Tangen Project at Vennesla Scout camp

23/4/18-27/4/18

 

Intro

This trip was based around organising a set of activities for high school students based on outdoor skills and team building. Our location was the Scout camp in Vennesla approximately 40 minutes north of Kristiansand. Myself and Frankie had been put in charge of the organisation and administration by Len so in preparation had printed the score sheets and running schedule for each day. Before the trip, we had organised ourselves into groups and decided on 8 activities to teach. The activities were Jungle Swing, Nightline, Slackline, Firelighting, a Barefoot Walk, Shelter Building, Orienteering and River Crossing. At the beginning of each group’s activities we would enforce our main challenge and rule for the week: Speaking English whilst working in their teams. We reinforced this throughout the day as teams could lose points for speaking Norwegian.

 

Summary of the week

On the Monday, we drove up to Vennesla and Len took a wrong turn on the way as he was too busy talking about kayaking and fishing but all was well as we got to the car park and then walked along the flume into the campsite by around 11.30. This was great because we weren’t expecting the first group to come until 16.30 that afternoon. This gave us ample time to decide the best places for each activity to go and then to set them up. Once we had all set up the activities we walked around to each one and those running each activity explained how it worked so everyone had a general understanding of how they worked.

 

The first group that came were really our ‘test bunnies’. This was the group we all got used to the timing of each activity, where we were sending groups too and how to manage our time within each rotation. On top of this Frankie and I also learned how to best talk to the whole group and communicate effectively so that everyone was informed of what they were doing and when. As naturally happens we got much better throughout the week but this was not only due to us having more practise but also due to the fact some of the groups were more enthusiastic than others. The first 2 groups had been quite reserved and not that keen for the activities but the other 2 groups were awesome. Very engaged and willing to put themselves out there. This made it more enjoyable for them as well as us. We also got very lucky with the weather. Originally it was supposed to rain all week but we only got small showers here and there and as we had set up our sleeping arrangement in the dry we had nothing to complain about. We also had a lot of down time throughout the week which gave us plenty of time to walk up the flume to the waterfall and swim and male natural shelters which was really good fun.

 

 

Explanation of each activity

 

Jungle Swing: This activity was run by Abby, Sam and Theresa. It was set up as such: a rope over a branch and then a circle roughly a metre and a half in circumference around the where the rope hung. Encouraging team work and discussion as much as possible, the aim was for the group to be able to get their whole team across the circle on the rope without falling inside it otherwise they would have to start all over. There were rounds. So, it would become more challenging as the group successfully completed each round. As Sam mentioned to me they ran this activity purely on the ability of the group and judged if they needed to make it harder or not.

 

Nightline: Run by Maike, Jo and Janna was basically an obstacle course through trees and over rocks as well as other varying surfaces that participants would be required to complete blind folded with another team member guiding them through it. They would be able to Use words in round one but only sounds if they progressed to round 2. There was a rope that ran the whole route that participants could use as a hand rail to aid them.

 

Slackline: Aaron and Tom ran this activity challenging teams to have their whole team walk across the line (with another regular rope above to hold onto if they required) Then if the team succeeded their progression of the activity was to see if the whole team could balance on the line at once.

 

Firelighting: Will and Laura oversaw the teaching of the basics of firelighting to the students making it more interesting by incorporating the challenge of finding all their own kindling and wood and then having the flame high enough to burn through a piece of string. What made it even harder was that it was quite damp all week and students could only use flint and steel so Laura and Will both did a very good job orchestrating this activity successfully.

 

Barefoot Walk: Run by Sarah, Linda and Zoe. This activity was a bit different but still encouraged participants to make decisions together in trying to decipher what surfaces they walked over. They had a small course set up with all students walking over it in barefoot. The surfaces included leaves, rocks, snow, water, straw and small pinecones. They would walk over it blindfolded and then would have to figure out what the surfaces were.

 

Shelter Building: This was the Hungarian specialty. Lilla, Szofie and Bogi picked and area and collected logs of varying size and allowed one tarp and some odd sized ropes to be used. The participants were judged on how waterproof their shelter was, how many people could fit and how quickly they could build it and obviously, teamwork contributed to their score as well.

 

Orienteering: Well Orienteering proved to be a favourite amongst the instructors so Marijn, Pommy Tom and Scott (who had all been allocated to this as they had been away) were fairly happy with the end result. They had created a course with 10 points to find with some being on trees, in puddles and behind rocks. So, they had made it reasonably difficult. As well as this they would give groups and extra bonus point if they told a good joke when they got back. As the students had done some basic compass work previously they just set them off and emphasised the fact that running helps tremendously. Not only to keep warm but also because there was a time limit.

 

River Crossing: This was Robbie’s own invention where the group were given a couple different tools including planks and a pole with a carabiner taped to the end and their aim was to move their whole group to the other side of the ‘river’ by only using the planks and the small islands in the area (that were actually small sleds). There was also a bonus for carrying a bucket over the finish line as well. The group was timed and this is what the points system was based off.

 

Learning Outcomes

At first, I was a bit doubtful at our organisation as I thought we hadn’t done enough to prepare but eventually all worked well and ran smoothly. As I mentioned it was only natural at first for everyone to be not as competent as they were at the end of the week. The dynamics of the group were altered as many of the instructors were working with people they normally would not spend as much time with. So, this was quite beneficial for all of us and I believe it added another dimension to our class’ cohesion. This was the first time I had hammocked so it was a good learning experience for me as I’m now hooked and want to buy one as soon as I get home and have been using them on all the cam