13 year old ds doing DOE award. What can he do for volunteering?

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I've enquired at two places related to animals and they both won't accept under fourteens. Apparently he has to have the volunteering sorted within the next two weeks to take part. Any suggestions?!

He has to do 1 hour a week for 12 weeks. He's not 14 until June so a long way off! I've suggested helping out at Cubs but he's not keen on that idea.

I visited geriatrics in the hospital for mine.

I've emailed our local parkrun so hopefully he'll be able to do that!

Lots of his friends are doing it but not sure what any of them are doing. I'm hoping to be given more information on what we need to do. The physical and skill part of it are sorted already at least.

What sort if things is he interested in and what will they accept?

Project Gutenberg are always looking for volunteers, its an online library. There's no age limit but there is a competency test if he would like to help with proofreading.
www.gutenberg.org

I've got a mid-July child so we had the same problems with not being 14. That ruled out charity shops and helping at Beavers etc.

Park run is a good suggestion as
Is helping out at a sports club for the younger age groups.

We had a couple of DofE volunteers help at our local food bank. Will depend on how yours is set up as they obviously can't be front of house with clients but if it's organised in a way that they can pack bags/stack shelves etc it could work. We were wary of taking them on because of their ages but with a proper risk assessment and a thorough check of the insurance it was fine

My kid brother worked in a charity shop for a couple of hours on a Saturday when he did his. The ladies there were more than happy to have him help out.

Our animal rescue place accepted DS if an adult accompanied him. Worth a try?

Definitely Cubs etc., also I knew children who did things like help set up/put away community playgroups, assisted in homes for elderly or disabled etc.

UK version of Thunberg? ( ambitious!)

Or.... a kid in our village does bake sales every month to raise money for a local charity.

Most recently, the majority of charity shops have stopped accepting under 16 volunteers unfortunately in the wake of the Oxfam scandal. This is very recent and a real shame as working with customers, seeing how retail works and using the till (!) were all great to do, one of mine did it.

Beavers and Cubs definitely

Or if allowed out of school could he listen to smaller children read?

Or do a lunchtime club at school?

My ds volunteered at a friend's Brownies. He's continued to do it for his silver too.

Another vote for park run. My ds did that. They were so helpful and he really enjoyed it. He finished his time a while ago but still runs one week and volunteers the next.

DD volunteered in Barnardos charity shop for bronze, this time round she's visiting at the local retirement home to help out with activities

Our parkrun is chockablock of DofE kids. DS got signed off after he'd done 13 of the main Saturday ones and enjoyed it so much he now runs it every couple of weeks.

They'll bite your hand off.

My daughter helped out with SN kids at school. Helping with reading etc.

This is what the school hasn't thought through, in offering it out to Year 9s, rather than starting in Yr10, when everyone can take part.

For Scouts, Young Leaders and people doing DofE volunteering need to be 14.
Very few charity shops will take U16s.
As you have found, people generally find the younger the person, the more support they need.
There is a reason DofE is supposed to be started age 14 and above Yes, I know they allow flexibility to let a young person join in alongside their mates - but then this is the difficulty they then run in to.
DofE FAQs

Also, part of the developing of the young person is that they ought to be approaching people themselves, not you doing it for them - that is all part of the learning and growth that the scheme is designed for.

However, there is no compulsion to complete it within a school year - he can get the other parts done and then do the volunteering part once he is old enough.

A pdf of ideas as a starting point from the DofE

I'm a run director at a parkrun and we have a waiting list for volunteers for DofE - they are very valuable to us! We make sure they have a go at all the roles including run director (with support). It's always nicer when they ask us themselves though rather than their parents.

Phone up your local round table they're always looking for people to help at events anything from marshalling and helping with car parking (supervised),to selling programs at events and are happy to help young people get involved.
DD helped at the local library decorating for book week,Easter,special reading events,making posters to better advertise for adults as well as children.She kept this up after the time for volunteering was up.

Some of the volunteering my young people are doing are
Helping at the youth club ( the junior sessions)
Peer mentoring in school. ( helping in various clubs at lunchtime)
Helping out in a pet shop
Being a friend at the dementia unit
Helping out at a Charity shop
Being on our local litter picking task force.
Ice hockey coaching with the u10s

I was going to suggest parkrun too. All he needs to do is register and then email the volunteer coordinator.

Loads of good suggestions.

I’m going to add in youth council if your local area has one (or he could set one up)

If he reads well he could be a reading mentor for younger pupils at school.

I visited a lovely elderly lady in a nursing home and she showed me pictures of her flower arranging every week. It was very rewarding