Children ages five to 25 who are looking to enjoy a variety of activities, especially in the Great Outdoors, will be happy to hear that registration for the 5th Weyburn Scouts is open for the 2025-2026 year.
Although registration is open throughout the year and those interested can sign up for the Scouts anytime, with the Fall air rolling into southern Saskatchewan and many sporting activities opening registration, the Scouts offer a little bit of everything. Lise Soles, 5th Weyburn group commissioner and head Cub leader, explains what Scouts Canada is and how there is something for everyone.
“Scouts Canada is part of the worldwide scouting movement. So, we have in almost every country across the world a scouting group, which is wonderful when we get talking about the World Jamborees. As far as 5th Weyburn goes, in Canada it is co-ed, so it's boys and girls and has been since the 80’s. We offer programs ages 5 through to 25 and things that we do include a little bit of everything. Our main focus is camping skills, survival skills, first aid, community service, personal growth (but) we also have a tech side, and we do focus a lot on the STEM things because who doesn't like to blow things up?”
All of their programs are age-specific, with a variety of groups for different ages providing activities best suited for their age. They divide their groups by age, with Beavers being 5 to 7 years old, Cubs 8 to 10, Scouts 10 to 12, and Venturers for ages 12 to 17, and Rovers 17 and up.
The Beavers group will run on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m., Scouts are from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays and Cubs are 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays and they also host regular weekly meetings on top of their different camps and adventures.
With so many different sports groups and activities for kids nowadays, it can be easy to find yourself asking what sets this group or organization apart from others. Soles says that by offering a wide variety of outdoor and community involvement events on maybe a more relaxed schedule than competitive sports, kids may feel more creative in other areas.
“With our group, some of the interest largely comes from families who maybe don't have the time or the resources to be dedicated into something that's on a little bit more of a competitive sports, for example. You could have three or four practices a week for one child, that can become a little daunting. Or, maybe it's a child who doesn't quite know what they like, maybe they want to try to play the saxophone, but do you want to put them into something where it's going to be saxophone for six months? Whereas with Scouts, we have something different kind of each week. We go to different things like, you know, who would think to go to a couch rally? Where you are literally going to just throw some wheels onto a couch and drive it around the city. So, we do fun things like that but its a little bit different each time.”
Although 5th Weyburn Scouts have always prided themselves on teaching outdoor skills, this variety of events garners more interest from different kids. For more details and registration information, you can visit the Scouts Canada website at www.scouts.ca or contacting Lise Soles at 306-861-3467 or at llsoles@sasktel.net and check out their Facebook page to see what they’re up to.