The False Prince Discussion Questions

Fun Book Club Discussion Questions for The False Prince:

This is such a clever, entertaining children’s book, a quick read, and perfect for readers of all ages and interests. The medieval theme was fun for a book club as well.  Thanks to DeliciousReads.com for showing me how fun it would be to host this book.

I’m not going to ask who your favorite character was or what your favorite part of the book is, because if you read the book we should all have pretty much have the same answers, Sage is our favorite character and we’ll be afraid to discuss our favorite part because its at the end and there is always someone who hasn’t quite finished the book. 

So, these survey questions helped us discuss the book, we talked about how they applied to the book and then how they applied to us.  They were fun and didn't really have a lot of spoilers in them, which was good because a few people weren't quite done with the book.  I did wish I had a crown to give away to the awesome girl who qualified to be our False Prince(ss).  She had 9 ½ “yes” answers on this survey.  I had everyone fill out the survey when they arrived and then we discussed the questions.  We loved hearing about the plays people have been in, their sneaking out at night escapades, their quirky talents, sibling rivalries, and some sweet moments where people turned a new page in their lives.  This list is just a starter, the character of Sage had so much personality and it was fun getting to know him as we read this book.

Are You The False Prince?

1.     Are you experienced in theater (have you been in a play)?

2.     Can you speak with an accent? (a second language counts!)

3.     Was your father musical?

4.     Did your mother ever work in a restaurant? (Sage's mother was a barmaid when she met his father)

5.     Have you ever changed your hair color or had a dramatically different hairstyle from what you have now?

6.     Do you have any special quirky talents such as rolling a coin, wiggling your ears, or a farmer whistle?

7.     Did you pay for your own stuff as a teenager or did you parents usually pay?

8.     Are you the odd one out in the family?

9.     Have you ever reinvented yourself, (major turning points where you decided to be different or start over)?

10.  Do you have an older brother/sister that was hard to live up to?

11.  Did you have good “sneaking out” skills as a youth?

12.  Are you a rock climber (or wall-climber)?

13.  Do you have a sarcastic sense of humor?

Food (Presumably From the Castle Kitchens!)

Fruit tray with grapes and apples

Cheese tray

Crusty Bread with herbs and oil for dipping

Yummy pastries

Rolos (The King's Gold)

Water with lemon

Decorations

The crown on a red velvet pillow

Baloo the Builder and Digging in the Past

(Construction plus Dinosaurs--kinda reminds me of my four-year-old's favorite TV show Dinotrux!)

Bear Adventure: Baloo the Builder requirements

Complete all of the following requirements.
1. Discover which hand tools are the best ones to have in your toolbox. Learn the rules for using these tools safely. Practice with at least four of these tools before beginning a project.
2. Select, plan, and define the materials for the project you will complete in requirement 3.
3. Assemble your materials, and build one useful project and one fun project using wood.
4. Apply a finish to one of your projects 

Wolf Elective Adventure: Digging in the Past requirements      
Complete the following Requirements.
1. Play a game that demonstrates your knowledge of dinosaurs, such as a dinosaur match game.
2. Create an imaginary dinosaur. Share with your den its name, what it eats, and where it lives.
3. Complete one of the following: A. Make a fossil cast. 
B. Make a dinosaur dig. Be a paleontologist, and dig through a dinosaur dig made by another member of your den. Show and explain the ways a paleontologist works carefully during a dig. 

4. Make edible fossil layers. Explain how this snack is a good model for the formation of fossils.

     

     Den Meeting #1 "dino game and useful wood project"

     Gathering Activity: play the Dinosaur Match game from the Den Leader's Guide.  For a fun twist you can buy toy dinosaurs and have the boys match to actual 3D dinosaurs.  We also challenged them to see if they could accurately sort the toy dinosaurs by whether they were plant or meat eaters and the boys loved showing us that they could! Dinosaurs for this badge are most cheaply purchased at dollar tree (if in stock) or from Amazon if you can get free shipping.  Walmart and Party City are also options if they have dinosaurs in stock.  I purchased 7" dinosaurs so we could use them to decorate the bookend project, but if you are using them for the game, for digs, or to make fossil footprints, or to decorate your edible fossils, pretty much any size will work.

