30-Minute Activity Plan: Shelter Builder Challenge

Activity Overview

This activity challenges young people to work together to create a simple emergency shelter.

The emphasis isn’t on building the biggest or most impressive structure.

It’s about planning, teamwork, using materials sensibly and thinking about protection from the weather.

For younger groups, keep the challenge simple. For older Scouts and Explorers, introduce additional problems that make them think about the design.

Before You Start

Choose a safe area with suitable ground and enough space between groups.

Check the area for hazards before the activity begins.

Use a tarpaulin or other suitable camping material rather than encouraging young people to cut or damage living trees.

Explain that the shelters are for the activity only and aren’t intended to provide genuine emergency protection.

0–5 Minutes: The Scenario

Bring the group together and introduce the challenge.

Tell them:

“You’ve been caught outside and need somewhere to shelter from the weather. You have limited materials. What can you build?”

Explain the boundaries and the materials available.

Give each team a few minutes to discuss their design before they start.

5–20 Minutes: Build the Shelter

Divide the group into small teams.

Give each team the same basic materials.

Their task is to create a shelter that:

Encourage teams to test their ideas rather than simply copying another group.

Leader Questions

While they are building, ask:

“Where is the wind coming from?”

“What is supporting the shelter?”

“What happens if it rains?”

“How will you get inside?”

“Is anything likely to collapse?”

These questions encourage them to think about the design rather than just construction.

20–25 Minutes: The Weather Changes

Introduce a fictional change in conditions.

For example:

“The wind has increased.”

Or:

“Heavy rain is expected.”

Give teams a few minutes to modify their shelters.

They might need to lower the structure, improve the positioning or strengthen the supports.

This turns the activity into a problem-solving exercise.

25–30 Minutes: Shelter Inspection

Visit each shelter together.

Ask the team to explain their design.

What worked?

What was difficult?

What would they change?

Which direction would they want the entrance facing?

How could they improve protection from the weather?

Don’t turn the inspection into a competition based purely on appearance.

A simple shelter with a sensible design can be more successful than an elaborate structure.

Make It Easier

For younger groups, provide a basic tarpaulin and demonstrate one simple shelter design.

The challenge can focus on teamwork and safe construction.

Ask them to identify where they would sit and which direction the wind or rain might come from.

Make It Harder

For Scouts and Explorers, introduce restrictions.

For example:

You have fewer pieces of rope.

You can’t use trees as anchor points.

The shelter must fit the whole Patrol.

The entrance needs to face away from the wind.

You have five minutes to modify the shelter after the weather changes.

Older groups can also be asked to explain why they chose their particular design.

Safety

Check the area before starting and establish clear boundaries.

Don’t allow young people to climb trees or build structures that could collapse onto them.

Use suitable, inspected equipment.

Take care with knots, rope and tensioned lines, which can create trip hazards.

Avoid building shelters beneath dead or unstable branches.

Don’t cut living trees or damage vegetation to obtain building materials.

Dismantle the shelters afterwards and leave the area tidy.

Follow current Scouts safety and safeguarding guidance.

Leader Notes

The purpose of the activity isn’t to teach Explorers that a quickly built shelter is automatically suitable for a real emergency.

It’s about developing the principles behind shelter:

Protection

Location

Stability

Weather awareness

Resource management

Teamwork

For older groups, this can lead into a more detailed session on emergency shelter and expedition planning.

Learning Outcomes

Young people have opportunities to develop:

Teamwork

Problem-solving

Planning

Practical skills

Weather awareness

Risk awareness

Communication

Final Thought for Leaders

Don’t be tempted to build the shelter for them.

If their first attempt doesn’t work, that’s part of the activity.

Ask questions and let them make improvements themselves.

LEADER TIP

Let young people solve the problem.

A shelter that they design, build, test and improve themselves will teach them far more than one they simply copy from a leader.