Jr. USA Shooting Team 2008 Award
Presidential Volunteer Service Award
The criteria is as follows:
Bronze
- Kids: 50-74 hours
- Adults: 100-249 hours
Silver
Kids: 75-99 hours
Adults: 250-499 hours
Kids: 100+ hours
- Adults: 500+ hours
Presidental Call to Service
4000 hours over a lifetime
www.presidentialserviceawards.gov for more information about this program.
This is not a BSA Program but it goes well with the volunteer attitude of the cub scout program.
Elective 10D
We chose to make the Plains Parfleche. It started out being a difficult elective, however, after an hour, we finally figured some easier ways to work on it.
BSA Family Activity 4
From the BSA Family Workbook: The Purpose of Being Prepared is to help the family realize the importance of being prepared for situations that may occur and identify areas where they need to become better prepared.
Some activities are:
- Let family members assemble a first aid kit for the house and one for the car. Explain to children how each item is to be used. Wolf Elective 16C
- Teach first aid skills to the family, make sure that they know what first aid means : Aid given first, before professional help arrives. Learn what to do in the case of minor cuts and scratches(Wolf Requirement 3C), Severe bleeding, fainting, broken bones, burns, stopped breathing, and poisoning. Parents and older children can take a first aid course together, through the Red Cross or another group. Emergency Preparedness Award
- Role play with your children how to say no if someone offers them a cigarette, an alcholic drink, or drugs, including medicines their parents or doctors have not said they need. Wolf Requirement 12B
- Review the rules for internet safety (Internet Scout Patch). Make a small chart listing the rules and place one by each computer in the house.
- Review the safety equipment needed for any sports your children play. Make sure that children have and use helmets when bike riding, inline skating or skateboarding. make sure that helmets are properly fitted. Wolf Requirement 9E
- Children need to know how to contact their parents, family members and emergency help. Role play with your children some telephone situations like the following:
- >> Pretend to call 911. tell the emergency, give the location and stay on the line until the operator tells you to hang up. Wolf Requirement 9A
- >> You are home alone and someone calls to speak to the parent. What can you say so that the caller does not know that you are home alone? Wolf Requirement 9C
- >> You answer the phone and it is a salesperson asking for information about your family. Wolf Requirement 9C
- >> You answer the phone and the caller says things that make you feel uncomfortable or uses bad words. Wolf Requirement 9C
These are all great activities for your family.
Puddle Jumpers
Puddle Jumpers are an easy elective to get done and actually keep the boys entertained for a few hours.
Craft ideas
You don't have to buy a craft for 12 kids, instead you can use these as ideas for things to do with your boys to keep them busy this summer. Check out your electives and type in some of the key words for your electives and see what comes up for craft ideas. Then see what you have at home that will work for that craft. For crafts under "Indian Lore" search for "western crafts". You may need to search several catagories to find what you are looking for, but you'll find lots of great ideas.
Have fun and get your Wolf credit at the same time : )
Leave No Trace
The Frontcountry guidelines are:
- Plan ahead
- stick to trails
- manage your pet
- leave what you find
- respect other visitors
- trash your trash
There are 6 requirements for the Leave No Trace Award:
- Discuss the importance of Leave no Trace frontcountry guidelines
- On 3 seperate outings practice the frontcountry guidelines
- Wolves complete Requirement 7 (Your Living World)
- Participate in a Leave No Trace-related service project
- Promise to practice the Leave No Trace frontcountry guidelines by signing the Cub Scout pledge
- Draw a poster to illustrate the Leave No Trace guidelines and display it at a Pack meeting.
This is something that you can do fairly easily if you are already out enjoying nature with your boys.
BSA Family Activity 3
From the BSA Family Workbook: The purpose of Learing Duty to God is to help children learn more about the teachings of thier family's religious faith and belief.
1. Go on a family hike and acknowledge the beautiful things in nature that God has created. Pick up and litter that you may find, and talk about taking care of our world. (Leave No Trace, Wolf Requirement 7D Pick up litter)
2. As a family, attend a religious service in a church or other setting where people gather to worship. (Wolf Requirement 11C practice or demonstate your relgious beliefs)
3. Learn how to say a grace, prayer, relgious thought or inspirational message. (Wolf Elective 11E Sing a song that would be sung as a grace before meals.)
