Each meeting follows the same routine to support young people to feel confident during the session.
Opening ceremony – young people are welcomed into the group, self sign in and sing a song to start the meeting.
Story – The story is an essential part of the Squirrel programme. Literacy is incredibly important at this age and the story sets up the theme for the meeting.
Activity – The story sets up the weeks activity. The activity is planned to last around 20-30 minutes and makes up the bulk of the meeting. The activity is based on the meeting badge, programme theme and related to the meeting outcomes.
Game – Each meeting has a game that relates to the meeting outcomes. We start the meeting with a running around game or team working to burn off some energy and get everyone ready for the activity.
Closing ceremony – This is a really important part of the meeting where everyone comes back together and shares their experience of the meeting in small groups or as a whole, the young people are each given a sticker for that meeting to be put into their sticker book. Once the person running the meeting has shared the activity at home and any notices about the next session, the group sings the goodbye song to close the meeting.
Activity at home – To build on the skills that young people have gained from the meeting, each meeting has an activity at home. These are completely optional but are incredibly beneficial to the young people and a great opportunity to discuss what they have been doing during the meetings with friends and family.