Scouting Anniversary Week Ideas by Chris Sears

November/December is the time to plan...  Scouting Week!

Some Anniversary Week Ideas

1. If possible, have the Blue and Gold Banquet during Anniversary Week, the week of BSA’s birthday: Feb 8.
2. In Den Meeting that week have a birthday cake and talk about the history of Cub Scouting.
3. Consider having an annual Parent Meeting during that week. It is an excellent time to both honor the parents who support the pack and to inform them of how Scouting works. Perhaps give a little thank you gift to the parents.
4. Have the boys wear their uniforms to school that week, or particularly on February 8th.
5. Offer to the local City Council for the boys to perform the flag ceremony at the city council meeting that week. Then bring a “Scout Birthday” birthday cake to share with the Council as a thank you for their service.
6. Suggest to the pastor of your church that for the Sunday of Anniversary Week the scouts offer the opening and closing prayers and be a youth speaker.  The scout leaders could be the main speakers.
7. Prepare a photo spread on posterboard of your pack or troop, and have the pictures on display as members enter the church so that they can see what the Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts have done during the year. Then take that same poster to the local grocery store and request that it be put on display there.  If possible, coordinate with other units in the area to do the same and create a larger effect.
8. Conduct a service project work day that week.

1. There are often many projects that need help at a church, library, club, school, or other meeting place for your unit, and Anniversary Week Saturday morning may be a great time to do some of these as a thank you.
2. There may be a service project that could benefit the city or the community.
3. Consider the Cub Scouts and/or Boy Scouts clean the church that week.

9. Consider using BSA clipart on your Sunday Service program cover that week, and quote from a religious leader regarding Scouting.
10. Look into creating a store window display of Cub Scouting, or at school, or in a leader’s front window.

Silly Cub Carols with Optional Santa Cub-style Songs Insert

Here is a tri-fold with songs about Cubbing, set to familiar Christmas carol tunes.  Print pages 1 and 2 back to back, then fold into a tri-fold brochure.

Also included is an optional insert. This is the reverse: Songs about Santa, put to tunes familiar in Cub Scouts.  Print pages 3 and 4 back to back, then cut into 3 strips and insert a strip into the tri-fold.

I have updated these Silly Cub Carols to fit the new Scouting USA program as of November 2018.

Musical Instruments for Wolf and Bear Adventures

To complete an optional adventure, Wolves are to make a homemade wind instrument and Bears are to make a drum, sistrum (Egyptian rattle), mbira (African thumb piano), and rain stick. Here are instructions to make all of them.

The total price will depend on what you
already have on hand and what you need to
purchase. I have many of the purchase
prices listed with the materials needed for
each type of instrument. After the title of
each instrument I have put in parenthesis
the actual individual price for making that
instrument for one cub.

I am  not big into arts and crafts.  When I need to do them with cubs, I teach, guide, and assist as needed, but I would rather move on to the next project for them to earn more awards than give them time to decorate in our meeting.  However, in preparation for teaching this class to other cub scout leaders, I took different colored electrical tape and wrapped them around my paper towel tube rain stick then added a leather lacing with a feather hanging on the end.  Surprise!! I now see the value in decorating! My heart wasn’t into it … I didn’t even make sure it looked perfect, but I am so proud of it! Even more proud than the other instruments that I didn’t decorate. When I am finished with them, the other instruments will be no problem to disassemble, but I admit that I will have a difficult time letting go of my decorated cardboard tube with foil and beans, and I am a lot more likely to pick it up to play with it for fun or to show to somebody. The moral: Let them decorate! They’ll take ownership and are more likely to actually get use from it after they get home!

A Well-Trained Leader

Several years ago I was asked to provide a list of steps and a timeline for cub scout leaders to become well-trained. Recently at Roundtable somebody asked just such a question, so I am bringing this forward again. I did my best to put together a list as requested.  Get excited for knowing where to get training, not overwhelmed for the list. Just start at the top and work your way down, like a checklist.

Akela's Council is only offered in the Utah National Parks Council, and I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest attending, no matter how new or how seasoned you are in Cub Scouting, as well as no matter what District, Council, or state you live!!! Akela's Council would be described as a Woodbadge specifically focusing on actually presenting Cub Scouts.  (It is being considered by National BSA as official, but is still in the process of being watched similar to a pilot program.)

When One Pack is One Combined Den

Is your pack small enough that you need to combine all dens (Wolf/Bear/Webelos) into one combined den?  I was in such a pack October 2017. To boot, we only had one set of den leaders, who would do a Wolf activity one week, Bear the next, Webelos the next, and then we had pack meeting and nobody has completed a full adventure.  I happen to know that with the old Cub Scout program books, BSA provided a very not well-known alternate program combining all 3 dens every week, Plan A and Plan B, for alternating years.  Now we have all new programs and no new alternate c9mbined den program, yet.

Rather than just sit back, knowing what I know, and watching these boys earn one adventure award every 3 or 4 months, and watching these leaders working as hard as they knew how to in order to keep everyone happy, I went to work assembling this admittedly unpolished but very functional lesson plan.

I took a look at the Wolf, Bear, and Webelos required adventures for similar subjects being learned, and I put them together, because as long as you are aware of age appropriate safety guidelines, there's no problem with these cub scouts dabbling in others' activities.

If you choose to use this plan, it will take a little more work on your part to prepare and plan your den meeting.  You will need all 3 books, and I suggest the Den Meeting Planning Book as well.  But, I did the work in letting you know what adventures naturally work together.  You're welcome. ;D Here it is!

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

Scary Campout Skit

At Roundtable a cub den brought scenery of a woodland they had painted, masks they had made, scenery they had built, and put on a skit for us -- all of which gave them credit for their rank.  We could hear them clearly, and they did an awesome job.  It was funny; it was entertaining; it was appropriate. Wish we had pictures!  The funny skit can be found on the Home Page, if you click the Skits tab at the top.

Spontaneous Turkeys

This hilarious audience participation game was presented at Roundtable last night.  I wish I had taken pictures, but hopefully my description will suffice.  All of my measurements are only a guess to help you visualize, and the colors can be any you choose, so do what actually works.

Make 4 turkey tails, one of each color: brown, red, yellow, orange (or pink, blue, black, green ... whatever you already have around):

1.  Cut a 6" circle out of stiff paper for the following colors:  brown, red, yellow, orange,

2.  From the same paper cut out feathers.  The feathers we saw last night were just 6"x1.5" rectangles. 

3.  Attach the feathers to the top circumference of the circle.

4.  Get material 6" wide by 6' long to fit around someone's bottom and hips and tied in the front.  Sew the feathered circles to the middle of the material.

Make 4 turkey masks.  Here's a picture of a simple one that I would probably make, but with paper.

THE GAME:

Teach the audience the following words to the tune "Have You Ever Seen A Lassie" or "Here We Are Together":
    Have you ever seen a turkey, a turkey, a turkey
    Have you ever seen a turkey with feathers like that.
    There's brown ones and red ones and yellow ones and orange ones.
    Have you ever seen a turkey with feathers like that.

Get 4 volunteers who wear the turkey masks and tail throughout pack meeting.  Whenever a certain word is said, let's just pick "thank" for an example, the turkeys get up and start strutting around like a turkey would and the audience sings the above song.  When the color of their tail is sung, the turkeys wag their tails to the audience.