Bear Adventure: Paws for Action

Bear Adventure: Paws for Action

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1. Do the following:

a. Find out about two famous Americans. Share what you learned.
Famous Americans
My doc of 10 short bios of famous Americans
I pass these out in the meeting,the boys choose one they are interested in,  the boys read with their parents and we take turn telling each other what we thought was cool about our subject. Easiest and fastest way to do all the "learn about" requirements

b. Find out where places of historical interest are located in or near your

community, town, or city. Go and visit one of them with your family or den.

Pflugerville Tx Historical Markers

c. Learn about our flag. Display it at home for one month. Say the Pledge of Allegiance and

learn its meaning.
Fun facts about the flag 
Us and Flag video on youtube
Full color printable flag for them to put up at their houses

2. Do the following:

a. Visit a local sheriff’s office or police station, or talk with a law enforcement officer

visiting your den. During the visit, take turns with your den members asking questions

that will help you learn how to stay safe.

b. During or after your visit with a law enforcement officer, do at least two of the

following:

i. Practice one way police gather evidence by taking fingerprints, taking a shoe

print, or taking tire track casts.
Forensics for kids home school lessons
FingerPrinting activity for home
More Finger prints

Printable fingerprint card
(You can use pinewood derby graphite instead of baby powder,and pick them up with clear tape)

Inkless no mess on your hands ink pad (one finger at at time) $7

Shoe print game: (Do outside so shoes will get clean in the grass, or wash shoes with water)
Put graphite on one parent or scouts shoes, step on paper, give the kids the paper and have them identify who's shoe it is.. Make it like a crime game, Case of the stolen Bubble gum, maybe tell them someone here received an illicit bubble gum bribe and if they discover who it is they all get the gum.

Finger Print Game:
Have all the boys take finger prints on card. then take all their thumb prints, pick one thumb print and have them figure out whose it is. (Magnifying glasses are helpful here)

ii. Make a list of emergency numbers to post in your home, and keep a copy with

you in your backpack or wallet.
What is the difference between 2-1-1, 3-1-1, 4-1-1, 5-1-1, 7-1-1 and 9-1-1?

Pflugerville police (512) 251-4004

iii. With your family, develop a plan to follow in case of an emergency, and practice

the plan at least three times. Your family can determine the emergency, or you

can develop several plans.
Family Ememrgency plan work sheet with space for numbers etc
Make a disaster plan (red cross)

iv. Discuss with your parent or another adult you trust any worries you have about

your safety or a friend’s safety.

v. If you have younger brothers and sisters, make sure they know how to call for

help in an emergency.

3. Do the following:

a. Learn about the energy your family uses and how you can help your family decrease its

energy use.

b. Do a cleanup project that benefits your community.

 I didn't like any energy handouts I found, too old, to young, to preachy, to boring.. So I made my own. Use it if you want.

Energy use handout 4 pages

Notes: Visit Justice Center again, do finger prints, Cleanup Project, make famous American handouts, visit historical place in P-ville, combine this with the forensics subgroup

Required:

 

Bear Adventure: Grin and Bear It

Bear Adventure: Grin and Bear It

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1. Play a challenge game or initiative game with the members of your den. Take part

in a reflection after the game.

• I have a whole blog post on Challenge and Initiative Games.
• Reflection:(Paraphrased from the bear book)
• How did you know you did your best?
• How did you make sure everyone was included?
• How did this game relate to the scout law?
• How did you know that everyone had fun?
• How would you make the games different next time?
• What did you learn from the game about teamwork?

2. Working with the members of your den, organize a Cub Scout carnival and lead it at

a special event.

Ok, we just did the carnival at Blue and gold, the Carnival was Jedi themed, so we went that way but the key to remember is Keep it simple and Keep it fun.. so Here are the games we did at the "jedi training carnival at blue and gold" with a simple description of Them

we set it up as a circuit, the boys went from station to station and became "jedi"

Balance Beam -
The boys had to walk a balance ebam forward and backward. Required: a 2x4 laid on the ground

Blow up the death star corn hole -
Each boy got the throw 3 bean bags at a corn hole game with a death star on it... Required _ Corn hole game.

