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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

Play That's A Wrap!

First suggested by Squirrels Young Leaders
Get your toilet rolls at the ready to turn everyone into magnificent mummies!
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Recycled toilet rolls
  • Timer
  • White paper streamers or crepe paper (optional)

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to 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 if you’re short on helpers.

Planning this activity

  • You'll need two or three toilet rolls per pair or group. Buy recycled toilet paper if possible. You could also use white paper streamers or crepe paper. 
  • Collect up the toilet paper at the end, so it can be reused. You could use it in more games, as loose toilet roll sheets in bathrooms, for mopping up spills or in arts and crafts, such as Papier Mache.

Start wrapping

  1. Everyone should get into pairs or small groups of up to four.
  2. Explain that one person in the group will need to be chosen to be the mummy and give them time to decide who this’ll be. An adult should check that this person is comfortable and happy to take on this role of being the mummy, too.
  3. Tell everyone that each pair or group will be given a few toilet rolls. They’ll need to use the toilet roll to create their mummy by wrapping it loosely around the chosen person, from their feet to their head.
  4. Remind everyone to keep the mouth and nose clear and wrap the legs separately to allow safe movement.
  5. They’ll have two minutes to work as a team to do this.
  6. The pair or group with the most well-wrapped mummy at the end will be the winners.
  7. Hand out the toilet rolls and get everyone into a starting position. Make sure all teams have an even amount of paper so that it is a fair contest. 
  8. Give everyone a countdown, and let them get wrapping! Don’t forget to press start on the timer.
  9. At the end of two minutes, tell everyone to stop. The young people, young leaders or an adult volunteer can then judge who the winner (and best wrapped mummy!) is.
  10. You could also hand out prizes for best teamwork, best design or best communication, too!
  11. Play again, but this time swap who the mummy is in the groups.
  12. Collect up the toilet paper so it can be reused, either in more games, mopping up spills or Papier Mache.

Reflection

During the game, everyone had to work as a team to complete the task and show care for others when they were wrapping them up in toilet roll.

People also had to stick at it and not give up when the toilet roll might have broken or not stayed where it was meant to.

Once you’ve finished the game, take some time to reflect. You could ask questions, for example:

  • Did people prefer being the mummy or wrapping up the mummy?
  • Was it difficult to get the toilet roll to stay on the person? What made it easier?
  • Did you work well as a team? What could you have done better?
  • What was it like being against a timer and racing other teams? Did you manage to stay calm under the pressure?

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.

Contact games and activities

Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.

  • You could give a team more or less time to change the level of the challenge.
  • To make it harder, everyone in the team could be asked to become a mummy and everyone needs to be wrapped in toilet roll. It’s a lot harder to turn someone into a toilet roll mummy when you’re already a mummy yourself!
  • To make it harder, you could introduce a dice element. The teams would start with no toilet rolls. They’d have to take it in turns to roll a dice and when they got a six they’d earn a toilet roll. Each team needs to earn three toilet rolls before they can start wrapping up their mummy.
  • If someone in the team struggles with mobility or moving round the mummy, the person being the mummy could hold the end of the toilet roll and then spin slowly in a circle to help add the toilet roll to them. The other person could then stay still and hold the toilet roll to feed it onto the mummy.
  • The mummy could be sat down during this activity, too.
  • If needed, let people be in bigger groups to make sure everyone’s supported in taking part in the activity. A young leader could join a group to help people to take part, too.
  • If someone isn’t comfortable taking part and being wrapped up, they could be given another task, such as judging the competition or running the timer.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.