The SPICES concept gives the Scouts Canada program a useful framework to ensure well-rounded program offerings.
At each Section level, Scouters use The Canadian Path to support youth development and growth in each of the following areas:
Social: Through participation in Scouting adventures, youth begin to understand how they depend on others, and how others depend on them. Scouting adventures allow them to be part of a diverse group and develop cooperation and leadership skills.
Physical: Scouting adventures provide many opportunities for youth to be responsible for the care and wellbeing of their bodies.
Intellectual: Through Scouting adventures, youth have opportunities to develop in their ability to think, to plan, to innovate and to use information in an original way to adapt to new situations.
Character: Scouting adventures guide youth to take responsibility for themselves while still respecting the needs of others, helping them to create a lifelong personal values system.
Emotional: Through Scouting adventures, youth members are given opportunities to recognize and respect their own feelings and to learn to express them in a healthy manner while respecting the feelings of others.
Spiritual: In the midst of Scouting adventures, youth members have experiences in which they recognize that they are part of a larger spiritual reality and learn to respect the spiritual choices of others. (Note: The larger spiritual reality could include, but is not limited to: a relationship with God, Allah, Jehovah, Heavenly Father, Supreme Being, the eight-fold path of Buddhism, a Higher Power, a connection with nature and the earth and a connection with the global community.)
The SPICES shape our program; by including objectives from each area, we can ensure that we are meeting the needs of young people. Each of the SPICES should be fully explored as a youth member moves through the Scouting program, with some activities from each of the SPICES taking place each year, throughout each Section, and throughout the program as a whole