Den Meeting - Wednesday December 23rd

We are still planning to have our last Den meeting of the year this coming Wednesday, Dec 23rd at 7pm. Please contact me ASAP if your Cub will not be able to attend this exciting meeting.

Reminders:
If you have any advancements or progress to report (in your Cub manual), please bring it to this last meeting in 2009.

We will have treats on Wednesday!

We will be doing something nice for someone else on Wednesday.

Please bring your Christmas spirit and dress up in something that shares your Christmas cheer.

Examples could be: Reindeer antlers, jingle bells, a festive scarf, a Santa Hat.

Happy Birthday to one of our Cubs

Today we wish a very Happy Happy Birthday to one of our awesome Cub Scouts! I hope he knows who he is and I hope he has a very Happy Birthday!!!

Be sure to figure out who turned a year older today and wish him a Happy Birthday at our next Den Meeting.

A story we read at our Den Meeting

Dear Cubs,
Did you tell your brothers and sisters about the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell? Here is the story so you can share it with your family.

Baden-Powell – An Artist Scout
Alice, Golden Empire Council
Baden-Powell was not only the founder of Boy Scouts – he was also an artist. He made sketches throughout his life – to record a beautiful scene or the detail of a leaf or other natural object. He taught his scouts to sketch details of nature to learn more about the world around him – they
spent part of every day learning to sketch.

At Mafeking, his sketches of the terrain, enemy locations and equipment were invaluable in planning the military campaign – and helped make Baden-Powell a hero! See
www.pinetreeweb.com/B-P.htm Sketches from Mafeking

He also loved drama and theater, so he would take on a “role” and act the part while he made sketches of enemy fortifications. When turmoil developed in the Balkans, Baden-Powell traveled there in disguise as an eccentric lepidopterist (Butterfly Collector). In this disguise he would
walk around the countryside carrying a large butterfly net and sketch pad; eventually he was able to walk right up to the Austrian Fortifications and sketch the layout,
incorporating the sketch into a larger sketch of a butterfly - so he was never found out!

In Germany, disguised as a consulting engineer, he was able to gain access to a restricted area in Hamburg and sketch exactly what he saw. His drawings were so accurate that the
British High Command had no doubt that a massive ship building facility was building a fleet of war ships.

Many of his sketches appear on the cover and inside manuals for the scouts.

Check for other images of sketches made by Baden-Powell at the scouting websites. If you google for art by Baden- Powell, you will discover even paintings and sculpture that
he created!

Dec 09 - Work on this at home - Parents and Wolf Cubs

Advancement possibilities highlighted this month:

Achievements 2b, 4a, 4c, 4f, 5d, 5e, 8a; Electives 11b, 12a

Van Gogh? Rembrandt? Klimt? Who knows what member of this Wolf Cub Scout den is a budding artist. Give the boys a chance to find out by encouraging them to create different works of art. Elective 12a provides plenty of opportunities to unleash that inner Renoir. We worked on this at our first Den meeting of the month and the boys proved to be quite interested and talented.

Wolf Cubs and their families are encouraged to work on the additional achievements and electives that support this theme:
• Achievement 5a, Tools for Fixing and Building: With an adult, visit a local hardware store. Look at and name seven tools. Play the “I Spy” game: to give hints about the object “spied,” describe its features (black rubber handle, long silver cutting edge, etc.).

• Achievement 5c, Tools for Fixing and Building: Help an adult organize the screws in a container or tool box. Learn the difference between a Phillips head and a standard screw. Practice driving a screw and removing it.

• Elective12b, Be An Artist: Make a holiday story card. Tell a holiday story by drawing three cartoons on folded cardstock.

Dec 09 - Work on this at Home: Parents and Bear Cubs

Advancement possibilities highlighted this month: Achievements 3f, 15a, 15b, 16a (partial), 24b; Elective 9a

What fun when each boy has an artist to identify with and learn about! The National Gallery of Art (http://www.nga.gov/) has an index of artists from A to Z. There’s a name for every boy.

Cub Scouts will do a Good Turn this month, visiting others and sharing holiday songs.

Bear Cub Scout families are encouraged to work on additional achievements and electives that support this theme, such as:

• Achievement 9c, What’s Cooking? For many families, cooking together is an art form.
• Achievement 12b, Family Outdoor Adventures. Hikes can be fun in cooler weather. Your local community may have holiday light displays to enjoy.
• Elective 9a, Art: Find a favorite outdoor location and draw or paint it. Cub Scouts can compare the way their favorite places look in winter to the way they look during other seasons.

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