What to include?

[Piper]

A major determining factor is the age level of the Scouts. My wife has been involved with the Girl Scouts for over 35 years. I've done numerous presentations for school, Scout and other youth groups. I take it this is for their "Thinking Day" event? I played the pipes last year as part of my wife's Troop's presentation. That event brings together girls of all different ages. A good rule of thumb is one minute of attention span per year of age. Regardless of age, I try to keep the information in small, easily absorbed doses, nothing too political, heavy or dark. There's a small book out called "Wha's like us?", unfortunately, the author escapes me, that is kind of a light hearted look at Scottish history. The facts are correct, just presented with a bit of humor.
Several years ago I did a presentation for my oldest granddaughter's preschool class. This was a group of 4 and 5 year olds. I showed and played the practice chanter and the smallpipes in the classroom, then had the teacher take them outside for the a demonstration of the Great Pipes. Following a short tune I handed out kazoos that I had picked up at a dollar store and told the kids we would have a volume contest. Teacher was not terribly happy, the presentation was first thing in the morning, so she was stuck with a classroom full of kazoo tooting kids for the rest of her day.

[artificer]

...then had the teacher take them outside for the a demonstration of the Great Pipes. Following a short tune I handed out kazoos that I had picked up at a dollar store and told the kids we would have a volume contest. Teacher was not terribly happy, the presentation was first thing in the morning, so she was stuck with a classroom full of kazoo tooting kids for the rest of her day.

Oh, Piper! To say that the teacher wasn't terribly happy is probably an understatement.

It does make for a great mental image, and one heck of a laugh to start the day off! Thank you for that.
ith:

[Lallans]

Well now. What do US kids want to know about Scotland (aside from the things you have already mentioned)? They probably weren't born when the Braveheart movie came out, the lucky tykes, but I suspect I would start with a basic explanation of the British Isles and Scotland's location and history in that context, the battles with the English (which will thrill any Irish kids present) and the subsequent Union- you could compare and contrast with the USA in that regard. Throw in that Scots created the modern world, name some famous Scots, like A.G. Bell, punker Shirley Manson, etc, and you're done.

Seriously they're probably going to be too young for Shirley Manson too.

[gary meakin]

I convene a tent at a few highland games in Mass. and Southern NH.
I have a table of famous Scots that the kids seem to really like.
Check out www.rampantscotland.com/famous for a pretty good list