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Host a tasty, fun picnic

Gather your friends (and maybe your teddies!) and enjoy a picnic together.

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You’ll need

  • Teddy bears (optional)
  • Picnic plates
  • Picnic knives, forks and spoons
  • Cups
  • Napkins
  • Picnic blankets or placemats
  • Picnic or snack food
  • Drinks
  • Device to play music (optional)

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. 
  • Remember to check for allergies, eating problems or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you've checked everyone's dietary requirements and allergies then adapted the recipe as appropriate. This may include ensuring no cross-contamination during food preparation, too.
  • Check if there are any items of food (or packaging) that people can’t touch or be near to or if there are items that people might not be comfortable using in the activity.
  • Some people may not like certain food textures or tastes and that’s OK. Try to find an alternative for them. No-one has to use all the ingredients or be made to try foods if they’re not happy, comfortable or don’t want to.

 

Planning this activity 

  • International Picnic Day is on the 18 June every year.
  • Teddy Bear Picnic Day is on the 10 July every year. Ask everyone to bring a teddy along to the session. You might want to bring a few spare teddies in case anyone forgets.  
  • Make sure the picnic equipment you’re using for the relay is not breakable or sharp, and safe for people to move around quickly with. If you’ve got lots of people playing, you might want to limit the race to walking, rather than running.  
  • Use the meal safety advice for four and five year olds to prevent choking. 
  • Use our handy tips for an eco-friendly picnic.

Running this activity 

  1. Everyone should wash their hands. 
  2. Set up a the picnic blankets, or sit in a circle, and enjoy the picnic.
  3. For younger groups, you may also want to sing some songs or read a story.
  4. For older groups, you could make friendship or paracord bracelets, listen to music, play some wide games or have board games.

Some teddy picnic games:

  1. Get into teams and give each team a tea towel.
  2. At one end of the space, each team lays their towel down as a picnic blanket and places their teddies around it - maybe even give them neckers!
  3. Bring everyone to the other end of the space and mark a start line.
  4. Give each team a set of picnic items for their teddies, such as a plate, cup, napkin or pretend food, held in a basket or bag.
  5. Explain the rules: one person at a time races to give one item to a teddy, then tags the next teammate.
  6. When ready, shout ‘go!’ and begin the relay.
  7. The first team to set up a full picnic for all their teddies and sit down wins. You can also give prizes for teamwork or cheering.
  8. After the game, chat about teamwork. Who finished first? Which team worked together the best? If there’s time, play again!
  1. Gather everyone and explain you’re going to play teddy hide and seek. The teddies will be hidden for young people to find.
  2. Everyone should hand their teddy to an adult or young leader. You can also just hide 1 or 2 Scout mascot teddies instead of personal ones.
  3. Ask everyone to sit together, facing the same way, with eyes closed or blindfolded so they can’t see. Adults or leaders can make sure no one is peeking. Or, with two adults present, the group can step outside while teddies are hidden.
  4. One adult or young leader should stay behind to hide the teddies in safe, easy-to-reach places where they won’t get damaged.
  5. When ready, count down from 3 and shout ‘go!’ Everyone searches for their teddy and can help friends after finding their own.
  6. Once all teddies are found, gather in a circle for picnic time.

Reflection

This activity was a chance to get active, and spend some time with our friends. Here are some questions you could use to get people thinking about what they’ve done. 

  • How did people help each other in the game? 
  • How did you find your own teddy? How can you tell it’s yours? 
  • How are everyone’s teddies the same or different? Everyone could share something about their teddy, and what makes it special or what they like about it.  
  • What’s it like having a picnic with your friends (and teddies)? How’s it different to eating by yourself or at home? 

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.

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.

Food

Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.

To make the relay harder, you could add in some obstacles, such as a cone slalom. 

If a relay race isn’t accessible for everyone, the items could be hidden around the meeting space instead. Everyone could search for all the items they need to set up their teddy bears’ picnic.  

Only ask people to move around the space in ways that work for everyone. People can move at their own pace, so you don’t need to make it competitive unless it works for everyone. Make sure the equipment is laid out with enough space for everyone, including anyone using a mobility aid. 

Picking up materials could be a challenge – so ask helpers to assist with collecting. If anyone struggles with fine motor skills, they could use larger materials. You could swap out the items for something easier to handle. 

Make sure the objects are placed in areas accessible for everyone in the group and make sure that all the materials are at a level that can be easily worked on by wheelchair users. For example, in the relay, the teddies could be on a table. 

If anyone doesn’t feel comfortable playing the hide and seek game, give them the opportunity to help run it or help hide the teddies instead. 

Remember to check for allergies, eating problems or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you've checked everyone's dietary requirements and allergies then adapted the recipe as appropriate. This may include ensuring no cross-contamination during food preparation, too.

Check if there are any items of food (or packaging) that people can’t touch or be near to or if there are items that people might not be comfortable using in the activity.

Some people may not like certain food textures or tastes and that’s OK. Try to find an alternative for them. No-one has to use all the ingredients or be made to try foods if they’re not happy, comfortable or don’t want to.

If you're enjoying a song together, make sure any actions are things everyone can do.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Squirrels All Together Challenge Award
Beavers Teamwork Challenge Award

The group could make some food for their picnic. They could prepare a healthy treat with Fruit kebabs or decorate some teddy biscuits with Cookies with character.  

Everyone could be involved in deciding what food they should have at their picnic, and where they want to have it.  Take a look at meal safety advice for four and five year olds to prevent choking.