Paper Rocket Launcher, Compressed or Stomp: Wolf 10b, Bear 10b, Webelos Craftsman 4

 This image is from madlaboratory.wordpress.com, mentioned below.

You think water rockets are fun?  My favorite are paper rockets! They go WAY higher and faster and give me a huge thrill!  Last summer my husband made a water rocket launcher for our family to use in the summertime, and we're excited about that.  After having experienced air compressed paper rockets at Akela's Council in Sept, he is even more excited about making a paper rocket launcher.  Thus, the reason for this post. This can be done all year round without getting wet! 

An compressed air paper rocket launcher is DEFINITELY the one I'd use for a pack meeting!



At a den meeting the boys can make a stomp launcher for their rocket fun at home with things they probably have around the home:

plastic bottle

bicycle innertube or vacuum hose

2 ft (1/2-3/4” diameter) PVC tube or metal pipe

duct and masking tape or scotch tape

file folder or cardstock (for rocket)

A stomp launcher is where the force of air comes from stomping on a plastic soda pop bottle, sending the air through a tube, sending the rocket off the launcher. 

This would pass off several requirements or electives, but just taking a look at requirements:  Wolf 10b (Family Fun), Bear 10b (Family Fun), Webelos Craftsman 4 (Build something useful out of material besides wood)

Here is a paper rocket instruction sheet, but you can see one made with real pictures (much easier to understand, I think) if you just go to the original site: http://madlaboratory.wordpress.com/tag/paper/

Beautiful Routered Pinewood Derby Trophies, Wolf 5, Bear 21, Webelos Craftsman

In "This Old House"-style, our own Grove Rasmusson (a Cubmaster) teaches us and shows us exactly how he makes 30 impressive Pinewood Derby trophies, each costing just over $1.50, depending on your available resources. In his own words:

     "Each year I make the awards for the Pinewood derby. The top piece is 5"x 1-1/4". The Middle piece is 5-3/4" high and the Bottom piece is 8" long. The whole thing costs about $50 depending on what you have around the house. 15 minutes long? I know, but I was pretty thorough! :)" Yes, the video is 15 minutes long, and it certainly is thorough. It makes it easy to craft a trophy worthy of displaying the cubs hard work for a lifetime. Click on the Cubmaster's name in the first paragraph to watch this video. If you live within the Saratoga Springs/Eagle Mountain area, Grove has generously offered the use of his tools to you of you would like to borrow them to make these trophies. If so, contact him at garasmusson@yahoo.com

If you involve your den in making these, it can pass off:
Wolf 5 TOOLS FOR FIXING AND BUILDING
Bear 21 BUILD A MODEL  b. build a display for one of your models.
Webelos CRAFTSMAN  (technology) 1. Safe handling of tools. 2. Construct 2 different wooden objects. 3. Make a display stand to be used to display a model.

Turn Back the Clock Blue & Gold 2012

 

The Blue & Gold Banquet is a Cub Scout pack's birthday celebration for the BSA.

It is also a time for receiving ranks and other awards.

Traditionally the Blue & Gold Banquet is held in February.

The Core Value for February is ALWAYS Resourcefulness.

The optional theme for 2012's Blue & Gold Banquet is "Turn Back the Clock"

Your Blue & Gold might be a Banquet or might be a party, depending on your ... RESOURCES.

    Communities and families are all about combining our talents, resources, and effort. We've lived in an unusually booming economy for 30 years. We've gotten so far away from that, on one side we don't want to bother anybody, and on the other side we feel a useless resource. Before the 1980's it was normal, expected, and appreciated to use leftovers and ask for help. Our economy is no longer booming, and it's time to harness and practice the skill of Resourcefulness. Talk about Turning Back The Clock!

    Not wanting to “require” people to donate anything, last year for our Blue & Gold we bought several pounds of rice and divided them among those who offered to make it. Turns out all of them had plenty of rice they would have gladly donated. We ended up wasting our budget resource and went over budget simply because we didn't ask or give opportunity. 

    For one Bear Den meeting we bought birdseed and had a ton left over. Turns out one of the other dens (Wolf or Webelos) had just bought seed for their den the month before and would have loved to give away their extra birdseed. This is one of the purposes of Monthly Pack Planning Meeting: to tell what we are doing in our dens for the next month to take advantage of our resources, be it material for building, be it local expertise that would love to teach the boys, or whatever.

    USE YOUR RESOURCES so that you don't waste committee budget resources. Find leftovers, talent, knowledge, experience, whatever. You don't know what all of your resources are until you ask. The boys will be blessed for it. Everyone will be blessed for it. People will start to regain their self-worth again.

Turn Back the Clock - 2012 Blue & Gold Banquet - Theme Ideas
Snoopy (dog houses, Peanut’s characters, stuffed dogs, dog biscuits/bowls)
Monopoly (chance cards, jail, play money, house/hotels, properties, pawns)
Baseball (Positions, ball/bats, bases, diamond, stadium, scoreboard, pennants)
Olympics (Medals, trophies, theme music, 3x5’ flags, award stands, torch, events, countries)
Indian Lore (Teepees, bows/arrows, artifacts, buffaloes, dream catchers, animal hides, drums, totem poles, horses, camp fires)
Trains (Station, models, luggage, tickets, conductor, sound effects, tracks)
Patriotic (Flags, eagles, bunting, campaigns, town crier, 1776, scroll)
Presidents (silhouettes, flags, buttons, slogans, band music, donkeys, elephants, quill pens)
Country Store (dry goods, candy jars, sacks, counter, prices, crates, lanterns)
Medieval (banners, armor, knights, castles, jousting, dragons)
Pirates (ships, treasure chests, skull/crossbones, eye patch, gold, maps, parrots, cannons)
School (Chalkboards, report cards, apples, rulers, alphabet, globes, houses, playground, bell)
Western (cattle, brands, irons, campfires, chuck wagons, rail, fence, hay bales, wood wheel)
Farms (barns, tractors, implements, hay bales, silos, fences, animals, pies)
Boys Club (club houses, “boys only” signs,make baking contest)
Noah’s Ark (Ark, animals, rainbow, dove, water, raindrops)
Library (books, stands, shelves, carts, titles, magazines, card catalog, Dewey Decimals)
It's About Time (Clocks, Minute to Win It, Families, Skit in a Minute)
Roots of Scouting (There are at least 3 actors who portrait Lord Baden-Powell.  I only have contact info for one in our area:)  David Nielsen 801-756-9265(h), 801-787-6583(c), dbnielsen1@gmail.com
New Testament, Book of Mormon, or Mormon Pioneers
Choose any time or event in History (Gold Rush, Wright Bros., Renaissance, Cavemen & Dinosaurs, The Great Depression,1950s)
Back to the Future / Enchantment Under the Sea
The Time Machine / Steam Punk