A Scoutmaster's Blog

I saw this new (?) poster online today to promote Cub Scouting. I thought it was fantastic! With all the hype this past year about the Dark Knight (Batman) and the Avengers, and the new Superman movie due out soon, I think it would work well with today’s youth.

From the look of the writing on the bottom it looks like it is a B.S.A. poster, but I could not find it on the Scouting.org website. Has anyone used this poster this fall? How has the response been?

This image came from http://davehepp.com/ .

Nascar may be one of the most popular sports in the country but it may not be on a Cub Scout’s radar during the next couple of months as Packs across the nation prepare for one of the biggest annual Cub Scout events: The Pinewood Derby! Hundreds of thousands of Pinewood Derby cars are about to be distributed across the 50 states. Young boys and their fathers (or mothers or older siblings) will take that block of wood and attempt to create an awesome work of art that is also speedy enough to race down the track and earn its owner the victory trophy.

I attended Cub Scout Pack’s derby last year along with three of the Boy Scouts who had younger brothers in the pack. It was the first time I had been able to attend a derby in several years. The races were usually held the same night as our troop’s patrol leader council meeting. I brought my camera and became the evening’s unofficial photographer, taking dozens of pictures of the boys and their cars.

It took the fathers awhile to set up the track and get the lanes to run smoothly because it had been a couple of years since the last Pinewood Derby. The pack membership had dwindled down to just a couple of Cub Scouts, but last year there were eight of them. And they were ready to race!

The adults kept the atmosphere light. The emphasis was to keep the races fun and exciting. Even though it was a double elimination tournament, the competitive aspect of the evening was downplayed. Each of the eight Cub Scouts received a trophy, though the top place trophies were a little larger.

The Cub Scouts had a great time. They continued racing their cars after the formal races had been completed. Even the Boy Scouts got to race their cars against each other. Toward the end of the evening the Cub Scouts were racing the Boy Scouts to see who had the better cars.

The Pack has added a few more members this past year so the next derby promises to be a little bigger and a little more exciting. I plan to attend the event again and be the unofficial photographer. It should be a great night in February.

By the way, here is a fun thing I did with some of the pictures taken at last years Pinewood Derby. I used them to create Derby Cards of each of the racers. The boys thought they were pretty cool. Check them out at Pinewood Derby Cards (100 DoS: Day 6) .

The Cub Scouts of Pack 68 met on Thursday, October 27, for some Halloween fun. The cubmaster and committee had brought plenty of paints and pumpkins so that each Scout had one to decorate. Once the boys were done painting the orange gourds they moved on to decorating cookies for the holiday. While most of the pumpkins made it home to sit on a front porch, many of the cookies did not survive long enough to leave the building. I guess the Cub Scouts must have worked up an appetite.

During a pack meeting last spring, the Cub Scouts of Melrose Pack 68, along with their fathers, played with some marshmallows and spaghetti to create towers and things. The boys were actually working on a requirement for one of their awards, but I do not think they realized it. They were having fun, and that was all that mattered. A couple of the Cub Scouts decided to find out how much weight their towers could support. A scale and some rocks were brought out. It surprised the boys and their fathers to see how many rocks the towers could carry. At the end of the meeting, one group of Cubs decided it was time to demolish their tower. It was a great way to end this video of Melrose Scout Productions.

Have you tried this activity in your den or pack? If so, how did the Scouts enjoy it?

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I am beginning to panic. Just a little. Boy Scout Troop 68, along with Cub Scout Pack 68 of Melrose, are planning to hold a Scouting Open House on Monday, April 18th. That is only a little over a week away! And hardly anything has been done yet. We are running out of time to promote this event.

The council has printed flyers to hand out to the public elementary school students and those at St. Mary’s elementary school. Our committee chairperson picked those up today and I have already delivered them to our committee member who teaches at St. Mary’s School. She will also get the flyers to the public school.

We have ten 16″ x 20″ posters from the council to place around town. (See the picture.) One will be going to each elementary school. Our chairperson has taken a few to bring to Burger King, Dairy Queen, and the two convenience stores in town. That leaves four posters to try to place in windows of Main Street businesses. Hopefully, we will find good spots for them.

The banks and credit union will allow us to place table displays in their lobbies. The problem is finding time and people to set them up. I do not know if anyone has asked them yet to post a notice on their electronic marquees. We did not plan very well at the last committee committee meeting to decide who would be in charge of doing the things that need to be done.

