frank10

Best thing I have ever seen done to encorage using a map was the SM glued a map to cardboard and tied a compass to it. He handed it to the PL's at the trail head as they went in. Since they couldn't fold it up and put it away they might as well look at it.

the Timberline Outfitter 4's have a bath tub floor that is heavy but 100% watertight. for the XT's we put the ground cloth inside the tent.

needs a skeleton. Also needs an X to mark the spot. Dry ice in the lake at some point. Each buddy check ends with a bad pirate joke... I don't know any off hand but hey, this is the internet (thank you Al Gore!) Pirate names.

Game: Cats eyes Kind of a orienteering game with out the compass and map. Cub (or den) starts out at a given point with a flashlight looking for the cats eye ( a reflective pair of dots off in the distance but with in direct line of sight of starting point). Upon finding it they advance to the next point and look for the next set of eyes... Could be combined with: questions posted at each set of eyes. Animal Tracks

I want a squirting flower

If you make them half page (8.5 X 5.5) and added dome kind of clip they could wear them on their shirt pocket. Don't forget cool names for the staff like Sir Pent, Sir Cull, Sir Viver and Sir Prize. Not to mention the cook Sir loin. The knights of the Brown table.

Hi Kim, I like the idea of a coat of arms. Sounds like fun. What if you had a box full of things for them to choose from... Scout sign, pinewood derby car, tent, pack number, animals of all kinds and they get to pick 3 plus the photo to make their own one of a kind Coat of arms.

For any that are not 10 when the others cross over, invite them to hold their den meeting in your meeting hall same time as your troop meeting.

Always the classic "going on a lion hunt" http://www.songsforteaching.com/chants/lionhunt.htm

I'd ask them what they could offer me/my unit. Do they have an expert that could spend an hour at one of my meetings. Cash just seems "dirty". If we started calculating the real cost of being leaders our spouses would kill us for signing up.

I can't believe I'm going to try to defend myself here but here goes... Each year I take kids to camp with the promise that they will do and see things they have NEVER seen or done in their lives. Now, I wouldn't bother to hold a computers MB class now since mos of the kids could teach it. But this was the early 80's. Most of the boys and adults had seen a computer, heck, my high school had 6 of them Apple IIe's for 500 students to share. Now, I'm sure some of they were cheated out of a chance to earn leather work and basketry but most of they will not feel the loss. BTW: scouts were not in the vans, the computers were.

The worn out knees of his uniform pants.

Way back in the 80, two of us in the trade showed up unannounced at camp strang with two vans loaded with PCs and network equipment. ten scouts earned computer MB that week. About half of them had never laid their hands on a PC before that day. Had to get creative on a few requirements: Send a message or chat on a network... Each scout was given a chance to chat on line but first agreed that they would not give any personal information such as name or location. They spent a good long chatting with the camper on network... I wonder if they ever figured out that they were talking to each other from one van to the other. It said on a network, didn't say it hat to be more than 12 feet. One of the best camps I have ever done.

Down under too... http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23452499-421,00.html?from=public_rss

gwd-scouter: Yes, it does sound wrong, but it seems they are just one year behind your SPL. Lets hope they catch up. Our troop also does so much service that the hours requirement is a joke for our scouts. Funny thing is they seem to like it more than camping. jblake47: Use care, unless you know exactly how to build a ramp you leave yourself open to trouble and hurt feelings.

Take your list and hide it under your hat! Do not stand up infront of that room and read it. That's like standing in the center of a singles bar and asking who wants to go home with you. Chances are you won't like what comes next. Hold the meeting, let them know that help is needed. Let them know who is doing all the work. Let them know that you will be meeting with them one on one to find where they best fit. Then follow up, meet with some one and ask them to do one job or task for you. Most will work with you to find just the right place for them. Only then take out the list and fill in their name. Other wise, some one will stand up and lay claim to a position he is 100% unwilling to follow up on while the best candidate sits there looking at his shoes thinking you don't mean him/her. How do I know this? I ended up with a drunk volunteering to be transportation coordinater when the number one task for that position was making sure that he never came near the boys with a car. I couldn't replace him with our stating why, and I couldn't use him so I ended up doing the task myself. Now I "hire" one person at a time. Face to face.

yes. Someone coming back on a woodbadge high with grand plans to for everything can be a pain. A first year ASM coming back trying to force the troop to fit his ticket would push me right over the edge. take a few years to find your place first.