Something Fun
Acting green can be as simple as "turning off the water when I brush my teeth" to "composting" and anything in between.
Send submissions to:
Boys Life Magazine/Act Green
271 Madison Ave Suite 401
New York, NY 10016
Paddle Boats
Here's something interesting. If you choose to build this project, experiment with the size of the paddle. The shorter ones go faster, but the longer ones are stronger. Interesting experiment if you want to teach your child a few physics lessons.
Outdoor Activity Award
The Outdoor Activity Award has the following qualifications:
- Attend Day Camp (Wolf Elective 23E)
- Complete (Assemble) Wolf Elective 23B Explain the basics of how to take care of yourself in the outdoors.
- Participate in a nature hike (Leave No Trace)
- Participate in an outdoor activity such as a picnic (Wolf Elective 18A) or park fun day
- Explain the Buddy System and tell what to do if you are lost (Wolf Elective 23C and 23D) and explain the importance of cooperation.
- Attend a pack overnighter (Wolf Elective 23A)
- Complete and outdoor service project in your area.
- Complete a nature/conservation project in your area. (Wildlife Conservation Award)
- Earn the Summertime Pack Award
- Participate in a nature observation activity. Discribe/Illustrate and Display your observations at a den or pack meeting. (Wolf Elective 13A if you choose to watch birds)
- Participate in an outdoor aquatic activity. (Swimming Belt Loop)
- Participate in an outdoor campfire program. Perform in a skit, sing a song or take part in a ceremony. (Wolf Elective 23G)
- Participate in an outdoor sporting event. (there are many outdoor sport beltloops available and also corospond with Wolf Electives 20A-O)
- Particpate in Scout's Own or other worship service. (Wolf Elective 23H)
- Explore a local city, county, state or national park. Discuss with your den how a good citizen obeys the park rules.
As you can see, you are probably doing many of these activities with your boys already, so go ahead and grab the award!
Gas prices got you grounded?
Wolf Elective 8B ~ Help an adult do a job using a wheel and axle. You can have them pull a wagon and pick up sticks or rocks in the yard and move them into a pile or have them help move plants or mulch as you work with flowers or a garden.
Wolf Elective 18A ~ Help plan and hold a picnic with your family or den. Move your lunch outdoors and have a picnic!
Wolf Elective 18B ~ With an adult, help plan and run a family outing.
Wolf Elective 18C ~ Help plan and lay out a treasure hunt.
Wolf Elective 18D ~ Help Plan and lay out an obsticle race.
Wolf Elective 18E ~ Help plan and lay out an advernture trail. In a park or play ground, set up 5 games scattered around the park.
Wolf Requirement 7C ~ With an adult, pick up litter in your neighborhood
Have fun getting these easy electives!
BSA Family Program Activities 2
This weeks selections come from the "Making Mealtime Meaningful" section.
1. With your children, plan several days of meals together. Make a list of ingredients and check to see what is already on hand. (Wolf Requirement 8B)
2. Let each child help prepare a meal for the family. Help set the table, cook the food and wash the dishes. (Wolf Requirement 8C)
3. Have a backyard cookout. Give each child a task in preparing or cleaning up the meal. (Wolf Requirement 8E)
Wolf Den field trip
This tour also fulfills one of the 3 requirements for the Beautification Scout Award that Metro offers as well.
Currently there are only 5 spots left for our group tour. Please let me know if you plan on attending since there is a cap on how many people can attend each tour. Email me for our group tour time.
Attending:
TR4
LM3
JL4
JG3
RJ3
LD3
Saturday July 5th Build a bird house at Home Depot!
