“By Jared's 11th birthday, he had earned his Arrow of Light award and was getting ready to move into Boy Scouts. He was looking forward to working ...
Until a few years ago, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts would put out flyers and bags in selected neighborhoods, then come back a week later to collect ...
The Buckeye Council Boy Scouts of America Sandy Beaver District will host its annual Cub Scout Day Camp from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 14 through 18 at the McKinley Scout Reservation in Lisbon. This ...
When their boys were graduating from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, Allen became assistant troop leader along with Don Magnuson & Cy Rich.
The event was smaller than normal as Cub Scouts did not attend this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which also kept the general public ...
The pandemic, a national organization bankruptcy tied to sexual abuse lawsuits and other factors have local chapters of the well-known American institution looking to a new future.
Looking for a song or a skit? A gathering activity? A new recipe to try at camp? A great story or magic trick? A new game to play outdoors or indoors? Something to add fun and excitement to your meeting or activity or campfire program?
Look no further. I have lots of ideas for your Scouting program. Use these ideas to add fun to your program and keep youth engaged.
Songs for Meetings and Campfire Programs
Puzzles and Printables
Team Building Activities
Projects for Scouts
Ceremonies for Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA (Boy Scouts)
Questions and Answers from Scouters
Stories for Campfire Programs and Meetings
Gathering Activities for Meetings
Cheers, Run Ons, and Audience Participation
Dutch Oven Cooking
Recipes for Cubs in the Kitchen
Cooking on a Stick
So here are a few recipes and ideas for cooking on a stick Do you have a cooking on a stick recipe you’d like to share or a photo? Contact me and I’ll add it here. Foil Pack Dinners
Trail Food
Prayers and Graces for Scouts
Games for Scouts
Crafts for Scouts
Skits for Campfire Programs and Other Gatherings
Easy Recipes for Camp Cooking
Inspiration, Cubmaster Minutes, Scoutmaster Minutes
Favorite Recipes for Scouts and Camping
The Cubs in Shining Armor theme revolves around the ideas of honor and service. So organize a summer service project. Knights went on quests, so you could have some sort of fun “quest scavenger hunt”.
Here is what the current program helps say about this theme:
A Scout knows good manners make it easier for people to get along together. The word “courteous” is an old English word that comes from the time of knights. Many associate chivalry and graciousness with a knight in shining armor because of their code of conduct. The knight’s code of conduct extols these virtues, ensuring that a Cub Scout in shining armor will exhibit courtesy to all.
Resources and Ideas for the Cub in Shining Armor Theme
Wolf Council Fire (Duty to Country) Adventure: Cub Scout Helps and Ideas
Wolf Hometown Heroes Adventure: Cub Scout Helps and Ideas
Days of Knights and Damsels: An Activity Guide
Webelos/AOL Build My Own Hero Adventure: Cub Scout Helps and Documents
Tiger Earning Your Stripes Adventure: Cub Scout Helps and Documents
Lion Animal Kingdom Adventure: Cub Scout Helps and Ideas
Scoutmaster Minute – Cheerful Service
Fellowship and Duty to God is one of the Bear required adventures. For this adventure, Bears either earn the religious emblem for their faith or explore the practice and history of their beliefs.
Requirements for Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God
Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God
Complete the following requirements
1. Discuss with your parent, guardian, den leader, or other caring adult what it means to do your duty to God. Tell how you do your duty to God in your daily life
2. Complete at least one of the following:
2A. Identify a person whose faith you admire, and discuss this person with your family
2B. With a family member, provide service to a place of worship or a spiritual community, school, or community organization that puts into practice your ideals of duty to God and strengthens your fellowship with others.
3. Complete at least one of the following:
3A. Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not already done so.
3B. Make a list of things you can do to practice your duty to God as you are taught in your home or place of worship or spiritual community. Select two of the items and practice them for two weeks.
Download printable requirements for Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God (PDF format)
Download printable checkoff sheet for Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God (PDF format)
Download printable note sheet for Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God (PDF format)
Learn more with these relate ideas and achievements:
What Can Scouts Use as Service Hours?
Should Duty To God Requirements Be Completed at Home or at a Meeting?
Faith Requirements for Cub Scouts and Agnostics
Pack your swimsuit on top.
Those are always the instructions when packing for summer camp, because one of the first things we will have to do when we get there is the swim test. The BSA swim test is used to determine ability level so that participants can swim in an area which is appropriate for them.
Scouts and adults must pass the BSA swim test to take part in most aquatics activities. At camp, there is always a buddy board where you check in according to your ability level. The swim test is also used as a requirement for some advancement. Almost any rank advancement involving swimming or boating will require a swim test.
