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Game makers

Consider how we care for our kit and how we could reuse sports equipment for games of our own.

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You’ll need

  • Chairs
  • Tables
  • Assorted sports equipment

Before you begin

  • Get your hands on around four-five different pieces of sports equipment. These should be as different as possible and can range from footballs to tennis rackets to rugby shirts.
  • Split your group into as many teams as you have pieces of equipment and set up that many bases around your space.
  • For each piece of equipment, pull together a few care tips for it, write them on a piece of paper and place it face down at each base.

Kit care

  1. The teams should each start at one base and spend around ten minutes discussing how to care for that piece of equipment and what to look for when it’s nearing the end of its life.
  1. After roughly ten minutes at the first base, ask the group to open the pre-written care tips for their equipment and compare their answers. Were they on the ball, or did they miss the goal with their ideas?
  2. Team should rotate round and continue this until each team has completed each base.

Create your game

  1. Following the bases the teams should come together and be challenged to create a short game involving as much of the different sports equipment as they can.
  1. Once the game has been created the group should split into as many teams as they need and try their new game!

Reflection

Checking your equipment every time you use it can be tiresome, but why is it important? Keeping your kit in tip-top shape might help you perform at your best, or it might be crucial to keeping you safe. Checking your equipment regularly could also save you money. If you look after your kit it will last longer and continue to allow you to play your sport for a long time. Having to replace your equipment less often is also great for the environment! If you buy a new pair of boots every season, the old ones could get thrown away into landfill and the new ones will be made from resources which we are quickly running out of. If you can do a few quick checks of your equipment every time you use it you may perform better, your bank account will thank you and so will the environment.

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.

Depending on how your group find discussing caring for equipment you could research some points beforehand or conversely encourage your groups to come up with the information. A Section Team Leader could also guide the creation of the final activity to ensure it is of an appropriate difficulty.

When creating the final activity, any accessibility needs should be taken into account to make sure the game is suitable for everyone.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Physical Recreation Activity Badge

Support your young people to take up other regular sports by signposting them to clubs and opportunities in your area - make sure to do this in discussion with their parents. Any Scouts who follow sport but don't take part regularly could also look into the Sports Enthusiast badge.

Suggest group members bring in their own equipment to be used on the bases. This will allow the activity to be tailored to sports that the group members actually play as well as allow them to bring their knowledge about their equipment to the session - just make sure it gets looked after.