USSSP - Baloo's Bugle

PACK & DEN ACTIVITIES

Participate in Scout Sunday/Scout Sabbath

Sam Houston Area Council

Make arrangements with your charter organization, if a local church or synagogue for a special Scout Sunday/ Sabbath service. If your charter organization is not a church or synagogue, make arrangements with member’s place of worship and hold a Scout Sunday Service.

The most successful Scout Sunday Services I have had over the years were at the Baptist Church where my troop was chartered. They had a weekly Sunday Evening service (as well as a morning service). Rev Kirshner had told me he was given free reign to do whatever he wanted in the evening to build up attendance. We had great turnouts for our Scout Sunday services in the evening. Everyone could go to their own church on Sunday morning and come out at night to Scout Sunday. Also, we would always serve refreshments and so had everyone there setting up. Just a thought if your chartered org or a member’s church has a regular Sunday evening service. CD

Plan to complete religious emblems of faith and present them at Scout Sunday services, if possible.

February Wolf Electives

Sam Houston Area Council

Elective #2 – Be an Actor.

2a. Futuristic skit with costumes.
2b. Futuristic skit props and scenery.
2c. Futuristic skit sound effects.
2d. announcer for skit.
2e. paper bag masks for the costumes.

Elective 5g – Spare time Fun – build a rocket.

Elective 6 – Books, Books, Books. Read a Science Fiction book

Elective 11 – Sing Along. Sing a futuristic song.

Elective 12 – Be an Artist.

A. sketch a futuristic drawing.
B. tell a futuristic story in three steps.
D. paint scenery for skit.
E. use a stencil for Blue and Gold Banquet table decorations.
F. Make a Blue and Gold Banquet futuristic poster.

February Bear Achievements and Electives

Sam Houston Area Council

Achievement 6 – Take care of your planet. Stress that this ensures the future.

Achievement 9a – What’s Cooking. Make oatmeal cookies (name and shape them something futuristic) for the den or B&G Banquet.

Achievement 13b – set up a savings account. Saving for the future.

Achievement 21

a-b & f – Build a model rocket, display, and another futuristic model.
g. build a rocket and launch pad display.

Elective 10a – Make a papier-mâché mask of a futuristic costume.

Building a City of the Future

Greater St. Louis Area Council

The dens can make a "City of the Future" for display at the pack meeting.

Start with a wood, cardboard, or plaster base.
Let the boys brainstorm together and then design their city before they begin.
Have the boys collect natural objects like pebbles, twigs, etc.
Use wood blocks, matchboxes, or other materials to make buildings.
Your city could have a solar energy collector for power. What should it look like? Let the boys decide!
The boys might have unusual ideas for housing or a rocket port. Use them!
You could add a large plastic or glass dome such as a large, clear bowl turned upside down to control the air circulation and protect from cosmic rays. But only if the Cubs say so!
Maybe your pack could have a design competition with prizes for the best or most original ideas!

Flying Saucer

San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach, Verdugo Hills Councils

Supplies:

2 Paper plates
Paint, crayons or markers
Stapler
String or yarn - about 16”

Instructions:

Decorate the bottom side of both paper plates to look like a flying saucer.
With an adult's help, poke a small hole in the center of the paper plate that will be the top half of the flying saucer.
String the thread through the hole; the longest part of the string will hang out the bottom side of the paper plate.
Tie the string and use a piece of tape or a staple to keep it in place.
Staple both paper plates together so the decorated bottom sides are facing out.
You now have your very own flying saucer; you can play with it or hang it up!

Shooting Star

San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach, Verdugo Hills Councils

A small piece of thick paper, felt, or other flexible, easy-to-cut material
one or two colors
Scissors
Pencil
Reinforcements (optional)
Glitter (optional)
Markers (optional)
Glue

Instructions:

Cut a circle from paper, felt or other material.
A good circle template is a coffee mug.
Starting at the edge, cut a spiral going to the center of the circle.
Decorate with glitter or markers.
Cut a small star, about 1” or 2” wide.
Make a tiny hole in the star.
The ornament will hang from this hole, so you might want to use reinforcements (these are doughnut-shaped pieces of plastic used to reinforce the holes in notebook paper
and are available at stationery stores).
Decorate the star with glitter or markers. Glue the star to the center of the shooting star.

