Thursday, September 28, 2017

Howling at the Moon/Roaring Laughter


Cub Scout Comedy Den Meetings!

Wolf Adventure: Howling at the Moon requirements
Complete each of the following Requirements. 
1  Show you can communicate in at least two different ways.
2  Work with your den or family to create an original skit.
3  Work together with your den or family to plan, prepare, and rehearse a campfire program to present at a den meeting or pack program.
4  Perform your role for a den meeting or pack program.

Faith in God Developing Talents #3 (LDS religious emblem) write a poem, story, or short play that teaches a principle of the gospel or is about Heavenly Fathe's creations.

Bear Elective Adventure: Roaring Laughter requirements

Complete at least four of the following.
1.      Think about what makes you laugh. Write down three things that make you laugh.
      2. Practice reading tongue twisters.
      3. Create your own short story. Remove some nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs from the story, leaving blanks. Without telling the story, have a friend insert his or her own nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in the story you created.
      4. With a partner, play a game that makes you laugh.
      5. Share at least two jokes with members of your den to make them laugh.
          6. Practice at least two run-ons with your den, and perform them at a pack meeting or campfire program.



Meeting 1: Comedy Activity -1 (also LDS religious emblem)
Wolf
Bear
Howling at the Moon #1, #2, #4
(also LDS Serving Others #6)
Developing Talents #3 (LDS religious emblem)
Roaring Laughter #1, #2
(also LDS Serving Others #6)

Discuss communication, laughter is a kind of body language, speaking is another way we communicate.
Practice tongue twisters
Make up a short skit, poem, or story on a gospel topic
(serving others #6 learn about and practice good manners and courtesy)

 Gathering Activity: We had the boys read tongue twisters as they arrived.  There are great ones in the book or you can read pages out of Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss.  They got pretzel twists for participating.  Then we watched a couple studio C sketches including "Prop Switch".

Talk Time: discussed different types of communication verbal, non-verbal, written, and visual, etc.  We learned the scout motto in sign language as a demonstration.  We also had the boys in the circle send a message with body language to the group either "I am happy" or "I am mad" or "I am confused".  

"Communication is important for education as well as enjoyment.  We are going to be learning about a fun kind of communication in this adventure badge: comedy."  We discussed what made the boys laugh, I had the bears specifically list three things (they could duplicate each other).

Activity:
Then we talked about how they got to make their own comedy sketch or skit with props today.  
Prop Basket
I had a laundry basket filled with various props: an artificial flower, tray of play food, pillow, blanket, pool floatie, watering can, a wrapped present, a broom, a wig, etc  


I told them our skit needed to teach a gospel principle and the principle for our pack this month is courtesy.  Good manners are part of treating others the way Jesus would treat them.  So I challenged them to use their props twice in the skit, once to teach what courtesy is and once to teach what it isn't.  I told them we would be performing this skit at pack night for families.  The boys came up with the situation and chose their props, the leaders helped direct a bit, but the boys were able to improv with their props pretty well and we had a cute skit for pack night.

Den Meeting 2 Comedy Activity -2
Wolf
Bear
Howling at the Moon  #2, #3, #4
Roaring Laughter #4, #5, #6
Share jokes such as those on Laffy Taffy.  Play games that make you laugh such as the minute to win it “face the cookie”.  Work on skits/poems/stories. 
Homework: Howling at the Moon #4 or else perform for parents in a den meeting.

Gathering Activity: We did several Mad Labs using a Mad Libs app.

Talk Time: discuss the Howling at the Moon Legend in the book and the 6 parts of a campfire program.  We don't go camping in our pack, but we use most of the principles in our pack night and this is approximately how we plan to do it at our next pack night: 
Opening: prayer and flag ceremony
Songs: we choose not to sing at most pack nights, but this is fun around a fire- have any of the boys done this?  What song did they sing?
Cheers: We love cheers we did the "bobcat cheer" and "the wave" this month for boys getting awards.
Skits: We will have our courtesy skit and hopefully some run-ons from the Bears.
Story: Our cubmaster is a great storyteller, he always has captivating stories to help us remember the gospel principle of the month.  Stories are also great around a campfire.
Closing: We will have a drawing at the end of our program (entries for everyone who was on time, wore their uniform, or came to support their cub scout brother) then we will end with a prayer.
The 6 stones and 6 pieces of paper for fire represent the six parts of the campfire program.  The seventh  part should be S'mores!
Activity:
Joke Circle:  We had a joke circle where we went around and each boy got to share at least two jokes.  Each boy started with two Laffy Taffy's they could eat while we shared.  They could share the joke on the candy or share a favorite joke they already knew.  There are also great ideas in the book, or library's have fun joke books.

