Scouting projects are activities engaged by scout members to make their training worthwhile. One of such activities is pioneering. Pioneering is the art of making structures by using simple tools such as ropes, wood, lashings and knots. These activities are implemented in the boy scouts to teach them practical ways of creating useful items for personal and societal benefits. Some major projects undertaken are: the making of gateways, towers, bridges and catapults.
GATEWAYS : Gateways are structures that form access to enter or exit a particular location. There are different kinds of gateways made by scouts. They include: Basic gateways, counter balance gateways, ladder rope gateways, light weight gateways, platform gateways, Star of David gateways, up and over gateways and turn stile gateways. The basic camp gateway is not very difficult to make. The basic implements required are light bars, sisal, large pegs and pickets.
- Basic gateways
- Diagrams of gateways
- Gateway making competition
- Making triangles for making gateways
- Requirements in making gateways
TOWERS: These are exceptionally high parts of a building. Some types of towers are Brynback towers, hour glass tower, Dan beard tower, look out tower, signal tower, skylon and stilt tower. A typical brynback tower is straight and its strength depends on the amount of triangles used in its preparation. The basic tools used are spars, lashings, ropes and pegs.
- What are scout towers?
- How to make towers
- Diagram of the Brynbach tower
- Making a tower
- Tower concepts
BRIDGES: Learning how to make bridges as a scout creates the opportunity to gain the skills that are useful in serving the society. There are different kinds of bridges and they include: Monkey Bridge, Single Lock Bridge, Suspension bridge, Friction Bridge and Draw Bridge. To make a monkey bridge, one must be equipped with spars, lashing lengths, light lines, hawsers, pulleys, handy billy, sisal, sacking pegs and pickets. Naturally, trees located around the camp ground are used as anchors for the bridge.
- Monkey bridge construction
- What a Monkey bridge looks like
- Friction Bridge
- Making the Friction Bridge
- Pioneering Suspension Bridge
CATAPULTS: While in camp, scouts can learn to make catapults as a tool to catch birds, rabbits or antelopes for their feeding. They can also use it to learn hunting strategies as well as defense techniques.
To make a standard catapult, the following requirements are needed: wood (for its base), popsicle stick, dowel rod, nails, string, rubber band, cloth, water bottle cap, screws, PVC “D” ring, drills, hammers, scissors, glue, sand paper and screw drivers. Catapult making is a great way of inculcating the act of team work and self confidence among the young ones.. Basic engineering techniques and analytical ways of solving design problems are also learnt.
- How to make catapults
- Making a catapult
- Building catapults
- Objectives of building catapults as scouting projects
- The importance of catapults
OTHER SCOUTING RESOURCES
Construction of shelters, camp fire gadgets, kitchen gadgets and general camping materials are important for the upkeep of scout members during their outdoor meetings. Some of these important gadgets are:
- Pot rod and other camping gadgets
- Camping knife
- Making fireplaces for cooking
- Building a firewood rack
- Things to do in camp
- Making a camp shower
- Making clothesline
- The log cabin
The inclusion of making projects in scout meetings is a profitable idea as this provides boys and girls with some basic amount of informal and formal education. In addition to knowing the capabilities of one another in the camp, a lot is also done on the members’ understanding to know their potentials and weaknesses in certain areas.