Stand-Alone Star

San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach, Verdugo Hills Councils

Supplies:

Printer (optional)
Scissors
Crayons or markers (optional)
Stiff paper (like card stock, oaktag or thin cardboard) or Styrofoam meat trays

Instructions:

Two paper stars are needed to make one 3-dimensional star.
Either draw two identical stars on a piece of stiff paper or print out a star template.
Decorate the two stars (if you like) on both sides, then cut them out.
Make one slit in each star.
On one star, the slit goes from an inner corner to the center point of the star;
On the other star, the slit goes from an outer corner to the center point.
Slip the two stars together through the slits you just cut.
For stability, you may have to tape the stars a bit where they meet at the slits.
You now have a great three-dimensional star decoration that stands by itself on a table.

Punched Tin Stars

San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach, Verdugo Hills Councils

You can make these shiny ornaments from disposable aluminum pie plates or roasting pans. They make great decorations for Christmas, Cinco de Mayo and other holidays.

Supplies:

A disposable pie plate or roasting pan (clean)
A large nail
A marker
String or yarn
Scrap cardboard or newspaper
Scissors

Instructions:

Draw a simple design on the disposable aluminum pie plate. Cut out the design.
Work on scrap cardboard or a thick pile of newspaper (to protect your work surface).
Using a large nail (or a hole punch), make a hole towards the top of the design (this is where you will hang the ornament). Using a nail, make indentations to decorate the cutout. Attach a string to the hole near the top. You now have great aluminum decorations for any occasion.

Solar System Model

San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach, Verdugo Hills Councils

This is a model of our Solar System, picturing the Sun and the nine planets that orbit it: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish astronomer who developed the Copernican System, a model of the solar system where all the planets orbit the Sun.

Supplies:

A round piece of cardboard about 1 ft across (the cardboard from a frozen pizza works well)
Lots of colors of oak tag (or construction paper)
Scissors
Tape
String
Pencil, crayons or markers
A compass (for making circles)

Instructions:

Find the center of the large cardboard circle by drawing a line from top to bottom and a line from right to left.
The point at which these two lines meet is the center of the circle. This will be the position of the Sun.
Using a compass, draw the orbits of the 9 planets (draw circles around the center of the piece of cardboard).
The first 4 planets orbit relatively close to the Sun; then there is a gap (this is where the asteroids orbit). Then the last 5 planets orbit very far from the Sun.
Using an awl, the sharp point of scissors or a large nail, punch a series of holes in the cardboard.
First, punch a hole in the center (this is where the Sun will hang).
Then punch one hole somewhere on each circle (orbit); a planet will hang from each hole.
Cut circles from oak tag (poster board) to represent the Sun and each of the planets.
Since the range in size of the Sun and the planets is far too broad to represent accurately, just make the Sun the biggest. Make Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune a bit smaller than the Sun. Make the remainder of the planets much smaller. Remember, Saturn has beautiful rings.
Write the name of each planet on its back.
Tape a length of string to each planet (and the Sun).
Lace the other end of each string through the correct hole in the large cardboard circle (Mercury goes in the inner orbit, Venus goes in the second orbit, Earth goes in the third etc.).
Tape the end of the string to the top side of the cardboard.
After all the planets (and the Sun) are attached, adjust the length of the strings so that the planets (and Sun) all lie in one plane.
To hang your model, tie three pieces of string to the top of the cardboard - then tie these three together. Tie them to a longer string (from which you'll hang your model). You now have a model of our solar system.

Ice Cream Carton Space Helmet

Baltimore Area Council

Clean a 3 gallon ice cream carton, then invert (turn it upside down) it and cut an opening for the face.

Paint the helmet with a metallic paint.

Decorate with spiraled pipe cleaners, bottle caps, ping pong balls, porn poms, nuts and bolts or other scraps.

Spaceship Sailing

Baltimore Area Council

Supplies: 10 small paper plates (7” or less), straws - paper or plastic, stapler and scissors, paint or crayons if you want colorful spaceships

Assemble:

Staple 5 pairs of paper plates together, faces in.
Put staples all around the edges.
Arrange the 5 pairs of plates in a cross shape or ring.
Then staple the 5 pairs of plates to each other.
Cut straws into two inch pieces.
Staple the cut straws across the open spaces. (straws will make your space ship stronger)
Make 1 space ship for each Cub Scout.

