Curiosity, Intrigue, an Magical Mysteries

Curiosity, Intrigue, an Magical Mysteries

I loved doing this one with my son. They have to perform a Magic Show!!!

Ok, getting ahead of myself.

Requirement 1: Learn a Magic Trick and practice it for a show.

We started off doing the trick shown in the book, which was hard for my son but he got it down. But since we knew he had a show to do, we went to the Boys Life website on the Magic in a Minute section and just looked up some there. We picked 5 different ones and decided those were the ones he would learn for the show.

Requirement 2: Create an Invitation to a Magic Show
I just took a piece of printer paper, cut it in half and brought out the crayons.  He drew some harts, called the show LJ'S Amazing Awesomeness or some such thing.  Make sure it has the date (ours was Thanksgiving), a place and a time.

Requirement 3:  Put on a Magic show for an audience 
The moment my son was waiting for! He practiced all week for this and messed up only once. Did he have fun? He said he did but he certainly rushed through it. But the good thing is with family, they supported him, clapping at every trick he did. Will he do another show anytime soon? Probably not by choice.  

Requirement 4: Create a Secret Code
We looked online to see what kind of codes we could make. We used lemon juice and wrote Tigers Rule. Im guessing my lightbulbs were not hot enough to make it show because the paper remained blank. So then I had him use the alphabet #'s.. A=1 B=2, ect And he made a code. 

Requirement 5: With your Den, crack a code you did not make. 
Yeah, we cracked the code that was in the book. Then I made my son practice more at home with the codes in the Boys Life Magazine. 

Requirement 6: Spell your name using sign Language and in Braille. 
My son has 2 letters to his name so this made it a little easier. The signing he got down fast but the braille was a little harder. Funny fact: my son ended up checking out a Braille book from the library. Of course it had words written in white but the rest of the book was black. And to "see" the pictures and some words, you had to "read" with your fingers. It was HARD! Great for educational purposes. 

Requirement 7: Science Demo on how magic works
Yeah, we followed the wonderful directions... and we had water go everywhere! Maybe it was the cardboard? I don't know. But after 2 separate tries, we gave up.

Requirement 8: What did you learn from your science demo?
My son wrote NOTHING...LOL
If you would like to help James in his scouting adventures, please click Here
Thank you

Tigers in the Wild (needed)

Tigers in the Wild

Ok, our other Tiger did most of this during the camping trip. But if you read through my blog, you know my son couldn't make it. He caught a nasty bug the DAY that we were supposed to leave for camping. So I apologized  to everyone, including our other Tiger. 

But I still made him do things, with a fever. I figured the fresh city air would help him...LOL

Req 1: Name and collect the Cub Scout 6 essentials you need for a hike. Tell your den leader what you would need to add if it rained. 

We actually did this at the pack meeting before camping. They had the kids practice pitching tents and talked to them about what they would need.

Req 2: Go for a short hike with your den or family and carry your own gear. Show you know how to get ready for this hike.

Our other Tiger did this at camp. My son, I made hike with a slight fever. ( It was only like 99.1 but I was trying to sweat that bug out!) So, we have a small bayou behind our neighborhood. And we walked there for maybe 20 min. He got really tired ( still sick, remember) so I lead him back home, where he fell back asleep. You can tell in the pic below he doesn't eel good while hiking in his PJ bottoms..Poor baby

Req 3A:Outdoor code. 

I read from the book the outdoor code and we discussed how we can be clean in our outdoor environment. 

3B Leave no Trace behind

Read this and discussed why we should always throw our trash away instead of on the ground

3C Apply both codes

We made sure not to disturb the bees on the flowers, instead walking around them. And we picked up some trash that was on the ground.

Req4 While on a hike, find 3 different kinds of plants, animals, or signs that animals were here.

Just write what you saw. Since he was sick, I took pics of different things and let him choose what he wanted to write later.

Req 5 Partcipate in an outdoor meeting or campout fire. Sing a song and act out a skit with your Tiger den.
So, I used the camp fire from the camping trip of Fun With Son as the song. We had Boy Scouts there teaching the kids songs and acting out skits. Thats only because LJ was sick for the campout that our pack went on. The other scout used the campout as the song portion.

Now for the skit portion... we went ahead and did a skit at out Pack meeting. We had the scouts count to 60 while our boys danced like crazy to a song. Then our den leader said that we just wasted a min of their time. Everyone cracked up.

youtube video of the skit

Req 6 Find 2 different trees and 2 different types of plants that grow in your area. Write their names in your Tiger handbook.