Amazon.com

Yeonha Toys at Amazon.com

Dollar Tree

Dinosaur Bookends

      This month, I have 7 boys in my den and four of them are special needs, so to keep things moving along, we made sure the Bear scouts did all four wood working skills (measure the book ends, screw them together, sand them, practice cutting with a saw on some scrap wood) and the other boys only had to sand their projects (my wolves didn't have the attention span or gross motor skills to do all the wood working skills.)  My husband pre-drilled and put the screws in for the younger scouts (Bears helped put in their own screws) and Home Depot measured and sawed the blocks for us.  The dimensions were 3x4" and  6x4" two blocks of each.  The boys had fun sanding and then they painted their bookends.  I had envisioned white, but my cubs found other colors of paint and we ended up with a lot of splatter painting which actually looked great.  We used spray paint, but half the boys couldn't do spray painting very well and I was terrified it would get on their clothes, so next time I think I'll have paint shirts and acrylic paint ready to go.  I had each boy choose a dinosaur toy to decorate their bookend so I would know which ones to have cut and ready for gluing the next week.  The instructions I followed said to cut the dinosaurs with a stanley knife and glue the dinosaurs on with hot glue, but we used E6000 outside in a well ventilated spot  just to be sure it would hold (see walmart craft section).  

rubberbands help hold things
in place while the glue dries.

   
   


Supplies for Dinosaur Bookends
   1x4 lumber cut into two 3" and two 6" blocks
   1 1/2" screws
   medium or fine grit sandpaper
   paper or cardboard to cover ground while painting
   paint (green, white, black)
   paint brushes if using acrylic paint rather than spray paint
   hot glue or E6000
   rubber bands or masking tape to hold dinos in place while glue dries.

     
     Den Meeting #2 "imaginary dinosaur"

     Gathering: Finish gluing or painting or staining the "useful" project if needed, (such as gluing dinosaurs onto the bookends), or tell dinosaur jokes.  If you plan on doing dinosaur digs next time, have the first boys to arrive help you with these, if boys are late and don't help make the digs, don't worry too much, the requirement only specificies that they do a dig made by another cub scout, not that they personally make the dig.

Check this book out from your library,
my cub scouts loved it as a gathering
activity!

     
      Dinosaur Digs:  lay out bones, dinosaurs, toys, sea shells, coins, etc in a plastic container, 1 for each boy.  For an easier dig Mix 4-8 cups sand with 1 cup plaster of paris and 1 cup water.  Working quickly (this sets fast) layer sand, then misc items, then more sand and leave to air dry, (don't cover with a lid) until next week.  The following week they can dig them out with spoons, plastic knives, bamboo skewers, and paint brushes.  If you use all plaster of paris you will need nails and hammers to do the dig.  The easier dig will take 15-20 minutes.  If you have a lot of older boys, you'll want to make the dig harder.

     Activity: Make an imaginary dinosaur(s) and fill out a trading card or cards for each dinosaur.

     The imaginary dinosaur pictured in the Wolf book uses paper rolls, boxes, and bottles.  If doing these kinds of dinosaurs have lots and lots of tape and some sharpie markers on hand.  I knew my den needed something simpler.  The simplest version I saw for this was clothespins , foam shapes, and paper (see picture below).  The gluesticks, clothespins, plates, foam, and markers can all be purchased at the dollar store, craft store, or walmart.  If you are lucky you will even find the foam in little peel and stick shapes.  I would have the foam, head and tail pieces prepared in advance.  Then the boys can add their own color to the plates and clothespins with crayon or marker and glue the foam on themselves! 

picture from a Facebook post

    Another option is making playdough dinosaurs.  Check out these pictures of great playdough fantastical  dinosaurs!!! (scroll down to the eighth project-pasta, googley eyes, and play dough.  There is even a wood imaginary dinosaur project, so you could have the Baloo "fun project" and the "imaginary dinosaur" be the same activity!!!). 
       

