ball.

The aim of this activity is to come up with lots of good ideas by building on what other people have said. It’s a good memory test, too!

Make sure everyone makes a suggestion for every category. You can change the list if you want to.

Everyone should stand in a circle and one person should hold the ball.
The person with the ball should say what the group will try to decide first. For example, they might say 'What do we want included in the building?' Then they should start a sentence with an idea. For example, ‘We want a new boot room’ and say someone else’s name. They then throw the ball to them.
The second person should catch the ball, repeat the sentence and add an idea of their own to the end. It should try to go with the first person’s idea! Then they should say someone else’s name and throw the ball to them.

For example, they could say ‘we want a new boot room, and some solar panels’.

Everyone should continue catching the ball, repeating the sentence, adding an idea and passing the ball on until everyone’s added to the list.
Everyone should play again until they’ve come up with ideas for all of the things they need to decide on.

If you’re meeting online, you can say each other’s names instead of throwing the ball. Make sure someone records all the ideas, so you have a written record of everything that emerged from the session. This will help with future activities and with submitting your application to the fund.

What’s the big idea?

Now everyone’s heard plenty of ideas, it’s time to work together to make some decisions. Everyone should think about how they’ll others about what they’ve decided. You could split into teams to share your best camp ideas in a creative way. For example, you could:

A 90-second advert to encourage people to come
A poster with all the fun details the group has decided
A mime
A song
A presentation

Reflection

Everyone has different ideas and dreams for their camp. It’s important that everyone is heard, even if some people disagree.

What did people learn about each other through their ideas? How did they decide on something that everyone can get something out of? Where else could this happen in life?

All of the above ideas are ways that you can record the ideas that have come up. It's really important that you make a note of all the ideas, so that you can use them later for your application.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Active games: The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.