Looks like these folks know the camp... http://www.hufsoft.com/outwiththeboys/OWB-28.htm Welcome and please stick around, let us know how you did it back when. You never really leave scouting, your just between troops.

I don't know if it is adding to the requirement, but it sounds like it sucks the fun right out of being a scout. I see this requirement as a big kids easter egg hunt. Most of my scouts have taken to listing each animal sighted (or sign there of) in the back cover of their hand book and they done stop at 10 animals or 2nd class. Eagles still add to the list. It's not required, they just love to do it. KISMIF.

"Or what about friendly competition with our male peers? " Our Boyscout troop used to compete against a Girlscout troop from the next town over each year (Girl Scout Troop #7817 aka The Outdoor Group Cheshire CT.) The scouts were friendly, the competition was not (grin). A few of our boys were advised that they should learn to throw like a girl. The girls reacted with pure glee when they caught a scouter wearing jeans at this winter event (points off on ALL patrols in the troop). Our guys returned the favor when they rejected the matches in the fire building event in favor of flint and steel. After taking first place they asked if they could light a second one to take second place too. Sadly our contacts there have all aged out (one went so far as getting married!) so the fun has come to an end for now. On the off chance that anyone from 7817 is reading we dare you to come back and try it again, you won't beat us this time (again).

natsga: Source? or is this your own report?

Two knife ideas I can come up with... Neither requires speed. Get a stick of lunch meat and ask the girls to slice ten very thin slices off of the stick. thinest wins. Each slice must be a complete circle or points off. Could use a cucumber. Call it poor mans lunch or diet lunch. Second, Tell the girls that the key to the Castle/tresure chest/ camp store/ you get the idea.. has been lost, give them a picture of it and a bar of soap. Judge on how close they come to the key, team work and safety. Now, for hand axes, we mix axes with fire - chunk of 2x6 with a line of holes drilled into it. stand a strike anywhere match in each hole. use the ax to split the match. Match will light when split. Use a log and you have the complete, ax/fire/tree thing to push the others over the edge.

here's two: Team Work The loaded van pulled in to the only remaining campsite. Eight *Scouts* leaped from the vehicle and began feverishly unloading gear and setting up the tents. Some of the boys rushed to gather firewood, while the others set up the camp stove and cooking utensils. A nearby camper marveled to the Scoutmaster, "That, sir, is some display of teamwork!" The Scoutmaster replied, "I have a system; no one goes to the bathroom until the camp is set up." Tate Compass Co. There was once a couple named Nancy & Mike Tate, and it was their life' s dream to have a compass company. They finally saved enough money and started the Tate's Compass Company. Luck was with them, for the first contract they acquired was to manufacture 750,000 compasses for the Boy Scouts. Nancy and Mike worked feverishly day and night to meet their deadline, & finished just before the Boy Scout Jamboree was to begin. On the day of the Scout Wilderness hike, each boy scout was given a Tate's Compass to help them find their way. Unfortunately, it was discovered too late that every single compass was made with the colored point of the needle facing the wrong way,so when one was facing North, the needle pointed to the South. Needless to say, all of the boy scouts got lost & it was the biggest fiasco known in Boy Scout history. The Tate's compass company went out of business, but from this experience came the familiar adage... "He who has a Tate's is lost." (Say it out loud).

OldGreyEagle:" If I was at Philmont on a trek and the other adult leader is Bob, the guy who took wilderness first aid course in the spring, and works as a plumber, and one of the kids develops a problem and another crew comes by that happend to have an EMT who rides ambulances for a living, guess who I am going to think should be calling the shots? Even if Bob is a good friend " You can do what you want but as far as I'm concerned EMT's are a dime a dozen BUT a good plumber who is willing to work weekends is to good to turn down. There is no 911 for plumbers.

Needle in a hay stack. Finding either blunted six inch nails or candy canes in a pile of hay. (Whats is the air speed velocity of a unladen swallow?)