Being a leader in Outdoor Service Guides is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. However, it isn’t always easy. Today, I’m offering tips from long time leaders about how to have a successful group and be an amazing leader. This is advice for you, no matter which age level you work with. Rule #1: Make it Fun...
GSM Tips / Otters / Pathfinders / Timberwolves
by Laura Sowdon · Published February 14, 2023 · Last modified February 8, 2023
As scout leaders, we teach a lot of knots. Using better ropes, can make teaching them a lot easier! Different groups have different ropes that they prefer for this reason. When teaching knots, scouts often need to remember which end of the rope they are working with. One easy way to do this, is by adding a stripe of colored...
As part of a happy and healthy Outdoor Service Guides group, you should plan for your guides to have a lot of fun. One easy way to make every meeting more fun, is to start with a game! This is a list of games that work well for groups of guides. There are Icebreakers for the start of the year,...
Forms and Leader Guides / GSM Tips / Otters / Pathfinders / Rovering / Timberwolves
by Laura Sowdon · Published July 10, 2021 · Last modified April 1, 2022
Part of our mission in OSG is to create “Scouting for All.” In this quest, we not only scout with people of all races, religions, backgrounds, genders, and orientations, but also with scouts who are neurodiverse and experience a variety of physical and learning challenges. While some of those differences make no difference to the scout leader or the program,...
Sometimes, an opportunity presents itself and we get a chance to do something that we didn’t plan on. As a scout leader, this is a great chance to let everyone, including us, try something new. But how do we take something that isn’t in the plan, and make it a scout project? Is it the same as any project you...
Forms and Leader Guides / GSM Tips / Pathfinders / Timberwolves
by Laura Sowdon · Published April 7, 2021 · Last modified August 26, 2021
As a fully inclusive program of all genders, scout leaders need to be knowledgeable about menstruation and provide appropriate support for scouts who experience menstruation. The typical age for a first period is 12, with most people starting to have cycles between age 10 and 15. However, there are those who get them earlier and later, so age alone does...
Learning about animals is a traditional part of scouting that our scouts have enjoyed. While you can actually visit domesticated animals and track some wild animals, not all are safe for that type of lesson. Our group has really enjoyed learning about bears and I recently came across this packet of pages that you can use with your group to...
GSM Tips / Otters / Pathfinders / Timberwolves
by Laura Sowdon · Published October 5, 2020 · Last modified June 11, 2022
As an OSG leader, one of your goals is probably taking the group camping. You probably even know a place or two you can go. However, as your group grows, you are going to want some ideas for exploring further afield. What to do? National Parks Camping in a National Park is a very reliable way to find group camping....
This is a set of ideas all around map skills to use while scouting during the 2020 Pandemic. Each zoom meeting idea is laid out below. The set is designed to progress from the most basic ability to read a map, up to reading a topographical map. Each idea is supposed to be the foundation for one meeting. Read them...
Recently, my mother texted me this picture with the questions: “Is this Bear Poop? I found it in the yard.” So, we created a scout zoom meeting around this question, and asked the scouts to figure it out. We showed our scouts this picture and how we proceed depended on age level. Our timberwolves were taken to look at the...
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