Blanket ball
(This is also a Challenge /Init game, honestly all of the C&i games make easy carnival games)
The boys hold the edge of a blanket and as  a team try to get the blanket to throw the ball as high as possible. It was amazing how much fun the boys had with this at the meeting.  required" Blanket, ball. The ball was actually BB-8, so the Jedi goal was to get him high enough to see a first order camp.

Hula hoop maze -  4 scout hold hula hoops at various height (bottom edge always below waist level)  the younger scouts have to get through without being "burned" (the younger scouts first "cut out" the hull hoop with a light saber)

Nerf Shootout - we had a nerf shooting range, 2 fold tables, some pieces of 6" fun noodle to shoot at... nerf guns.. Ez Peezy... guns on one table, fun noodles on the other, boys stand behind gun table and shoot.

Plus one that was hard and over the top just because we could... we set up dummy's out of PVC pipe with ballon heads on the,. the boys had 10 seconds to hit as many balloon heads at they can, and then pick up a gold soccer ball (a bomb) and bring it back to us. But skip this on it wasn't' easy.. thought he boys loved it.

But look at the others, almost no equipment, all simple to play, the boys had, fun. BOOM carnival.

 

3. Help younger Cub Scouts take part in one of the events at the Cub Scout carnival.

4. After the Cub Scout carnival, discuss with the members of your den and your den leader what went well, what could be done better, and how everyone worked together to make the event a success.

 

5. Make and present an award to one of the adults who helped you organize the activities at the

Cub Scout carnival.

One of the other den leaders had a great idea, printed out certificates and the boys put down the name of the leader who helped them and present it. Bam, done in 5 min. Great ideal Mel!

Notes: 
Must Reflect After the games, 
We must plan and put on a cub scout carnival, 
must help younger scouts in one event, 
must give award made by scouts to adult

Required: Carnival stuff, award for leader supplies

Bear Adventure: Fur, Feathers, and Ferns

Bear Adventure: Fur, Feathers, and Ferns

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 1. While hiking or walking for one mile, identify six signs that any animals, birds,

insects, reptiles, or plants are living nearby the place where you choose to hike.

• Texas Wildlife Id Guide (buy the real version is really handy or download to tablet)
• Mammals of Texas on WikipediaTexas wildlife kids area (state)
•  Photos of birds from around Austin 
• Read the end of the URL to get the Bird Name
• Mediterranean Gecko (on houses in our neighbor hood) 
• Green Anole 
• Texas Young Naturalist Guides

2. Name one animal that has become extinct in the last 100 years and one animal

that is currently endangered. Explain what caused their declines.

• Recently extinct animals
• More recent extinct
• Every animal gone extinct for the last 100 years...

Endangered animals with reasons for decline.

• Strangest endangered animals
• 10 cutest endangered animals
• My doc of pre selected bios, some are missing why endangered and extinct, so be prepared to help the answer is loss of habitat, loss of prey species, competition with introduced species, or human hunting/killing... it's some combination of those 

3. Visit one of the following: zoo, wildlife refuge, nature center, aviary, game preserve, local

conservation area, wildlife rescue group, or fish hatchery. Describe what you learned during

your visit.

• Lake Pflugerville is a water and wildlife conservation area
• Your nearby small body of water is probably one too!
• Austin Texas wild life areas(has a where can I hike link on the right),
• Wild Basin Nature preserve (on 360)
• Lost Pines Scout Reserve

4. Observe wildlife from a distance. Describe what you saw.

5. Use a magnifying glass to examine plants more closely. Describe what you saw through the

magnifying glass that you could not see without it.

• Cheap Magnifying glasses (and whistles) at amazon)

6. Learn about composting and how vegetable waste can be turned into fertilizer for plants.

• Composting for kids, on youtube ~6 min

7. Plant a vegetable or herb garden.

• Herb seeds at amazon

Notes: 
1 mile Hike, 
Pfluger lake is a Water (& Fish ?)Conservation area, as is any LCRA body of water), 
make endangered and extinct animal handouts.. 
Build a new garden for momma? 
Plant a herb garden , each kid with his own lot, 
Gather and Dry the Herbs and use them to cook a meal? 
Fish Handout, gmae handout, to id Local game.

Required: Magnifying Glasses for each kid, seeds for veggie or herb garden (windowsill herb garden?)

Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God

Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God

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Do either requirement 1 OR requirement 2.

