Welcome to 1st Westerleigh’s

50 Things to Do For Free

This activity badge has been designed to contain a

variety of challenges suitable for all sections. All the

activities are free or use recycled materials and things

you will already have around your meeting place.

At 1st Westerleigh Guides we love to go to camp and so

this badge has been produced to help us raise money

towards going away.

It contains 5 sections:

The Great Outdoors

Come Rain or Shine

Finding Your Way

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Explore and Discover

We recommend that Rainbows complete 5

challenges, Brownies 8, Guides 10 and Senior Section

12 in order to gain their badge. Make sure that you

complete at least one challenge from each section.

The Great Outdoors

Climb a Tree

What you need:

A tree with big strong branches you can reach from the ground.

Sensible trainers or boots.

Keep three of your arms and legs on the tree at all times. For little ones how about climbing a spiders web frame.

Avoid climbing in wet or icy weather.

Do not cause any damage to the tree.

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Food for Free

Go out and about and see what food what you can find to eat in the wild. What about finding some Blackberries or Raspberries to eat. Note: Always ensure you wash everything before you eat it and only eat things you can positively identify as safe.

Skimming Stones

You will need:

Flat water like the sea on a calm day/lake/river or pond.

Somewhere safe to stand.

Some flat stones – the smoother, rounder and flatter the better; throw it hard and low so it spins quickly across the top of the water.

Make sure there is nothing in the water you may hit like ducks or swimmers. Check out www.stoneskimming.com for the official rules of the World Stone

Skimming Championship.

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4 Create an Obstacle Course Use fallen leaves, cut grass, branches or twigs and create an obstacle course outside. Challenge other members of your group to complete the course.

5 Bark Rubbing

Use some string to tie a piece of paper around a tree trunk (this will not cause any damage to the bark). Once the paper is held securely, use either a crayon or pencil to rub over all of the paper until the pattern of the bark can be seen. Why don’t you try this on different types of trees and see what patterns you get?

6 Build a Den Try building a den inside or out. For inside, collect sheets and blankets and use chairs or a table for the structure. Outside, collect branches, twigs, grass, leaves and get creative, see how many you can fit in your den when you’re finished.

7 Make a Grass Trumpet

Pluck the widest piece of grass you can find.

Hold the grass between the sides of your thumbs, so that it is pulled taut.

Blow between your thumbs so the grass vibrates and makes the sound of a trumpet.

Can you play a tune?

8 Hunt for Animals All animals have different footprints. See if you can find any when out and about. Try tracking the animal they belong to or find out what types of animals created them. Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/field_guides/animal_tracks.shtml for more information.

9 Discover What’s

In a Pond

Go out to your nearest pond or rock pool. Can you find any life? How about fish or tadpoles? You can even try using a container to scoop up some

water and taking a closer look.

10 Go for a Nature Walk Day or night nature walks can be really fun. Maybe try both and see what different animals you can find as some will only come out at

certain times of day.

Come Rain or Shine

See the Sun Find a nice spot and watch the sun rise or set. How many different colours

can you see in the sky?

11 Look to the Sky Look at the sky and go cloud watching or star gazing. Ask younger girls to see what pictures they can find in the sky. See if you can get older girls to

find the North Star or pick out some constellations.

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13 Run Around in the Rain/Snow

Put your wellies on and have some fun outside. Make sure if you are going to be jumping in puddles or throwing snow balls and getting wet that you

have some dry clothes to change into afterwards.

Fly a Kite

The weather isn’t always suitable for flying kites but it is fun to try. You could even try making your own with some old dowel, a paper bag, some masking tape, glue, newspaper and cotton string. Check out the internet for hundreds of kite making examples. Need some warnings about where to

fly? Go to www.safekids.co.uk/kitesafety.html

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15 Make a Snowflake

Make some snowflakes from recycled paper or newspaper. They make great

Christmas decorations for your meeting place or to take home.

Make a Sundial

Make a sundial or use recycled materials to create your own design. You can use the instruction at http://www.ehow.com/how_5082371_make-cardboard-sundial.html to help you. Can you use it to tell the time?

Tornado in a Bottle

You will need:

2 empty and cleaned 2-litre clear plastic bottles

Water

Duct tape

-Fill one of the bottles two-thirds full of water.

