Community Challenge

Four nights exploring community connections — who helps us, the cultures around us, service in action, and performing good turns. Cubs develop social awareness and a sense of giving back.

Challenge Area
Community
Award Type
Challenge Area
Nights
4
Total Duration
5 hr 30 min
Equipment Summary
flag, flag pole, job cards (pre-prepared set of 20+), chairs arranged in a circle, question cards, butchers paper (one sheet per patrol), markers, coloured pencils, sticker dots, whiteboard and 41 more

About this trail

This 4-night trail is designed around the Community Challenge Area, making it straightforward to program community-focused nights that contribute to Milestone credit. Each night follows the Scouts Australia Plan > Do > Review cycle and is structured as a mix of indoor and outdoor nights.

Across its 4 nights, this trail maps to OAS requirements in Bushcraft. The requirements are specific — not just "do some bushcraft" but individual Stage requirements like fire-lighting methods or shelter construction techniques. Tussock pre-loads these requirements into each night's event plan so leaders can sign them off during the activity rather than transcribing them later.

The SPICES developmental domains covered by this trail are: Social, Intellectual, Character, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical. Programming across multiple domains in a single trail helps Groups demonstrate balanced youth development in their term plans and annual reports.

You can run the four nights in order for a coherent multi-week program, or pick individual nights to fill gaps in your existing term plan. In Tussock, importing a night from this trail pre-fills the Scout Night wizard: Challenge Area, SPICES domains, OAS requirements, and suggested segments are all set. Customise from there to suit your Section.

Import into Tussock

Import this trail into Tussock to run each night with attendance tracking and automatic OAS requirement awarding built in — no manual requirement lookup needed.

OAS Requirements Covered

The following Outdoor Adventure Skills requirements are mapped across this trail's four nights. Import this trail into Tussock to award these requirements automatically when Scouts attend each night.

Bushcraft

The Four Nights

Each night below is a standalone Scout Night session of approximately 1 hr 23 min and follows the Plan > Do > Review cycle. Run them in order for the full Community Challenge trail, or adapt individual nights for your program.

Night 1: Community Helpers

Visit from or discussion about community helpers. Game: "Jobs Charades". Activity: Map your neighbourhood helpers.

Indoor Challenge Area: Community Duration: 1 hr 30 min
Social Intellectual Character

OAS requirements this night: bushcraft.s1.plan-4, bushcraft.s2.plan-4

  1. Opening Ceremony Ceremony

    Grand Howl. Flag break. Attendance. Introduce the theme: "People who help our community".

    Character
    Equipment (2 items)
    • flag
    • flag pole
  2. Jobs Charades Game

    Each Cub draws a community helper card (firefighter, nurse, librarian, ranger, police officer, vet) and mimes the job for their patrol to guess. Rotate until all cards are used.

    Social Intellectual
    Equipment (1 item)
    • job cards (pre-prepared set of 20+)
  3. Guest Talk or Video: A Community Helper discussion

    A local community helper (e.g. paramedic, firefighter, SES volunteer) visits to talk about their role. If no guest is available, show a short video and discuss. Cubs ask prepared questions.

    Social Intellectual
    Equipment (2 items)
    • chairs arranged in a circle
    • question cards

    OAS: bushcraft.s2.plan-4

  4. Map Your Neighbourhood Helpers creative

    In patrols, Cubs draw a large map of their neighbourhood on butchers paper and mark where community helpers work — fire station, hospital, school, library, police station, vet. Add their home and Scout hall.

    Intellectual Social
    Equipment (4 items)
    • butchers paper (one sheet per patrol)
    • markers
    • coloured pencils
    • sticker dots

    OAS: bushcraft.s1.plan-4

  5. Emergency Number Relay Game

    Quick relay game: Cubs race to a whiteboard and write the correct emergency number (000 / 112) for scenarios read out by the Leader. Reinforce when to call, what info to give.

    Intellectual Physical
    Equipment (3 items)
    • whiteboard
    • markers
    • scenario cards

    OAS: bushcraft.s2.plan-4

  6. Thank You Cards Prep creative

    Each Cub starts a thank-you card for a community helper they admire. They will finish and deliver these in Night 3.

    Character Emotional
    Equipment (4 items)
    • blank card stock
    • markers
    • stickers
    • envelopes
  7. Closing Ceremony Ceremony

    Reflection: "Name one community helper you want to learn more about." Prayer/thought for the day. Dismiss.

    Character Spiritual

Total night duration: 1 hr 30 min

Night 2: Cultures Around Us

Cultural celebration night. Cubs bring something from their heritage. Craft: world flags. Food tasting from different cultures.

Indoor Challenge Area: Community Duration: 1 hr 20 min
Social Intellectual Character Spiritual
  1. Opening Ceremony Ceremony

    Grand Howl. Flag break. Acknowledge that our pack includes families from many backgrounds and cultures.

    Character Spiritual
    Equipment (2 items)
    • flag
    • flag pole
  2. Show and Tell: My Heritage discussion

    Cubs share an item, photo, or story from their family heritage. Could be a flag, a piece of clothing, a recipe card, a toy, or a word in another language. Each Cub gets 1-2 minutes.

    Social Character Emotional
    Equipment (1 item)
    • items brought from home
  3. World Flags Craft creative

    Each patrol is assigned 3-4 countries represented in the pack. Cubs colour or paint the flags on A4 card. Display on a "Flags of Our Pack" banner.

