I am wanting ideas for activities and games to do for a caving night in a hall with a pack of cubs please. I'm a caver myself and have plenty of rope, electron ladders, tackle sacks etc. Has anyone done this before please? I looked at the thread on caving games on caving chat but most look inappropriate for children! I haven't heard of a lot of them so please correct me if some are suitable though please. Aim of the evening is to inspire the kids to try caving and maybe do some team building, knot type activity using some of my gear.
Caving in a hall ideas please
- Thread starter Gemma
- Start date
Try IanP: https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?threads/where-are-they-all.19414/
More recent, so some people here can probably help: https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?threads/scout-cave-leader-training.29713/
More recent, so some people here can probably help: https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?threads/scout-cave-leader-training.29713/
cavemanmike
Well-known member
You could also lend the bca artificial cave (if they still have it)
badger
Active member
BCA do still have the artificial cave.
Katie
Active member
The BCA does have a cave!
It gets lent out for events, but probably goes to more scout events than anything else and the cubs/ scouts love it!
It is probably too much to come and get it (from Derbyshire) for an evening event - but you may have any scouts camps etc that is might be useful for.
Email artificial.cave@british-caving.org.uk to enquire about booking it
It gets lent out for events, but probably goes to more scout events than anything else and the cubs/ scouts love it!
It is probably too much to come and get it (from Derbyshire) for an evening event - but you may have any scouts camps etc that is might be useful for.
Email artificial.cave@british-caving.org.uk to enquire about booking it
It might be worth investigating to see if any local climbing walls/centres have artificial caves. Here in the West Midlands there is one at Wolf Mountain for example.
I've used chairs and folding tables covered with dark cloth/old tent flysheets and stout cardboard boxes.
Thanks everyone. That artificial cave looks very familiar. I think it was at Ingleton's overground underground event one year. I misjudged my dimensions being heavily pregnant at the time.🤔 I will email the BCA using that address to think about hiring it for camps. In the meantime I will get thinking about box caving and send some emails to those permit holders too.
Katie
Active member
It has been to Ingleton Underground Overground - but not since about 2012 I think? Did you make it through with bump?
I made it a personal challenge to get through heavily pregnant for all 3 babies
The email address emails me - so feel free to ask any questions - even if you are not sure you will use it. Happy to help!
I made it a personal challenge to get through heavily pregnant for all 3 babies
The email address emails me - so feel free to ask any questions - even if you are not sure you will use it. Happy to help!
JasonC
Well-known member
For a cheap and easy option, I've had this idea before, but never actually tried it out.
Construct a frame (maybe 1m x 3m) with roofing laths and chicken wire, and say this is the roof of a passage - 2 or 3 adults hold it parallel to the floor, starting at around 1.5m and get the kids to walk under it. Easy. Now repeat, lowering by 5-10 cm each time, until only the littlest kids can get under it at all. To add to the appeal, you can give the movements needed at each stage names, eg 'monkey walk' (stooping, with knuckles dragging on the floor - think Valley Entrance), 'dog crawl' (hands and knees), down to 'snake crawl' (completely flat out, moving by toe-pushes). Think up your own names, or better still, get the kids to do so.
A chicken wire frame is light, and also allows you to see what the kids are doing so you can give tips/encouragement when it starts getting hard. And they can see out, so no claustrophobia.
Construct a frame (maybe 1m x 3m) with roofing laths and chicken wire, and say this is the roof of a passage - 2 or 3 adults hold it parallel to the floor, starting at around 1.5m and get the kids to walk under it. Easy. Now repeat, lowering by 5-10 cm each time, until only the littlest kids can get under it at all. To add to the appeal, you can give the movements needed at each stage names, eg 'monkey walk' (stooping, with knuckles dragging on the floor - think Valley Entrance), 'dog crawl' (hands and knees), down to 'snake crawl' (completely flat out, moving by toe-pushes). Think up your own names, or better still, get the kids to do so.
