Pack 969 Holiday Party!

REQUIREMENT(S) MET: None tonight -- just to have a great time!

Tonight was a FUN night! We had our holiday party, and it was a blast! We started off in the gym with our gift exchange. Then we moved on to the snowman wrapping challenge. Our den chose to decorate Kaiden, and our den won the decorating contest -- way to go, boys! :) After that, we moved into the cafeteria for the cookie exchange. It turned into more of a cookie sampling, as everyone just took a plate of cookies and ate them on the spot -- there were some delicious cookies there! Finally, we finished up with the pie toss. For every $300 a scout sold in popcorn this fall, he got to smash one pie into a leader's face. Our Pack as a whole earned 37 pies to throw!!! I think everyone had fun with this event... :)

Look at this fun crew!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday break -- I can't wait to see you back again in January!

December 8, 2016 - Whittling Chip/Bear Claws, Day 2

REQUIREMENT(S) MET: Bear Claws Requirements 2, 3 (started)

Well, after a few weeks off from regular meetings, it was time to continue our Bear Claws required badge.

To start the meeting off, we had a couple Scouts who had created posters for the Critter Care elective belt loop. Ayden shared his poster that he made about his time with our den hamster, Scout, and Ansel made a poster to share about his toads that he has at home. They both did a great job!

After we had our sharing time, we did some review of knives and knife safety. Since we had earned our Whittling Chips back in November, it was good to go over the information again. The boys did a fantastic job of remembering everything! Then it was on to our first carving! We started on our Ivory soap carvings -- for these, the boys are using 3 popsicle stick tools they were given. This lets them practice the motions of carving without having to worry about cutting themselves. They traced their designs first, then started carving. It's fun to see the different shapes they decided to try their hands at! 

We didn't have enough time to finish these carvings in the meeting, so the boys are to finish them at home and then bring the carvings and the carving tools back with them to the first meeting after the New Year. I'm excited to see how they all turn out! To finish this adventure, at our next regular den meeting we will be carving a piece of balsa wood. This will finish requirement 2 and complete the required adventure!

December 1, 2016 - No meeting

~Meeting cancelled for Holiday Fair at Lukas Elementary~

November 24, 2016 - No meeting

No meeting this week -- Happy Thanksgiving! :)

November 17, 2016 - SPACE DERBY!

Oops! It's been awhile since I have posted...I will try to catch up here!

REQUIREMENT(S) MET: N/A - Just fun! :)

November 17th was our Space Derby! The boys each built their own space derby rocket, and then we took turns racing them on the fishing line track we had set up. The boys were so patient while we worked out all the kinks. It was fun to see all their different designs!

Kaiden got to take home Scout for the next 2-week run. Look at that excited smile! :)

Whittling Chip/Bear Claws, Day 1

Requirement(s) Met: Whittling Chip (earned), Requirements 1, 2, and 4, and Bear Claws, Requirement 1, 2

After much anticipation, we have started the Bear Claws adventure! We started this adventure off by earning our Whittling Chip tonight! Admittedly, there was a lot of talking tonight, but we were going over all the safety rules with knives and how to correctly hand a knife to/receive a knife from someone, learning about different types of knives, and learning how to sharpen knives. There was a lot of information, but the boys did GREAT! They asked lots of good questions, and proved themselves to be very responsible. We'll continue our Bear Claws with the boys whittling their first items when we return from Thanksgiving!

Practicing safely handing a knife to someone else

The boys taking their Whittling Chip Pledge

If your Scout would like to bring his own pocketknife to the meeting on 12/1, please make sure that it is a locking knife, meaning that the blade locks into place and they have to push a button of some sort to fold the knife back up again. I will try to have a couple extra knives, but I don't have enough for everyone. I actually found a locking pocketknife at Wal-Mart in the camping section for less than $2. It isn't the best knife out there, but it works perfectly for whittling!

Again -- thanks to all the boys (and their parents) for remembering to bring their handbooks this week!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Space Derby next week -- don't forget to have your scout bring his completed Space Derby Rocket with him!

A few upcoming dates:

• This Saturday, 11/12 at 9 am: Pick up food for our Pack's Scouting for Food event (Meet at the Totem Pole park)
• Thursday, 11/17: Awards Ceremony (be sure to wear your Class-A uniform) and Space Derby!
• Thursday, 11/24: No meeting -- Happy Thanksgiving!
• Thursday, 12/1: Bear Claws meeting -- the boys are encouraged to bring their own pocketknife to the meeting (be sure to remind them they have to have their Whittling Chip in hand if they will be bringing/using a knife in the meeting).
  

Grin and Bear It and Critter Care!

Requirement(s) Met: Grin and Bear It, Requirement 4 and Critter Care Requirements 5 and 6

We had a busy week this week! We started off with a review of the Carnival last week. We talked about what worked, what didn't, and what changes we would recommend for next year's carnival. The boys had some really insightful ideas about the changes they would like to see made!

We then moved on to Critter Care! This is an elective adventure that the scouts can choose to participate in or not. We completed Requirements 5 and 6 together tonight in the meeting. Requirements 1 - 4 are to be completed at home either with a family pet or your Scout can (with adult approval) sign up to take home our den mascot, Scout, for a 2-week period. Requirement 7 is an outing that we will take to a local vet's office or animal shelter (TBD) later in the year.

We started out by playing a "What's My Animal?" game where the boys had a picture of an animal attached to their backs and they had to walk around and get clues about what their animal was. It was fun to watch the boys try to figure out their animals!

Then we talked about the ways animals help people (Requirement 5) and wrote down some ideas in our books. We also read about rabid animals in our handbooks (Requirement 6). Then we met Scout! He was being shy tonight, so we didn't really get to get him out and handle him, but it wasn't too surprising with all the excitement surrounding him! :) Benjamin has been taking care of Scout for the past 2 weeks, so he completed a poster to share with the den (Requirement 3). He did a great job! Ayden is our next scout to take him home, so we'll look forward to listening to him share his poster and experiences with Scout when he brings him back in 2 weeks!

On a side note, one of our scouts asked about how to earn additional patches/belt loops at home. I will put together some different things the boys can work on and put it into a separate blog post (hopefully sometime in the coming week). It's exciting to see the boys so anxious to earn awards!

Our next adventure that we will be working on will be the Whittling Chip and Bear Claws! This is always one of the most anticipated adventures for the Bears, as it is the first time they are allowed to use a pocketknife. I'll be sending out more information on this as I get prepared for the meeting.

Also, this Saturday at 10:00 is our Scouting for Food event! Please join us at the Totem Pole Park in countryside for this fun and rewarding event! Hope to see you there!