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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

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Screen time, green time

Stay healthy and happy by finding a balance between static screen and active green time in this fast paced game.
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You’ll need

  • A4 paper
  • Coloured pens or pencils
Green time
JPG – 223.1KB
Download Green time

Before you begin

  • Print enough ‘Green time’ sheets for everyone. You could also use plain paper and ask everyone to create their own trees – they could draw or collage with natural materials.
  • If you're working towards the Digital Citizen Staged Activity Badge, everyone should also think of a creative way to keep track of how much time they spend online over the week too.  

Chat about screen and green

  1. Everyone should think of activities they do that involve screens. It’s not just watching TV – gaming, watching films, and being online all count too.
  2. Everyone should think of activities they do that could be considered ‘green time’. They should think about things that involve being physically active, being outdoors, or ideally both.
  3. Everyone should chat about why it’s important to have a balance of activities. Why’s it important to have green time as well as screen time?

Play the game

  1. Two people should volunteer to be ‘chasers’.
  1. Everyone else should move around the space as though they were enjoying ‘green time’. They should pretend to move in different ways – they could run, hop, skip, jump, or swim.
  2. The chasers should try to catch and tag the players.
  3. If a player’s tagged by the chaser, they’re on screen time. They should sit down and pretend to look at a device with a screen.
  4. Everyone else should continue to move around and avoid the chasers. They should try to free the players on screen time by touching their shoulder (or saying ‘green’).
  5. The person leading the game should decide when the chasers switch (or add more). Everyone should keep playing until they’ve had plenty of green time and are ready for a rest!

Green time at home

  1. Everyone should take a ‘Green time’ sheet.
  2. Everyone should track their green time over the next week. They should draw a leaf on their tree every time they spend an hour doing an activity that doesn’t involve a screen. It only counts if it’s not during school time, and it’s great if it can involve moving or being outside.
  1. Next time everyone meets, they should bring their sheets and everyone should talk about how they got on.

For this activity to count towards the Digital Citizen Staged Activity Badge (Stage 2, Requirement 2) everyone should also keep track of how much time they spend online during the week, and what they are doing. When everyone meets again, you should chat about these 'screen time' activities as well as your 'green time' ones and see if everyone's happy with how they spent their time.

Reflection

This activity was all about living healthily. The game got people moving and hopefully they had fun too. While everyone catches their breath, they should talk about whether they could feel their hearts beating faster and how their body moved. How did people move in the game? People may talk about running, swerving, and dodging. Did people enjoy playing an active game? What was it like when people were caught and had to do screen time? It may have been a welcome break, but it may have also been boring. It’s important to get a balance between active green time and static screen time.

This activity was also about boosting wellbeing. How many ideas for green time can people think of? People may think about cycling, playing outside, doing a sport, playing in the park, or walking a dog. Even if the weather isn’t great, people can do green time activities inside. What could people do inside without using a screen? People could think about dancing, arts and crafts, or playing an imaginative game.

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.

Outdoor activities

You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.

  • The person leading the game could call out different green time activities to change how people move. 
  • It’s up to you how many chasers you have.
  • You could switch it up and use time penalties rather than asking people to ‘free’ others. People could count out loud before they move again.
  • If anyone doesn’t want to be touched, use alternatives to tagging. You could use tails (like in tag rugby), people could carry paper chains or strips to be torn off, or they could carry paper to be drawn on.
  • Players could work together to escape the chasers – perhaps someone could give someone else a head start to get away.
  • Make sure you include green time activities that are accessible to everyone. Disabled people may not be able to access every example, and people may also struggle to access activities because of where they live of who looks after them. It isn’t a competition – why not think of activities you can to together as a group during your meetings as well as things people could try at home? 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers My Skills Challenge Award
Cubs Physical Recreation Activity Badge
Cubs Our Skills Challenge Award
Digital Citizen Stage 2

Can you change other games so they have a screen time theme? For example, you could play ‘screen, screen, green’ instead of ‘duck, duck, goose’. You could also play a version of ‘grandmother’s footsteps’ where the group moves if the catcher says ‘green’ and stops when they say ‘screen’.

It’s down to young people to complete their tree sheets and bring them back again – and it’s down to them to be honest, too.