-Use duct tape to fasten the two containers. Make sure to tape tightly to make sure that no water will leak out when you turn the bottle over.

-Turn the tornado maker, so that the bottle with the water is on top. Swirl the bottle in a circular motion. Most tornadoes form anti-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. A tornado will form in the top bottle as the water rushes into the bottom bottle.

If you want to get creative, you can also use food colouring to give the tornado a colour and glitter to represent debris.

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Make a Weather Station

Have a go at making your own rain gauge, box thermometer and wind vain. All instructions can be found at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/kids/things-to-do/weather-station. Try keeping records for a week.

Catch a Raindrop

See if you can catch a raindrop on the end of your tongue or in autumn see

if you can catch a leaf as it falls from a tree.

20 Rainbow Indoors

You will need:

Empty glass jar or a large drinking glass

Small mirror

Torch

Dark room with white walls

Fill the jar or glass with water.

Place the mirror inside the water filled jar or glass.

Tilt the mirror slightly upward.

In a very dark room with white walls, shine the torch onto the mirror.

A rainbow will appear! (Note: If no rainbow appears at first, just change the angle of the light from the flashlight or change the angle of the mirror.)

EXPLANATION:

The mirror reflects light that passes back through the water, travelling at an angle. The water bends, or refracts, the light. As the light bends, it separates into the colors of the rainbow...red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Finding Your Way

Find-a-Flower

This game is especially suitable for Brownies or first-time compass users. You will need to play this in a large outdoor area (a great game for camp). You will need to cut out paper in shapes such as flowers or animal or even to a theme such as Christmas; do this ahead of time. Attach them to trees or bushes in the area with a drawing pin, string or some tape. The girls go to a designated starting point and follow their written directions, e.g., 12 paces E, 34 paces, left, etc. At the end of their directions, it should lead them to the tree or bush where the cut-out is. Each group of girls would have a different tree or bush (and therefore a different picture) to end up at. It might be helpful to send a leader with each group to help out. You can also have each group swap their set of directions once they've conquered the first set and try all the trails.

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Find a Geocache Take part in a real-world treasure hunt! With over a million in the world see if you can find a geocache. Look for one near you at http://www.geocaching.com/seek. Senior section girls may like to set their own cach.

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Climb a Hill

Climb a hill using map and compass. Why don’t you split in to

teams and see who can reach the top first.

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Passwords You will need: -A password cut into 3 pieces (more for older girls) -A compass A password for each team is cut into three (or more) pieces. Teams are given compass directions to find their pieces such as: The first piece is hidden six paces from the wooden bench in a S.S.E. direction. The first team to return to the leader with its password wins. This could be adapted by changing the password to a question that the team would have to

answer correctly.

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Mirror Mirror Split the girls into two groups and get them to stand in 2 lines with the girls facing each other so everyone has a partner. In turns each girl then describes her partner in a positive way for example helpful, smiley, cheerful or lovely hair. One of the lines then moves to the right and the girl on the end moves to the start and it starts again until everyone has said something nice about everyone!

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Compass Rose

Find out about compass roses and have a go at designing your own!

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Crack the Code Use the coordinate grid to crack the codes and find the jokes.

Remember, like map grid references you need to go along the ‘x’ axis then

up the ‘y’ axis.

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Lay a Trail

Split the girls into groups/patrols and give each group a piece of paper, a pen, and two Lolly sticks. Each group puts one Lolly stick at the starting point of their trail. Then the girls make up their own compass trail, writing down the directions as they go: 25 paces N, 40 paces S, 10 paces NW, etc. etc. At the end of their directions, the girls place another Lolly stick to mark the end. They can then swap their instructions, and follow another group's trail to find their Lolly stick. The girls are told where the starting point is. This game could also be played in the dark with torches!

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Memory Map

Each girl gets a blank piece of paper with either a rectangle printed on it or ask the girls to draw one. Using the map below or one of your own creation read out directions; for example there is a road going from north to south down the centre of the map, or, the Hospital is to the far north west of the map. The girls must draw the location of what you have described on their paper. You continue to do this until they have the whole town drawn. Now show them the original map and see how

close they have recreated it.