     I love having a fill in the blank card ready where we write down the creature's name, food, and where it lives so that they can take home and show off how creative they are.  I encourage silly dinosaurs like pizza-o-saurus or stinkysock-o-saurus.

     example:
      name: Bubble Gum-a-saurus
      favorite food: bubble gum
      lives: in sticky swamps and blows bubbles out of slime and muck

Den Meeting #3 "Dinosaur Fossils"

   Gathering: Make a fossil cast or do a dinosaur dig 

   To make dough for the fossil cast look authentic, try adding coffee grounds to the recipe.  Ask at any restaurant or a good friend if you don't have your own, they just go in the trash after all, I'm sure they would be glad to help out the cub scouts!  Or you can put sand in the dough for a nice texture as well.  Here are two great idea pages

   Dinosaur Fossil Dough from Red Kite Days blog 

   Sand dough from Frugal Fun for Boys

  






   Activity: make edible fossil layers

  

   The Wolf book calls for strawberry jello, animal crackers, crushed graham crackers, and vanilla pudding.  We subbed our favorite pretzel jello dessert recipe which is similar, but we especially like because of the buttery sweet pretzels.  

     You can layer in cups, but the layers were more visible using a glass pan.  I had half the recipe in cups and half in the pan.  We weren't able to get two layers of cream, but you may have better luck with pudding.  Also if a boy doesn't like one of the layers, he can take his dessert cup home to his family and just munch on pretzels or plain jello for his snack at the activity.

   Ingredients (made 10 jello cups plus an 8" pan):

   8 oz pretzels

   5 tbs butter

   4 tbs sugar

   1 cup sugar

   8 oz cream cheese

   1 8oz container whipped topping, thawed

   6 oz strawberry jello

   8 oz frozen strawberries, cut up a bit (optional)

   2 cups boiling water

   1 cup cold water

   1 package animal crackers (small dollar store package is plenty)

   Advance Preparation:

   1) crush pretzels until the pieces are very small then toss with melted butter and sugar.  Spread out in a pan and toast at 350 for 6 minutes, stirring halfway through, cool.  

   2) Dissolve jello in 2 cups boiling water.  Then add 1 cup cold water and strawberries, if adding a full 16oz of strawberries you can skip the 1 cup cold water.  Or you can skip strawberries entirely.  Pour a 1" layer of jello in each clear cup or in a glass casserole dish.  After about 10 min in the refrigerator you can put an animal cracker in each cup to represent animals caught in the fossil layers

  Cub Scouts Cooking:

     Have the scouts watch or participate in adding 1 cup sugar and the cream cheese to a mixer and mixing until smooth.  Then gently fold in the whipped topping.  

     Then teach the boys about how fossils are formed when animals are caught in layers of sediment.  (Sediment: solid matter like rocks broken into very small bits such as sand and gravel, leaves, branches, etc.)

     We have some edible sediments to layer on our edible animals.  Some layers make the animals dissolve and others don't (like the jello vs the pretzel layer).  

      To make their own sediment layers the boys first sprinkle a thin layer of pretzel on the jello.  Optionally they can add another animal cracker, then they dollop a spoonful or two of the cream filling on that.  If they dip their clean fingers in water they should be able to smooth the cream layer down flat without it sticking, wet spoons can also work.  Finally they sprinkle another thin layer of pretzels.

  

     
     Den Meeting #4 "fun dino wood project"

     Make a "Fun" Project such as dinosaur tic tac toe (see the Wolf book).  Again it doesn't have to be a dinosaur project, whatever is simple for you to do.  Our day camp always has the bears do a fun wood project and making a pinewood derby car definitely counts as well, so if you did this badge closer to day camp or the pinewood derby you could even skip this den meeting.

      

   

full page of dinosaur trading cards

    

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.