1. Earn the religious emblem of your faith.

2. Complete 2a and at least two of requirements 2b–2d.

a. Working with a parent or guardian, spiritual advisor, or religious leader,

provide service to help a place of worship or spiritual community, school, community

organization, or chartered organization that puts into practice your ideals of duty to God

and strengthens your fellowship with others.

• Our pack does servie for the church that is our charter organzation

 b. Identify a person whose faith and duty to God you admire, and discuss with your family.

• Famous Religous Leaders for kids (many faiths)
• Famous People of Faith (very short bios)
• My doc of a handful of religous bios 
• What I did here was pass out the religious bios sheets, each boy and parent team pick one and read it together, then we take turns sharing what we though was cool

c. Make a list of things you can do to practice your duty to God as you are taught in your

home or place of worship or spiritual community. Select two of the items, and practice

them for two weeks.

1. We made this list together out loud.

d. Attend a religious service, den or pack meeting worship service, or time of family

reflection and discussion about your family’s beliefs.

• Have the scouts and parents side bar to talk about their beliefs, and reflect on them.
• The hold a non denominational prayer together (it's harder than you thing to be REALLY non denominational, so keep it vague!)

I'm going to add, a brief description of faiths of the world...I'm going to make a single handout or power point slide show:

Here are sources.

• A nice concise summary by a catholic diocese
• Wikiopedia, (had nice maps at the bottom)
• Google site, has a nice breakdown by religion as a pie chart
• Classical Paganism Wikipedia
• World Neo-paganism Wikipedia

Living where I live (Austin)I'll probably briefly discuss both forms of paganism, just so kids will know what it is if/when the bump into it.

Notes: 
Guest speakers, Point of Grace chaplain?

This one is on the parents?
What about religious Bios handout, let teh kids read a few and pick one the like,  and then a quick Religious service at the den meeting?

Bear Adventure: Bear Necessities

Bear Adventure: Bear Necessities

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1. While working on your Bear badge, camp overnight with your pack. If your chartered

organization does not permit Cub Scout camping, you may substitute a family

campout or a daylong outdoor activity with your den or pack.

2. Attend a campfire show, and participate by performing a song or skit with your den.

• Skits on Boy Scout Trail
• Songs on Boy Scout Trail

3. Make a list of items you should take along on your campout.

•       Camping List 
•       BSA Handbook, Warm/Cold Weather Clothing
  
•       BSA Handbook, Personal Camping Checklist 

Here is a game I made to make this activity more fun!


4. Make a list of equipment that the group should bring along in addition to each Scout’s personal gear.

• BSA Handbook, Group Camping Checklist

5. With your den, plan a cooked lunch or dinner that is nutritious and balanced. Make a shoppinglist, and help shop for the food. On a campout or at another outdoor event, help cook the meal and help clean up afterward.

6. Help your leader or another adult cook a different meal from the one you helped prepare for

requirement 5. Cook this meal outdoors.

7. Help set up a tent. Pick a good spot for the tent, and explain to your den leader why you

picked it.

8. Demonstrate how to tie two half hitches. Explain what they are used for.

• The 6 boy scout Knots...

9. Learn how to read a thermometer and a barometer. Keep track of the temperature and

barometric pressure readings and the actual weather at the same time every day for seven days.

Here is a handout i made for the boys to keep thermometer barometer and weather readings on.
 

Notes: Campouts, Organize camping meals into teams, team plan menu with parents of each kid help cook a whole meal

Required: Thermometer and Barometer (build?)

• Cub Scout build project a Barometer

• Another easier one (I''ll probably print out these instructions)

• Supplies:
• Rubber band
• These may be wider than needed, I'm getting them in hope of being useful for more projects.
• Orange Straws (add on)
• These are bendy, you can get non bendy ones. These are orange, clear straws are used below, if you sharpy the end of the clear straw you can use clear for both this and the home made thermometer(which is optional, thus why I'm listing orange straws here).
• 12 Pint Mason Jars with lids (quart is $2 more, same page)
• You don't have to use mason jars, but the side need to be rigid (no plastic) and rubber needs to easily make an air right seal. If the jar is too small the air volume will not move to diaphragm (balloon) as much, same for a smaller diameter opening... I'll probably get pint anyway, so the left over jars are more useful to me...but that's your call.

