Soomer is acumin in

[SSScout]

Apologies to Robie Burns...

 

Much discussion hereabouts on the letdown of Cub Scouting in the Summer months. Loss of "momentum", loss of Cubs in the following Fall.

 

Why is "summer activity" important to Cub Scouting? Can summer stuff really keep'em coming back?

 

Whereto and whyfor ?

 

How have folks in your neighborhood encouraged Cub Scouts in JuneJulyAugust? What sorts of things to do? Howso? Whatfrom?

 

National Summer Activity Award?

 

Thankee.

 

 

[drmbear]

I'm a Cubmaster, so I really have a great interest in setting up a great Summer program - with opportunities for dens to get together, and more importantly lots of the great outdoor and activity-based kinds of things that Scouting really should be about.

 

I'm also a Bear Den Leader - and when summer hits my den will become Webelos. One thing for certain, my den will will definitely be out developing Scout skills. I hope to find several opportunities to get them out camping, we'll probably set up some hiking and/or nature trips, maybe even some sort of service project or LNT activitiy. We're going to have a blast.

[Eagle92]

Why is summer so important?

 

1) It keeps the Cubs busy with scouting opportunties year round. So it keep their interests.

 

2) It gives you a great opportunity to put the "OUTING in (Cub) ScOUTING" ( with apologies to GBB, I love that quote of his!) Yes Cubs want the outdoors too.

 

3)Some activities we have doen include the follwoing

 

Olympics

Pool Party

campout with local baseball team

Another Baseball game

water nite

Fishing Rodeo

Star Wars Nite (Ok this was indoors and we took advantage of a local library program due to foul weather at the last minute. But who doesn't like the 501st Vader's Fist Star Wars reenactors?)

 

idea we are considering

 

Drive In Movie Nite and campout at the CO.

 

[ScoutNut]

What '92 said.

 

Summer is the best time to do activities that would not necessarily be available, or easy to do, in other seasons. Doing activities over the summer months keeps them in "Scouting" mode, and reminds them how much FUN they can have doing it.

 

Some summer activities we have done -

 

Fishing Derby

Bike Hike

Camping

Kite Fly

Picnic

Raingutter Regatta

Rocket Shoot

Baseball Games

Parade

Water Games

 

 

[bbender]

For us, the summertime activity has been Webelos Camp (for those who were Bears or Webelos I Scouts) or Wolf/Bear Camp (for those who were Tigers or Wolves), and our Council has a great 3 night program for each (plus one 5 night session for Webelos).

 

Best event ever for the kids.

 

And to overlap a bit with the long thread running about transition from Webelos to Scouts, whether the Boy Scout program offers enough, whether kids/families even "like" camping (because if they don't, maybe they don't wanna be Boy Scouts) . . . these programs are awesome.

 

Each year, there will be kids who never really camped much before, and they have the best time (favorite comment relayed to a mom was that she needed to buy new bedroom furniture -- a camp cot -- because her son said it was the most comfortable sleep he ever had!). They "get it".

 

Plus, for those worried about burnout, the Bert Adams program has a special "cut the bolo strings" event for the Webelos II Scouts: they go away for a night (or two, depending on the program), and camp just with staff members on the other side of the lake. No mommy or daddy, cubmasters need to stay away!

 

I had 4 do it the first year they tried a two night program, and we heard that things were sketchy (they allowed visitors that year, and it made the visited homesick, and some of the "non-visited" feel unloved), but we stayed away and let the program run. On return, the 4 -- three of whom were super shy and rarely ever talked much to me, and one of whom (my son) was not shy and rarely ever failed to complain about camping if he felt it served a strategic purpose -- these four Just Would Not Stop Talking to me about the experience, what they did, what other kids in their group did.

 

All four had a great summer camp with the Troop last year, and helped the rest of their new scout patrol with a record: not one single homesick counseling session.

 

If your council doesn't do cub camping, find one that does!