Scout Leadership Course Session Activity Notes

Session activity

Self Discipline: How to make a Patrol Leader

Time to allocate for this activity

30 minutes

Resources required

Each Patrol will need a box of assorted clothing, a pair of overalls (or pants and shirt), a ball of string, a large bag of shreaded paper , newspapers, a roll of sticky tape and a shopping bag.

Activity Notes

Patrols will make a model of a PL from the resources provided.

Introduction (5 mins)

What makes a Patrol Leader? Ask for some ideas from the course. Encourage ideas that talk about responsibility, reliability, enthusiasm, leadership, .

What are they expected to do? Again, briefly encourage comments from the group which include leading by example, instructing others, planning Patrol activities, etc.

The task (5 mins)

Each Patrol stuffs the clothing with shredded paper and dresses up their dummy. Half of the Patrols will make an ideal PL and the other half an ideal APL.

Use some left over newspaper to fill the shopping bag and make a head.

Adding skills and attitudes (5 mins)

Give the dummy skills and attitudes by cutting or tearing articles, headlines and advertisements from the newspapers and fixing them onto the appropriate parts of the dummy to illustrate the ideal PL/APL.

Presenting your ideas (10 mins)

Find your new Patrol Leader/APL a seat at your table and introduce them to the other Patrols, briefly highlighting their skills and attitudes and why you chose them.

Conclusion (5 minutes)

Use the Patrol Leaders Creed to highlight the role of the PL and, where appropriate, how the APL can fit into this role as well.