Easy Car Derby Slide

Go to AkelasCouncil.blogspot.com for instructions to this easy neckerchief slide that your cubs can make themselves.  Other neckerchief slide instructions available at the same blogspot, as well.

Cub Clipart

Cub Scout clipart that's new to me.  6 pages of them!  Color and Black-and-White clipart.  Find them at   http://akelascouncil.blogspot.com/

Another Ringutter Regatta Idea

NOODLE BOATS

Made from a pool noodle, shiskabob skewers, and parchment paper. 

Decorate THAT!

(Thank you, Yvonne Russell from Orem)

November - Citizenship Slide and Poem

This Uncle Sam Pin was found at familyfun.com.  Rather than a pin, glue a ring on the back for a neckerchief slide!         -thank you, GSLC District 28 RT for both of these ideas

Uncle Sam Pin (or Neckerchief Slide)

Total Time 1 Hour Ages All Ages
Pin on a patriotic face that's sure to stand out in any Fourth of July crowd.

What you'll need

• White craft foam
• Scissors
• Markers
• Wooden craft spoon
• Googly eyes
• Cotton balls
• Glue
• Self-adhesive pinback
  

How to make it

1. To make one, cut out a basic Uncle Sam-style hat (about 2 inches tall and 1 inch wide) from white craft foam.
   
2. Use markers to color the brim blue and to draw red stripes on the top.
   
3. Glue the hat to the handle of a wooden craft spoon (if necessary, first use scissors to trim the wooden handle so that it's shorter than the hat).
   
4. Glue on googly eyes and a cotton ball beard, then draw on a small L-shaped nose.
   
5. Attach a self-adhesive pinback (sold at many craft and bead stores), and your Uncle Sam pin is ready to wear.
   

Leader's Minute
One song can spark a moment,
one flower can wake the dream.
One tree can start a forest,
one bird can herald spring.
One vote can change a nation,
one sunbeam lights a room.
One candle wipes out darkness,
one laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey,
one word must start a prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
one touch can show we care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
one heart can know what’s true.
One life can make a difference,
that difference starts with you.

Pow Wow

 Saturday August 25th

Utah National Parks Council

Annual Pow Wow

It was another successful Pow Wow.

Cubscout Leadership Training

 Your district's Roundtable Staff put on the best Blue and Gold Banquet ever.

And if your a member of the Pony Express District you know what we mean.

 It's a Jungle out there.  The Theme for Pow Wow.

Look at the amazing decorations

The amazing staff.

with Special appearance from the Wonder Twins

Evaluating Your Program

At our last Round Table, our Intermediate Den Leader Class discussed the importance of evaluating your program. While it's important to evaluate from a leaders' point of view, doing so from the boys' view is critical. We are all there to make sure the boys enjoy themselves and learn. If our programs are not interesting and engaging for them, what do we expect the results to be?

The question that affected me the most was "Is the Cub Scout Promise a part of the boys' way of life? Do they know what it means and try to live by it?"

What are we doing in our dens and packs if the answer to this is "No"? How can we be good leaders and affect change in our communities if we are not helping the boys to do their best and to do their duty?

Meet with your fellow leaders. Meet with them often. Evaluate your programs and leadership. The questions to start with are found in the Cub Scout Leader Book on pages 24-12 and 24-13.

Akela's Council Sept 2012

It's official -- AC 29 is ON!!! If you are planning on going to Akela's Council at Tifie Scout Camp at Mountain Dell (near Mount Pleasant) on September 11-15, 2012, you need to sign up now.   There is room for 7 more applicants.

Changes in Akela's Council Sponsorship:

The time has run out for applying for the Pony Express District Sponsorship for Akela's Council.  It is no longer available. 

GREAT NEWS:  Many of the stakes (zones) in our district are willing to sponsor some or all of your Akela's Council training.  If yours is offering one, take advantage of it .... by asking for it, because they might not have made a general announcement!

Happy Cubbing!

Soil Erosion Bears Elective 15b

                                                               soil erosion picture from www.environmedia.com
 
Bears Elective 15b Explore three kinds of earth by conducting a soil experiment.

