When the coronavirus crisis first hit us, we did not know what to do. Our social lives that we depended on so much had been stripped off us. But luckily our explorer leaders came to the rescue. They set up an online chat which enabled us to socialise with our friends while remaining within the governments social distancing guidelines. We then proceeded to meet every Friday at our regular meeting times using an online video call. During these sessions we reflected on the current situation and how we were all coping with lockdown. We also played a variety of games one being photo roulette- where we would send photos of ourselves as babies and we would have to guess who each photo was of.
A few weeks into this routine we were due to host a district night (where all the nearby explorer units would join us for an evening of activities) but unfortunately this could not happen in the way we wanted it to due to the current circumstances.
Nevertheless, we were determined to find an alternative way of running the evening, so we decided to make it a totally virtual. We began the night with an online video call where we met everyone from the other units and our leaders explained the set up for the night. The original plan had us doing a “Where’s Wally” night which would have involved us searching for “Wally” in teams across Edinburgh following clues. Instead, we were then split into about a dozen teams (using group-chats to communicate) with mixed members from different units. Each team was assigned different explorer leaders aka the “Wally” who would take the place of a random stranger in a specific location on google maps- street view. The team of explorers would then ask yes or no questions to the “Wally” to help locate their whereabouts in Edinburgh. It was a great evening where we got to meet new people and have fun without even being in the same room. We have our explorer leaders to thank for the night being such a hit.
Wildfire Virtual video call
We are continuing to meet every week, sharing some laughter and positivity in this tough period. Although this time is uncertain, one thing is for sure: Explorers on a Friday.
For details of Where’s Wally Virtual – see here