Group Letterboxing Tips

 

• Plan to have enough letterboxes for them to have only 4-8 people per group. The fewer the better.
  
  
• PLEASE don't let each person take up an entire page in the logbook. Consider a group stamp or have everyone squeeze their individual stamps in.
  
  
• If planting your own letterboxes, review Tips for Planting.
  
  
• Make enough steps in your clues that they can take turns following each step and most of them get to do 2 of the steps.
  
  
• Give leaders who are new to letterboxing a separate sheet of instructions to read over ahead of time. Leaders *need* to pay attention and make sure that kids seal and replace letterboxes properly.
  
  
• Have all supplies they will need prepackaged in zipper baggies. Don't let them touch the supplies until you are ready! Have permanent markers for them to write their names on baggies.  You can give each student a marker for their own stamp (which they returned afterward) and have an ink pad in each letterbox for the box's stamp.
  
  
• If groups are taking turns finding the boxes, let others exchange signature stamps in the meantime. You may be busy swapping clues and supplies, so it works best if you can make this self-directed.One way to achieve this is by handing out paper bags with instructions inside.  The leader then makes an announcement for the students to follow the enclosed directions. Have a display of stuff they can look at if they have extra time. Some will take longer making stamps than others, so I had a gift/handle bag with a clue sheet for each letterbox.  When a group was ready, I gave them a bag. When groups finished, they brought back the bag and gave it to another group.
  
  
• Make sure there is something the students can use as a hard surface when they are stamping on the trail.
  
  
• Groups have a tendency to not put letterboxes back properly. Often this is because the person who retrieved it is not the same person who puts it back. Leaders, PLEASE monitor this and make sure that the container is well sealed and hidden when you are finished. Otherwise, it may not last much longer.
  
  
• Check out the GSA & BSA Letterboxing Discussion Board.