A chicken wire frame is light, and also allows you to see what the kids are doing so you can give tips/encouragement when it starts getting hard. And they can see out, so no claustrophobia.
cavemanmike
Well-known member
To add a bit of spice you could always hook the chicken wire up to a car battery 🔋 ( make sure you wear rubber gloves. 🧤 😬😬😬.
Only joking. Don’t try this at home folks
Caver Keith
Well-known member
In 2019 I made a film for the Shropshire Scouts Caving Team. It shows a group of youngsters gaining their caving activity badge. If you think it's something your group would be interested in, I can send you a copy.
Here's a link to the video on YouTube.
Here's a link to the video on YouTube.
Relict
Member
Set out a caving route made of chairs with lots of twists and turns. Chuck in a few with low brace bars here and there. Divide into 2 teams. One team sits on the chairs. Give the other team torches and switch off the lights. Time them through the course. If someone can't get through they submit and the sitter let's them out. They stay with the sitter.
They get a time and 15 seconds added for someone bailing at the 15th chair from the end, 5 seconds for the 5th from the end and so on. Then swap round.
Tom
When I headed over to a local scout group, the venture scouts (I'm out of touch) had set out chairs and such like and covered with ground sheets. It was small and as we had a mix of keenness, the less keen I took out side to rig up some different pulley combinations to see who could hoist up a sack of rocks. We moved up through 9mm rope, 10mm and 16mm then used a jammer, which was good for highlighting the issue of getting the load off the rope to release. and lastly we used an autolock descender with a couple other guys pulling with clamps.
To finish off I stuck in two pulleys and let the smallest kid give it a go and after a sneaky bag swap for the partly filled styrofoam bag, I tried to pass it off as a work smarter not harder session.
Back in the hall, some scouts were off doing something they needed to do for a badge assessment coming up and so there were about 10 scouts left so I dished out some notebooks, tape measures and compasses, to which they needed no introduction. I stuck a sticker on the floor at the entrance as coordinate 0,0 and start and finish point, I asked them to note using bearing and length centreline with a different colour sticker per team of 2 at corners, one scout on the compass and one on the tape, then as it was a loop, they swapped over and went back again using the same stickers they used for corner centre points.
They took the average of their two set of numbers and then on their whiteboard drew up what they came up with. That needed a careful eye which luckily someone else did.
Most were total trash, missing corners and such like, but one pair were actually paying attention and did really well something like 50mm out e&n, luck maybe but I'd be pretty impressed with that I think it was at least 10 legs all at least 2m.
Good fun but reliant on the older scouts doing all the work ahead of time. Must have taken hours to build up their cave.
To finish off I stuck in two pulleys and let the smallest kid give it a go and after a sneaky bag swap for the partly filled styrofoam bag, I tried to pass it off as a work smarter not harder session.
Back in the hall, some scouts were off doing something they needed to do for a badge assessment coming up and so there were about 10 scouts left so I dished out some notebooks, tape measures and compasses, to which they needed no introduction. I stuck a sticker on the floor at the entrance as coordinate 0,0 and start and finish point, I asked them to note using bearing and length centreline with a different colour sticker per team of 2 at corners, one scout on the compass and one on the tape, then as it was a loop, they swapped over and went back again using the same stickers they used for corner centre points.
They took the average of their two set of numbers and then on their whiteboard drew up what they came up with. That needed a careful eye which luckily someone else did.
Most were total trash, missing corners and such like, but one pair were actually paying attention and did really well something like 50mm out e&n, luck maybe but I'd be pretty impressed with that I think it was at least 10 legs all at least 2m.
Good fun but reliant on the older scouts doing all the work ahead of time. Must have taken hours to build up their cave.
Fab idea. Thank you!
Brilliant ideas here too. Thank you. Hauling tackle sacks is a great idea as I had wanted to incorporate rope work in some form....