Satisfies the following:
Wolf Elective 13F if you put the bird house up outside
Wolf Requirement 5E Make a bird house
Wolf Requirement 5D Using a hammer
You can find out more information at http://www.homedepotclinics.com/
Partial credit towards World Conservation Award as well
Beautification Scout Patch
1. Plant a tree
2. Visit the Recycling Education Station in Nashville (Wolf Requirement 7C)
3. Have an aluminum can collection through your troop
4. Make a campaign slogan or advertisement for one thing everyone can do to reduce his or her waste
5. Take a tour of the local landfill
6. Learn about composting http://www.nashville.gov/beautification/Publications/HomeCompostingFlyer.pdf
7. Organize a litter clean up with your troop, family or friends. (Wolf Requirement 7D and can also be used as a Leave No Trace Service related project)
8. Participate in the Great American Clean Up in March, April or May
9. Plant a flower bed or wildflower meadow (Wolf Elective 15B)
10. Participate in a Ring around the School clean up (Davidson County Schools)
Here is the link for the Beautification Scout Patch program.
http://www.nashville.gov/beautification/scouts/index.htm
Have Pets?
Elective 14A is simply to take care of your pet. Understand how to feed and what to feed your animal and how to keep their homes clean and healthy. Easy right? If you have pets of any kind, you already know this, so go ahead and get credit! You can also get credit for the BSA Family Award (Teaching Responsibility: Developing Responsibility credit)
Since you're already talking about animals, talk about Wolf Elective 14B, Know what to do when you meet a strange dog. This a good time to talk about this because the kids are outside playing anyway and it's good safety advice and everything you need to know is right in the Wolf Handbook.
Wolf Elective 14D goes hand in hand with the other two and talks about Rabies and what to do when you see an animal acting strangely. Again, good advice for those of us who like to send the kids outside for the summer.
These are easy Wolf Electives to earn and the time is right with the kids being outside to go ahead and talk about it.
Easy Bird House
It's simple and easy and can probably be made from scraps of wood laying around the house or shed.
This activity fulfills the following:
one of the requirements for the World Conservation Award
Wolf Elective 13F
Wolf Requirement 5E
If you use a hammer to build this project, you can also get credit for Wolf Requirement 5D and Requirement 5C if you screw it together
BYI: Back Yard Investigation
Spend a few minutes out in your yard this week and see what's new in your yard. I haven't found a way to tie it to Scouts yet ( I'm sure we can tie it to Wildlife conservation somehow), but it was fun to learn about our "new" tree and cook a mulberry pie together!
Something fun...
http://www.boyslife.org/home/493/write-about-your-collection/
Check it out, maybe your Scout will be in a future edition of Boys Life Magazine!
We'd love to hear about what you collect... We collect "heart rocks" (heart shaped rocks) by the way : )
Fishing Anyone?
1. Fishing Belt Loop. Complete these three requirements:
A. Review your local fishing regulations with your leader or adult partner. Explain why they are important, and commit to following them.
B. Demonstrate how to properly bait a hook.
C. Try to catch a fish.
2. Wolf Elective 19A-F
19A. Identify 5 kinds of fish (Bass Pro Shops in Opry Mills has a great live display of sport fish)
19B. Rig a Pole and go fishing.
19C. Fish with members of your family and do your best to try to catch a fish. (BSA Family Activity and Fishing Belt Loop requirement)
19D. Know the rules of safe fishing.
19E. Tell about some of the fishing laws where you live. (Fishing Belt Loop Requirement)
19F. Show how to use a rod and reel.
4. BSA Family Enjoying Family Fun is to go fishing as a family and learn and follow local fishing regulations. (Wolf Elective 19C, part of Fishing Belt Loop Requirement)
Master Anglers Program
Have fun!
Go Fly a Kite
Elective 5B (make a paperbag kite) is super easy. Takes 15-30 minutes to create and you can use any kind of paper bag or gift bag. We didn't have any luck getting it to fly though. You may want to save this as a super windy day activity.
Elective 5C (make a 2 stick kite) is more time consuming and difficult to build. The instructions aren't quiet complete in the book and it's a very heavy kite when you use a paper bag. Here are some modifications that we are going to try for round two: use a plastic garbage bag instead of a paper bag to make it lighter. Add a drop of hot glue to the ends of the notches so that the string doesn't come out when it crashes.
