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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

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Celtic comics

Call on your creativity and craft a Celtic comic celebrating some of the most famous symbols of Scotland.
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You’ll need

  • Rulers
  • Scissors
  • Glue sticks
  • Sticky tack
  • Coloured pens or pencils
  • Big pieces of paper
All things Scottish
PDF – 463.1KB
Download All things Scottish

Before you begin

  • The person leading the activity should print multiple copies of the ‘All things Scottish’ sheet.

There should be enough copies that each person in the group will have one, or that there will be one between three people.

Create a Celtic comic

  1. The person leading the activity should ask the group what they know about Scotland.

See if anyone knows any of the symbols or colours that are connected to Scotland. Find out if anyone has visited the country, read books or seen television programmes about Scotland, and ask what they remember from these.

  1. Divide the group into teams of around three. Give each team at least one copy of the 'All things Scottish' sheet.
  2. Explain to everyone that they will be making comics from the images on the sheet. Each comic should contain at least three of the Scottish things from the sheet. Give the teams time to come up with a story that involves the three images they have chosen.
  3. Give each team a sheet of A3 paper, a ruler, coloured pencils, scissors and glue. They will also need a dark pencil.
  4. Use the pencil and ruler to divide the A3 sheet into six equal squares. Each square will act as a panel of the story, beginning at the top left and ending in the bottom right square.
  5. The teams can use scissors and glue to cut out and stick any images they want to use from the sheet or draw their own versions. Give the teams around half an hour to complete their comics, with a warning when there are five minutes left.
  6. Come back together as a group. Each team presents their comics to the rest of the group, with each member of the team taking turns to tell the story. After each story has been told, the person leading the activity should stick each comic up on the wall with sticky-tack.

Reflection

In this activity we celebrated all the things that make up the culture of Scotland, reminding us that we are international citizens. Everyone should take a moment to think about their own culture, what represents them? Think about foods, music, clothing and animals. Are there any symbols shared by nations? Animals like eagles and lions are used by many different countries.

This activity also required the skill of storytelling. It can be difficult to write a story quickly, how did young people come up with their stories? Sometimes it is easiest to start at the end and work backwards, just like remembering where you lost something by retracing your steps. Praise young people for working well together to tell their stories.

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.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Glue and solvents

Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.

  • Try changing the number of panels used to tell the story to tell a simpler or more detailed story. How does this change the story? What would you leave in or take out?
  • Teams that finish quickly could practise telling the story or help other teams that need any help finishing their comics off.

Some young people might need help with some of the cutting or detailed work, you could fold the paper instead of drawing to make dividing the squares easier and pre-cut some of the images to use from the 'All things Scottish' sheet.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Thistle Award
Beavers Creative Activity Badge
Beavers My World Challenge Award
Beavers My Skills Challenge Award

Write the story that you drew in your group’s comic. If you like, you could write the story someone else told with their comic.

Encourage young people to tell the story how they would like to. Instead of a comic it could be a song, poem, flick book or skit.