Class B uniforms are scout themed shirts that Cub Scouts (or Boy Scouts) wear when they don’t want to mess up their regular uniform. They’re great for den meetings if you plan a lot of messy crafts and they’re even better (and cheaper) if your den makes the shirts themselves!

So next time your boys go to summer camp or day camp, save those shirts!

Read more about Class B uniforms, and other cool Cub Scout stuff, at the St. Louis Cub Scout Examiner.

I’d say the only problem was that our entertainer wandered off and couldn’t be found when it was his time to take over. We always hire an entertainer for the boys at the end of the banquet. I’m not sure why. The parents use this time to clean up and chat. Maybe it’s to keep the kids out of our hair while we pack up.

My boys made a bee line back to their table and the aforementioned chocolate fountain, to finish it off before it needed to be packed up. Then they started playing Hot Wheels. Oh, did I mention our theme was sports and we had a table full of games: finger soccer, finger football (with little paper triangles for balls), magnet fishing and a Hot Wheels track for NASCAR.

This track was pulled out of my son’s closet. I’m proud to say that he is the fourth generation to play with most of the pieces of this track. The original orange track was purchased for my aunt in the late 60′s. It was passed on to me in the 70′s and I added on to it. I boxed it up and gave it back to the aunt for her boys in the late 80′s and what was left was sent to me for my sons in the late 90′s. It’s been around! It’s now a collect of orange, blue and electric green track. It’s like the Brotherhood of the Traveling Track.

So, I as I was saying, this track was pulled out of my 10 year old’s closet. I hollered to him to help me find a set up that would work with what we had on a 6 foot table. He stared in wide-eyed amazement at what I had set up so far and said, “where did that come from?” Geez. Poor kid completely forgot about The Track.

He put together an impressive oval with a loop-de-loop and two turbo boosters. It was the hit of Blue and Gold. Kids came from every den to check out the amazing ancient toy – real live non-computerized fun! As we cleared tables, they moved it to the floor. Half the den has invited themselves over to “play race cars” with my kid on President’s Day.

This is my favorite phrase: put the Out in Scout! Cub Scouts really enjoy the outside activities that they can only do in Scouts: hiking and camping. Spring is around the corner, so my challenge to you is to find lots of outside activities for your Scouts.
Take them on a nature hike at a local park, or even around the school building if that’s where you meet. Plan a treasure hunt and give them a map – you can work in some compass skills and earn a belt loop at the same time! Plant a tree or pick up trash for your conservation award. Go on a bike ride. Learn how to built rockets and launch them off the soccer field. Or just play games outside. These are the kind of things that boys really enjoy and will make happy memories of their time in Scouts.

http://www.pack002.com/how_to_water_rocket.php Learn to build a water rocket.

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/rocket.shtml Learn from NASA: build a bubble powered rocket.

http://www.estesrockets.com/categories.php?cat=1 Estes makes rockets you can find in any hobby shop. Look for “Skill Level 1″ for a rocket that can be built quickly. Some even snap together so you don’t need glue.

Do the Webelos in your pack switch to a tan “Boy Scout” uniform? It’s traditional in our pack to make the switch at Blue and Gold. The thinking is that by 4th grade everyone has outgrown their shirt anyway. Unless you’ve got a kid like mine who’s in his 3rd shirt! Plus, the tan shirt can be carried over into Boy Scouts.

Our Den Leader sent out a note saying that everyone should get a tan shirt who hasn’t yet. Caused a bit of a stink.

Oh, yeah, did you notice that? I’m not the den leader. Don’t let that fool you,  I’m a the co-committee chair, newsletter editor and keeper of the pack website. I used to be a den leader too, but we merged dens and didn’t need three leaders! I still help when its needed at the den level.

Check out this cool letter from Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel) about becoming an Eagle Scout. I think I might save this for later, when my Webelo needs some encouragement.

Thanks, Latter-Day Scout!

http://latterdayscout.blogspot.com/2009/01/mike-rowe-on-becoming-eagle-scout.html

My Scout’s district Pinewood Derby is in March, at America’s Incredible Pizza. If you don’t have one of these in your town, it’s like a much better Chucky Cheese with a go-cart track. For $19 we get a pizza buffet, drink, PWD patch and a $10 game card. Nice deal!

The race is held in a party room. Districts take longer than our pack’s derby, because they run them in heats. Winners of the heats get to race again for the trophies.

Our pack runs everyone’s car four times (once on each lane of the track) then lets the computer sort out the best times. We get 70+ cars through in about 1.5 – 2 hours.

Now my Scout has to repair his car and get it ready for Districts! He got a little out of hand after the pack derby and was racing his car with friends. We set up a practice track (from the BSA catalog). However, there was no clamp or stand with the track. So I duct taped it to a chair. By the time my Webelos got to the track they had joined all 20 feet together into one track. One kid was standing on a chair holding the track over his head, another held it in the middle and they ramped in over a trash can. It was a little scary.

Check out the BSA catalog:

http://scoutstuff.org/bsasupply/

Done with your Pack Pinewood Derby? What about Districts? Call your council office and see if there is a District or Council wide race to enter. In our area, anyone who wants to can enter in the District races.

But make sure you get a copy of the District/Council rules. Sometimes Districts are more strict than packs with the rules! I know we always let a few cars slide that would never make it into a our District race. Usually it’s just little things, like if a car has it’s axles covered. That’s a definite disqualifier for our District Derby.

Also, check out your local Lowes. Many are having derby clinics until Feb. 24. http://www.scoutingnews.org/2009/01/06/lowes-and-dermel-tools-to-provide-pinewood-derby-help/

More cool Pinewood Derby cars from the web:

The Pinewood Derby race was last night. Except for a computer glitch (reminder, always check that you packed the right cables) our derby was a big hit. 70 Scouts raced their cars and everyone went home with a participation trophy. We handed out 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies for each rank, and the grand champions will be announced at February’s Blue and Gold.

Be Prepared!

This year we’re really practicing the Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared! At least 6 inches of snow has been dumped in our neighborhood, canceling school (and all after school activities) on Weigh In day. And it canceled school on the “Snow Day” for Weigh In Day. What’s a pack to do? The Race is on Friday – only three days away - and hopefully we’ll all be thawed out by then.

One of the dads in our pack has volunteered his garage for Weigh In tonight. It’s going to be interesting having 75 kids and their families show up at one house to weigh, measure and check in their car. We’ve assigned a scheduled time for each Rank to show up, so hopefully it will go smoothly. Keep your fingers crossed!