We did this at one of our 1st den meetings. Our leader made the kids draw a picture of the leaf and then write the name. Then we took some leaves and put paper over it, then use a crayon to do a rub of it. It was fun!

Req 7 Visit a nearby nature center, zoo, or outside place with your family/den. Learn about 2 animals and write down 2 interesting facts.

Well, once again that camping trip was used for the other scout.

 We on the other hand, had to find something else. So we found a wolf sanctuary. 

We went to Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary, and it was a blast. I have a whole post on it. 

Wolf Sanctuary post

And after you do that, you will earn your Tiger's in the Wild belt loop!

Tiger Bites Belt loop ( needed)

Tiger Bites!

This was one of my son's 1st belt loops! And this is when he discovered some were gold. LOL

Most of these you can do at home with your son, which was great for us. 

Req 1: Identify 3 good food choices and 3 no good choices.

Ok, I went to the govt website they had in the book but it was confusing for us. So, I just pulled up a food pyramid chart..LOL.. old school sometimes works best. Explain whats good and why. Explain about bad food and why. 

Then you have your son fill out the chart. Easy!

Req 2: Show you know the difference between a fruit and veggie. Eat one of each.

Ok, when I looked at other blogs on this, alot of people brought their den to the grocery store and learned about it there. We did not get to, so I brought my kid on a shopping trip to 2 different stores. One was HEB, which ours has a wonderful selection of fruits and veggies. We bought the yellow and purple little carrots. Then we brought him to an asian market, which had some awesome but different stuff. We bought a Dragon Fruit ( which didn't taste like anything for $5) and a white Coconut ( the one that is still in the green casing that was hard as heck to break). We discovered that the coconut is way different like that and we all loved it. It was not fry like the normal stuff. 

Of course I lost the pictures of us trying to open the coconut but it was hard work.

Req 3: Pick a job to help your family at mealtime,. Help everyday for one week.

Clean off table shouldn't sound so bad but Oh my gosh, the complaints I had everyday...ugh. And the funny thing was, it's mostly his stuff. Like his electronics, books, toys... I thought afterward he would keep the table cleaner by picking up his stuff but NOPE! Good luck on this one!

Req 4: Show you can keep yourself and personal area clean.

They demonstrate how to wash your hands properly. I showed my son and told him to wash his hands after using the bathroom. Laziness has stopped him from doing that. When I commented on it, he said the hand sanatizer gets his hands cleaner. I agreed but since he doesn't use that, then maybe he should try washing his hands... LOL 

Req 5: What foods can you eat with your fingers

Yup, this can really help. My son likes to pick up everything with his hands to eat. So it was nice to teach him, only if it lasted a little while.

Req 6: Plan and make a good snack choice to share with your den

He chose one of his faves- It's a cracker with peanut butter and bananas on it. 

The kids loved it. NOTE: I checked with the other moms 1st to make sure there were no peanut allergies. I would suggest you do the same.

Congrats, your child is done with Tiger Bites!

If you would like to support James (LJ) in scouts, please click Here

 Thank you!

Team Tiger Beltloop for Tigers (needed)

Team Tiger Beltloop

Pages 67-77 in your Tiger Scout Handbook

Hi Again!

Ok, today I am going to talk about your little Tiger's Team Tiger Beltloop. This is needed for the Tiger Badge!

I thought this was a great one because usually when you think of teams, you think sports. But it can mean so much more, like being a team for your family or neighborhood. And in Requirement 1, it has has some questions that will help you and your scout along the way.
Q1. My den team is: ______ fill in with your Tiger den #
Q2: My Pack team is: _______ fill in with your pack #
Q3: My school team is: ______ fill in with your school name
Q4: My neighborhood team is:_________ fill in with neighborhood name
Q5: What other teams are you on? ___ I let my son figure this out and he put our last name, with the explanation that our family is a team. I LOVED that explanation! But of course your son can do his sports team, church, science after school team, ect...
Q6: How can a team do more things than one person?___ My son put helping... What you can explain is that when helping, you do your part as each person does their part in helping and together you can accomplish great things.

Requirement 2: Make a den chart with your den that shows everyone doing something to help. Also, as one of the den jobs, lead the Pledge of Allegiance at a den meeting.
This was a little hard for us. The Pledge was easy because my son did it at a Pack meeting. But the chart was something that just kept being put on hold. So, last month (January)  I just brought the supplies and helped the kids put together a chore chart.  If you have to, do the same things. Bring your own supplies and just do it. LOL

Requirement 3: Pick 2 chores that you will do once a week for a month.
( Insert sarcasm here: Oh How FUN! )
My son picked feeding the dogs and washing clothes... Instead on once a week, I made him feed the dogs every morning. And clothes? You better believe he helped with every load for a month... LOL He complained a lot but I told him I do this stuff every time by myself. Then I would encourage him by saying how much of a big help he is. AND he got paid chore money. 10 cents for each dog feeding and 10 cents for each load of clothes he did.