Our local newspaper, the Melrose Beacon, is being very supportive. In next week’s edition they will be printing an article about the 100th anniversary of the first Boy Scout Troops formed in Melrose. I have proofread a rough draft of the article and I like it. They have contacted some of the former committee members and a couple troop alumni about their Scouting experiences. The writer, Herman, asked a few of us to meet him at the local historical museum for some pictures next to the Scouting display. He also asked for current pictures of the Cub Scout Pack and the Boy Scout Troop. He was at Dakota’s Eagle court of honor last Saturday so I wonder if that article will also be in this next edition.

We want to get yard signs set up around town. I have kept the signs from several years ago. There are two kinds from two different years. It would be great to find ten good yards in town, preferably on Main Street and a couple other well traveling streets.

On the day of the event, the troop and pack will each have a table of information. The pack will have one activity for Cub Scout age boys. The troop is planning four activities for possible new Boy Scouts, but the activities will also be Cub Scout friendly. Those activities will be knot tying (square knot, two half hitches, taut line hitch), frisbee golf, flag and Pledge knowledge, and the human knot untying. We are hoping to be able to tell any Boy Scout age boys that they will already have a few requirements done for awards if they complete these stations.

What have you done for your open house? What was successful, or not successful? This is new to us so we could use your ideas.

100 Days of Scouting: Day 59.

It has been nearly a year since Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, has been featured in a new video. He has been pretty busy with school, Scouting, and his podcast, Around The Scouting Campfire. He recently began to work on his Cinematography merit badge and decided to make a video in which he answers several questions sent to him by some Wolf Cub Scouts from California. Even the sister of one of the Scouts gets to ask a question. The kids ask Buttons about the Scout Promise, leadership, den chiefs, grapes, and more.

Click here to DOWNLOAD this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes.
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Check out other great Scouting podcasts at PTC Media, including The Leader’s Campfire and Around The Scouting Campfire.

The internet has opened new worlds of information and new ways to communicate since it became popular two decades ago. (Gosh, has it been that long already?) During the last few years audio and video podcasts have become a popular method of delivering sights and sounds to the web audience.

Those of you who visit this blog know that it also serves as the home of the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast, or MSPP. This podcast features videos of Boy Scout activities and even campfire songs and skits. Is MSPP the only Scouting related podcast on the web? No, not at all. There are dozens of Scouting podcasts listed on the iTunes music store. If you do a search on Google or Yahoo I am sure you would find dozens, if not hundreds, more.

I was recently a guest on an audio podcast which discusses Cub Scouting topics. The Leader’s Campfire is hosted by two Cub Scout leaders, Mr. Bob and Cubmaster Chris. During the shows (thirty so far) they have covered a wide range of Cub Scouting, Tiger Cubbing, and Webelos topics. Occasionally they invite a guest or two on the show.

I was invited to be a member of a panel of leaders to discuss Webelos transition for the thirtieth episode. Bob, Chris, and I were joined by John, Lori, and Mac, who are Cub Scout leaders from around the country. The final product turned out to be nearly an hour long podcast about Webelos transition. I am not going to cover the details about what we discussed in this blog because I want you to go to their website and listen to it. I strongly suggest that Cubmasters and Webelos den leaders listen to this podcast, episode 30.

Personally, it was a great experience for me. I was able to meet five fantastic and dedicated Cub leaders from around the United States, and share ideas with them. Hopefully, those ideas will help other Cub Scout and Webelos leaders around the country.

This was the second time that I have participated in a podcast of the PTC Media network. The first time just kinda happened when one night when I found myself online the same time Mr. Bob and his son Ty were about to tape an episode of Akela’s Adventure. Ty, Bob, and Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, had a great time discussing the activities Ty participated in while at Cub Scout Day Camp.

I invite you all to listen to The Leader’s Campfire, Episode #30. Should I be allowed to participate in another podcast in the future? Or should I retire my microphone and headset? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

And don’t forget, that anyone who leaves a comment to a “A Scoutmaster’s Blog” article this month will be entered into a drawing for a dvd-r featuring twenty Scouting promotional videos.

The latest of the videos featuring Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, has been posted. He is still trying to learn the Cub Scout Promise from Michael, the radical Cub Scout. Unfortunately, Buttons is not the brightest Cub in the Pack. I am sure you will get a chuckle or two from this, the second video of this series.

You can see it at:
http://melrosetroop 68.org/videobutt onsCub2.html
or
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=YCTPDokPBnw
(If you watch it on youtube be sure to leave a comment and rate it.)

Thank you to everyone who has watched the first of the Cub Scout Promise videos. It has
become one of the most popular videos I have made. Between the two sites it has been
watched over 1000 times during the last 2 1/2 weeks.