Friday during my drive home after yet another den outing I was thinking about the wide variety of activities that Cub Scouts provides boys and their families. Then over the weekend I read Jeff’s post on Rocks, Hockey, Theater and Art describing the (rather busy) activities of his son’s pack during the previous weekend. I often wonder about the school conversations of our scouts when their classmates ask “What did you do after school yesterday?”

So what do Cub Scouts actually do?

There are the outdoor activities that everyone associates with Cub Scouts, like camping and hiking. These are truly important parts of the program, and things that the boys will remember for the rest of their lives. Pack camping trips or the council’s resident camp may look like chaos at times, or may not run exactly as planned, but the boys are having a blast. On our last pack campout, the entire morning after the campfire was filled with the sound of small groups of boys singing parts of the songs they had learned the night before.

There are the craft-type activities that often get associated with the Cub Scout program, often by those that either went through it or had to make the many trips to Michaels to run it. Den meeting activities like building a scrapbook (Tiger Achievement) or the Showman Webelos Activity Badge or many, many others have parts that are craft-type projects. These are where the Cub Scouts learn that they can create. Not just create as in “be creative and draw an elephant riding a scooter” but create as in “I have made something, something real where there was nothing before”. Many of the great parts of Cub Scouts are where the boys learn they can build things. Things that they imagine and then create with their own hands. That kind of self empowerment is the early stages of the self-assurance that is evident in the Eagle Scout as he accepts his final rank at the court of honor.

The things that aren’t often associated with Cub Scouts are activities in science, engineering, history, and other “school” type of subjects. But a quick glance at the geology field trips, the building of pinewood derby cars, or learning about Native American lore shows there is a lot of reinforcement of things that are traditionally things that are taught in the classroom.

All of these activities have a part in a Cub Scout pack, and in any given evening the scouts might have a chance to participate in one or two (or three!). They won’t see the long view of what they are learning, but they sure are having fun! So when a friend asks one of your scouts “What did you do yesterday?” how are they going to answer? Has you den or pack done something amazing the scout can pass on to their friend?

Hi, my name is Arlen and I have a confession.

That’s right. We hand out awards with a ziploc and a handshake.

Well, not all the awards. The rank advancement is done with ceremony and fun. I’m sure there’s room for improvement there too, but the greatest need is to liven up the presentation of the “minor” awards (things like belt loops and activity badges).

I came across the article in Baloo’s Bugle (you ARE reading Baloo’s Bugle, right?) where the topic was “Ziploc Packs” written by Sean Scott. You can find the article on page 6. He list’s a number of great ideas, many of which I plan to implement at a pack meeting:

• Shoot your awards in on balloons. Tie up a string with some cut straws, tape the award to the balloon, the balloon to the straws, and fill the balloon with air. When you release the air from the balloon, it will propel the award/balloon rocket down the string. Take on the role of “mission control” and with a little help from some willing parents you have a space themed recognition!
• Tape awards to the undersides of Frisbees and throw them out to boys standing in the back of the room. Have them throw them back to you, and let an assistant reload the Frisbees. Or mount them on paper airplanes for similar effect.
• Hide the awards around the room and give each boy a treasure map that leads them to their award. Tell everyone what they received while theyre looking. Or hide coins that the boys can use to buy their award from the Cubmaster, er, I mean Pirate King at the front of the room.
• Have them pan for gold nuggets and exchange them at the bank for their awards. You could make a speech about them being more precious than gold while youre at it.
• Fire them from catapults your Webelos made. Make castle walls from refrigerator boxes and shoot from inside the castle (or outside, depending on where you want to be…)
• Give them out as carnival prizes, with each boy performing some simple, fun skill. (Dont make it so hard that your Tigers cant do whatever it is, and just get something handed to them.)
• Put them inside Whiffle balls or balloons and hit them out to the boys with a big plastic bat. Let them “field” the award.

After reading the article, I decided there was no time like the present for getting started on adding life to the awards ceremony. I got together with the other Cubmasters in our pack and we talked for a bit about what we would like to happen during the awards ceremonies. It didn’t take long for all of us to get totally excited about the possiblities and we were throwing out ideas faster than I could write the down.

We are going to have lots of fun with this. I’m going to need more costumes and cardboard!

I’ll keep you updated and let you know how they go. There may be ziploc baggies used in future ceremonies, but they just might be launched across the room with a potato cannon.

Do you have any favorites that were a big hit with your scouts? Any you have always wanted to try but never got around to it? How about suggesting a go-to resource for award ceremony ideas? Leave them in the comments!

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Originally uploaded by Globe Trot

I know things have been rather quiet around here, but I have a good excuse. Over the last few months, I have been writing my dissertation, preparing and providing the defense, making changes, and going to graduation!

Above is the picture from last weekend, with a wife that is happy the whole PhD program is over and two kids that are just happy that the long boring graduation ceremony is over.

After this picture was taken we spent the rest of the weekend celebrating. My wife threw quite the party to celebrate the next day!

Thanks to everyone for their help and understanding over the years getting to this point. Nobody ever does this on their own.

One of those off-shoots of that bill of rights we have is protests. People that feel strongly about a postion can help draw attention to thier cause with signs and marches.

These are examples of attention that I don’t think they intended.

Example One (or why you should proofread your sign before leaving home):

Example Two (or why knowlege of history is important if you are making references to it):