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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

Question-a-ball

Throw, think and try not to fumble as we think about how we live in this lifestyle quiz.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Coloured pens or pencils
  • Big pieces of paper
  • Sticky tack

Get prepped

  • Write the 'questions' below in different colours on large piece of paper, and stick it somewhere where everyone will be able to see it.

Question time

  1. The person leading the activity should tell the group to sit or stand in a circle.
  1. The person leading the activity should explain that they’ll read out the first question the paper. Everyone should think of their answer to the question in their head.
  2. The person leading the activity will then throw a ball, which should be the same colour as the question is written in, to a person in the circle. They must catch the ball, answer the question and throw it to another person in the circle.
  3. That person must answer the same question and throw it to another person in the circle. This should continue until everyone has answered the first question.
  1. After three or four people in the circle(s) have answered the first question, the person leading the activity should read out the second question and throw the next ball to a person in the circle. This ball should be thrown about and the second question answered in the same way.
  1. If the group are comfortable, you can keep asking questions and adding the balls that go with them. See how many the group can keep moving while answering the questions. You can use the questions in the table below for inspiration.
  • What is your favourite fruit?
  • What is your favourite vegetable?
  • How many hours of sleep do you get every night?
  • How many portions of fruit and vegetables did you eat yesterday?
  • What is your favourite sport?
  • What is your favourite meal?
  • What did you have for breakfast this morning?
  • What makes you happy?
  • What is your favourite drink?

Reflection

The group have answered some questions about their lifestyle and diet. Did anyone find out something about the way they live from answering the questions? Were there any questions that were hard to answer? Did anyone else’s answers make you think about being more like them?

While answering the questions, the group had to throw and catch a ball. The ball they caught corresponded to a certain question, meaning they needed to remember what question they were supposed to be answering. Was it hard to think, throw and catch at the same time, while trying to remember which ball went with which colour?

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.

Making this game harder is simple. Add more questions/balls to the circle quicker to test everyone’s throwing, catching, thinking and memory skills. You could even hide the flipchart or whiteboard to make it really difficult!

Slow down the rate of questions/balls to make the game easier. Give the person who catches the ball more time to think and answer. Reduce the number of questions and balls if it’s still too tough.

Change the types of balls to make it more challenging - a rugby ball is more difficult to catch, but a balloon may be easier!

This activity involves the use of motor skills to multi-task, which may be challenging for some people. Balls can be rolled along the ground if this is easier. The game can also be slowed down.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Health and Fitness Activity Badge
Beavers My Skills Challenge Award
Cubs Our Skills Challenge Award

Everyone should go away and think up their own lifestyle questions, so that they can run this game by themselves. With practice, the group should be able to play this game at high speed. They should challenge themselves to set a record and try to beat it.

Once the questions are written up and the game has been played once or twice, there is little need for the person leading the activity to read out the questions, as everyone can see them on the flipchart or whiteboard. At this point, the group should be allowed to play this game independently.