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Scouts sign-ups will be unavailable on scouts.org,uk from 11am to 12pm on Wednesday 17 June. Thank you for your patience

Scouts sign-ups will be unavailable on scouts.org,uk from 11am to 12pm on Wednesday 17 June. Thank you for your patience

Scouts sign-ups will be unavailable on scouts.org,uk from 11am to 12pm

One hour, many hobbies!

Try modern hobbies and practical skills in this fast-paced Explorer activity full of creativity and discovery.

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • Activity instructions for each base
  • Materials or equipment needed for each hobby
  • Timer or stopwatch

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

Planning and setting up the activity

  • Ask leaders and Explorers to prepare a short introduction to a hobby or skill. They can bring instructions sheets and activities for people to complete.  
  • Include hobbies and interests that Explorers may do outside of Scouts - encourage young people to bring things they really enjoy doing. This could be basic coding, digital design, photography, crochet, anything which they enjoy! 
  • Set up activity bases around your meeting space.  
  • Prepare any materials needed for each activity.  
  • Plan a rotation systems, so that everyone gets a chance to try a new hobby! 

Running the activity  

  1. Gather everyone together and tell them that everyone will get the chance to explore several different hobbies and interests. 
  2. Split everyone into small groups of 2 to 3 people. 
  3. Explain the plan for moving around the activities, and highlight any instructions each base has.  
  4. Give each group around 10 minutes at each base before rotating. 
  5. Encourage everyone to join in, ask questions and support each other while trying something new. 
  6. At the end, bring everyone together to share which hobbies they enjoyed and might try more of, and what they discovered about themselves. 

Reflection

Hobbies can help people express themselves, meet others and build confidence. Talk about which activities felt most meaningful or interesting and how hobbies can become part of someone’s identity, friendships or future goals.

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.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

  • To make it easier, provide demonstrations or example projects at the activity base before Explorers begin.  
  • To make it harder, set a challenge within the hobby for Explorers to complete within the time limit. 

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.