DofE - where to volunteer?

[Muchtoomuchtodo]

Looking for ideas for ds1’s volunteering section of his bronze DofE

The obvious one would be to help with our local Beavers as it’s on a night when he doesn’t have anything else on and he can get himself there and back but it would be good for him to have a bit of choice.

What have your dc done?

volunteering in a charity shop is always popular, my dd read to little kids in the local library for 1 hour each week

sorry they were 2 separate suggestions!

If there's a parkrun nearby, that's a good option.

I was also going to say parkrun. My DS volunteered in a charity bookshop. Are there any after school clubs which he could volunteer for?

Both my dc volunteered at the after school club at the primary school that they used to attend.

We go to riding for the disabled and lots of the teen volunteers there are doing DofE

My daughter is volunteering at our local parkrun. There's quite a few of them there doing their DofE..

DD wanted to do some sort of conservation type volunteering- it was quite hard to find anything which was frequent and regular enough (at least twice per month, over the specified period) and which would take under 16s. Fortunately one of the local Wildlife Trust reserves had a scheme well tailored to DofE kids - they worked on making 'outdoor classrooms' learning skills such as deadhedging, planting trees, laying paths etc. This one was at Brockholes, just off the M6 where it crosses the Ribble. She did that for bronze and silver. (Gold was helping run her school robotics club - there's more options when they're older)

My dd1 went to the local old folks home, and spent time with the residents for a couple of hours a week - reading with them, playing cards (she's a card shark now!), chatting to them, etc. She still goes, and really enjoys it, and, by all accounts, so do most of the residents.

Dd is helping at the library. She started off in the summer helping with the summer reading challenge.

DD volunteered at donkey sanctuary and loved it.hard work though. Try to find something that ties in with interests. If animals then vets animal shelters or kennels often take on volunteers. Libraries do too. Or if existing hobby like dance they can volunteer to help with younger classes

Some brilliant ideas here.

Thank you all so much. 👍🏻

Dd volunteered at a integrated SN play group which ran on weekends and school holidays. She had been volunteering there since she was 12 and they were happy to sign the forms for her d of e. However i think they did get a bit fed up dc volunteering just for their d of e.
Dd became staff when she was 18 and was paid and still does the odd Saturday morning now she is at uni.
Ds volunteered with scouts as a young leader.

All my 3 did Beavers, or Cubs.
All stayed on as young Leaders and did a LOT longer than the 3 or 6 months, so the fact he can get himself there and back is a real bonus

There have been at least two other threads asking the same question in the last month or so, so it might be worth doing a bit of a search for the other ones.

There’s a lad at our local library who comes and runs a little chess club for an hour after school on Fridays. My DS loves playing chess with him.

My dd will be helping at Rainbows because she loves working with little children, but she also considered working in a charity shop/visiting an old people's home. The options are a bit limited for 14yos tbh.

Local football club or other sport club

Old peoples home here for dd.

She really enjoyed it, but found it a bit sad in parts.

Dd has been helping teach ballet to 2-10 year olds. Obviously that’s only an option if you do ballet though!