• Cub scout build a thermometer

• Clear Straws
• 90% rubbing alcohol
• You might need 2 based on size of den
• You can use mason jars and drill a a hole in the lid, or use clear soda/beer bottles.
• Clay to seal neck $5
• Note: it's waaaaay cheaper just to buy a thermometer than to make one, and you don t' NEED to make one, I just think it's cool.
• Cheap pocket camping  Thermometer at Amazon(@2.32 each+free non prime shipping)
• Academy cheaper one

 

Bear Adventure: Bear Claws

Bear Adventure: Bear Claws

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1. Learn about three common designs of pocketknives.

• Cub Scout Idea Site: 3 common deigns of Pocket Knives 
• Here is what I covered, 5 kinds of knives.  
• I got out one of each kind of knife(i had an axis lock already), 
• I showed them to the boys how to open and close it and how it worked
• Then had them open and close each kind of knife
• The idea is that they know how to safely close any open pocket knife they encounter

2. Learn knife safety and earn your Whittling Chip.

• Basic Whittlin' Chip Requirements 

• 	Requirements: Know the safety rules for handling a knife. Show that you know how to take care of and use a pocketknife. Make a carving with a pocketknife.* Work with your den leader or other adult when doing this. Read, understand and promise to abide by the "Knives Are Not Toys" guidelines. Read, understand and promise to abide by the "Pocketknife Pledge." *One of the items carved for requirement 3 of the "Bear Claws" adventure may be used to fulfill Whittling Chip requirement 3.
  The Pocketknife Pledge: I understand the reason for safety rules. I will treat my pocketknife with the respect due a useful tool. I will always close my pocketknife and put it away when I am not using it. I will not use my pocketknife when it might injure someone near me. I promise never to throw my pocketknife for any reason. I will use my pocketknife in a safe manner at all times.		Knives Are Not Toys Guidelines Close the blade with the palm of your hand. Never use a knife on something that will dull or break it. Be Careful that you do not cut yourself or any person nearby. Never use a knife to strip the bark from a tree. Do not carve your initials into anything that does not belong to you.

   
• Whitllin Chit handout
• Whittlin Chit Instructors Sheet

3. Using a pocketknife, carve two items.
we carved soap into a fish or a bear (or whatever) teach the boys how to cut chips and how to cut shavings (the old name of this requirements), then we sharpened a bamboo chop stick, as bamboo is easy to carve, and made a "tent Peg", then I pre made Wooden whistle blanks and the boys carved the inner dowl flat and we put them together with glue, and cut the end off at an angle, then we sanded them and rubbed in an orange oil and bees wax mix (finished a later elective finishing a project made of wood(),

Required: Pocket knife for each boy, carving projects, rules handout, rules quiz for afterwards, whittlin chip cards

Challenge & Inititative Games For Cub Scouts

What are Challenge games for Cub Scouts?

The following games are taught in the Bear Manual... Apparently these games are new and wholly owned by the BSA..

They don't define challenge games, but a near as I can tell they are any group team building exercise that looks like a game. They do equate challenge games to initiative games which are all over the web,. there is a link at the bottom to a scouting PDF with a pile of them. Why they had to change the name other than to drive sales of their materials, I don't know.

Games in the Bear Book

Battening Down the Line 

Needed: Large indoor or outdoor playing area, any number of players , and inflated balloon.

• Line up shoulder to shoulder 2 feet apart.
• Start with the balloon at one end, 
• Each boy bats the balloon to the next kid in line.
• If the balloon touches the ground, the kid who hit it last takes it to the start of the line and it starts over
• When the balloon reaches the end, everyone wins.

Blanket Ball

Needed: Large indoor or outdoor playing area, any number of players , blanket or sheet, soft ball, or soft object (ie nerf or kickball).

• Blanket goes on ground, ball in the middle. Kids line up around the blanket and grab it.
• Boys swing blanket up and down to make the ball go high.
• No real victory condition, but the higher the ball goes the better they "do" 

Group Standup

Needed: Large indoor or outdoor playing area, any number of players , a long thick rope (they say about an inch in diameter) tied into a circle(use a square knot)..


Put the rope in a circle on the ground , cubs line up around it facing in, sit down. feet almost touching the rope and grab the rope.

Then they all pull on the rope together and try to stand up not using thier hands except to hold the rope.