Requirement 4: Make a chart to show 3 ways that members of your Tiger team are different from each other.
So easy! They supply the chart on page 75 and you help the kids fill it out. My son wrote that his fave food is sushi. Another kid put Salmon. I thought that was just awesome!

Requirement 5: Do an activity to help your community or neighborhood team.
If you have done Scouting for food, you can use that for this requirement. I made my son do something totally different. We just moved to Houston, TX from a smaller town. So, I contacted our old church and signed him up to volunteer for Fall Fest. So for 1 1/2 hours, my son was a candy runner. It was mostly boring in the beginning but as the night started getting busier, he had more candy to run. And before the actual event started, he got to go to the doors giving out candy in the hallway and trick or treat. I thought it was nice. There is also a small list of ideas that may be more fitting for your son that you can find on page 77.

Congrats! He has finished his Team Tiger Beltloop!!
Oh, and please always write down their completion dates of each beltloop/award. It will make things easier to find it when they ask.

Tiger Safe and Smart Belt loop

Hi!

Well, we went to our local fire department with our den recently. And our Den Leader asked us to finish the Tiger: Safe and Smart requirements so the boys could get the loop at the same time.

So, for the last week, we have been working on that.

Requirement 1a: Memorize address

Well, we recently moved so we had to do that anyway. Took about 15 min, but my son has it down now.

Requirement 1b: Memorize a emergency contact phone #

I taught my son my cell # when he started Kindergarten so we just used that.

Requirement 1c: Take the 911 safety quiz

Grateful for this because I never taught my son to call 911. Matter of fact, he called it 999. So, we practiced on my cell phone, talked about what a true emergency was, and took the quiz.

2A: Stop, Drop and roll

Well, I thought he learned that in school but maybe he just didn't pay attention. So we reviewed that, why you would do that, and practiced it.

2B:

How to safely roll someone else in a blanket to put out a fire

Had to explain that and we practiced it

3: Make a fire escape map with your adult

Well, my son is not that great at drawing so we went around and drew the map. We marked our smoke alarms, showed arrows where to go, discussed our safe place to meet..

4: Explain map and practice fire drill

Yup, that was the fun part. My son was on his hands and knees crawling, touching handles carefully ;looking for heat, counted the stairs to know how many, even if it is dark... He loved it!

5: Find smoke detectors and test them

We only have 2 so this was easy

6: Visit a emergency responder station

We went to the Fire Department with our den

This was an easy one but it took a lot of thought into our fire escapes. And my son learned new things that I thought he already knew. Interesting, informative and very IMPORTANT!

So glad we did this one now..

Scouts visit to the Fire Department- Tiger: Safe and Smart requirement #6

Recently we visited our local Fire Department!

And the kids had a blast.
We did this for our Safe and Smart adventure.

 We only have 2 official cub scouts and one member who comes to the meetings but hasn't signed up yet. Also we have 2 little sisters that join us for the meetings. So we had 5 kids visit the Fire Station. I am really thankful there wasn't more because it was hard to keep the kids in line. They wanted to run around and do their own tour but we, the parents, kept making them come back to listen to our guide.

So, when we 1st arrived, we had one member we had to still wait on. The kids were bored and we let them run around the front of the building to try to get some energy out. While this was going on, our den leader was asking our tour guide a lot about Fire Station  #9. We found out that they have volunteers and paid workers. All the training is free. Our guide is on a fast track course to become an EMT, which he says is a lot to learn. He has been with he fire department 13 years. 2 paid and the rest volunteer. He has his own company that started taking up a lot of time so he switched to volunteering. So it was really nice of him to come out at 6:30pm to give some scouts a tour!

We also learned that volunteers are always welcome. And they love when people bring them meals.

So once our final member came, we started our tour. Each child received a Fire fighter's hat. Boys received a red hat, girls a pink.

 We started in the building, showing us the meeting room, where they do reports, the living room, the bedroom, and we glanced at the work out room. 

Then we checked out the actual trucks. Each truck is with the company about 10 years and then replaced. But they have to take really good care of them. This particular Fire Station had 2 trucks and 2 EMT vehicles. The first truck was for emergency's on the ground. It had hoses, ladders, jaws of life, lots of axes, lots of fire extinguishers, first aid bags for any situation, and just a lot of stuff. The 2nd truck had a ladder that extends on the top. Of coarse the kids wanted on that but ALL the adults were like," heck no."

