The price of honesty
You’ll need
- Craft materials (for example, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, stickers)
- Scissors
- Glue sticks
- Pens or pencils
- Clean items of recycling
- Natural materials (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 have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.
Planning and setting up this activity
- Print out the resources, making sure you enough for each team.
Aim of the activity
This activity helps young people explore right and wrong choices through creative and fun discussions. They will think about how small actions can have bigger effects, while building teamwork and communication skills. It also supports key Scout values, such as honesty and integrity, in daily life.
Managing Risk and Emotions Associated with Money
- Protecting my Money
- Fraud and ID Theft
- Risk and Return
Becoming a Critical Consumer
- Making Financial Decisions
Running this activity
- Ask everyone what they know about why we need to be honest, especially when it comes to money. Explain that money is a useful tool, but the way we use it and whether we are honest about it can impact many areas of life, such as our homes, relationships with family and friends, jobs, work, and the wider community.
- Ask how it feels when someone lies to you or takes something that is not theirs. Then ask what the bigger impacts of dishonest actions might be on a community, a business, or an economy.
- Explain that in today’s activity, participants will explore real life situations where someone might get money and think about the importance of trust, honesty, and making careful choices.
- Ask everyone to get into small groups.
- Give each group a set of scenarios.
- Each group should discuss the scenarios and decide what the right thing to do is. They should think about how their decisions might impact others, even if that impact is not obvious at first. Encourage everyone to note down their ideas.
- Bring the whole group back together to discuss each scenario.
Creative task
- Now, ask each group to make something creative based on one of the scenarios. This could be a poster, poem, rap or song, sketch, comic book, paper chain, or something else.
- Examples of ideas:
- A poster showing two CVs, one truthful and one fake, with future panels showing the outcomes.
- A sculpture of a leaking piggy bank labelled ‘Small Business’, with a fake refund causing the leak.
- A domino setup showing one lie causing harm down the line, then all the dominoes falling.
- A poem starting with:
“A bag of bills upon the street,
A tempting find beneath your feet…”
- Once the groups have finished, ask if any would like to share or present what they have made. The group can explain:
- What they focused on
- Their work’s message
- Why honesty is important in that situation
- You could also display the artwork and let people move around to look at each piece, guessing what it represents or which scenario inspired it.
You found a purse or wallet full of money in a public place. What would you do? Is it okay to keep it or should you try to find the owner? What is the right thing to do?
You said you lost your phone to get money from insurance, but you didn’t really lose it. How would you feel if someone did this to your family or a local shop to get money by lying? What could happen if people make false claims like this? Why’s it wrong?
You want to get a job in a local shop, so you say you’ve worked in customer service before, even though you haven’t. How could this affect your chances to get future jobs? Would this impact the trust between you and your employer?
You bought something and later said it was broken, but it wasn’t, just to get your money back. How could this hurt the shop and other customers? What problems can happen if you lie and make false claims like this?
Reflection
This activity was all about making decisions around money and thinking about how honesty, trust and fairness play a big part in those choices. Some of the situations you explored, such as finding money, exaggerating on a job application or making a false claim, might seem small, but they can have a big impact on people, businesses and communities.
Talking about honesty is not always easy, but it is really important. Being truthful, even when no one is watching, builds trust and helps communities work better. Can you think of a time when you chose to be honest, even if it was difficult? Did any of the scenarios feel familiar or remind you of something you have seen or heard about before? Did you all agree on what the right thing to do was, or were there different opinions? How did you work through those differences?
Think about how you came to a decision together. What helped you understand each other’s views? What did you learn from listening to your teammates?
Next time you face a tricky situation involving money or trust, what will you do differently? Remember, it is okay to take time to think, to ask for help, and to say no if something does not feel right. Being honest, kind and clear is always the best place to start.
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.
- Scissors
Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
- Glue and solvents
Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.
- Rubbish and recycling
All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.
- Make sure everyone can see and understand the scenarios. Use large, clear fonts and images. You can offer a digital version for magnification software. Provide options like magnifying glasses, braille, or large print. You could use pictures to support those who find reading difficult.
- Some people find sitting still or staying silent for a length of time difficult. They may like to use something, such as fidget toys, colouring in, weighted blankets or wobble cushions, to help them. You could offer movement breaks into your activities or provide a supervised space for people to move around safely.
- People should only speak in front of or present to the group if they’re happy and comfortable to do so. One or two people could speak on behalf of their group. People could share in pairs or small groups instead, or an adult or young leader can present ideas on someone’s behalf if needed.
- Make sure to have accessible equipment or methods available, such as left-handed tools, tearing instead of cutting out, or thicker materials for easier grip. You could provide pre-cut materials too.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