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Compass Dance Game

Go to a big field, park or other outdoor space. Using a compass, find the 4 Cardinal points (8 should be used for older girls). Place a marker such as a flag or hula-hoop at each point widely spaced apart. Girls dance in a circle in the centre, skipping and singing to the tune of Mulberry Bush:

Round the world we’ll fly today

Visiting Girl Guides far away

North and South and East and West

Girl Guides all will do their best!

Leader calls “Fly to the North!” All the girls run to the North point. The first girl to reach it sits down. Everyone else goes back to the centre. Repeat with another compass direction, or even the same one. If a girl is already sitting at the compass point, the next girl there sits next to her.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

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Build a Boat

Build a boat from junk or raw materials – for you or your teddy.

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Have a Clear Out

Fill a bag for your local charity shop

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Beads and Buttons

Collect spare buttons and beads that people have hanging around and see what interesting jewellery

you can create. You could even make your own beads from rolled up magazines. Go to

www.freekidscrafts.com/make_magazine_bead_jewelry-e139.html for instructions.

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Fashion Show

Hold a fashion show using old clothes or make your own fashion items from

plastic bags or any other unwanted items.

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Feed the Birds

See what you can recycle to create a bird feeder.

See www.rspb.org.uk/youth/makeanddo/ activities/birdfeeder.aspx for ideas.

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Geronimo!

Make a plastic bag parachute and play a game. Look at http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6592205_make-

parachute-plastic-bag.html

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Against the Clock

Find out about how you should separate rubbish for recycling in

your area. Now divide the girls into teams each with a mixed bag of recycling. When you shout ‘go’ they have to sort their bag into

the correct piles. Who will be the recycling queens?

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Love Food Hate Waste

Make up some leftover recipes and try them out. Why not try this out at camp and see what you can do with leftovers on an open

fire?

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Swap Shop

Find out about clothes swapping, sometimes known as swishing,

and hold a clothes swapping event!

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Beautiful Music

Make music with your own instruments made out of recycled objects.

For ideas see www.ehow.com/how_5956233_make- instruments-out-recycled-objects.html

Explore and Discover

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Dress Up Like...

A Victorian? A Roman? A Fairy? An Animal? It’s up to you. Wear a costume

and have fun!

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Out and About

Visit a free museum or open doors event.

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Local Explorers

Before a meeting ask each girl to find out three facts about their local area, from either the internet or local library – for younger girls do

some research yourself. At the meeting plan a short walking route that takes in locations related to as many of these facts as possible. Eg foxes on a local housing estate, local community centre activities,

kinds of owls nest in the local woods, local park or pond. Return to the meeting place and discuss the tour.

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Call an Owl

Most owls come out at night so wait until it’s dark to catch them at their most talkative. You will need a torch, something to sit on and an excellent

owl impression! See if you can find a local owl expert that might come

along and help you!

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Grow Your Own

Learn all about the plant life cycle and try your hand at growing your own. Great plants to try are cress,

sunflowers and radishes. See www.ehow.com/about-

6382324_plant-life-cycle-kids.html for information.

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Flames

Have a go at lighting a fire without matches.

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Walk the Talk

Go online and download a free walking tour to complete.

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Fun in the Forest

Visit a local arboretum or forestry commission site.

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Art on the Street

Visit graffiti art around the city or design your own graffiti wall using large sheets of paper taped together and fixed to the wall.

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Times Gone By

Create a time capsule. Everyone should contribute something like a photo, a picture or a note. You could even include your activity program from that term. Now bury it and leave for someone to

discover in the future! For tips on what to include look at www.wikihow.com/create-a-time-capsule

Badge Order Form

Thank you for taking part in 50 Things to Do For Free –we hope you enjoyed it! Fill in the form below and send it along with your

payment to receive your challenge badges.

Unit............................. County...............................

Number of Badges @ £1 each = £.......

Postage 1-30 badges - £1.00 31-100 badges - £1.50 101 – 200 - £2.00

Total = £.............

Contact

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Please make your cheques payable to 1st Westerleigh Guides and

send your orders to:

Miss N Peeling, 1

st Westerleigh Guides,

13 Witcombe, Yate, Bristol, BS37 8SA. Email: nlpeeling@gmail.com Tel: 07949472180 Profits will go to help finance trips for members of 1st Westerleigh Guides.