Introduction to Pen Pals

Hi Everyone,

Tonight our cubs explored the world of writing to our pen pals in Anthem, Arizona, USA. We had a brainstorm session to seek questions and what they should put in the letter. As time ran out for us to write the letters out I decided to put this email out with the questions, and have your Cub send back a response so I can forward on to our contact in the US.

The cubs will earn a badge if we keep this communication open, this is the starting point. Also, if the Cub respond the email can help them earn credit towards their IT badge also. I have set a deadline of May 10 to complete this task.

Format for the email below:

===================

Hello, my name is _________________,

I am a Cub Scout from Beenleigh, QLD, Australia.

My Hobbies are .........

My Favourite thing to do is .........

My Pets are .........

My favourite thing of being in Cubs is .....

At Cub Scouts we do the following fun activities .......

============

The cubs then decided that they would ask the Anthem pack the following questions, which will be tagged to the end of each email/letter we send out.

1) Do you call it Cubs Scouts in the US, and if not what do you call it?

2) What do you do in Cubs?

3) What camps do you do and what types of themes have they had?

This is a base point to build on, eventually I hope to do a Internet hook up later in the year at the next sleepover to meet and greet them.

Regards,

Bunnings Night

After much planning and asking from the cubs to bang things together, we held a night at Bunnings Underwood. The cubs were given a chance to make a bookcase for a desk.

I would like to thank Bunnings for taking our 23 charges and give them the opportunity to use their hands. It was obvious that some of our cubs have not been exposed to a hammer and nail much, while others surprised me at how quickly they got it done.

At the end we had the cubs do a hunt around Bunnings for a list of items and they had to come back with an aisle number they existed in. Some cubs were clearly on the ball, as Bagheera had forgotten to lay  down that they could not ask for help. Oops, they did it again!

See the videos.

Cub Sleepover – Mar 19

Finally it was here, the Sleepover that we had to have to prepare us for Cub Camp in May. What a fantastic afternoon and night it was too. In all we had 24 cubs sleepover and 6 Leaders/Helpers.

The object of the weekend was to have the cubs learn to think ‘outside the square’, think creatively and put this in situations that would help develop their character and personality. All I can say is that after the weekend I am now seeing some of our quieter Cubs in a totally different light. No more will they suck us in to think they are ‘meek and mild’ – Ha!

After fearing the we would be in trouble due to wet conditions. We were able to come up with games that were indoors. There is nothing like a game of indoor bean bag hockey to get the cubs fired up and working together. The timing worked well, as Jason from the QLD Theatre Company arrived just before 1, and he stayed after seeing our charges going nuts!

Jason was great fun, he worked our Cubs hard. He was able to build our Cubs up from a series of basic games to some really hard activities that stretched some of the Cubs. Initially the first activity was to walk around the den and stop when told. After a while he started to add a Clap and a Jump. The Cubs had to do the actions spoken and freeze when told. This was fairly easy for most of our cubs, but that was just the start of some hard work ahead.

Next Jason made the Cubs do the opposite to what he was asking. So he took the first game and turned it around. Whenever he said Clap, they had to jump. When he said Stop they had to continue walking. It was fun to watch and in the end he was able to eliminate all Cubs to 1.

From here we went into a game of ‘Get to know you’. Jason had all cubs and a leader – me – sit on the ground in teams. In the centre he put up a sheet, he then got a team member from each side of the sheet to stand and when revealed say the name of the cubs on the other side. Great game and it will be something we will do again to help the other Cubs learn each others names.

The next activity was to have a conversation, but the twist was to continually talk over the top of the other, and not to laugh. It was amazing to see how many cubs could talk – some underwater. The ones that I thought would be great failed, while our quieter Cubs succeeded. I did well here too as did our every talkative secretary – Yvette.

After this we had a game where the cubs were being interviewed, and the only response was ‘sausage’. The object was to make the Cub being questioned laugh. Some were surprisingly good, but the best was when Raksha got caught out tricking her son LMc, and then realising she had to get up and be interviewed.