Rehearse Campfire Program:  This was essentially a run-through of our skit from last week and a practice of some run-ons for the Bears.

Play a game that makes you laugh:  You could play the soldier game in the handbook (try to make someone with a serious face laugh) or any other game you know that results in laughter, we did a blindfold game where the blindfolded person had to first find a person in the room and then that person had to say "peep" in a silly voice and the blindfolded person guessed who it was.  If time is short you could do Minute to Win It, Face the Cookie where you try to move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth by scrunching your face muscles.  Our boys didn't have much luck, but they laughed and enjoyed eating the cookies anyway.

Note: we finished this this badge in two den meetings, for the third week, you could do makeup activities, or do more of the above activities such as making a rock and paper campfire, having another silly games activity or watching some comedy sketches and discussing, or reading a joke book from the library would be a simple and fun den meeting.  



Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Fellowship and Duty to God/ Duty to God Footsteps





This badge is intended for families to do at home, even though you may cover requirements in den meeting, I would encourage families to have these discussions and do these activities at home as well.

Wolf
Complete Requirement 1 or 2 plus at least two others.
  1. Discuss with your parent, guardian, den leader, or other caring adult what it means to do your duty to God. Tell how you do your duty to God in your daily life.
  2. Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not already done so.
  3. Offer a prayer, meditation, or reflection with your family, den, or pack.
  4. Read a story about people or groups of people who came to America to enjoy religious freedom.
  5. Learn and sing a song that could be sung in reverence before or after meals or one that gives encouragement, reminds you how to show reverence, or demonstrates your duty to God.
  6. Visit a religious monument or site where people might show reverence. Create a visual display of your visit with your den or your family, and show how it made you feel reverent or helped you better understand your duty to God.
Bear
Complete the following requirements.
  1. Same as Wolf requirement #1
  2. Complete at least one of the following:
    A. Identify a person whose faith you admire, and discuss this person with your family.
    B. With a family member, provide service to a place of worship or a spiritual community, school, or community organization that puts into practice your ideals of duty to God and strengthens your fellowship with others. (HOMEWORK)
  3. Complete at least one of the following:
    A. Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not already done so.
    B. 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.

Religious Emblem Requirements, LDS:(see Faith in God booklet for boys)

Learning and Living
the Gospel
Serving Others
Developing Talents
 #2 Give a family home evening lesson on Joseph Smith’s First Vision (see Joseph Smith—History 1:1–20). Discuss how Heavenly Father answers our sincere prayers.
Paws for Action History Den Meeting
(Choose Joseph Smith for one of the famous Americans, scouts must teach what they learned at home to family, I encourage them to do this the same day, it doesn’t have to be on a Monday)
#2 Write a letter to a teacher, your parents, or your grand- parents telling them what you appreciate and respect about them.
Paws for Action service den meeting
(Thanksgiving)
#3 Write a poem, story, or short
play that teaches a principle of the
gospel or is about Heavenly Father’s creations.
Roaring Laughter/Howling at the moon/
Den Meeting
#5 Give an opening and a closing prayer in family home evening or at Primary. Share your feelings about how prayer protects us and helps us to stay close to Heavenly Father and the Savior.
HOMEWORK with Duty to God Den Meeting #1
#8 Read the twelfth article of faith.  Discuss what it means to be a good citizen and how your actions can affect others.
Paws for Action Flag Den Meeting
#6 Tell a story from the Book of Mormon that teaches about faith in Jesus Christ. Share your testimony of the Savior.
Christmas Den Meeting, (the people have faith that he will come and they won’t be killed.)
#8 Prepare a pedigree chart with your name and your parents’ and grandparents’ names. Prepare a family group record for your family and share a family story. Discuss how performing temple work blesses families.
Duty to God Den Meeting #2

Duty to God Den Meeting #1:

Gathering Activity: Make bread dough "footprints."


Bread Sculpture Recipe (aka pizza crust recipe)
2 cups warm water
2 packets yeast (I used SAF instant, my recipe doesn't specify)
5 cups flour (700g) add up to 1/4 cup more flour if dough is really sticky.
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Dissolve the yeast into the warm water.  Stir in the other ingredients, about 20 strokes.  Set aside for 5 minutes.  Shape dough, if you don't know what to make, start with a lot of balls and snakes and take it from there.  Bake for 12 minute or until nicely browned.  Very large shapes may need 2-3 extra minutes and very small ones may need a minute less.  Use a pastry brush to brush "pizza oil" over the top when they come out of the oven.  This recipe was perfect for 10 girls.

