Beaver Scouts

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Beaver Scouts

Organization:	The Scout Association
Country:	United Kingdom
Age Range:	6 to 8 yrs
Prev. Section	Next Section
Youngest Section	Cub Scouts

Beaver Scouts (shortened to Beavers) are a section of The Scout Association in the United Kingdom for 6 to 8 year old boys and girls. A particular section of Beaver Scouts is known as a Colony.

Once a Beaver Scout becomes 8 years old they then move on to Cub Scouts.

The section has a motto of Fun and Friends.

1 History
2 Organisation
3 Promise
4 Motto
5 Awards and Badges
6 Uniform
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

Some national organisations independently began to run programmes for 5-8 year olds during the 1960s, with Canada and Northern Ireland running the flagship projects.

While Beaver Scouting was an informal part of some Scout Groups' programmes during the 1970s, The Scout Association did not give formal recognition until 1982, and even then the section was not given full membership until 1986.

Since then, Beaver Scouting for 6-8 year olds has been a major part of the Scout Programme in the United Kingdom, and has a large participation rate across most of the country. Most Scout Groups have at least one Colony, and can have as many as three or four.

The Beaver Scout section currently has the largest proportion of members within Scouting in the United Kingdom, with many colonies servicing waiting lists, some of which may have several times as many waiting as there are actual members.

[edit] Organisation

The Beaver Scout Colony is run by a Beaver Scout Leader with the help of Assistant Beaver Scout Leaders, Colony/Section Assistants and Young Leaders from the Explorer Scout Section. The Colony is usually part of a Scout Group, which will also have Cub Scout and Scout sections.

A Beaver Scout Colony usually meets once a week for an hour to an hour and a half. Most Scout groups have their own Scout hall, other groups may use a school or church hall for meetings. The emphasis for Beaver Scouts is on having fun, so a meeting involves playing games, and some sort of activity- such as painting, cooking, acting.

[edit] Promise

The Beaver Scout promise is a simpler version of the Scout promise:

I promise to do my best,

To be kind and helpful,

and to love God.

[edit] Motto

The Beaver Scouts have a motto of Fun and Friends, and this is reflected in the usual programme for the section, which makes use of play to put across Scouting ideas of friendship and community.

[edit] Awards and Badges

The Friendship Challenge Award

Beavers have three Challenge badges, twelve activity badges and their highest award the Chief Scout's Bronze Award.

The Challenge badges are the Outdoor Challenge, Discovery Challenge and Friendship Challenge. These are normally completed during the Colony meetings.

The Activity badges are Air Activities, Animal Carer, Creative, Experiment, Explore and Faith. These badges are usually done as individuals but can also be done as a Colony.

The Chief Scouts's Bronze Award is the highest award available in the Beaver Scout section. It is gained by completing the Outdoor Challenge, and either the Friendship or Discovery Challenge, plus a personal challenge.

[edit] Uniform

The Beaver Scout uniform is a turquoise sweatshirt and group scarf (neckerchief) with navy blue activity trousers. Prior to 2003, it was a grey speckled jumper and turquoise scarf.