Wolf Requirements- Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild Requirements and how to do them

This was done before the Modifications were done to the handbooks in 2017. 
So, if you scroll down to the end of this, I will list what you can do instead.

Requirement 1- Attend a campout

We did this right before we went on our Fall campout. It's basically a check list of what you need to bring. Easy! You can also do this for a family campout or a day long activity with your den.

Requirement 2- Overhand Knot and Square Knot

We did this at camp between fishing and hiking. I bought black and orange para-cord string. It was easier to use 2 different colors, like in the book. I would suggest burning the ends to keep from coming apart. You can actually teach this anywhere but we had time at the campout.

Requirement 3- While on an outing, identify 4 different types of animals. Explain how you identified them.

We did this at camp also. We had like a 3 mile hike with our pack and my son was running around looking at the animals. We also had the boys picking up trash during this hike, which helps with service hours and Leave No Trace Behind.

You can also do this at a nature trail or any kind of hike.

Another leader told me what they did and I want to try this!

They took an old white sheet, put it down far away from the camping area right at dawn, set fruit and veggies in the middle of the opened sheet and waited till the next morning. The next morning there were all kinds of tracks from animals. The kids got to see it and were excited about it. Then when the leader brought it home, they washed it and are going to use it for the next camp out.

Requirement 4- Make a list of possible weather changes that might happen on your campout. How will you prepare?

Easy. They have it in the book to write answers. Sit down with your child and talk about what kind of weather you might expect. Cold-need jacket. Hot- t-shirts and water. Rain- umbrella or poncho.

Requirement 5- Show or demonstrate what to do:

Stranger approaches you or family, natural disaster, and keep from spreading germs.

The NO, GO, Yell, TELL

Natural Disasters in your area

how to wash your hands

Did all this before camp and again at camp just to make sure he got it.

Requirement 6- Prepare a song or skit and perform at campfire

My boys tripped me out. Ok, they did both a skit and a song. Skit they did all on their own, acting like they were catching a Pokemon. We actually had an older scout help us. The song we got from the internet. I believe it was " Mom, wash my underwear!" and everyone laughed. 

PS- Very surprised that my shy little man had a blast with these and was just having fun. They even did other skits with the bears about knife safety. And our Webelos were making up skits for like an hour! My wolves decided 2 weeks before camp what they wanted to do and we practiced at each den meeting til camp.

Requirement 7A-Recite the Outdoor Code 

My son and I did this during summer. Then I did it again with my wolf den at camp. It is located on the very last page in their wolf handbook.

Requirement 7B- Recite Leave No Trace Behind. Talk about how that supports the Outdoor Code

Leave no Trace behind is also on the last page in handbook.

Once again, we did this during summer and at camp with my wolves

Requirement 7C- AFTER campout, list the ways you were careful with fire

We had a slight problem with out Webelos wanting to always fan the fires and trying to get it to go huge. The other "little" kids found this fascinating and wanted to do this also. Parents were in chairs around the camp fire talking and not telling the kids to stop. So it became a safety issue. Just because this is a campout, does not mean that others will babysit your children the whole time. If you see them doing something wrong, please stop them. As den leaders, we can only talk to your children and tell them to stop. We will also explain why they have to stop. That doesn't always work. So parents, that's when YOU need to step in. We even had one guy, go and put the magic fire into the fire where the kids were going to do smores. A parent! Then he sat down as we waited for that fire to die down so we could get a clean fire where the kids could roast over. He laughed about it. We were livid. Parents, we have a plan and schedule. Please ask before doing something like that.

Now your Wolf has completed his Call of the Wild requirements!

I knew I would get my wolves done at camp, so I had out Pack Leader buy the beltloops so that I can present it by the campfire. My wolves loved it and the other kids thought it was cool. I mean, come on, how often in cubscouts will we be able to do that?

Modifications 2017 from BSA
Wolf Required Adventures
 Call of the Wild
Complete requirements 1–4 down below plus at least one other. 

Requirement 1.
 Attend one of the following
 A. A pack or family campout
B. An outdoor activity with your den or pack
C. Day camp
D. Resident camp

2. With your family or den, make a list of possible weather changes that could happen during your outing according to the time of year you are outside. Tell how you will be prepared for each one.
(This is the same as Requirement 4 in the book or above)

 3. Do the following:
 A. Recite the Outdoor Code with your leader.
 B. Recite the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids with your leader.
Talk about how these principles support the Outdoor Code.
C. After your outdoor activity or campout, list the ways you demonstrated being careful with fire or other dangers.
( This is the same as requirement 7 from the handbook)

4. Show or demonstrate what to do:
 A. In case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or flood.
B. To keep from spreading your germs.
( Same as Requirement 5 from handbook)

Now choose one of the following:

 5. Show how to tie an overhand knot and a square knot.

6. While on a den or family outing, identify four different types of animals you see or explain evidence of their presence. Tell how you identified them.
Hope this helps!

Summer time Pack activities

Summertime Pack Activities

I know its hard in the summer to plan around family vacations, summer school and general life. It's also kind of important. 

The boys can earn some of their requirements to help them get a head start and they can earn the National Summertime Pack award.

To get this award, you have to participate in a pack activity one time a month in June, July and August. I would suggest to Pack Leaders to schedule more than one activity per month so all the kids have a chance at this. We had, literally, 1 activity per month. And we missed the August one due to forgetfulness on my part. 

And Cubmasters, you can choose activities that are really cheap or free.

In 2016, we went to the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center as a pack. It was free! 

We hiked and they had a center of discovering local wildlife. 

For Wolves, we got to finish a lot just from the hike alone;

1. Call of the Wild: Requirement 3, 7A, 7B

Paws on the aAth: Requirement 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ( could have done 6 but forgot that one),  and 7

That is alot just from one Summer time Hike. Make sure the boys have water and stay hydrated! 

Another adventure we did was meet at an Airplane museum. This place was pretty cool!

Houston Wing CAF. was a nice and informative place. There were people flying in and out all the time. The kids loved learning about the planes. But it was hot ( Houston in Summer is like 100 plus degrees!) And we forgot to bring water, thinking it would be mostly inside. It's like a hanger for planes, so it gets hot. Kids outside were hiding under plane wings, trying to get some shade.  Oh, and this place was free too!

Our 3rd pack thing we had, in August, was a picnic that the pack put together. No pics, sorry. But we did recruit 2 new kids just from that. Oh, and a lot of our older scouts went to a Houston Astros game too in the summer. Parents had to pay for themselves.

Here are some good rules for packs. 

1. When planning something, plan ahead, not last minute.

2. For summer activities: pack pays for one, make one free and make one cheap for parents. 

Here are some Free activities that you can do: 

water balloon fights, water gun fights, swim party at someones pool, hike with pack, check out small museums that appreciate donations, Fire department visit, police officer visit, a pack sports game like tug a war or football, the list can go one!

Cheap activities: 

Bowling, sports games, picnic at the park, skating ring ( yes they still have those), or look on your local area council page for some scout days

Parents pay:

You can go to a planetarium, a museum, scout days again, nerf gun wars,over nighters at places like a battleship or baseball fields,  the list is long

So ya'll have a great summer and hope it is packed full of fun!

District Summer Day / Twilight Camps

Scout Day Camps

     There are so many different Scout camps out there. You have your big camp sites that are there year round. You have your pack camps, like in Fall and Spring. AND you have your summer day or twilight camps.

     I would suggest that all scouts be put in your local District Summer Day Camp. I did it last year for my son and he loved it. 4 days of Summer fun scout activities. You know, my son is very outgoing ( insert sarcasm here)! Who am I kidding, I have tried all kinds of sports and he hates it all. His obsessions consist of  You Tube Gamers. He will sit for hours, if I let him, watching people play video games on the net. It's aggravating and a little unsettling. So Day Camp was a must, just to get him out of his room. The plus side was that he loved it and couldn't wait to go again. 

     In the summer of 2016, we had the Western Day Camp. The summer of 2017 was Safari Day Camp.This year, 2018, is going to be Passport to Adventures. 

     So, I wanted to blog a little to give new scout parents an idea of what Day Camp is like. For most of you, you will drop off your child in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon for Day camp. Or drop him off around 3pm and pick him up again around 8pm for Twilight Camp.I cant give you exact times since all districts have different start times and end time. But it felt like 9-2 or something for us during the day. Your child will get a shirt that he HAS to wear everyday, for 4 days. And let me tell you, when you pick them up, they will be sweaty, dirty and hungry. I live in Texas and the summers are HOT, HOT, HOT here! So, yes, sweat was a big factor. But when we got home, I would start a load of laundry, throwing in the offensive, smelly T-Shirt, socks and whatever else he wore that day, that way he would smell like Ocean Breeze and Bounce for his mornings/ afternoons at camp the next day. That was probably the ONLY downside I had. 

     So, remember when I said that most of you will just drop off your child/children?For my 1st year,  I was a lucky volunteer at our Summer Day Camp, meaning I taught several classes of wolf scouts about "AIR of Wolf". It was a blast! ( I also had to throw my clothes in the laundry everyday too!) The district provided everything for our classes, including a schedule of what I was doing everyday. I had kids that were quiet, shy, loud, inquisitive ( my fave), and I even had some that would act like they didn't want to be there, until I busted out my craft/experiment for the day. Sorry, getting off subject.
    My next year, I signed up for a den leader. Den leaders need wagons, so I went out and bought one from Academy for $50. I decorated it like a jungle/safari theme. We want the kids excited about coming!. I also made each kid a necklace out of wood, with our theme on the front and their name on the back. And at the end of camp, I made each kid an award out of wood, that I thought they deserved. Like most athletic, most enthusiastic, bear-tastic, ect. They loved it.I also took pictures of the kids all day, I would put each kids pic into a photo collage with the date and send them to their parents. That way they knew what their children were doing all day.

     So why do I say that Summer Day Camp is awesome for all our scouts and their siblings?

1. We typically work on 2 of the electives that are in your scouts new handbook. In the past, we had wolves working on Finding you way and Air of Wolf. Bears last year worked on Balloo the builder, Marble Madness, whittling badge, and Make it Move.  Webelos made their own camp chairs that folded up one year and a side table the next. These kids spent 4 days working on them, it was so cool. Others painted a fence board like them in their Boy Scout uniforms, that they turned into a post.  It was helping them advance in their ranking and the kids had fun.
2. Kids had sports class and obstacle courses built with wood and ropes, so a lot of physical activities. They also had bows and arrows and BB guns were for Webelos .  The instructors keep track of bulls-eye and mark the kid's shirts for each one. Gives the kids a sense of practice makes perfect. Also, at our camp, the kids received beads for any accomplishment they did, be it answering a question right, or helping to pull the dens wagon. My son came home with a whole string of beads that he has proudly displayed next to his 1st place Derby medal. 
3. Get patches! My son loves his patches. He received one for marksmanship, he got the shooting sports patch and one for day camp.Those along with his Best wagon puller ribbon, his best buddy ribbon, his bear-tastic award and his beads are all proudly displayed. 
4. There is plenty of water breaks, bathroom breaks, and someone came around with Popsicles multiple times a day. So hydration was a big thing and the kids got rewarded for it.
5. They make friends with kids their ages, in their rank. My son would come home telling me about what so and so did, or how this kid was awesome in what they did.
6. Your kids will Love-it!

And for any Cubmasters out there, think of using the Day Camp as a incentive for popcorn sales. Our pack has it to where if you sell $600 in popcorn sales, they pay for his Day Camp. Or for coupon books, make it 1st place gets to go to camp free. Parents will work a little harder getting the kids selling, so that they don't have to pay for camp. Meaning more sales/money for your pack!

And Parents, I know that in our area, the camp registrations start in March. You can find the registration on your Area Council's website, with dates and times. Have Fun!

Here are some pictures, hopefully these will help:

Blue and Gold Awards

Since our pack doesn't give out the Tiger patch or any other award for Blue and Gold, I thought it would be awesome to have our boys take something home to represent their hard work. So the little ones are being made into necklaces that the boys can choose to wear. The bigger ones are awards for our den leaders.

We had a tree that was cut down by the electric company...they left all the wood there laying on the fence. So my brother In law came by with a chainsaw and cut a lot of it off the fence and this is the pile we kept. So I had my husband use a table saw to cut some thin slices off for our boys. Next we sanded it to get it smooth.  Then I went to Hobby Lobby and used a 40% coupon to by a wood burner. It didn't do exactly what I wanted...and I had to experiment with it. But I found out that when I drew on the wood, then used the burner over it, it turned out dark. 

See how the word Bear is lighter than the actual picture of the bear? That is because I didn't draw the word first with pencil. I also drilled a hole for the necklace part..

On the back of the "pendant" I wrote the pack # and the child's name. Made it easier to keep track of who I might forget. 

Every picture, bears, tigers, ect, was hand drawn using the picture at the front of each book. So every bear looks a little different, every tiger looks different, ect. Not one is made the same, even though I used the same picture for reference. 

Which I actually love!

The bigger one is made the same with the den leaders name on it and the boys names on the back. It has 2 holes to help hand on the wall if they want. I put Modge Podge on it to seal it...which is why they look so shiny. 

I was going to use twine for the necklaces but it is just too rough...but I will use it for the den leader awards. 

Oh, and because most materials I already had, this didn't cost the pack almost anything. 

If you don't have the wood at home, you can always buy this same kind at Michaels or another craft store. Just remember to have your coupon ready!

Make a Castle out of Recycled Material

When I mentioned to my son that he had to make a castle out of recycled material, he wasn't all that enthused. Then I mentioned that he can use Daddy's gold spray paint for it and he wanted to make it right away.

We used a coffee box from Sam's as the base of the castle. He wanted a draw bridge that went up and down and some towers. Easy and simple design.

He was allowed to use his Daddy's drill to make the holes in our door to pull up the draw bridge. He was really excited about that!

Then he used a knife to cut out the door that he drew. Of course I helped and I had to keep showing him how to hold the knife. It was a good lesson on knife safety.

He got it open! Ok, for the towers I helped a little more by cutting the next box's corners out to fit the box. He helped a little bit on this by telling me what to do...lol

We used all glue to glue the towers on. I let him do it twice and I burned myself so I just did it so that he wouldn't get hurt. Then he got worker gloves on and did the rest..lol

Next we finished the dr bridge by putting string on it and running it to the back of the box. You had to pull the actual bridge down but you could pull the string to close quickly.

The golden castle is done by spray painting it gold. Next step was to bring it to the pack meeting. Everyone loved it and said how cool it was. They even asked him go on stage and talk about how he made it. I was excited because it is good practice for talking in front of a crowd and he did a great job!

He talked about how he made it and what tools he used. And he loved it! Hopefully this will help. Make sure to have fun with it and so will your scout.

If you would like to support James in his

Adventures, please click Here

Thank you!

Pinewood Derby

Ahh, when you say cub scouts to anyone, this is the first thing that comes to mind.

You have whole websites and blogs dedicated to this one subject. How to make a fast derby car? How to cut out your car? What's the best shape for your car?

And I will be the first to tell you that we researched a lot before this ever came up.
Even our council's Facebook has posted so many interesting things about derby..and tips.
So anyway, you will start off with a block of wood. Our pack provided us with derby box, which had a piece of wood, 4 tires and 4 nails. When I saw the wood, I was thinking how in the world do we turn it into a car? I don't have any fancy tools so I bought one of those little saws that come in the kits at the scout store. After sawing on 1 pc for 30 min, I went and invested in a drimmel. Between the drimmel and a drill, my brother in law, Josh, helped make it look like a car.

He even taught my son to use a drimmel! I'm not going to lie because while he educated my son, I also learned how to use it...lol

So once we had the basic shape, we went home and painted it.  My son wanted to do skulls and asked it I could paint it.. I'm an ok painter but I knew I couldn't do a skull. So I went to Hobby Lobby. 

Fact: Hobby Lobby has a nice section for derby. There are weights, derby kits like Batman cars, dry graphite, scales and stick/rub on decorations for the cars. And you can use a 40% off coupon! So I bought his rub on skulls there. And this is a batman kit I bought for me to do. 

Yes those are my Olaf pants..lol. but I loved this kit. No cutting required. Came with weights, paint, sticker decorations, sandpaper, paint brushes, wheels and nails. And I loved making this one. 

My son's was a lot more work and I actually like his better...don't tell him that.

I did all the gluing of the driver and motor. LJ put on the wheels with Daddy's help. He helped me spray paint it yellow. He put some of the rub on decorations with. He had more fun working on this with his father than with me. I don't mind, it was fun to see my husband and my 7 year old brag about who was going to win.

So we missed the big day with the other packs because of some kids not being ready. At 1st I thought that was rude to postpone out pack because of a few kids. But honestly, I thought everything came together better than what it would have been. And I loved having ALL the kids in our pack participate. 

We had it at a park that was close to our meeting place. And it was a blast! While adults were getting everything ready, the kids played on the playground right next to our pavilion. It was free for our pack to have it there and the kids would just run off between rounds to get some energy out.

Everyone came together to really help this be a great day. Ms Melanie got breakfast items, including milk and donuts.  Ms Josie came with a huge platter of fruit that the kids devoured.  Our new cubmaster was engaging with everyone. Our den leaders set up the track and fine tuned everything. And it was a lot of fun!

And this is how your son will act when his car races... this was the 5th race that his car participated in and so far he won all of them.

I was very proud of my son. He went the whole race undefeated and won a gold medal. Oh, the night before the race, I weighed his car in at 4.99... so to get that extra 0.01 oz, I painted his weights at the bottom. It worked! His car was exactly 5 oz.  They clocked his car going 179 miles per hour. His usual time was between 2.7 and 2.8 secs. 

Everyone kept asking what we did to his car to make it so fast. I don't know! We spray painted 3 layers of yellow, we sealed everything with modge podge, we distributed the weights everywhere.. I just followed directions from the internet. 

When they called my son up to get his medal, his little 7 year old chest puffed up with pride. I noticed this because I never saw him puff up before..lol

So yeah, it was nice. And the funny thing is that before the race and all through the race, I kept telling him that it's ok if he lost. He would still get a badge. I was basically getting him ready to loose. I had no idea that he would win! Undefeated!

In 2017, he again placed. 

And trust us, we had no clue he would.

2nd place!

The boy's cars are in the pic above. My car is the bottom set of pictures. All the kids loved it. And we, as adults, get to use the track after the official race. It's a lot of fun and the kids love it.

And again in 2018, he made first! Boy that was a close race!

He also refused help from us in making his car. The only thing my husband got to do was cut out is cut out my SON's design and I got to help epoxy the battery in the car. The rest, he did!

His car was the one with lights. He said it helped teleport the car to the finish line. My husbands was the blue car and mine was carved like a desk with books on it, complete with a lamp that I couldn't figure out how to make light up. LOL. My son's car beat EVERYONE'S car, including the adults and his old first place car. 

If you would like to help support James in his adventures with scouts, please click Here

Thank you!

Superbowl of Caring

Ok, as I write this, this is already done for 2016..
But the whole point of this blog is to help answer questions. And I am sure new parents to scouting will wonder, what is Superbowl of Caring?
I learned about this 2 weeks before it happened. I was at round table, my very 1st meeting there, and they asked all the packs to pick their location. When they said the words Superbowl of Caring, I immediately thought of those brown paper bags at the grocery store. You know the ones... you buy it and they donated the bag you chose to a food bank. And if you thought that was it, you would be correct. But in scouts, we ask for donations instead of buying.

So, these flyers will be given to your scout at a pack/den meeting. They will also give you a map or certain streets that your scout needs to hang those flyers. Then on the Saturday before the Superbowl of caring,  your scout has to go out and hang them. We had about 100 flyers each kid and took us about an hour to hang them.

Then on the next saturday, you drive down those same streets and pick up whatever bags of food are left by the door.

Now we only had 3 houses leave something out of 100 houses.. but it seemed like most of our kids had that problem. 

Afterward, we went to our meeting place, where the boys had to help sort it. Then we packed up the truck and someone drove it to the Houston Food Bank. This is where they weigh it and your pack has to turn in the info to your council.

Afterwards, I spoke to other packs and they went door to door knocking, asking for donations. My husband had suggested it but our leader said maybe next year. 

Oh and if you want your son to get a badge for this, the Wednesday after the superbowl of caring,  your scout needs to go help till 9pm at the Houston Food bank. We skipped this part since my son is only 7 and that would really screw up his sleep schedule for school the next day.

So good luck everyone! And have fun with it!