As a Bear leader years ago, I saw a soil erosion experiment that combined the following two soil experiments. It had 5 soil sections: the four from the first experiment, then a fifth section which was soil with grass. I was very, very impressed and even though I "knew" these things from reading it in books, watching the effects grass had on erosion had a huge impact on me.

Soil Types

• Experiment with different soils to determine which types will best resist erosion. Place two pounds each of potting soil, sand, clay, and soil from your yard into four separate pans. Prop one end of the potting soil pan on a board. Place the other end in an empty dish. Pour three cups of water into a watering can and sprinkle the water over the soil from the top edge of the pan. Observe what happens. Measure and dump the water gathered in the dish into a clear jar. The darker this water is, the more soil has run off. Repeat this experiment for each soil type. Compare the amount of water collected and the soil present in each dish to draw your conclusions about which soil type withstands erosion best.

Read more: Soil Erosion Experiments | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8219640_soil-erosion-experiments.html#ixzz22sKtXT1I



http://library.thinkquest.org/J003195F/newpage6.htm

---

Materials:
    1. a few books
    2. two shallow pans
    3. a deeper pan
    4. soil
    5. soil with grass growing in it
    6. water in a container

Step 1: Gather all your materials listed above. Then prop up the end of the shallow pan on the books. Put the other end of the shallow pan in the deeper pan. Fill the shallow pan with soil up to the rim.
Step 2: Carefully pour the water from the top end of the pan, and let it flow down.
      Did you notice anything? The soil should have been carried from the shallow pan down to the deeper pan. That is how erosion works. The water carries away
       the soil and soon it settles in the water.
Step 3: Take your other shallow pan. Put the soil with plants in it and put it where your other shallow pan was.
Step 4: Pour the water from the top of the pan, as you did before.
       Did you notice anything? The plants and grass helped keep the soil in place.
           thinkquest back                              thinkquest continue...

Akela's Council Blog for All Cub Leaders

Akela's Council Blog

Want to know a little bit about what goes on at Akela's Council?

Need another site for some good ideas.

This is a new blog that just started....keep your eyes open to it...it's going to be GOOD! 

Rock Identification Key

    Bears Elective 12f: collect, mount, and identify 10 rocks or minerals. 
    Our Bear Leader wanted something easy to understand and simple to do to teach his Bears how to identify rocks without having to gather them around the computer to look at pictures or for interactive identification.  Something he can print and take outside in the rock's natural setting.
Here is the identification key they used.
   Need: a nail, diluted hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, glass dropper, identification key, and at least one rock
   Preparation: We got softball-size to cantelope-sized rocks from the side of the road, by a lake, construction sites, etc. and broke them with a hammer (before the boys got there) to give each boy a piece. Hint: The boys like the bigger rocks, but they should be small enough pieces to fit in the egg carton section.  (You need to see the newly-broken inside for the test.) We also gave each boy an egg carton for their display.  We used regular, unpolished rocks they see every day on the ground.  After this activity, rocks will mean a lot more to them (and the leaders) and will look different from one another (the rocks).

*Remember, the Cub Scout Motto is: Do Your Best.  They don't have to get it right at 9 years old to pass it off, they just have to give a concentrated effort and Do Their Best. This test for rock i.d. is only as accurate as the judge.  My college son is much more accurate than I am at answering the questions.  Even if I (or a 9-year-old) identify a rock wrong, we have still learned:
   1) how rocks are made
   2) ways rocks are identified  (types, size of grains, hardness, how they break, react heavily to acid or not,etc)
   3) rocks are often different on the inside than on the outside (for instance, they all looked like common gray household rocks to me until we broke them and placed the different rocks in side-by-side sections of an egg carton and saw all the different colors, designs, and sizes of grains)
   4) to better appreciate the rocks, their similarities and differences, that I walk past every day

Getting philosophical:  Maybe in the process, somewhere down deep, they will grow their consciousness by applying these above lessons (maybe unconsciously) to appreciating differences in other things like animals ..... or science ..... or games ..... or people.