Pizza Oil Recipe
4 TBS butter melted
1 TBS parmesan cheese
garlic salt to taste, I sprinkle it over the butter like I would over pasta or bread.
a sprinkle of parsley flakes ground up between fingers adds some nice color

I start the bread about 15 minutes before the kids are due to arrive.  Then when the kids come (after washing their hands) give them a piece of dough that is ready to shape.  I tell them I need help making footprint treats because this is a footprints activity and that they can make a footprint and one other thing.  If the dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour to make it shapeable.

I had a greased cookie sheet in the center of the table and as they finished a sculpture they placed it on the tray.  When the first one was full I put it in to bake and then they filled up a second tray.  

these are way too big, you can make them quite a bit smaller!
Painting bread with pizza oil right after taking it out of the oven, optional

Opening Ceremony: Be sure to begin your den meeting with a prayer, remind the boys to say thanks for their bread that is in the oven!  Ask the boys how prayer protects us and helps us stay close to Heavenly Father and the Savior.

Talk Time:  We can do our duty to God by following in the footsteps of Jesus.  I really liked the Lesson for Younger Children at Danielle's Place "Follow in His Footsteps Bible Lesson". We didn't cut out footsteps and write though, we just had the boys discuss.

Next we quickly learned the song "Jesus Said Love Everyone" because it is a great example of following in the footprints of Jesus.
Jesus said 
love everyone
"treat"  them kindly too
when your heart 
is filled with love
others will love you!
To learn the song we had the boys hold up visual reminders.  I sang it once and they held up the reminders.  Then we repeated the words together one time, then we sang it together!

Activity: At this point you can eat your bread and play a game (see Danielle's game ideas).

************


Alternate Activity:  Instead of bread you could do footprint shrinky drinks.  I think bread is an easier activity because sometimes shrinking the shrinky dinks is a pain, but I've done both activities several times and both are fun for the kids.

Follow in His Footsteps Zipper Pulls:

We used #6 plastic lids from disposable cake pans at Dollar Tree and zipper pull hooks from Walmart.  And we had 4x5" foot templates they could trace with permanent markers.  Definitely practice with the shrinking process before hand!  We found that 300 degrees for about 5 minutes worked best for us in my oven.  If we went hotter, the projects curled too fast to completely flatten at the end.   If you do shrinky dinks, you don't need to do bread dough because both have bake time, so pick one craft and then either do a game at this point or a game for the gathering activity.
Our Footprints all done!  The striped design was done by an 8 year old, pretty impressive!  We liked it so much we made a copy of it.
Don't forget a hole punch before shrinking!
You can see the templates we traced in the bottom left of this picture.


Duty to God Den Meeting #2 (working on LDS religious emblem)

    LDS Faith in God-Learning and Living the Gospel #8

    Prepare a pedigree chart with your name and your parents’ and grandparents’ names. Prepare a family group record for your family and share a family story. Discuss how performing temple work blesses families

    Note: If possible, ask boys to bring the names of their grandparents to the activity.  Also have them prepare a family story to share (about a grandparent, parents, family tradition, ancestors, etc).  They need to be able to tell it, NOT read it.  If they would like they can bring a visual aide.  For example, my husband's grandma found hundreds of snakes in her house when she was a widow and living alone.  Her bravery in staying to fight the snakes got her on the national news.  I loved this grandma, she was an inspiration in lots of ways during her life, I'm always telling my kids about her.  If there isn't time for advance notice, you could always have the girls share a family story about a favorite tradition, vacation, a favorite grandparent, etc.  They could guess on the grandparents and correct it when they get home.

    
To start, have a lesson/discussion on how performing temple work and doing family history work blesses families.

    Next help the boys fill in the first three rows of their pedigree chart, the great grandparents are a bonus if they know them!
     
    Here is a pretty pedigree chart, there are lots to choose from online.




    Print a family group record for each boy to begin filling in.

    We finish this activity by giving the kids popcorn, twizzlers, and leftover halloween candy to munch on while everyone shares their stories.  If time permits the leaders can tell a story too.

    Next Den Meeting:
    Earning the LDS religious knot takes six more den meetings!  Because it takes so long that is why I choose to have "earn the religious knot" as a Bear elective requirement in our den instead of as a Wolf.  This way the Bears might have done all or some of the other six activities by the time we start working on this badge.  If not, we get to them over the next few months.