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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

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Green hearts

First suggested by WWF
Go green and share your ideas for the environment with this fun craft.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Scissors
  • Pens or pencils
  • Glue sticks
  • Green paper, card or felt
  • Other craft materials (depending on what animals the group want to make)

Before you begin

  • You could run the Paper makers activity with the group first, and use your own recycled paper in this craft.
  • This activity is designed to be run after you’ve taken some action as part of a community project. Check out this resource on protecting our environment for some ideas.

Story time

  1. Everyone should sit in a circle.
  2. Someone should read Switch and the Energy Savers, a story bout saving energy that helps planet Earth. 
  3. After reading the story, everyone should take some time to reflect on it as a group. We’ve included some questions to help you reflect in the pink box below.
Read the story >

Taking action

  1. Everyone should think about what the group has done to protect the environment.
  1. Everyone should talk about what it was like to take action and why it was important.
  2. Everyone should think about what you learned about rubbish and recycling.
  3. Someone should make some notes about the things the groups talk about, or some important words or ideas that you can look at again later.

Craft your animals

  1. The person leading the activity should explain that everyone will be making animals to help tell the world what they’ve been doing to help protect the environment.
  2. Everyone needs a piece of green paper and a pencil. Everyone should draw a large heart shape in the middle of the paper.
  3. Everyone should cut out their heart. Make sure there are plenty adults around to help supervise this part of the activity.
  4. Everyone should choose an animal they’d like to make. They can follow the steps below to make a panda, lion or fox.
  1. Once everyone has made their animal, they should turn it over and add a message, action or word to the back to show they care about protecting the environment.
  1. Gather as a group and see if anyone wants to share their animal and what they’re written.
  2. Everyone can take their green heart animal home, or you could use them to create a display to tell the world what you’ve been up to.
An image of a lion made from green heart shapes
  1. Cut into the edges of the large heart or add some wool or sting to make the lion’s mane.
  2. Cut a smaller heart and glue it upside down into the middle to make the face.
  3. Add a heart nose and some eyes.
An image of a panda made from green heart shapes
  1. Cut out four medium-sized dark green hearts for the ears and eye patches.
  2. Cut out a small heart for the nose.
  3. Glue these to the larger green heart, then and add a smile and a nose.
An image of a fox made of green heart shapes
  1. Cut out two sets of hearts: one for the ears and one for the eye markings.
  2. Repeat the step but cutting slightly smaller hearts of a darker or lighter colour to stick inside the others.
  3. Add some eyes and a heart-shaped nose.

Reflection

This activity was all about valuing the outdoors and communicating ideas that are important. The activity explores how we can tell the world about some of the things we’ve done to help protect the environment.

Switch and the Energy Savers

  • What kind of things use energy and how can we remember to turn them off?
  • How could we help others to remember to save energy?

Taking action

  • What actions did you take to help protect the environment?
  • How did you do it? How did the actions make you feel?
  • Did you learn anything new?
  • How did your actions make a difference for the environment?

Craft your animals

  • Was it easy to think of what message or word you wanted to share?
  • What did you enjoy most about the activity?
  • How did it feel making something to share with someone else?

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.

Get creative and challenge everyone to think of some different animals to make. Have a go at the Seek out nature activity and see if anyone can make any of the animals you spot in the local area.

If anyone struggles with fine motor skills, you could prepare some pre-cut shapes in advance to make it easier to create the animals.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Squirrels Local Superhero Activity Badge

Discover more at https://www.wwf.org.uk/