BSA Family Activity 6


This weeks BSA Family Activity is Developing Personal Strengths. These activities come from the Trusting section. If you have chosen one activity from the Duty to God, doing one of these activities will finish the Developing Personal Strengths section.

From the BSA Family Workbook: The purpose of the Trusting activities is to help parents and children understand the importance of others being able to trust them, and discover ways to develop tustworthiness.

1. Set up a simple obsticle course (chairs, tables, boxes, etc.) Wolf Elective 18D. Explain that each child is going to walk through the course while wearing a blindfold. Walk with each child and give directions to guide him throught the course without bumping into anything. "Walk 2 steps forward, take 3 steps to the right." When everyone has finished the course ask "Why did you follow my directions as you went through the obsticle course?" Help children understand that is was because they trusted you. Discuss trust.

2. Play "find the object" game. Have a child leave the room while another family member hides an obeject somewhere in the room. The child come backs and tries to find the object. When the child gets close to it, the family hums, getting louder as the child gets closer, until the object is found. Give everyone a turn to find the object. At the end of the game, make the point that the person looking for the object trusted the people humming to be able to find the object quickly.

3. To illustrate the different ways that children can prove thier trustworthiness, discuss the following situations:


  • What if Mom said that you could have one cookie from a whole plate of cookies, and then she left the room. How many would you take?

  • What if your friends mom invited you to his surprise birthday party? Would you keep the secret from him? What would happen if you told him?

  • What if a neighbor mistakenly gave you a $5 bill instead of a $1 bill as promised for a job you did. What would you do?

  • What if a teacher gave you a note to take to the principal during recess, and on the way some friends stopped you and said "we want you on our team. Come and play with us now. We have to hury before recess is over." What would you do?

  • What if you accidentally broke a dish and Mom asked "who did it"? What would you do?

  • What if Dad gave you money for milk at lunch. You saw a candy machine and wanted to buy a candy bar instead. What would you do?

  • What if Dad told you to stay out of his den while he was at work, but you needed to use his pencil sharpener. What would you do?

These are great activities on trusting. Choose one, to complete the Trusting section.