The Jungle Trials
As part of our section year-end program, we opted to run ‘The Jungle Trials’ this year. Curated back in 2017, The Jungle Trials is Scouting for the Urban Cub Pack.
This program can be adapted for any section in any city/town with transit.
Here’s how we did it at 23rd Elsie Roy this year:
- Started on Granville Island to make lunches at 10 am. We picked Granville Island so we could have a dramatic ‘Start of the Adventure’ feel. For a lot of the Cubs, they had never been on the Aqua Bus (despite living right next to a dock). We broke into our teams and headed to the Aqua Bus. Each Team would get off at different stops and then start by rolling the dice. The logic was that it would provide as many random variables as possible. The last thing we wanted was to get to the same spot at the same time as another team.
Cubs would be given a D10 (ten-sided dice) to roll. We had 12 envelopes. Ten of them were labeled one to ten, one was labeled eleven, and one was labeled PENALTY.- Cubs would roll the D10 and be given the corresponding envelope. If they got a 1, they would be given envelop 1. If they got a 5, they’d be given envelope 5. If they had already opened the envelope, they would reroll till they got a new envelope.
- Cubs would then need to work in their team to navigate to the destination using public transit or walking. In Vancouver, we have SkyTrain and buses. This provided many different options for the youth to try. They were given a transit map and a tourist map.
- Cubs would be given the following options if they were stuck:
- Phone another group to ask a friend
- Ask a local
- Ask a Scouter for a riddle
At the Scouter’s discretion, the Cubs would be given their PENALTY. This could be for bad dice rolling, not working efficiently, whatever. Have some fun, because it’s actually tickets to get Ice Cream (it’s June, of course, there’s Ice Cream!)- The final destination for us is handed out at the Scouter’s discretion as well based on estimated times. This was heading to Stanley Park for our section BBQ with family. As we had to be there by 3pm, having good timing is critical.
In the end, it was a blast. Each team had a large ziplock with the envelops, two dice, emergency information, different items needed for the challenges (pens, paper, etc), and the maps. This stayed with the Scouter. We find that this program works best with 3-4 youth. This enables lots of personal growth, strong team working, and plenty of laughs.
Here are our different stations:
Library
- Locate a copy of “The Jungle Book”
- Olympic Torch
- What date was the cauldron lit?
- Steam Clock
- Who designed the steam clock?
- How many times does the clock sound in a day?
- Terry Fox Status at BC Place
- Photo – Join Terry Fox’s Run! Follow him on his journey and have your photo taken.
Chinatown Gateway
- What direction are the Lions facing?
- Art Gallery
- Create your own crest – draw inspiration from the UBC Crest. (Have 1 sheet of paper per youth to create their own coat of arms. ¼ sheet) +Pens
- Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s
- Photo Op with Dr. Sun Yat Sen and tour the public garden.
- Christ Church Cathedral – W Georgia x Burrard
- Find a seat, sit, not next to anyone else, close your eyes, be perfectly quiet for one minute. Reflect on your journey in the concrete jungle. Fail, you don’t get the next clue.
- Science World
- Do a lap of Science World. (Run Around the exterior)
Round House
- Find the “Disaster Support Hub” Sign. It’s on the exterior of the building.
- Stanley Park – Final location. Meet by the free water park.
- Lumberman’s Arch – Nature Bingo hunt.
Want to try this yourself? Awesome! Here are some files to get you started:
- JT-Paper-Destination, 4 on a sheet Letter size
- IceCreamBreak, 4 on a sheet Letter size
- Vancouver Downtown Map, Letter size
- Translink Downtown Vancouver Map April 2019, Letter size
Enjoy!
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