But our guide did let the kids in the fire truck, which was a big highlight!

Then he showed them the thermal scanner. It helps the fire fighters know how hot the fire is or where it is. He demonstrated by having teh kids put their hands on the wall and leave it there for a minute. Then he showed them how the heat from their hands were on the screen. The boys laughed and thought it was so cool.

After that, the guide gave each kid a bag that had colors, stickers, a safety coloring book, ect.

We let the kids loose again on the parking lot while the parents had a lot more questions. 

All in all, one of the best den meetings we have had.

Thank you for your service and the great tour Fire Station  #9....from den #9!

Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary for a requirement

For Tigers in the Wild Adventure

Requirement 7

Our den did most of Tigers in the Wild during their camping trip. My son couldn't go because of a stomach flu. So, we made other plans!

We were so excited to go to Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary  in Montgomery, TX! I LOVE wolves so I was super excited for this requirement.

I made a shirt for my son to wear that has his pack # and that he was a tiger. At the time, he didn't have his pack shirt. So he wore his "new" pack shirt on this adventure.

When you park, you have a small hike to reach your area. Then you sign a release form. Then you wait for your guide to start. As your sitting there, you can see all the wolf dogs and the one wolf they have. Beautiful! And let me tell you, right within 5 minutes you will have a favorite. My son's favorite  was Big Boy and mine was Achilles.It was also lunch time for the wolves. So it was interesting to see how they were fed.

When the guide starts, he gives you some basic history of how this wolf sanctuary started. How it's run, what they feed the wolves, how people mislabel dogs as wolf dogs, and the traits of a wolf.

He asked the 2 boys there, who has a stronger bite. Shark, wolf, dog? My son said wolf. All the adults said shark. He was right, we were wrong. So the guy looked at my son and told him he had a gift for him in the gift shop. What can I say? That got my son's attention!

Then we started our tour.
Here is the link to the Bio's of the wolves:
http://www.saintfrancissanctuary.org/bios.htm

First we saw the enclosure for Tala and Remus. And we were told how they came to be there. Remus' brother is also on the premises but separated far away as possible to stop the fights. We were also told how much wolf was in each animal. Stories of the animals that show just how intelligent they are. You gain a deep respect for each animal, if not love them.

And thats how the tour continued. You learn about the background of each animal. What percentage of wolf they are. The personalities of each one. You learn about wolf traits vs dog traits. You learn who the alpha is and how she still controls the others. Mystery is a beautiful yet such dainty alpha.
You learn about the 3 pack that they have, the first to be known in an enclosure of 2 females and 1 male. It was awesome!
Here are some pictures.

After you have seen all the wolves and learned so much about them, you get to meet and PET a wolf dog! Yes, she is of lower wolf content but who cares! Interesting fact: we went there right after it rained. When we petted Tala, the guide had us smell our hands. No wet dog smell!
Here are some pictures of Tala walking down , letting the visitors pet her.

After Tala left back to her area, we were set free to explore a little. They have a cool memorial that was set up for the wolves that have passed. My son wanted to see it and I have to warn you, its sad. But it was beautiful! Want to take a guess at who built it? It was an Eagle Scout project for a young man in 2011 from troop 928. I think he did an awesome job!

After having a quiet moment walking around and reading the names of the wolves that have passed, my son hunted down our tour guide. And this is the surprise that he had for him.

My son and I were taken aback by the Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary patch. But it was a pleasant surprise. Then we hunted down the gift shop and did some serious shopping. Did I mention I love wolves? I had to get a beautiful necklace that had Mystery's fur inside. Not to mention it is getting close to 2016, so I had to get a new calendar. T-shirts are always great to have, so my son and I bought matching T-shirts. They had grab bags, cups, beautiful pictures, magnets, Christmas tree Ornaments... I went a little nuts. LOL
But all the proceeds go directly back to the wolves. So hey, they need it, right?
And yes, they DO need it! They are in desperate need of repairing a fence. This fence will cost them $20,000. So go visit them! If you don't have time, there are many other ways to help.
Many ways to help
GoFundMe Page for the fence
Another way you can help is by going to their amazon page and buying from their wish list. Or through Amazon Smile. Anything will help.
Amazon Wish List
I hope ya'll can go out and visit. I had a blast and my son swears he did too! And you can always use cub scouts as an excuse to go visit. He just NEEDS a new badge, right?