Squirrels: YouShape: Little Voices, Big Ideas
Squirrels shape their Drey by choosing, trying and telling.
Squirrels are four to six years old. Youth shaped Squirrels is not a committee — it is choice, repeated often, in a form a four-year-old can actually use. Two pictures held up and a show of hands is a Drey Forum. So is a jar of marbles by the door.
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The YouShape Award in Squirrels
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The Squirrels YouShape Award is four badges — the central YouShape badge first, then Plan, Lead and Represent in whatever order they choose. Squirrels set their own requirements with their volunteer team and decide together when each one has been met. This is the only badge where the young person decides.
Read the national Squirrels YouShape Award requirements
Plan, Lead, Represent in Squirrels
Every South London YouShape page uses the same three words. They are the three outer badges of the YouShape Award, and they are also the three things a young person can actually be given: a say in the plan, a turn at leading, and a voice that carries beyond the room.
Plan is thinking creatively, working together and planning activities. Lead is supporting others, delivering the programme and stepping up on nights away. Represent is telling others about it and speaking up for the group.
Plan
- Choose between two or three things you can see or hold
- Say what you would like to do at Squirrels
- Help pick the theme for the Drey
Lead
- Take a turn as the helper for a game or a snack
- Show another Squirrel how to do something
- Lead a bit of the opening or closing
Represent
- Tell a grown-up at home what you did and chose
- Make something that shows the Drey what you love
- Invite a friend to come along
YouShape in one night
A complete Squirrels session where the young people decide what happens next. It uses activity cards from this site, so you can print the night and run it as it stands. Download this session plan (PDF)
Quick Fire YouShape
Two pictures, one sticker
Print two photos of activities you could genuinely run next week. Stick them on the wall at Squirrel height. Everyone gets one sticker. Whichever wins, run it next week and say out loud that they chose it.
Name the chooser
When you introduce an activity, name who picked it. “We are doing this because Amina asked for it.” Thirty seconds, and it teaches the whole Drey that asking works.
More activities are at the bottom of this page.
Closing the loop with Squirrels
Asking is the easy half. Young people disengage when nothing visibly changes, so every South London youth forum ends the same way, in the same four lines. Say it out loud, then put it on the wall.
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Belonging starts at four
A Squirrel who is asked what they want to do, and sees it happen, learns in their first year of Scouting that this is a place where they count. That is belonging, built early, and it is why they stay.
How this relates to the strategy
Scouts is welcoming more young people and adults, especially from communities underrepresented in the movement, offering a safe, inclusive space where everyone feels they belong. How Squirrels youth shaped Scouting delivers the strategy
Not sure where to start?
Start with one question
Pick one thing you genuinely have not decided yet, ask it next week, and act on the answer. Keep the choice simple and visual. That is youth-shaped Scouting.My Youth Shaped Survival Guide
Ask your Youth Lead
Your District Youth Lead can come and run a simple youth voice activity with your Drey, or help introduce the first few YouShape activities and badges.
Find your Youth Lead
Drey Decision Time
Run a five or ten-minute Drey Decision Time. One question, two or three choices, pictures or objects to help explain them, and a decision the Squirrels can see happen.
It does not need to feel like a meeting or formal forum — for Squirrels, voting, choosing, pointing and moving around the room can work much better than sitting and talking.
Making sure every Squirrel is heard
A forum that only works for confident talkers is not youth shaped — it just amplifies the loudest. Every young person has the right to contribute, and Squirrels may communicate their feelings and ideas in lots of different ways. Never underestimate anyone’s ability to give their view.
Encourage turn-taking
Pass a soft toy or Squirrel mascot around the circle — only whoever is holding it speaks or makes their choice. A volunteer can help record what everyone says.
Set the ground rules first
Keep them simple: take turns, listen to each other and be kind about other people’s ideas. Quieter Squirrels contribute far more when they know they will not be interrupted.
Think about how you ask
Specific questions are usually easier than very open ones. Instead of “what shall we do next week?”, try “shall we do painting, an obstacle course or a treasure hunt?”
For an autistic young person, or anyone who finds open-ended questions difficult, showing two or three clear choices can make it much easier to take part.
Give processing time
Offer to come back to someone, let them hear other ideas first, or give them time to look at the choices. For bigger decisions, sending pictures or choices home beforehand can let a parent or carer help them think about their answer.
Offer more than one way in
Speaking, drawing, pointing, sticker voting, choosing a picture, holding up a coloured card or moving to one side of the room. Using several methods in one session keeps it fun and helps more Squirrels take part.
Use photos as memory aids
Squirrels may find it difficult to remember activities from several weeks ago. Show photos of things the Drey has done and ask which they liked, what they would change or what they would like to do again.
Let someone speak for them
A Squirrel may give their views more easily one to one, to a volunteer or Young Leader they know well. They can point, draw or explain privately and ask that person to share their idea with the group.
Show them their choice mattered
Young Squirrels may not connect a vote one week with an activity several weeks later. When you act on their choice, tell them clearly: “You chose this last week, so tonight we’re doing it!”
That helps them understand that adults listened and that their ideas can change what happens at Squirrels.
Explain the words we use
“YouShape”, “youth forum” and “Drey” may mean nothing to a new Squirrel, and some young people may take unfamiliar words very literally. Say what they mean.
“YouShape means you get to help choose what we do at Squirrels.”
Scouting speaks to all: a volunteer’s guide to speech, language and communication needs · Scouts with additional needs · Additional needs and disabilities guidance