Cooperation Roundtable July 2012

Cooperation Stick Game
Game 1:  Each person has a broom stick and holds it in front of them and standing on the ground.  One person is the caller.  They call "left" or "right", which time everybody lets go of their broomstick, which will fall to the side.  If the caller called "left", you must catch the stick to your left, no matter which way it falls.  If the stick falls to the ground, you're out of the game.  If they call "right", you catch the stick to your right.
Game 2:  One stick, several people around it.  The person holding the stick calls out someone's name who is standing in the circle and lets go of the stick.  The person whose name was called must grab the stick before it falls to the ground.  If successful, he then calls someone else's name, then lets go.  However, if the stick falls to the ground before he can catch it, he's out of the game.

Cooperation Craft: Milk Carton Totem Pole

A totem is an object representing an animal or object that serves as an emblem of a group of people.  A "totem" is one section of a totem pole.  Have each den create their own totem for a pack totem pole, or each boy create his own for a den totem pole.  The milk carton bottoms have a just-larger-than-half-inch hole cut so that the cartons may fit over a half-inch PVC pipe, which goes through the center of all the totems to keep them together.

Water Changing Ceremony
Put some blue food coloring on a jar lid.  When dry, fill the jar 2/3 with water.  Be careful not to let the water touch the lid until the ceremony.  Have the person who is being recognized come up.  Announce that you have a truth test about their Cub Scout spirit.  Tell them that if they shake that jar of water and have enough cub scout spirit, the water will turn blue.  Have them shake it, and of course it turns blue.  You can click here to see a video of this ceremony. 

Banana-Bandana Skit 

Required:  a bandana and two bananas

Note: The whole skit has a premise of mistaking 'banana' for 'bandana'.

magician: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Great Mystero's Amazing Magical Bonanza! I need a volunteer to help me with my first trick (looking around, he choose a planted 'volunteer' that has a banana inside his shirt or pocket. The volunteer walks up onstage. )
magician: Thank you for helping me. For this trick, you can not watch me so let's stand back to back.
magician: I will show you that I can transport this bandana from my pocket to his.  Watch (places the bandana in his pocket).  Okay, reach in your pocket and get out the bandana.  Do you have it?
volunteer: (reaching in his shirt and pulling out a banana and holding it high for the audience to see) Yes, I have it right here.
magician: OK, in order to transport it back to me, you need to do exactly what I say.  first of all, fold your bandana in half.
volunteer: (peels banana) OK, got it.
magician: OK, now, fold it in half again.
volunteer: (folds banana in half) OK.
magician: Now, fold it one more time.  Tell me when you have it folded, just as I've told you.
volunteer: Again?
magician: Yes, again!
volunteer: (folds banana again) OK.
magician: Now, place it back into your pocket and push it really hard.
volunteer: (does as told) OK.
magician: Okay, it should be right here in my pocket. (reaches into his pocket, but pulls out a smashed banana) Ewwww.  Banana?  I said bandana!
    Now the magician can look disgusted at the banana or as a better ending, sticking to the saying 'The Show Must Go On', he can shove the banana mush into his mouth, show his empty hand that it is gone, and take a deep bow!

We chose "Circus of Stars" for our Cooperation Theme for Roundtable.

Scott is a circus clown by trade.  He taught us a great gag - how to properly throw a pie in someone's face.  Tip 1:  Never use actual whipped cream, because if it stays on the clothes for a while, it will stain and ruin the clothes.  Therefore, always use soap, like shaving cream.
Tip 2: Protect the victim's clothes with a towel.  Also, be sure they know to close their eyes and their mouth.
Tip 3:  The person never throws the pie at the face, but instead just places the pie on the face.  Practice with a clean pie plate.

Tip 4:  Never actually put a pie in some unsuspecting person's face.  Sure, they'll be expecting it and so will the audience, but they will also be anxious, especially the boys.  Surprise everyone by secretly setting up ahead of time to "unexpectedly" getting the pie in your own face. It takes cooperation to pull this off, and it will get squeals and giggles of surprise from everyone!  Can be used as a skit or a ceremony.

Circus of Stars

At July's Roundtable (since our Roundtable is at the end of the month) we gave ideas on September's Core Value, Cooperation.  We chose the theme Circus of Stars to demonstrate this value for a possible pack meeting.

Decorations 
Circus Ring - I got red butcher paper and cut it in half lengthwise. (The length depends on how large you want your circle.) I then folded each in almost half lengthwise.  Then I cut slits from one side to the middle fold about every eight inches.  When I was ready to make the ring, I needed help from my daughter and son.  After taping the two lengths together, we overlapped the cut flaps by an inch and taped them together.  As a result, we made a ring, but the walls were floppy.  So, my two children took wide masking tape, taped over the top edge of the ring then stretched the tape to stick on the floor, bringing the wall verticle.  It actually looked really good.

We had circus music playing when people came in.  I was the ringmaster, and the rest of the staff dressed up as: lion, lion tamer with a hoola hoop, clowns, a high-wire walker, trapeze artist, band leader, tall person walking on homemade stilts (from one of the cub books).

While it's great to have the Pack Committee dress up for the occasion, the real show and stars of the show are the Cub Scouts.  That's really what we were representing.  Those cubs and family members that come to pack meeting dressed as something from a circus could come into the room in a parade.

Throughout the evening the boys can entertain the audience with tiger taming tricks, dog training tricks, clown stunts, show off their tumbling skills, put on a magic show - all playing a part.

One ceremony to show appreciation, you could "throw" a pie in their face. Scott is a circus clown by trade.  He taught us a great gag - how to properly throw a pie in someone's face.  Tip 1:  Never use actual whipped cream, because if it stays on the clothes for a while, it will stain and ruin the clothes.  Therefore, always use soap, like shaving cream.
Tip 2: Protect the victim's clothes with a towel.  Also, be sure they know to close their eyes and their mouth.
Tip 3:  The person never throws the pie at the face, but instead just places the pie on the face.  Practice with a clean pie plate.
Tip 4:  Never actually put a pie in some unsuspecting person's face.  Sure, they'll be expecting it and so will the audience, but they will also be anxious, especially the boys.  Surprise everyone by secretly setting up ahead of time to "unexpectedly" getting the pie in your own face. It takes cooperation to pull this off, and it will get squeals and giggles of surprise from everyone!

Some Cub Scout Pack themes to look up from the past related to this theme:  Circle of Stars, A Cub Scout Circus, Under the Big Top.  Click here for other ideas I found related to Circus activities.