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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Taskmaster

Think on your feet and try to impress the master of tasks with these fun challenges.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Device with access to the internet
  • Timer or stopwatch
  • Specific equipment for tasks

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 out if you’re short on helpers.

Setting up the tasks

  • Prepare your tasks in advance and let people know if they’ll need any specific equipment for your session.

Introducing Taskmaster 

  1. Gather everyone in a circle.
  2. Welcome everyone to the game and introduce the Taskmaster. This could be an adult volunteer, young leader, or a parent or carer helper.
  3. Another adult could be the Taskmaster's assistant and keep track of scores. You could also use a whiteboard or piece of paper to note down the points. 
  4. You could set up a digital device and play this introduction video from Alex Horne, the Taskmaster's assistant.
  5. Tell everyone that they'll be taking part in a variety of tasks. They'll need to think creatively to impress the Taskmaster and earn points. They can think outside the box and should try to use their imagination.
  6. Share the ground rules. Make sure everyone knows they need to keep themselves and each other safe.
  7. Decide whether you'll play individually, in pairs or in small groups. You could change this for each task.

Playing Taskmaster 

  1. It’s time to start tasking! The Taskmaster should read out the first challenge.
  2. Everyone should complete the task. The Taskmaster should keep track of time with a digital timer or they could use a stopwatch. You might find one on a phone!
  3. Depending on the challenge, everyone could take it in turns to share their results or entries when the time is up.
  4. The Taskmaster should award points. It’s up to them how you do this – they could give points to the best entry or give points to their top three entries. You could also give points from 1 up to how many groups or people you have so that everyone gets a point. For example, with 10 players, the lowest scorer would get 1 point and the challenge winner would get 10 points.
  5. Remember to give out bonus points for imaginative or creative entries or for good teamwork!
  6. Everyone should keep playing with new tasks until the meeting ends.
  7. The Taskmaster should congratulate everyone for taking part, with a big round of applause for the winner!
  1. Be ready, respectful and safe at all times.
  2. The Taskmaster’s decision is final.
  3. Keep yourself and everyone in your group safe.
  4. If you move something, put it back.
  5. If you make a mess, clean it up.
  6. Be kind to the Taskmaster, your teammates, or members of other teams.
  7. Have fun.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to thinking of your tasks. Check out the Taskmaster YouTube channel for some more inspiration.

Some of our favourites task ideas include:

  • Make someone's knee look like a famous person.
  • Camouflage yourself in the meeting place. Best camouflage wins.
  • Throw a teabag into a mug from the furthest distance.
  • How many socks can you fit on one hand in 90 seconds?
  • Build the highest tower you can in 3 minutes.
  • Find the best hat. But it can’t be an actual hat!
  • Eat a piece of fruit without using your hands.
  • Make something spin for 55 seconds – it can’t stop during that time!
  • Make the best paper aeroplane. You can use any materials you like. Furthest flight wins.
  • The silliest walk up and down the meeting place wins. You have 5 minutes to think of your silly walk. 
  • Make a fleur-de-lis out of natural objects.
  • Using only a straw, move as many Smarties (or similar) as you can from a plate to a cup.
  • Recreate your leader’s face out of items in a kitchen.
  • Get an egg as high as possible without breaking it.
  • Collect as many objects of a certain colour as you can in 5 minutes.
  • Tear an animal shape out of a piece of paper while blindfolded.
  • Put on a blindfold and stand up after exactly 200 seconds.
  • Catch the most socks in a bowl.
  • Balance on 1 leg for the longest time.
  • Take 2 bowls – one with dry cereal in and one empty. Who can move the cereal from one bowl to the other the quickest by holding the spoon in their mouths?
  • Make the best edible rainbow.
  • Balance a spoon on your nose for 30 seconds.
  • Balance a square thing on a round thing.
  • Make the unlikeliest object wear a Scout necker.
  • Put on an item of clothing in the most unusual way.
  • Find an inanimate object that looks like you.
  • Find the biggest leaf. Biggest leaf wins.
  • Make a dramatic entrance – the most dramatic wins.
  • Who can say the alphabet backwards the fastest?
  • The Taskmaster has written a number on their arm, which is under 100. Closest person to guess the number wins.
  • Who can do the most keepy uppies in a row?
  • Place a biscuit on your forehead. Quickest to eat it wins...but you can’t use your hands!
  • Draw a picture of your face using only your feet! Best picture wins.
  • Create your own task (then use them next time or with another section).
  • Cover your body with as many sticky notes as possible whilst blindfolded.
  • Eat as many donuts as possible whilst hanging on a string. You can only use your mouth. 
  • Make a fort that can fit at least 5 people in it.
  • Make a new handshake. Best handshake wins.
  • Make a shopping bag as heavy as possible in ten minutes. It must then hang, unassisted, for 1 minute.
  • In teams, draw a picture on the back of another contestant – who then must recreate their work of art on a piece of paper without communicating.
  • Create the best moustache. Most impressive moustache wins.
  • One at a time, make a noise without the Taskmaster identifying you. The person who makes the most unidentified noises wins.
  • Walk over and hit the drum at exactly 10 seconds. There are 2 bonus points for the person with the most magnificent walk.

Reflection

This activity was all about giving everyone the chance to think on their feet and solve problems in a creative way.

Ask everyone how they found the activity. Does anyone want to share which tasks they found the easiest or most difficult, and why?

Did they find it easy to think of fun ways to complete all the tasks? Not all problems are easy to solve, but thinking outside the box and being creative are great skills to learn and can help in a lot of different situations.

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.

Sharp objects

Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

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.

Contact games and activities

Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.

Rubbish and recycling

All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.

  • To make this activity easier, you could simplify the task.
  • To make this activity harder, you could choose some more challenging or time-consuming tasks. You could also change the equipment used in each task too.
  • Think about how you’ll involve everyone in the group. Some people might not want to take part in the tasks. Could they help think set up challenges or keep score?
  • You could change the challenges, equipment and movements to suit your group, such as using larger objects, leaving a bigger gap between cones, or using a large print font for printed materials.
  • People can move at their own pace, so you don’t need to make it time-based competitive unless it works for everyone.
  • Let people work in pairs or groups to make sure everyone’s supported in taking part. If needed, let people be in bigger groups or have a young leader join a group to help people.
  • Check for allergies, eating problems or dietary requirements and adjust the challenge as needed. This may include making sure there’s no cross-contamination of packaging, during food preparation, storage and serving too. 
  • If it’s too noisy and anyone doesn’t like the noise, remind everyone to be quieter. You could have a noise level warning system, the person could wear ear defenders, or you could run the activity outside or over a larger space to reduce the noise. Shutting doors and windows can help to reduce external sounds too.
  • Avoid shouting or using whistles, as some people could find this distressing. Instead, try putting your hand up to get everyone’s attention.
  • If someone isn’t comfortable holding hands with others, ask people to hold a piece of material, such as a necker or piece of rope, between themselves and others to connect them together.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Teamwork Challenge Award

Why not run a series of challenges over a term to help everyone work towards a specific Activity Badge or Challenge Award?

Challenge the group to come up with some of their own tasks. You could ask a Young Leader or Patrol Leader to run the session.