Age Groups in Scouting

Groups and their meeting times are visible on page Ryhmät. Group programs are linked to groups’ names. If clicking the name does not open the program, then the program is not yet available. They will be there, however.

Finnish Scouting happens in age groups. Here’s the description and names (Finnish names with English translations).

0-6 years: Perhepartio Family scouting	Family scouting is a new thing in Finnish scouting. In Family scouting children under 7 years participate with their parents or at least one adult from their close family. Family scouting has not yet a set programme, so we can only  assume that there will not necessary be weekly meetings. The focus will most likely be in making short trips in the woods, sitting by the fire and enjoying the great outdoors in general. What we know is that the children under school age will always participate in the supervision of their ”own” family adult(s) who are also responsible for the child.
7-9 years: Sudenpennut Cub Scouts	Cub Scouts form groups of 8–12 Guides/Scouts. The group is led by an adult leader (Akela. Just as in Jungle Book). The Cub Scout groups can be all boys, all girls or mixed groups. The group meets weekly for its Cub Scout meetings. which consist of learning and playing. In addition they go on short hikes and participate in camps and competitions.
10-12 years: Seikkailijat Adventurers	Adventurers form teams with 10–15 members. Finnish name of such team is Vartio. The team has adult leader(s) who take care of program activities. Children can also try out leadership by performing minor tasks during the team meetings. Adventurers explore different skills like first aid, cooking outdoors and cooperation with others. Adventurers groups can be all boys, all girls or mixed groups.
12-15 years: Tarpojat Trackers	Tracker groups are also called Vartio. Vartiossa consists of 4-12 persons. Tracker groups are either all boys or all girls groups, which are lead by Explorer. This Explorer is assisted by an adult leader called Luotsi (”Pilot” in seafaring). Even though the young Explorer is responsible of the weekly meeting, adult Guide/Scout leader directs the activities and has major responsibility of the group. The themes of the Tracker program are camping, creativity, survival and society.
15-17 years: Samoajat Explorers	An explorer group is called a Vartio, just as Adventurer and Tracker groups. Explorers lead them selves in a peer management way. Each group has a dedicated leader (Luotsi), however. He or she supports the group and plans activities together with the group. The adult leader oversees that the group activities align with official Finnish age group programme. In addition to the weekly meetings, the teams go hiking and participate in camps and other events.  The Explorers practice leadership by attending leadership training and leading a Tracker group.
18-22 years: Vaeltajat Rovers	Rovers work in project based groups. Each group is approximately 3-5 strong. Rover programme aims to explore the home country as well as foreign cultures. Rovers meet once or twice a month and as adults they plan their own program by choosing from numerous activities. Each individual makes a personal development plan according to his/her own interests.  In addition to executing their personal and group’s projects, Rovers are an indispensable asset in organizing Scout groups events.
22+ years: Aikuiset Adults	Within the Finnish Guide/Scout program, the term adult refers to Guides and Scouts older than 22. In the organization, the role of the adults is to support the growth and development of the children and young people. Thus, even though the Guides and Scouts of Finland is a youth organization, adults play an important role in the movement. It is never too late to join or re-join the Guides and Scouts!

When you want to join the Scouts and Guides in Palokan Partiolaiset, please do contact us. You can find the contact information here. 

You are entitled to participate a weekly meeting of suitable group three times before you are required to make decision whether to continue with us or not. If you (hopefully) decide to continue with us, you are required to fill in the form obtainable by the button ”below. The form is unfortunatelly available only in Finnish and Swedish. Thank the Suomen Partiolaiset (Scouts and Guides of Finland)  for that. After the membership is granted, you must pay the membership fee.