Need Ideas for OA/ Cub SCout program

[rjcluvvt 10]

My OA lodge has decided to help run the Cub Scout program at the Council Camporee, I need ideas on different activites and such. Im not very knowledgable of Cub Scouts, except for being one a long time ago. Any input wouldbe appreciated

[Proud Eagle 13]

You need to put together a committee or group of some form that includes people with a variety of types of expertise.

 

You will need some people with experience in running or leading Cub Scout programs. I would imagine there are people who have put together camporree programs in the past that you could ask to assist. You may also find some cub scout leaders in your lodge.

 

You will also need some people who know what types of resources the lodge has available. Your lodge should have people who are skilled in a variety of areas, and someone with a working knowledge of this needs to be involved.

 

However, if you don't have time for a full blown committee to plan the process, I do have some ideas on how to start. First think about basic Boy Scout skills that would be of interest to Cub Scouts. Your lodge will certainly have people who could run demonstrations, competitions, and such things based on simple Scout skills. Then think about what goes on at your lodges conclaves and fellowships. Consider if any of those activities would be good for Cubs. Cubs are after all interested in many of the same things that Boy Scouts are, but you just have to scale it back a bit in skill level, and include some creative aspects to keep them interested. For example, a hike in the woods can be done with Boy Scouts for no other reason than the fun of hiking. However, for Cub Scouts, you need to shorten the hike, and do something like create a scavenger hunt list to keep them interested as they go. The skill levels and attention spans of Cub Scout is a good bit lower than that of Boy Scouts.

 

I really am not an expert in Cub Scouts either, so I can't offer any specific examples. However, I do have quite a bit of experience planning OA related things.

 

Hopefully someone who is will come along and provide some thoughts.

 

Oh, one final thing, are you dealing with Cub Scout in general or just Webelos? The age appropriate activities list in the Guide to Safe Scouting indicates that camporees are only appropriate activities for Webelos as visitors, and not appropriate for other Cub Scouts. Only Boy Scouts and Venturers should be full participants. Obviously if your council includes Cub Scouts, brining this up is a losing battle. I know in my council cubs come and stay the entire weekend just like everyone else. Some of us have tried making an argument about the age appropriate activities, but the response from council winds up sounding something like that the guide to safe scouting only applies to units. Obviously if that were true, it would mean it is fine for a council to hold a camporee and invite Cubs, but not fine for the Packs to actually come to that camporee. Sometimes things like that make me feel ill.

[AnneinMpls 10]

Would BALOO training be helpful to this committee?

[WDleader 10]

Just remember to scale down all ideas to the appropiate attention and skill levels of the groups that you are to teach. Using rope ie, knot tying, whipping and fusing, and making rope would be just fine for most Bears and WEBELOS, but you could not keep Tigers interested long enough for them to learn these activites. Another age specific would be fire building, how to construct different types of fires and when to build them, and that leads into Leave No Trace. Short hikes, involving palnt and wildlife identifacation would also work. And as OA members become involved in there Cracker Barrels, this would expose the Cubs to the Boy Scouts and the Oa in a way that most of them have never seen before, and who knows you may convince some boys to stay in scouts that may be leaning towards leaving by this participation.

 

 

Robert L. DeWitt

WEBELOS II Den Leader

Pack 49

WEBELOS to Scout Chair

Ogeechee District

Georgia Carolina Council

Augusta, Ga