Make some brilliant bunting
You’ll need
- Tables
- Chairs
- Plain fabric or old clothing
- Scissors suitable for cutting fabric
- Long pieces of rope or string
- Fabric pens (optional)
- Fabric glue (optional)
- Sewing needles and thread (optional)
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to 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 if you’re short on helpers.
Preparing this activity
- A few weeks before running this activity, gather together some plain fabrics, such as fat squares or old clothing, that can be cut up and used. You could also ask everyone to bring in an item they are happy to cut up and make into bunting, such as old clothes, bedsheets or towels.
- Set up enough tables and chairs for everyone to sit at. Place the fabric and other equipment on the tables.
- If needed, pre-cut the fabric into triangles before the activity. You could use a cardboard template to cut around if you want the bunting to all be the same size.
- You could run this activity over several weeks to give people plenty of time to make and decorate their triangles.
Running this activity
- Gather everyone together and explain you’re going to be making some bunting.
- Ask everyone to think about what designs or pattern they want to do. Remind everyone they might not have lots of time, so it’s best to make a small design with a few triangles, such as up to 5.
- Give everyone some pencils and paper to sketch out any designs or ideas.
- When they're ready, everyone should take a piece of fabric and cut it into a large triangle shape. Repeat this for each triangle, until you have the number you need. Consider using cardboard templates or providing measurements for everyone to follow to make the bunting the same size.
- Now, once people have the right number of triangles cut out, they can decorate their triangle. Lay it out with the widest part of the triangle at the top. You could draw designs on with fabric pens, cut up and glue on spare fabric, sew on additional décor, or leave the triangle plain.
- Everyone should leave a two-centimetre gap at the top of each triangle undecorated, so it can hang up.
- When people finish their triangles, they should attach them to a long piece of rope, ribbon or string, leaving a gap between each triangle.
- The best way to attach each triangle is to place the ribbon or rope across the widest point of the triangle and fold the top part of the fabric over the rope. Glue or sew the folded over fabric to the main body of the triangle to enclose and secure the rope.
- When everyone's finished, you could hang up the bunting and decorate your meeting place or take it home.
Reflection
This activity was about trying new things and developing skills. Everyone did a great job of being creative!
What celebrations can you remember where there was bunting? How do you think the bunting helped people during those celebrations? Think about how everyone worked together to create the bunting and put it up, and think about what it represents.
How did you decorate your bunting – did you do the same picture on each triangle you decorated, or did you do something different? How did it make you feel when it was all finished and hanging up?
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.
To make it easier, have the triangles pre-cut before the activity.
To make it harder, everyone could create their designs out of spare bits of fabric and sew them onto the triangles.
If someone struggles with cutting or sticking, give them the opportunity to work in pairs or with a young leader, so everyone can help each other.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.