Line Up

Needed: Large indoor or outdoor playing area, any number of players , blind folds 1 per player, or all the scouts promise to keep their eyes closed called "honor blindfolds".

put on blind folds, everyone keep silent, have them line up bu height, take off the blind fold see how they did.. you can do other things like tie shoes, or line up by middle name or whatever, the key is blindfolded and silence.

Fore Head Squeeze Relay

Needed: the normal stuff soft balls, balloons or oranges

squeeze the ball between 2 foreheads, move to one end of room and back. If they drop it they have to start over

Clothes pin rings toss

Put clothes pins around the out side of a bucket, toss mason jar lid rings on to it from 10 feet away

Keep your balance

Lay a 2x4 flat on the ground , walk it blindfolded
 

Smile

Two teams line up, one side heads, the other tails , flip a coin the side that is up tries by smiling laughing or acting silly to make the other side lose their straight face, anyone who does switches sides, repeat.

Marble Chop Suey

Move marbles ro small candies from one dish to ather using pencils as chop sticks and only one hand
skill game or relay race.

Juggler Toss.

Line up in pairs, everyone has a ball, pairs toss to each other at the same time.
each time they both catch, add a point and they take a step back. after a certain time, most points wins.

But you can come up your own, the key is team work and team building and learning about yourselves.

Links:
Lots of initiative games, which may or may not be the same as challenge games

2015 new bear requirements and my notes links and suggestions on them

I'm a bear den leader next year under the new rules

I'm trying to get organized and get my head around the new requirements...Since I expect there not to be much available on the web, I am posting the new bear reqs here with my notes and links and as I gather ideas on how to implement them... I'm looking for simple doable options for each..

Some of these are Texas based, or Even Pflugerville based (the town I live in) but hopefully it will give you ideas on what to Google in your local area

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to talk to me at caladin aht bz93 dawt com.
Where I list supplies it's the cheapest I've found that i think will work, but since I have amazon prime, I'm strongly biased towards getting them there. You can probably find better deals off amazon if you search. what you are getting here is the pre searched results based on my criteria.

Amazon
Free shipped (usually prime)
Cheap
Will do the job IMHO.

Any supplies you can scrounge or keep on hand will reduce your costs a huge amount. I like to keep it simple and have the scouts show up with all the supplies provided.. though to be honest I'm not sure I can afford to do this under the new requirements. I'm gathering everything as I if I can afford it so that I can get what I need to buy easily.

I'm pretty handy so a lot of this I can fake, but I'm building this based on me having no time to pre build stuff.

Bear Requirements

(2015–2016 Program Year)

1. Complete each of the following Bear required adventures with your den or family:

     a. Bear Claws

     b. Bear Necessities

     c. Fellowship and Duty to God

     d. Fur, Feathers, and Ferns

     e. Grin and Bear It

     f. Paws for Action

2. Complete one Bear elective adventure of your den or family’s choosing.

3. With your parent or adult partner, complete the exercises in the pamphlet How to Protect

Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide, and earn the Cyber Chip award for your

age.*

*If your family does not have Internet access at home AND you do not have ready Internet access at

school or another public place or via a mobile device, the Cyber Chip portion of this requirement may be

waived by your parent or guardian.

First if you don't have it already earn BOBCAT

BEAR REQUIRED ADVENTURES

 If the title of the Adventure has been converted to a link, it means this adventure has be split off into it's own blog post so folks can find it easier.

Links to Requirements moved to blog post:

Bear Adventure: Bear Claws

Bear Adventure: Bear Necessities

Bear Adventure: Fellowship and Duty to God

Bear Adventure: Fur, Feathers, and Ferns

Bear Adventure: Grin and Bear It

Bear Adventure: Paws for Action

Then earn the Cyber Chip

 

BEAR ELECTIVE ADVENTURES

Bear Elective Adventure: Baloo the Builder

Bear Elective Adventure: A Bear Goes Fishing

Bear Elective Adventures: Bear Picnic Basket

Bear Elective Adventure: Beat of the Drum

Bear Elective Adventure: Critter Care

Bear Elective Adventure: Forensics

Bear Elective Adventure: Make It Move

Bear Elective Adventure: Marble Madness

Bear Elective Adventures: Roaring Laughter

Bear Elective Adventures: Robotics

Bear Elective Adventures: Salmon Run

 Bear Elective Adventures: Super Science

Bear Elective Adventure: A World of Sound