Mark VE Day with these activities
VE Day marks the day towards the end of the second world war when fighting against Nazi Germany came to an end in Europe – 8 May 1945. 2020 marks 75 years since VE Day; to remember, give thanks, and celebrate the return of peace to Europe, we’ve designed a fun badge and put together some activities to help you remember the occasion and the role that Scouts played.
You can order the badge for yourself and your family at Scout Store. It’s a fun badge, which means you don’t have to do anything to earn it (and it’s not one for your uniform). Half of the proceeds will directly benefit the Royal British Legion charity, and the other half will help UK Scouts, so you’ll be doing good with each purchase. There’s also a button badge set and window sticker, so there’s something for everyone. Why not show your support (and make a difference)?
We know that face-to-face Scouts is suspended, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get stuck in to the VE Day activities at home. Give them a go, and don’t forget to share what you get up to by emailing social.media@scouts.org.uk or by sharing your posts on Facebook and Twitter.
If you’re doing this activity on your own at home, you don’t need a group to name the badges (unless you want to get someone else involved). Most importantly, no peeking at the answers until you’ve settled on a final guess!
Why not see if someone you live with wants to chat about the skills the 1940s Scouts used? It doesn’t matter how old they are (or if they’re not part of Scouts). Otherwise, you could call a friend or find a pet or teddy bear who’ll listen to your ideas.
This activity would also work really well as part of an online meeting. The person leading the meeting could send the badge pictures to people before it starts, or they could share their screen during the meeting. It might be tricky to split into smaller groups, so everyone could chat together instead.
If you’re remembering VE Day on your own at home, there are plenty of ways to make ‘VE Prepared’ work for you. As the activity says, it’s up to you which of the suggestions you include – there’s no pressure to do all of them.
You can use whatever’s available to make your decorations – if you don’t have a pack of paper, why not save some paper or cardboard before it gets to the recycling bin? You could colour it in yourself if it’s not already red, white, or blue.
It might be tricky to cook a whole VE Day banquet, so maybe stick to one or two recipes. In the second world war, people had to be creative with their limited supplies – channel that creativity and use whatever’s in your cupboards to avoid an unnecessary trip to the shops!
Not many people have the opportunity to make a campfire at home. You could make a ‘Fire-free campfire’, or just read the information and think about what it might’ve been like. You could chat about the questions with someone you live with, call a friend, or just think by yourself.
If you’re part of a group that’s meeting online, there are plenty of ways to adapt this activity. Think about what people could do before the meeting, and what you’ll do together. People could decorate the space behind them ready to make a recipe together, or they could bring a snack to ‘show and tell’ before making decorations during the meeting. It’d be nice to share some music together before you reflect (even if the audio ends up out of sync).