Time: 15 minutes (with 12 hours pre-soaking, and drying in oven)
Equipment: 1 cup raw almonds; ½ teaspoon salt; 4 cups filtered water; vanilla bean (optional); dates/honey (optional); blender/food processor; large bowl; chux/cheese cloth/kitchen towel
Purpose/Topic: Maritime History
AoPG: Physical
Almond milk could be used on long sea voyages when transporting a cow was problematic (if there was ‘gentry’ travelling who might require milk for tea).
Soak almonds for about 12 hours in water with the salt. Rinse them, and dry in the oven on the lowest heat.
Place almonds in a food processor or blender with the water.
Blend for several minutes, until smooth and creamy. (This mixture will expand, so don’t overfill your blender.)
Strain the mixture into a large bowl through the cloth.
Put mixture back into the blender with vanilla or soaked dates if using. Blend briefly.
Pour into a glass jar, and store in the fridge for up to one week.
Time: 5–10 minutes
Equipment: 3 corks per boat, 2 elastic bands, 1 toothpick, craft foam/paper, string, a ‘body of water’
Purpose/Topic: To explore floatation
AoPG: Intellectual, Physical
You can find the instructions here. This is such a cute idea:-)
Time: 5 minutes
Equipment: boat three part cards (to be uploaded)
Purpose/Topic: Nautical history and tradition—become familiar with some basic parts of a boat
AoPG: Intellectual
Terms: bow, stern, port, starboard, mast, sail, hull, anchor, oars
The objective of these cards is to correctly match the images with the label.
Each basic card set should include Image cards, Label cards and Combined Image/Label cards.
Give each pair of Joey Scouts a complete set of cards. They should match up the labels and images, and then refer to the Control cards to see if they are correct.
Time: 30 minutes
Equipment: bag for each Joey Scout/group
Purpose/Topic: Maritime Environment
AoPG: Physical, Social, Intellectual
Take the Joey Scouts to a beach (river or sea). Set them to collecting ‘interesting’ things. (You may wish to provide more guidance, depending on your location.)
After some time exploring and collecting, gather the Joey Scouts together and get them to tip their collections into a pile in the middle. As a group, sort the collection (possibly ‘natural’ vs ‘man-made’, ‘animal’ vs ‘plant’ etc.). Discuss the classification as you go.
Time: 5 minutes
Equipment: 2 lolly snakes per Joey Scout (different colours for preference)
Purpose/Topic: Basic Ropework
AoPG: Intellectual, physical
Give each Joey Scout 2 lolly snakes. Teach them how to tie a reef knot. When they succeed, they may eat the snakes.
Time: 5 minutes
Equipment: jug of water; eye dropper; cotton balls; dish
Purpose/Topic: Weather—Clouds
AoPG: Intellectual
Shape a cotton ball into a ‘cloud’. Hold it above the dish. Using the eyedropper, drop water onto the cotton ball ‘cloud’. After enough drops have been added, it will begin to ‘rain’ from the ‘cloud’. If you look carefully, you will be able to see the ‘raindrops’ forming at the bottom of the ‘cloud’.
Squeeze the cotton ball out, to empty all the ‘rain’ out.
Look in the dish, and you will be able to see how much water ‘rained’ from the ‘cloud’.
Time: 5 minutes
Equipment: knots three part cards
Purpose/Topic: Basic Ropework
AoPG: Intellectual
Terms: reef knot, figure of 8 knot, clove hitch, rolling hitch, bowline, sheetbend
The objective of these cards is to correctly match the images with the label.
Each basic card set should include Image cards, Label cards and Combined Image/Label cards.
Give each pair of Joey Scouts a complete set of cards. They should match up the labels and images, and then refer to the Control cards to see if they are correct.
Time: 20 minutes
Equipment: kites
Purpose/Topic: Weather—Wind
AoPG: Physical, Social
Take the Joey Scouts out on a nicely windy day. Give them a chance to run around and fly their kites.
A Little Blue Book 