Kite Flying statisfies Wolf Electives 5A, 5B or 5C and BSA Family (Family Fun) requirements as well
Lane Motor Musuem
Lane Motor Museum is Free for Dad's and all children under the age of 18 are Free on Father's Day Sunday June 15th. They have over 150 mostly European cars and will be offering car rides in some of the vehicles. Details from their website are below and with Dad's and Kids FREE, that makes admission just $5 for Mom! I hear this is an awesome car museum and of course it also fulfills one part of the COLLECTING BELT LOOP (visit a collection, the other two requirements we have scheduled during the school year) and it also fulfills one of the BSA Family requirements as well.
Lane Motor Museum website is http://www.lanemotormuseum.com/
June - Dads are Free this Fathers Day- Sunday, June 15 Don't miss out on this great chance to bring your Dad out for a free day of fun at the Lane Motor Museum! Dads are free all day (hours 10am-5pm) and special activities including car rides and demonstrations will happen between 11am-4:30pm including:
11:00-11:30 Rides in a 1958 Tatra T-603*
12:00-12:30 Rides in a 1956 Citroën ID 19*
12:30-1:00 Demonstration: Helicron*
1:00-1:30 Rides in a 1963 BMW 3200 S*
1:30-2:00 Demonstration: Peel Trident*
2:00-2:30 Demonstration: Davis 3-Wheeler*
2:30-3:00 Basement Tour
3:00-3:30 Rides in a 1958 Tatra T-603*
3:30-4:00 Demonstration: Ford Quadricycle*
4:00-4:30 Rides in a 1956 Citroën ID 19*
*Cars used for rides or demonstration are subject to change
BSA Family Activities 1
Here is the first set of activities for the BSA Family Award. Select one of these activities as one of two requirements for the Learning Through Family Fun and Adventure section. We will have others listed in the coming weeks for a second area of this topic.
This weeks activities come from the "Enjoying Family Fun" section.
1. Hold a family game night. (CHESS belt loop if you would like to teach your Scout to play chess)
2.Visit a museum, art gallery or art exhibit. (fulfills one requirement for the COLLECTING belt loop.) We're going to take in the Lane Motor Museum near Opryland http://www.lanemotormuseum.org/
3. Go Bird watching. ELECTIVE 13D (also goes toward the *World Conservation Award)
4. Go on a famly bike ride, discuss proper bike safety. REQUIREMENT 9E and also fulfills the requirements for the Bike Belt loop.
5. Fly home made or purchased kites. If you choose to make home made kites, you can receive credit for ELECTIVE 5A, and if you choose to make one of the kites (or all of them)ELECTIVE 5B, 5C and/or 5D.
6. Plant a family garden. ELECTIVES 15 A-D depending on what kind of garden you choose to plant. This also fulfills some of the requirements for the *World Conservation Award.
7. Go fishing. Learn about local fishing laws and regulations. ELECTIVES 19 A-F depending on which activities you want to do. Also fulfills the Fishing Belt loop. And is part of the *World Conservation Award as well.
Like I said, there are about 100 activities, I just picked a few that went along with other scout awards. Email me for other ideas if you don't like any of these.
*World Conservation Award. Check page 226 in your Wolf Handbook for more information about the World Conservation Award requirements.
BSA Family Program
Our family is participating in the BSA Family Program. This is a program designed to strengthen familes with a series of fun activities. We plan on doing our BSA family activities on Thursday nights, since we are already used to doing scouts on Thursday nights. The entire family gets the family award (patches or pins and certificate)
There are 10 activities that must be completed over 12 months. We plan on doing one activity each week to keep us busy this summer. All of the things listed in the book are probaby things you are already doing anyway, so you might as well get credit for it!
The program consists of 2 activities in each of 5 catagories for completion. The 5 catagories are:
Learing through fun and adventure
Strengthening family relationships
Developing personal strengths
Teaching responsibility
Handling difficult situations
Many of the items are also in the Wolf handbook, so you can get credit for the Wolf activity as well as the BSA Family Activity. Double the fun : ) I'll post some of the activities each week and the Wolf Requirements/Electives that also get covered with that activity. If you don't like the options for the week, email me, there are about 100 different activities in each catagory. I just don't want to list them all : )
Keep track of your activities by adding comments to this site. Let's encourage each other to have a fun family filled summer!
Jen