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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

Teamwork tents

Explore the different parts and pieces of a tent, then team up to pitch a tent together.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • A tent

Before you begin

  • Decide how you’ll run this activity – you may want to run it as one base during a camp craft themed session.
  • If you have a larger group, you may need to find a second (or even a third!) tent.
  • Find an outdoor space to put up the tent. You can do it indoors if you need to; just get some heavy books or stones to weigh down the guy ropes.
  • Invite some extra helpers along. You could ask any parents or carers who know their way around a tent, or ask older young people to come back and help.
  • Unpack the tent, and separate it into its parts – the inner, the outer, poles, pegs, and mallet.

Explore tent parts

  1. Everyone should split into small groups of three or four people.
  1. The person leading the activity should give each group a tent part. 
  2. Each group should spend a minute or two talking about their tent part. They can touch it as they talk about it. A helper should help them talk about what the part is called, what it does, and where it fits in the tent. 
  3. After a minute or two, everyone should put their tent part on the floor. Each group should move around the space in the same direction, so they get a chance to explore the next tent part. 
  4. Everyone should keep exploring and moving on until everyone’s explored each tent part.

Pitch the tent

  1. Each group should return to the tent part they explored first. 
  2. The person leading the activity should ask which part of the tent everyone thinks is the first one needed to pitch the tent.
  3. Everyone should work together to pitch the tent. They should follow any specific instructions on the tent they’re working with. 
  4. Usually, the first step is for everyone to lay out the inner or outer tent (whatever the poles go through) and make sure all the doors are zipped up.
  5. The group with the poles should assemble them, and work with the group with the inner or outer to thread the poles through the sleeves in the tent. Everyone should be careful not to tear the fabric.
  1. Everyone should find the connectors on the inner or outer tent, and put them into the ends of the poles. They may look like plastic or metal keys – when they’re put into the poles, they help raise the tent.
  2. Everyone should attach the inner or outer tent to whichever part they’ve already assembled.
  3. Everyone should peg out the tent, starting with the loops closest to the tent canvas. They should make sure the pegs point at an angle away from the tent.
  1. Everyone should peg out the guy lines. They should be tight, and they should follow the line of the seam they’re attached to. 
  2. Now the tent is pitched, everyone should walk around it to check everything’s in the right place. Does anything look wonky? Are there any unpegged guy ropes?
  3. Everyone should take it in turns to sit or lay in the tent, and everyone should talk about good tent practice – things like taking your shoes off before you go in, and not poking the fabric, especially from the inside!
  4. Once everyone’s explored the tent, everyone should work together to take it down (this is called striking the tent). They should clean any parts that need cleaning, then fold the tent and put it away.

Reflection

This activity was a chance for everyone to develop skills. Can everyone work together to remember the different steps? Did people find any steps especially tricky? People may say things like threading the poles through, or getting connectors into the ends of the poles. The person leading the reflection should help everyone to check they remember all any new words they’ve learned today, for example, pitch, strike, poles, guy lines, pegs, and mallet.

This activity also needed everyone to work in a team. Do people think it would be easier to pitch a tent alone, or with a group of friends? How did people work with their teammates to make sure they pitched their tent as well as they could? Communication is a really important part of teamwork. Were people’s teams good at listening to each other? How did people make sure they were heard, as well as listening to others? Is there anything people would do differently next time they pitch a tent?

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.

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.

Poles and long objects

Be careful when moving poles or long items. Take care if the ends are sharp. Have appropriate supervision for this activity.

Heavy and awkward objects

Never lift or move heavy or awkward items alone. Ask for help or, if possible, break them down into smaller parts.

Encourage everyone to work a team and do as much as they can independently.

You could label the parts in ‘Explore tent parts’ to give people an extra clue.

Change the size of groups for ‘Explore tent parts’, for example by putting labelled parts around the space and asking people to move around in pairs. Anyone who can’t help as much with the physical aspects of pitching a tent can still contribute by instructing and helping others – a lot of the time not everyone needs to be touching or moving the tent anyway. 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Camp Craft Activity Badge
Squirrels All About Adventure Challenge Award

Pitch a group of tents near your meeting space and enjoy a camp experience together. You could build a campfire, play games, or do a quieter activity like storytelling in the tents. Why not add some soft furnishings, such as cushions and soft toys, to make the tents more homely? Remember, if you do this activity while on a sleepover or camp, it could count towards your My Outdoors Challenge Award.