 

Continuing on the Cubs then were giving another interview task to explain an imaginary item. Jason was interviewing and asking questions one Cub – KP – certainly went the extra distances. Purple elephants in a huge box, that ended up having tigers, with a stove to cook Jason. He had us laughing. Others took the mickey out of Bagheera.

It certainly was a great session. The cubs and us leaders got a heap out of it. We will do it again in the future. The best bit was being able to give our cubs a task after Jason had left to come up with their own skits. They were tasked with getting a piece of clothing and a prop, and in teams of four create a skit. See the results in the videos below.

After this we settled into Pizza for dinner, made popcorn, set for bed and watched ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’, ‘Jimmy Neutron’ and ‘Up’. By 11:30 all Leaders were crashing, but the Cubs wanted more, as always. However, it was getting late and we had to be up early for the big Sleepover Breakfast, pack up and go home.

Sleepovers are fun, and we will be doing another in the 2^nd half of the year. What theme will we come up with next?

A Game we played.

Beenleigh Scouts YouTube Channel

This is our new area for hosting our Videos. These links are only available if we publish them. Only those with the link can get to the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BeenleighScouts?feature=mhum

Things are crazy

Hi

Due to my time in starting a new job and trying to get on top of camp, sleepover and my role on AJ2013, my communication has been thin. I do apologize and hope to have the sleepover information up shortly.

Trying to balance work, family and cubs is a constant battle but I promise that things will return to normal soon.

Regards
Bagheera



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Slow updates ...

I do apologise for the lack of updates. I am currently swamped with my new job and trying to squeeze Cub stuff after hours. On top of this I have Cub Camp to sort out plus Term 2.

I have put together a draft post of the Sleepover last weekend. I have videos to attach also. I am hoping to get them all up tonight. I just need to find somewhere to host the videos as YouTube was the only option through one editor. I am a little unsure if I am happy to post to YouTube at this stage.

Regards

Bagheera!

Clean Up Australia Day

What a fantastic morning. The sun was out and the rain from the day before was no where to seen. This is the first Clean Up Australia Day that we have held as a group. We had a total of 32 Cubs, Leaders, Scouts and Parent Helpers at the event. This is a great effort for the first one. The location was Alexander Clark Park in Loganholme, QLD. It is an excellent park and a great place to just have a fun morning.

The cubs were lined up and ready to go, they had their bags and their gloves. After a safety brief we broke into 3 groups and headed off around the park. I for one enjoyed meandering through the scrub, along the river, following enthusiastic cubs as they went about picking up rubbish and bottles.

Cubs found some interesting items, such as a golf hat, golf ball, 2 baby car seats, some concrete, old pipes and wiring. We had to remind people that the floods, in January, may have washed them down river and embedded them in the trees.

For a group of young cubs, for them to come along and be prepared to pick up after people, made me a proud Cub Leader. I am so impressed with this group today, as not once did they complain about having to do the job. Surprising too, the time past quickly and an hour was gone before we knew it.Plus we were all very surprised at how clean the park actually was. We expected a lot more rubbish, but to our surprise it was minimal. But it was just a great chance to be out of the den for a change.

After returning to the start point. the cubs were given lollipops, marshmallows and sour lollies for being part of the day. They will also receive a certificate on Tuesday for attending the day. But the most important part, is that the cubs that attended are all one step closer to completing the World Scouting Environment Badge. Well done Cubs.

I want to thank the parents who stayed behind today and assisted. It is great to see so many wanting to come along and pitch in on such a great day. It is also great for us leaders to have time with you also. I noticed after the event that the general conversations that were held were great for our section and group building, I believe for the first time in a long while, we are functioning as a complete unit and getting a chance to know you all better. Thank you for a great day and the positive feedback you were providing too.

Finally, a big thank you must go out to Bert van Manen, the Federal Liberal Member for Forde. His team provided 24 bottles of water, that went down very well. This was unexpected and very much appreciated.

Until next Tuesday,

Bagheera (Stephen Hughes)