Sometimes Scouts will be very disappointed in themselves if they don’t get the Swimmer level right away. I just tell them to take pride in doing the best they can. Camp staff will often let them try again later in the week and I have seen several Scouts pass on a second try.
BSA Swim Test
Swimmer
- Jump feet first into water over the head, level off, and begin swimming.
- Swim 75 yards in a strong manner using one or more of the following strokes: side, breast, trudgen, or crawl. Swim 25 yards using an easy, resting backstroke.
- The 100 yards must be completed without stops and must include at least one sharp turn.
- Rest by floating…Long enough to demonstrate ability to rest when exhausted.
Beginner
- Jump feet first into water over the head, level off, and begin swimming.
- Swim 25 feet on the surface.
- Stop, turn, and resume swimming back to the starting place.
Non-Swimmer
- Did not complete either of the swimming tests.
Rebecca sent in this question:
I’m looking for information on how units have handled when popcorn money doesn’t reconcile. We had a new popcorn chair this year and money is way off. Sadly our local Council pretty much said it was our problem not theirs. We’re meeting with our chartered organization tonight. I would like to give the volunteer the benefit of doubt, however our cubmaster disagrees. Any input would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the question Rebecca.
I certainly wouldn’t assume that the popcorn chair deliberately did something wrong, but if the numbers don’t add up, then they don’t add up. So somebody needs to look at the numbers and figure out why you are short. Maybe some of the Cub Scouts didn’t get all of their money turned in and they just need to be reminded. A lot of it depends on how the sale was conducted. Was it individual Scouts taking orders or was it some sort of unit show and sell event? Perhaps your popcorn chair is just not the sort of person who keeps detailed records.
In the end, I’d be careful about putting too much blame on the volunteer, especially if it was some sort of honest mistake. It will make it that much more difficult to find a volunteer next time.
Without knowing the specifics it is difficult to say what to do. Each unit and the people involved are unique and have their own dynamic.
Readers, what do you think? Feel free to comment below.
National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) is an intense week long leadership training class for youth.
We are fortunate that our Council has a strong NYLT program, offering four weeks of classes for Scouts BSA in both a traditional “land based” format and a “pack and paddle” format. For the pack and paddle, they spend three days going from one campsite to another by canoe and the other three days backpacking. The course materials are taught on the trail along the way. This year they are even offering a coed pack and paddle option for Venturers.
Both JD and DS have been to NYLT. In addition, DS served on staff for one of the weeks last summer. They both thought it was a great experience. JD did the land based program and DS did a pack and paddle program. Both came back with a lot of new information about how the patrol method should work, how to teach skills to younger Scouts, and how to lead.
If your troop is not taking advantage of this program, I strongly encourage you to look into it. Our troop tries to send at least two Scouts every year. It is a big budget expense for us, but it pays off in the long run. Usually we send 13 or 14 year olds. The Scouts you send to NYLT need to be mature enough to work cooperatively with a group of other youth they didn’t previously know.
The Scout Law is the same for Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, and Venturers. So learning the Scout Law is important across age levels.
The word search puzzle below would make a fun warm up or gathering activity for any meeting focused on Scout basics such as the Scout Law. Feel free to download and use this printable.
The US flag is a symbol of our country. When we honor it, when honor all of those who have protected our freedom through the years, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our liberty. The flag also helps us focus on our national unity. We might not agree on everything, but we recognize that there are core principles which bring us all together.
The demonstration below is based on a Cubmaster’s Minute found in the old program helps.
Cubmaster or Scoutmaster Minute: Threads and Flags
Hold up a piece of thread
Look at this thread. By itself it isn’t very strong.
Break the thread.
But put lots of threads together and they make up our country’s flag.
Point to the flag.
Each little thread works with the others to make the flag strong. In the same way, our country is made of many individuals, like you and me. If we work alone, we might not accomplish much. But if we join together, we can do great things.
As we close our meeting tonight, show your respect to the flag that represents us all by saluting.
In an egg drop challenge, Scouts try to design a container which can prevent an egg from breaking when dropped. This is an excellent project to get kids interested in science and engineering.
- Have your Scouts collect recyclable materials for a week and bring them to a meeting.
- Break Scouts into teams of two or three. (Cub Scouts might need to have parents or leaders as a mentor on their teams. )
- Give each team a roll of masking tape and a raw egg.
- Using the recyclables and tape, have them build a contraption for the egg which will protect it from a fall.
- Drop the egg in the contraption from some height. This must be supervised or done by an adult.
- See which teams’ eggs stayed intact and which broke.
- Talk about the effectiveness of the various designs.
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