    Intellectual Social
    Equipment (5 items)
    • flag template printouts
    • paints or markers
    • A4 card
    • string for banner
    • pegs
  4. Around-the-World Relay Game

    Active game: stations around the hall each represent a continent. Cubs run to each station, answer a simple question about that continent (e.g. "Name an animal from Africa"), get stamped, and run back.

    Physical Intellectual
    Equipment (4 items)
    • continent station signs
    • question cards
    • stamp/stickers
    • answer sheets
  5. Food Tasting practice

    Sample small portions of foods from different cultures — e.g. damper (Indigenous Australian), sushi rice balls, pikelets, flat bread, fruit. Discuss where each food comes from.

    Social Intellectual
    Equipment (4 items)
    • food samples (pre-arranged with families)
    • plates
    • napkins
    • labels for each food
  6. Closing & Reflection Ceremony

    Cubs sit in a circle. Each shares one new thing they learned about another culture tonight. Close with the Cub Scout Promise.

    Social Character Spiritual

Total night duration: 1 hr 20 min

Night 3: Service in Action

Write and complete thank-you cards for community helpers. Plan a community clean-up. Make care packages for a local charity.

Indoor Challenge Area: Community Duration: 1 hr 20 min
Social Character Emotional
  1. Opening Ceremony Ceremony

    Grand Howl. Flag break. Introduce tonight's theme: "Doing our best to help others".

    Character
    Equipment (2 items)
    • flag
    • flag pole
  2. Thank-You Card Station creative

    Cubs finish their thank-you cards from Night 1. Each card should say who it is for, why they are thankful, and include a drawing. Address envelopes for delivery.

    Character Emotional
    Equipment (5 items)
    • cards from Night 1
    • markers
    • stickers
    • envelopes
    • address list for local services
  3. Plan Our Clean-Up discussion

    In patrols, Cubs plan a community clean-up for Night 4. Decide: where to clean (park, street, creek), what equipment to bring, safety rules (gloves, buddy system, no touching sharp objects). Draw a map of the area.

    Intellectual Social
    Equipment (3 items)
    • paper
    • markers
    • local area map printout
  4. Helper Bingo Game

    Energiser game: Cubs play bingo with community helper pictures and descriptions. First to complete a line calls "Good Turn!" and describes what one of their helpers does.

    Social Intellectual
    Equipment (3 items)
    • bingo cards (pre-prepared)
    • counters
    • caller cards
  5. Care Package Assembly service

    Cubs assemble care packages for a local charity (e.g. food bank, aged care home). Each patrol fills a box with donated items (canned food, toiletries, warm socks) and writes a cheerful note.

    Character Social Emotional
    Equipment (5 items)
    • donated items (requested from families in advance)
    • cardboard boxes
    • packing tape
    • note cards
    • markers
  6. Good Turn Pledge Reflection

    Each Cub makes a personal pledge to do one good turn this week — write it on a star card and pin it to the Good Turn board.

    Character Emotional
    Equipment (3 items)
    • star-shaped card cut-outs
    • pins or tape
    • pledge board
  7. Closing Ceremony Ceremony

    Cub Scout Promise. Reminder about Night 4 outdoor clean-up: wear old clothes, closed shoes, bring water.

    Character

Total night duration: 1 hr 20 min

Night 4: Good Turn Day

Perform acts of kindness around the hall or park. Community clean-up. Reflection on how Cubs contribute to their community.

Outdoor Challenge Area: Community Duration: 1 hr 20 min
Social Physical Character Emotional
  1. Opening Ceremony Ceremony

    Grand Howl outdoors. Buddy up. Safety brief: stay in pairs, wear gloves, do not pick up sharp or dangerous items — flag a leader.

    Character
    Equipment (1 item)
    • flag
  2. Community Clean-Up service

    Patrols spread out through the designated area (park, creek bank, street) with bags and gloves. Collect rubbish. Leaders supervise each patrol. Sort recyclables from general waste.

    Physical Character Social
    Equipment (5 items)
    • rubbish bags (one per patrol)
    • recycling bags
    • disposable gloves
    • hi-vis vests (optional)
    • litter pickers (if available)
  3. Kindness Scavenger Hunt Game

    While outdoors, each patrol completes a "Kindness Scavenger Hunt" card: hold a door for someone, say thank you to a stranger, help a younger Cub carry something, pick up 5 more pieces of rubbish, find something beautiful in nature to show the group.

    Social Character Emotional
    Equipment (2 items)
    • scavenger hunt cards (pre-prepared)
    • pencils
  4. Rubbish Tally & Discussion discussion

    Regroup. Count and weigh the collected rubbish. Discuss: "Where does this rubbish come from? What can we do to reduce it? How did it feel to help?" Celebrate the total collected.

    Intellectual Character
    Equipment (2 items)
    • bathroom scale (optional)
    • whiteboard or large paper
  5. Good Turn Reflection Circle Reflection

    Sit in a circle. Each Cub shares: one good turn they did this week (from their pledge), and one thing they learned from the trail about community. Pass a talking stick.

    Emotional Social Character
    Equipment (1 item)
    • talking stick or special object
  6. Trail Celebration & Closing Ceremony

    Celebrate completing the Community Challenge trail. Thank Cubs for their service. Deliver care packages and cards this week. Grand Howl. Dismiss.

    Character Spiritual

Total night duration: 1 hr 20 min

See also

OAS Framework Reference

Full breakdown of all 9 OAS streams and their stage requirements.

Browse OAS framework →

More Challenge Area Trails

Find other trails with a similar Community focus.

All Night Ideas →