How your Child can join Beavers in the UK

Want to know how your child can join Beavers in the UK? Keep reading!

Scouting is an active and vibrant movement perfect for boys and girls aged 6 to 25. Operating throughout the UK, more than half a million young people join scouting to work towards badges and awards. They go camping, swimming, hiking, canoeing, cycling, abseiling and more. Scouting is fun and prepares young people with the skills they need to succeed in life.

Such skills include first aid, map reading, field hygiene, tent pitching, fire lighting, distress signals and much more. In the UK, kids can join Beavers to master new skills, go on adventures and have fun.

Want to learn more about the Beavers, how your child can join the scouting movement and more? Keep reading!

Who are Beavers?

Beavers are young scouts aged 6 to 8 years from all races, genders and backgrounds. As the beginning of a wonderful adventure, joining Beavers enables young people to make friends. They also have fun, go on adventures, help others and master new skills.

Every week, Beavers gather in groups called Colonies. They do so to play different games and participate in various activities. Basically, anything the kids set their minds to, they can achieve while having fun and learning something new.

A Beaver Colony is the youngest section of the Scout Group. It’s organised into smaller groups called Lodges. Lodges are commonly used to facilitate the organisation of the Beaver Colony. Typically, a home area for Beaver Scouts to gather before, during and after a Colony meeting is always provided.

What Are the Benefits of Joining Beavers?

There are a lot of benefits to becoming a Beaver.

Learn new skills
Learn teamwork
Grow confidence
Have fun
Make new friends
Have amazing adventures
Become empowered
Be creative
Explore the local community
Experience outdoor activities

They also get to experience the excitement of a Beaver sleepover beneath the stars with friends.

What age group is Beavers?

Beaver is for children aged 6 to 8, while Cubs is for kids aged 8 to 10 1/2 years. As Cubs, kids develop new skills and soar to great heights. Next is Scouts for 10 ½ to 14 years.

Scouts also learn new challenges and go on new adventures. Lastly, we have Explorers for 14 to 18-year-olds. When you join Explorers, you’ll learn lots of new activities, meet new people and earn more badges and awards.

How do I join Beavers?

To become a Beaver, you must find your nearest Colony. The best way to do so is by using the Scouts finder tool. Enter your postcode or location to find your local group. Reach out to the local leader to know if spaces are available. It’s also an excellent opportunity to find out where and when the Beaver Colony meets.

Your local leader can answer any questions about accessibility and more. Lots of people want to join Beavers. This means you might have to wait for space for your child to join the Beavers. If your local Colony has a waiting list, there are more opportunities for parents and other adults to help out.

How much does Beaver Scouts cost?

The cost of joining Beavers varies, but it’s likely to be between £50 to £100 per year. Usually, new members pay a basic fee to cover the cost of hire and upkeep of the Beaver meeting place. This fee is generally collected weekly, monthly, termly or annually. Activities that take place away from the usual meeting place, such as camping and trips, are typically charged separately.

Beavers is open to all and designed to be an affordable way for children and young people to learn new skills. Nobody should feel excluded from joining Beavers or participating in activities because of money. If you’re concerned about costs, parents need to speak to their local leader in confidence. Support is always available to make sure that no child misses out.

What do Beavers Wear?

On the first night as a Beaver, you’ll take part in lots of activities. As such, you should wear something you feel comfortable in. Later, you’ll receive your Beaver uniform to wear on trips, meetings and nights away.

Wearing a uniform is practical and comfy. The uniform ensures everyone feels they’re part of the Colony. It also gives a Beaver a place to show off all the badges and awards earned. The Beavers uniform consists of a blue/turquoise sweatshirt and a coloured Group scarf to represent your local group.

There are lots of accessories Beavers can wear, such as hoodies, a marron woggle and hats. The woggle is a small plastic tube that holds the scarf. Parents can buy the uniform and accessories online via the Scouts Shop or Amazon. Local scouting shops do stock the uniform. If you’re not sure where to start, adult volunteers are available to give you more information.

