Grassroots Scouts in Squirrels

Grassroots Scouts in Squirrels connects Squirrel Dreys on the ground and the Early Years team.

You're all doing an amazing job of setting up and running successful Dreys in your county and district, and we think we could learn a lot. 

There's no substitute for hands on, face-to-face learning, so we'd like to visit your Drey and be as involved as you'd like us to be. We want to learn from your work and share it with the movement.

You can decide what you'd like from the visit. It's a chance to share what you've been achieving and isn't about us checking up on you.

A Grassroots visit is a great way to celebrate your Drey. It will also give them a chance to:

• Share success stories
• Experience new programme ideas
• Participate in a photoshoot
• Give feedback and share opinions
• Gain support and advice

We've produced a three level guide, to help you decide what might work for you and your Drey.

See, listen and share

We come along and see how you run your Drey (or your meetings) and listen to your tales. 

See, listen, share and do

We also run games, tell a story, or lead a small part of the meeting on a topic we’ve agreed.

See, listen, share and do it all

We take the lead on a pre-planned session with your Drey, or lead most of the meeting on a topic we've agreed.

One of the Early Years team will come along and run a pre-planned session based on the Squirrel badges and activities available on the activity finder.

We can run sessions on:

Community Impact 

At this young age, Squirrels can decide what's important to them and their community, plan and take part in social action projects and activities.

No action is too small if it gets young people thinking about their community and world around them.

This session encourages the Squirrels to work together to think about what makes a house a home and will include:

• A game: Hunt the Ring
• An activity: What makes a house a home?

Storytelling

Storytelling for Squirrels allows them to use their imagination and put what they read and think into their reality.

Storytelling is an essential part of the Squirrel section and part of what makes them a little unique, as each session is based around stories.

This session encourages the Squirrels to use their imagination and have fun creating and reliving stories and characters. It will include:

• An adventure: Story time adventures
• An activity: Story stones

Young person's voice

Each young person deserves to have their own voice and be heard.

Squirrels are encouraged to make their own choices and learn to lead through organic peer leadership.

This session encourages the Squirrels to share something special to them and show what they have learnt. It includes:

• A game: Sharing stories
• Activity one: Special to Me
• Activity two: Picture Postcards

Depending on what you want from the visit, we can share what we learn through:

• A case study or blog
• Photos used on the website and social media
• Feedback to the Early Years Team
• Influencing the programme