Wolf Ideas

My Wolf scout and I sat down together to read stories from this book, in order to fulfill the last requirement he needed to earn his Wolf badge. (Wolf scout requirement 7e: “With an adult, find three stories that tell how people are protecting our world. Read and discuss them together.”)

If you’re looking for one-stop shopping to fulfill this requirement, this is the book for you. Twelve stories aimed at young readers bring to life a variety of issues facing human beings on this planet, and Earth-friendly ways to remedy those issues.

We read about a woman who brought solar power to remote areas of the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. She had been raised on the reservation herself and lived without electricity until she was in the fourth grade.

We read about a Champion Masked Wrestler from Mexico who used his fame for selfless purposes. He helped with a campaign to clean up the Tijuana River – badly polluted with sewage, pollution from factories, and garbage from local residents – which runs right through town. He got the children involved, encouraging them to spread the word to their parents and other adults to keep the river clean.

We learned about an ingenious method of purifying sewer water using nothing but plants and natural bacteria. (My son was very impressed by this!) Without using chemicals or tons of electricity, sewer water becomes clean enough to drink. (Though few people would want to. Ick.) The inventor built his “eco-machine” in the form of a water sculpture, installed at a school in Canada, so students could watch as their own water got recycled. What he did for a village in China was pretty amazing too.

What I liked about this book (aside from the age-appropriate reading level) was how each story somehow involved children. The stories were accessible to my child and interesting to both of us.

As you probably know, encouraging responsible stewardship of the environment has long been a trademark of the BSA. While environmentalism has become a political hot topic in recent decades, it doesn’t have to be about politics for our boys. Whether you’re an avid environmentalist or believe global warming is a sham, there’s value in these kind of requirements in the cub and boy scout programs. We teach our children to take good care of the planet for the same reason we teach them not to litter. It’s just the right thing to do.

From Allie Belle Design.com

I have been a cub scout leader for 6 years and I am always looking online for ideas. I thought that I would occasionally start putting some ideas that I use on our blog to help out other leaders. The great thing is that these ideas are fun for kids of all ages.

Bean Bags are a simple way to keep scouts hands busy and you can use them for all sorts of games. I like to fill bean bags with rice. It seems like it doesn't hurt as bad when you get hit with one.  (which happens in cubs a lot!) I usually take my sewing machine to my den meeting and have the bean bags 3/4 of the way done before hand.  Then I let the scouts fill them up and I finish the sewing. I serge mine but you can also make them with a regular sewing machine. Like these (made by my sister in law). 

I also made targets for a bean bag toss. I used wooden bean bag game targets that my kids made at the home depot kid workshop. I painted them and then, I found the cub scout clip art. I printed it out and then I modge podged it onto the targets. I usually let the scouts take home 5 bean bags and a copy of the games so that they can play with their families. This activity will pass off Wolf Achievement 10b and also Wolf Elective 4d.