What do Beavers Scouts do?

Scouting is where Beavers have amazing adventures, learn new skills and make new friends.

Help Others…

Beavers learn to work as a team to help other people in their community and beyond. Playing your part starts in the village hall. For 1st Healing, Beavers deliver gift bags stuffed to the brim with hope and home comforts to women.

By taking part in such activities in the local community, Beavers become empowered to take a stand. They learn to raise their voices and stand tall. Most importantly, they gain confidence. Beavers also strive to leave the world a little better than they found it.

They do so by participating in the A Million Hands programme. The programme provides ready-made activities and ideas centred on six national themes. Beavers who participate in the program achieve their Community Impact Staged Activity Badge.

Whether they are working together to build a tent or help a friend try something new, Beavers are always there to lend a hand.

Explore the Outdoors…

As a Beaver, your child will spend a lot of time with the Colony. Together, they will go on trips to the seaside, build a den, host a Beaver sleepover beneath the stars and much more. Being a Beaver is all about making the most of what you are and have. Some of the activities Beavers participate in include:

Playing games
Hanging out with friends
Working in teams
Take on new challenges
Camping
Swimming
Hiking
Cycling and much more.

Learn New Skills…

Every week, Beavers learn new skills they need for university, school, college, job interview, business and life. For example, Beavers learn first aid. First aid is a critical tool that enables an individual to respond to accidents and ensures that injuries are promptly dealt with. This is before a trained medical professional arrives to administer specialised treatment.

This skill is beneficial even when your child grows up and starts a business or works for a company. At the workplace, first aid training helps employees to be more conscious of safety. This reduces the number of injuries and accidents. It also minimises risk to employees and decreases workplace incidents which is a benefit to everyone.

Besides learning new skills, Beavers earn badges and awards. They do so after the completion of different challenges. Such badges include the membership badge and challenge awards.

What badges can you get in Beavers?

There are several badges and awards Beavers can collect.

Membership Badge…

Immediately your child joins Beavers officially, he and his friends get invested. Investiture is a simple ceremony where new members recite the Beavers promise. The promise is usually read to them, and they repeat it.

After making the Beavers promise, your child will receive the Membership Award. The award features a picture of the fleur de lis. This is an international symbol worn by Scouts worldwide.

Leadership Stripes…

A Beavers Lodge is usually headed up by a peer leader known as a Lodge Leader, Junior Leader, or another name. Peer leaders take on extra responsibilities. They include organising and helping run games as well as helping new Beavers settle in.

Leadership is for one term only. When a Beaver’s time as a peer leader gets finished, he can wear the Leadership Stripes with pride.

Joining In Award…

This award celebrates every year a Beaver spends time with the Colony. Beavers can collect up to two Joining In awards during their time in the Colony.

Challenge Awards…

Challenge Awards are often given to Beavers who stepped out of their comfort zone to try something new. For example, overcoming something that scares you. The following are Challenge Awards that Beavers can receive.

My Adventure Challenge Awards
My Outdoors Challenge Award
Personal Challenge Award
My Skills Challenge Award
Teamwork Challenge Award
My World Challenge Award

Moving On Award…

This award is often given to Beavers on their way to becoming Cubs. When a Beaver completes this award, they get to know their new leaders, make new friends and transition to Cubs.

Chief Scout’s Bronze Award…

This is the highest award any Beaver can earn. To earn the award, Beavers must work gradually throughout the whole time in the Colony. To get your hands on the Chief Scout’s Bronze Award, complete all Challenge Awards plus Activity badges of your choice. This includes Staged Activity Badges.

Final Thoughts

The Scout Association has tens of thousands of young people on waiting lists. If there is a waiting list for your local Group, consider joining as a volunteer. Any assistance from parents and other adults helps the Beavers waiting list to be shorter.

If moving to a new area, inform your child’s Group Leader. You can also call the Scout Association, and they will put you in touch with a volunteer in your new area.