Skip to main content

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

Captain’s clock

You’ll need to learn how to set an alarm clock and work in a team if you want to help the captain wake up in time.
Plan a session with this activity

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • A4 paper
  • Pens or pencils
  • Alarm or phone
  • Six analogue clocks (or one analogue clock and five paper plates)

Before you begin

  • If you can’t get hold of enough clocks, you could use one analogue clock and five paper plates.
  • Draw six clocks on a sheet of paper. Draw a different time on each clock. Unless your group are really confident, stick to the hours. If they’re more confident, you may want to introduce half hour times too.
  • Make enough copies of the sheet for one for each group.
  • Set five of the clocks to show five of the times on the sheet. Hide these clocks around the room. If you don’t have enough clocks, draw the times onto five paper plates and hide these instead.
  • Set the captain’s clock (a real analogue clock) with a random time not on the sheet. You could use this clock to demonstrate on, too.

Learn to set an alarm

  1. The person leading the game should ask if anyone can name some reasons to set an alarm. Alarms help people wake up in time for school or work. The person leading the game should ask how people wake up at home – does someone else wake people up, or do they have their own alarms?
  2. The person leading the game should show everyone how to set an alarm on the analogue clock. They should set it for a few minutes’ time.
  1. The person leading the game should show everyone how to set an alarm on the mobile device. They should set it for a few minutes’ time. 
  2. As each alarm rings, the person leading the game should show everyone how to turn them off.

Play ‘Captain’s clock’

  1. The person leading the game should show everyone the captain’s clock and remind them that everyone has to get out of bed on time – even spaceship captains! The captain is an astronaut who needs to get up in time for her space mission… but she’s forgotten what time that is. Unlike everyone here, the captain doesn’t listen very carefully when people explain things. 
  2. Everyone should split into groups.
  3. The person leading the game should explain that mission control has narrowed it down: they know that there are six astronauts who need to get up at six different times. These six times are written on the timesheets. The person leading the game should give each group a timesheet. 
  4. The person leading the game should explain that the other five astronauts have left their alarm clocks somewhere around the meeting place. 
  5. Each team should hunt for the other clocks. When they find a clock, they should say the time together and cross it off their sheet. Everyone will need to be subtle so they don’t make it obvious to the other groups where the clocks are.
  6. Once a team has found all five clocks, they’ll have just one left on their sheet. This will be the time the captain needs to wake up. The team should come back to the captain’s clock and set it for the right time to wake her up. 
  7. The first team to set the captain’s clock to the right time is the winner.

Reflection

This activity helped everyone practise a skill that’s really important for independence. One or two people who are confident should help set the alarm on the clocks. What time would people set the alarm for if it needed to wake them up in time for school? What about an alarm to remind them to leave the house to travel to the meeting place? Other people can give clues, or hold up fingers. Will anyone try setting an alarm this week? It’s a great way to be more independent.

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.

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.

It’s up to you how complicated the clock times are. Try to keep them simple, so everyone can join in. It’s up to you how easy or hard the hiding places are, and whether you play the game inside or outside.

You could show everyone a range of alarm clocks, including ones that vibrate or flash so you don’t need to be able to hear the alarm noise. Many phones will be able to do this too.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers My Skills Challenge Award

Take the time for everyone to set an alarm on their own. You could call people over one by one while everyone plays another game.

Anyone who’s confident at reading the time could be a team leader – they should help their teammates read the times, without just telling them the answers.