This week, the beavers have been learning about money, which was one of the badges that they really wanted to earn!
We started by giving each of the beavers a marshmallow and told them that they could either eat it straight away, at anytime during the session (after washing their hands) or they could wait until the end of the session and also get a second marshmallow. There was no right or wrong choice to make, it was entirely up to them. All the beavers decided to wait until the end of the session to eat their marshmallows.
Next, we talked about money and gave each lodge a set of coins to talk about with an leader or young leader. They discussed the size and shape of the coins, the materials that they are made of, the images and many other things, such as what to expect now that we have a King. Then the beavers had to put the coins in order of value and pick out certain coins from behind their backs by touch alone. Next, the beavers had to find 35p each from our bucket of coins in order to buy their badges from Jackal.
Then we washed our hands because coins are dirty!
Next, we designed our own coins using some different shaped templates. There were some great designs so Rook and Jackal decided which were their favourites and we awarded lodge points.
Lastly, we came back to the marshmallows and asked the beavers why this activity was connected to money. If you want to know why, ask a beaver because they know. We also asked the beavers what they would do with the extra marshmallow, e.g., share them, trade them, give them away to charity, etc. Not popular ideas, they were going to keep them and eat them!
The beavers were brilliant at all the activities we did and we see several of them ending up on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, perhaps even making it to Governor – our country’s future will be in safe hands!
Here are some photos of the beavers carrying out some of the activities:
