From Al Cormier, CM, P701, Cardinal District, Robert E Lee Council, Richmond, VA:

Need a Quick Award?

Last year I had a Genius night at one of my Pack Meetings. Well, it was the night before the meeting and I hadn't gotten any awards for the Scouts. So I ran into my wife's sewing room and came up with this idea:

Materials:

1. lids from frozen orange juice cans
2. construction paper
3. markers
4. white glue
5. 1" - 1 1/2" X 10" strips of colorful scrap cloth or ribbon
6. self-adhesive magnets

What to do:

1. Cut the construction paper into circles that will fit into the rim of the OJ lid.
2. Fold the cloth strips in half and cut the end at an angle.
3. With the markers (or any other decorating materials) write, or draw whatever you wish on the paper circles (Certified Genius, I Did My Best, #1, etc) and glue them to the lids.
4. Spread the cloth strips and glue them to the back of the lid (leave room for the magnet). The idea is to make this look like a "1st Place" award.
5. Cut a 1" square from the magnet and stick it to the back of the lid.

When the glue has dried you will have the perfect award, and it will be ready to be displayed on the best place in the house for awards, the refrigerator door.

As a variation, you could have the Scouts make these at the beginning of the year. Have them make them as fancy as they want. Then put them in a bag, and use one each time you think a Scout has earned it.

- From the Editor: I saw a couple of craft ideas on television that I would like to pass on to you. These were shown on HOME MATTERS, hosted by Susan Powell. I did not tune in soon enough to catch the name of the person presenting the craft, but she was from a magazine called FAMILY FUN CRAFTS. I liked these ideas because they seemed easy, inexpensive, and creative.

Milk Jug Buildings

Use a 1 gallon plastic milk jug. Wash and rinse thoroughly before using. Cut a 3 1/2 inch square from the front of the jug, near the bottom. (This can be done with a craft knife. Do this before distributing to the Scouts. Let your Scouts be creative. The buildings shown during HOME MATTERS were a doll house and a garage. The cap becomes the chimney.

Brownies would probably enjoy the doll house. Cub Scouts would probably enjoy making the garage.

With a Scout's imagaination, an assortment of construction paper, glue, markers, and small boxes - could turn into furniture, tool chests, windows, signs, etc before your eyes.

I think this might even be a fun contest for a pack.
1. Ask each Scout to supply a clean, plastic, gallon jug.
2. Leaders should cut out the front section.
3. Distribute Milk containers at the Pack meeting.
4. Include with each jug, a copy of the rules and a list of categories in which prizes will be awarded, such as: most creative, most original, prettiest, ugliest, funniest, etc.
5. An alternative would be to have each Den build Scout Town . Each Cub Scout could be responsible for making a building such as: the town hall, grocery, gas station, police station, school, etc. These could be completed at Den meetings or at home.
6. These would be great display for Scout Week Displays in local stores or school.

Egg Carton Noses

For this project you need an egg carton (you can make 12 noses from 1 carton) some string or elastic thread, and craft supplies to decorate the nose.

Cut the egg cups apart. Use one cup to make a nose.Punch holes on two opposite edges of the cup.

Using 2 pieces of string, tie one end of the string or elastic onto the cup through each hole. (The string should be long enough to tie behind the head of the person wearing the nose.)

Decorate the nose. The noses shown were decorated to be a rabbit's nose (complete with whiskers) and a pigs snout.