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Make care packages for the community

Work as a group to make care packages for people who need them.

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You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • A4 paper
  • Sticky tape
  • Sticky labels
  • Scissors
  • Tables
  • Chairs
  • Donations: small soft toys, toothpaste, clothing, practical items, and more
  • Cardboard boxes (such as shoe boxes)
  • Packaging materials
  • Items to decorate the boxes such as wrapping paper, coloured pens, or ribbon
  • Big shiny blanket or material

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.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

Planning and setting up this activity

  • Ask people to bring in any items they’d like to donate to the care packages. Remind everyone, including parents and carers, that this is a selection of items that can be donated. Items will be given within the community, so anything donated won’t necessarily be returned.
  • Remember, not everyone will be able to bring donations from home. This may be due to lots of reasons, such as living situations or cost. If you’re wanting to collect donations, think about the best way to do this for everyone in your group. You should consider volunteers collecting or buying some items before the session. Everyone can then select and choose from these items, meaning everybody can feel included. They could be sourced from a charity shop, supermarket or online.
  • You could plan a session where you visit a supermarket as a group to buy the items you need. You could use funds from local Scout sections or groups, money from grants and gift aid, or ask for donations from supermarkets.

Running this activity

  1. Gather everyone together and explain what a care package is. A care package is a box or bag filled with thoughtful items, like snacks, toiletries, small gifts, or personal notes, that is sent to someone to show love, support, or care. People often send care packages to friends, family, or those in need, especially during tough times or when they’re far away, to brighten their day and let them know they’re being thought of.
  2. Explain that each group will work together to create a care package for someone.
  3. You may have a group of people in mind, such as a local care home or a nursery. If so, you could assign each group a person or an age range.
    • If you are donating to a known group, such as a care home, you could try find out a bit about each person, what they like or dislike, and any allergies or dietary requirements. 
    • If it’s for a group of people and you’re unsure of their likes or dislikes, you could add who it’s aimed for on the box, such as ‘Child age 5-7’.
  4. Let everyone get into groups. They’ll need to decorate their box and fill it with items.
  5. Once everyone has finished their boxes, each group should create a label that explains who their group’s box is for. 
  6. Get back together in a circle and ask people to think about what makes their box right for the person they’ve chosen. Did they choose to decorate it in a certain way or include specific items?
  7. If there are any spare boxes or items, everyone could make another care package. People might need to work in bigger groups if there aren’t enough resources for every group to make a second box.

Reflection

This activity encouraged everyone to take an active role in their community, think about others and help make a positive difference. During the session, everyone had the opportunity to learn about how different people need help and how a care package might help them feel good.

Sharing is Caring

  • How did Kiki help Jemima?
  • Why is it important to help other people?

Care packages

  • How was making a care package a kind thing to do? How did it make people feel?
  • How else could people help others at home, at school or nursery or at Scouts?

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.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Glue and solvents

Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.

You could wrap or decorate the boxes before the activity if you think people will find it too tricky.

If anyone struggles with cutting or sticking, they could work closely with someone else to help or learn from.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Squirrels All About Me Challenge Award

Encourage everyone to take a care package with them and deliver it to someone who needs one. People could do this with their parents or carer (if there are enough care packages for everyone to deliver one), or you could deliver them as part of a whole group visit.

A care package doesn’t have to be for someone you don’t know or someone experiencing something like homelessness. People can also make care packages for people they know. People could think about making another care package at home for someone who’s special to them. It could be a present for someone in their family or a thank you gift to their teacher, for example.

Give someone the opportunity to be a helper of the week in this activity. They could help anyone with tasks such as cutting, decorating, or writing the label.