LATEST OUTDOOR GUIDES
Keep up to date with the latest guides, activities and resources from Survival Guides UK. Explore new articles covering outdoor skills, survival, Scout activities, camping, navigation, knots, fire safety and practical skills.
Our latest posts are designed to help Scouts, youth groups, leaders and anyone interested in outdoor learning develop practical knowledge and confidence. From new activity ideas and survival skills to useful how-to guides, check back regularly for the latest resources.
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Half-Day Activity Plan: The Ultimate Outdoor Survival Challenge
A practical half-day survival activity for Scouts combining navigation, shelter, teamwork, observation, problem-solving and outdoor decision-making. This is designed as a larger activity that can fill a substantial morning or afternoon without feeling like one long game. Teams move through a series of connected challenges, with each stage contributing to a final expedition scenario. Activity…
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The Survival Challenge – 90-Minute Scout Activity Plan
A practical survival skills activity for Scouts built around a changing outdoor scenario. Instead of teaching a series of unrelated survival skills, this session puts young people into a fictional situation where they have to make decisions, prioritise resources and adapt as the situation changes. The challenge is designed to test thinking as much as…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: Campcraft Olympics
A fast-moving Scout campcraft activity made up of short practical challenges rather than one long task. Teams move through a series of campcraft stations, earning points for completing challenges safely, accurately and as a team. The format keeps everyone active and gives young people the chance to practise several different outdoor skills in one session…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: Lost! What Would You Do?
A practical lost outdoors activity for Scouts that teaches young people what to do when a walk, hike or outdoor activity doesn’t go according to plan. Rather than turning getting lost into a frightening scenario, this activity focuses on calm decision-making. Teams work through realistic situations, decide what they would do next and learn why…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: Water Wise
A practical water safety and outdoor skills activity for Scouts that gets young people thinking about one of the most important outdoor resources: water. Rather than simply teaching that “water is important”, this activity explores where water comes from, how to judge whether a source is suitable for use, how water can become contaminated and…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: Nature Tracker Challenge
A practical nature tracking activity for Scouts that gets young people looking closely at the outdoor environment and noticing signs that are easy to miss. Instead of simply identifying plants and animals, teams become trackers. They search for evidence such as footprints, feeding marks, feathers, nibbled leaves, trails and other clues, then try to work…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: Compass Codebreaker
A practical compass activity for Scouts that turns basic navigation into a team codebreaking mission. Young people use compass directions to follow bearings, locate hidden information and piece together a final message. It combines navigation with problem-solving, so even young people who aren’t naturally enthusiastic about map work have a reason to get involved. Activity…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: The Great Outdoor Cooking Challenge
A hands-on Scout cooking activity where teams plan, prepare and present a simple outdoor meal using a limited selection of ingredients. This session isn’t about producing complicated camp recipes. Instead, it introduces young people to practical outdoor cooking, food hygiene, teamwork, planning and making sensible choices with limited resources. Activity Plan Time: 60 minutesGroup size:…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: The Emergency Backpack Challenge
A practical emergency preparedness activity for Scouts that gets young people thinking about what they might need when an ordinary outdoor plan doesn’t go quite as expected. Teams are given a fictional situation and a collection of equipment. They must decide what belongs in an emergency backpack, explain their choices and then adapt their pack…
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60-Minute Activity Plan: The Weather Watch Challenge
A practical weather activity for Scouts that turns weather observation into a team investigation. Young people learn how to recognise changing conditions, record observations and make sensible outdoor decisions based on what they can see around them. Rather than relying entirely on a weather forecast, this activity encourages young people to develop the habit of…
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