With this craft you can also play a game!

How to play:

Stand in pairs at opposite ends of the playing area.
Sail the space ship between you.

How to score:

A player gets 1 point each time he catches a spaceship.

Atom Slide

Baltimore Area Council

Materials:

1” Styrofoam ball
¼” Red pom-pom
¼” Yellow pom-pom
4” Pipe cleaner
12” Pipe cleaner

Directions

Cut the 12” pipe cleaner in half
Make an oval big enough to go around the 1” Styrofoam ball.
Glue the ovals on the ball at angles to each other.
Glue the red and yellow pom-poms on the ovals as shown in the illustration.
Make a loop out of the 4” piece of pipe cleaner
Glue the loop into the back of the Styrofoam ball.

Time Capsule Centerpiece:

Sam Houston Area Council

A time capsule project is good for any level, but especially good for Tiger and Wolf Dens, so that they can open it when they receive their Arrows of Light and see how much things have changed. Decorate this like a spacecraft, by painting on windows and gluing on rocket fins and a nose cone.

Materials:

18” long piece of 6” (or larger) outer diameter threaded PVC sewer pipe
PVC threaded plug to fit the sewer pipe.
6” inner diameter PVC cap
PVC cement
Items (or pictures of items) that are uniquely 2006 or are special to the boys
Photos of the Den

Decorating Placemats:

Sam Houston Area Council

Materials: Construction paper tempera paint potatoes lamination material stencils

Directions:

Using potatoes, let the boys carve futuristic shapes on the end of them, to make stamping shapes.
Cut the potato so that it has a large flat surface. Cut out the pictures or use others and pin them to the potato’s flat side.
Carve the potato away around the picture, leaving the stamp.
Dip the stamp in tempera paint and decorate the construction paper.
Make enough placemats for all Scouts and guests. Stencil names on them. Let dry and laminate.
As an alternative, carve the end of an art gum eraser instead of a potato. These will be more permanent stamps, but the eraser is also still useful as an eraser.

Paper Plate UFOs:

Sam Houston Area Council

Materials: 2 paper plates, paper bowl, glue, markers or crayons

Directions:

Tape two paper plates together to create a curved top and bottom.
Glue a paper bowl to the center top to make a cabin for the "crew.” Let dry.
Use markers or crayons to draw insignias, windows, doors, aliens in the windows and doors, etc.
To make a game out of this activity, designate a landing pad, and then toss flying saucers through the air like a Frisbee. See whose lands the closest to the landing pad.

Rocket Tie Slide

Greater St. Louis Area Council

Materials:

White art foam board
White pipe cleaners and
Glitter chenille
Sticks
Glue
Black Marker
Scissors

Directions:

Cut out the basic outline for the younger boys. Let the older boys cut their own out.
Using the basic outline, leave off the exhaust part and cut straight across.
Cut out another cylinder to use for the top.
Attach the white pipe cleaners to the back to anchor to form the loop for the neckerchief.
Put 2 holes in the bottom part and slide the pipe cleaner through (should not be more than the width of the top cylinder).
Have the boys make their exhaust out of the glitter chenille sticks and attach to the bottom of the cylinder and then glue the whole piece to the back part.

STAINED GLASS SNACK HOLDERS:

Sam Houston Area Council

Materials: Clean empty baby food jars, tissue paper (many colors), white glue, foam brush

Directions:

Tear the tissue paper to small pieces or random shapes.
Squeeze a bit of glue into the bottom of the jar, and
Cover inside of the jar evenly with the foam paintbrush
Stick bits of tissue paper inside the jar until it covers all of the glue.
Let dry, and keep clean.

22nd Century Uniform Items:

Sam Houston Area Council

Aluminum foil epaulet loops
Cell phone hats – bend metal hanger to make two antennas.
TV goggle glasses with GPS compass
Wrist watch communicators
Cellophane neckerchief
Rocket neckerchief slide
For even better ideas, have the boys imagine a future and create items that fit with that future.