Venturing is a Boy Scouts of America program for young men and women who are 14 to 20 years of age. Venturing is a very flexible program. A Venture crew might be focused on a hobby, such as railroading or scuba diving. It might just have an outdoor focus. Or it might be a church youth group with a service focus.
See below for some ideas related to Venturing. Or use the menu above if your crew is interested in working on advancement.
Articles related to Venturing / Older Scouts
Recruiting New Crew Members Recruiting new Crew members presents some challenges. How can we reach youth and get them to try Venturing?
Venturing Super Activity One of the things our Crew has been discussing lately is planning a super activity. A super activity is something beyond the normal weekend campout.
Human Knot Game This is an icebreaker in which a group must work together to "untie" themselves from a knot. This is a cooperative rather than competitive game.
Won't You Smile Game Won't You Smile is a team-building or icebreaker game suitable for Venturers or Boy Scouts.
BSA Methods for Boy Scouts vs Venturers Some people wonder about what the main differences between the Boy Scout and Venturing programs. Aside from the obvious differences – the age difference and boys only vs. coed – looking at the methods used in the two programs offers some insights into the main differences between the program.
The Aims of Scouting The Boy Scouts of America enumerates three aims of Scouting – Character, Citizenship, and Fitness.
Book Review Part 4: Developing Teen Leadership I was recently asked to review a book on teen leadership. The book is called Developing Teen Leadership: A Practical Guide for Youth Group Advisors, Teachers and Parents. Today I am reviewing part 4 of the book - Topics.
Camping With a Coed Venture Crew Camping with a coed Scouting unit presents its own set of concerns and challenges. It is important to have a clearly defined Code of Conduct beforehand.
Crew Activities - Skiing At our Crew meeting this past Sunday, the focus was on skiing. Our council is having a ski night for Venturers at a local ski resort in January. The original plan had been to have a guest speaker come in and give some skiing tips. He couldn't make it at the last minute, so our Crew president made a presentation instead.
Crew Social Event and Service Project – Trunk or Treat They are going to help distribute pizzas at the event and do some other small jobs for the organizers. In return, they will have a table where they can hang out together and pass out candy (since none of them has a car). They will wear costumes and have a great time. So this will mostly be a social event for them with just a little service thrown in. It should be fun for them.
Shoot The Gap Game This game is suggested as an interpatrol activity for one of the meeting plans in the Public Service troop program feature. This game would also work as a team building game or ice breaker, since the participants must know the names of the other players. So I think this could also be worked into a Crew program.
Scouting Resources - High Adventure Destinations Scoutmaster Clarke Greene - of The Scoutmaster Podcast fame - is developing a database of high adventure destinations. I love the idea! Adding a little adventure to a program keeps older Scouts engaged.
I Can Do That With One Hand Tied Behind My Back Game The goal of this game is for two Scouts to work together to make a simple lunch. The challenge is that they each have one hand tied behind their back.
Aims of Scouting - Fitness The three aims of Scouting are Character Development, Citizenship Training, and Mental and Physical Fitness. So how are physical and mental fitness is incorporated into the Scouting programs offered by BSA?
River Rafting with the Venture Crew Our Crew is going river rafting today on the Huzzah River. The Huzzah is not deep or swift, so we're looking forward to a nice lazy day floating down the river.
Chicken on a Hut Game This game makes a fun break in a meeting. It is a favorite with our Venture Crew. Because of the physical contact with the partners, when playing this game with our coed Crew, boys are partners with boys and girls are partners with girls.
BSA Methods - Association with Adults Association with adults is one of the methods used in both Boy Scouts and Venturing. While these programs are youth-led, there are still adults present to mentor and help the youth leaders.
Getting Teens to Sign Up for Venturing Our Crew has been trying to recruit lately. The problem they are having is they talk to Bob and he isn't sure he wants to go unless Tim and Amy are going. They talk to Tim and Amy and they are wondering who else will be there. And on and on...
Fall Fun Rally | BSA Centennial Year National Venturing Event This year Fall Fun Rally has been designated the BSA Centennial Year National Venturing Event.
Journey To Excellence Service Projects The Journey to Excellence Service Project initiative encourages Scouting units to carry out meaningful service projects.
Nitro Transport Game This is an initiative game. Its purpose is to get a group to work together to solve a problem. This should build teamwork and cooperation in the group.
BSA Methods - Teaching Others The methods of Scouting are the ways that Scouting's aims of developing character, citizenship, and fitness in youth are achieved. One of the methods for Venturers is “teaching others”. Teaching others is the best way to really acquire deep knowledge of an area. By sharing their skills with others, Venturers retain their knowledge better and provide service to others
Regular Crew Meetings Our Crew has been going for about 10 months now and our officers are still trying to determine what will work for the group. Up until now, our meeting schedule has been pretty irregular. Things have been going pretty smoothly for the group, but it seems like regular meetings would help with planning and growing.
Aims of Scouting – Character The three aims of Scouting are Character Development, Citizenship Training, and Mental and Physical Fitness. Today we look at how character development is incorporated into the Scouting programs offered by BSA.
Scouting For Food The featured core value for Cub Scouts for the month of November is citizenship. Our Pack will help encourage citizenship in our Cub Scouts by participating in the local Scouting for Food program.
Crew Costume Party Our Venture Crew is having a costume party tonight. JD is responsible for planning the activities. I've asked him for a general idea of what will be happening.
Online Training - Venturing Crew Officers Orientation The Venturing Crew Officers Orientation is meant to be shown directly to your Venturing Crew officers. If you are a new Advisor or Associate Advisor, you will also find this training informational.
Crew Activity – Teen Area at Homecoming Our parish Fall Festival is coming up in a couple of weeks. Our Crew asked if they could do some sort of service project at the event, and it was decided that they would provide some sort of gathering spot for the teenagers. So they are going to have a pavilion type tent which is for teenagers - no little kids allowed.
Book Review Part 5: Developing Teen Leadership This final section of the book looks at how parents and teachers can apply the advice presented earlier in the book in their own unique roles to teens. It includes some caveats. For example, a teacher might be limited in how much control he can really allow teens to have in a classroom. It also includes some encouragement for parents and teachers, such as a reminder that parents are always a teens greatest role model.
National Youth Leadership Training National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) is an intense week long leadership training class for youth
