Food Coloring Explosion Activity - Food Coloring, Milk, Dish Soap

Here is a fun activity you could use for the Webelos Artist Activity Badge #4 - List the primary and secondary colors.  Explain what happens when you combine colors.

We did this as a lunch date activity for our kids but I'm sure the Webelos would love it too.

 
First you put milk in a dish, we used disposable aluminum pans. Then drop in a few drops of food coloring, dip a toothpick in dish soap and touch the drops of food coloring with the toothpick. The food coloring explodes in the dish.

If you do this for the Artist Activity Badge, you could drop in food coloring of the primary colors. After you let the boys experiment with the color explosions, have them mix the primary colors with a spoon to get secondary colors.

20 Blue and Gold Banquet Themes and Ideas

Last Thursday, when I went to Regional Roundtable, we discussed ideas for Blue and Gold themes. This list was so great that I thought I would post it. It would also be a great list for party theme ideas.

Pick a theme where you can have fun with Invitations, Dinner, Dessert, Drinks, Decor, Entertainment, Crafts, Music, Giving Awards, and Dressing Up!

Here it is:  

Mad Scientist: Have someone dressed as a mad scientist and perform an experiment as entertainment, make Flubber, serve root beer made with dry ice, pop rocks, nerd glasses and lab coats
Trip To Hawaii: Board a pretend airplane in one room and then the party is in another room decorated like a luau. Leis, pineapple, Hawaii Music.  
Snoopy: Doghouses, Peanuts Characters, Stuffed Dogs, Dog Biscuits, Dog Bowls  
Circus: Tent/Canopy, Balloons, Cotton Candy, Pop Corn, Three Rings, Parade, Aerial Wire, Clowns, Juggling, Wagons  
Monopoly: Chance Cards, Jail, Play Money, Houses/Hotels, Each Table a Different Property  
Fire Station: Dalmatians, Fire Trucks, Firemen, Ladders  
Baseball: Set up tables in a diamond, put a box for a pitchers mound and give the boys awards on the mound. Eat hot dogs, peanuts, cracker jacks  
Football: Goalposts, Pom-poms (in blue and gold of course), Yard Markers, Helmets, Footballs Olympics: Medals, 5-ring symbol, Theme Music, Award Stands, Torch, Events
Native American Indian Lore: Teepees, Bows/Arrows, Artifacts, Buffaloes, Dream Catcher Craft, Animal Hides, Drums, Totem Poles, Campfires
Trains: Station, Models, Luggage, Tickets, Conductor, Tracks, Platform 9&3/4 (for a Harry Potter theme)  
Patriotic: Flags, Eagles, US Presidents  
Western: Country Store, Barrels, Candy Jars, Wanted Posters, Cowboy Hats, Lanterns, Play checkers, Hay Bale, Eat sloopy joes, or BBQ sandwiches
Under the Sea: Surfing, Waves, Sea Animals, Snack on swedish fish and goldfish crackers 
Pirates: Ships, Treasure Chest, Skull/Crossbone Flag, Eye Patch, Gold Doubloons, Maps, Parrots, Cannons
Bees: Hives, Honey, Clover, Flowers, Honeycomb, Show clips from Bee Movie  
Highways: Road Maps, Cars, Traffic Signs, Bill Boards, Gas Station  
Noah's Ark: Ark, Animals, Rainbow, Dove, Raindrops  
Farm: Barns, Tractors, Hay Vales, Silos, Fences, Animals, Serve Pie  
Jungle: Monkeys, Trees, Jungle Sound Effects, Eat Fruit - Bananas, Mango

Here are achievements that can be earned with Blue and Gold Activities:

WOLF:
-A12f Make a poster for a Cub Scout Project or  a pack meeting
-E9a Help with a party: Planning the party, scenery, decorate/setup the room, serve the food and clean up.

BEAR:
9a,b,c  Make cookies, snack, and a dinner side dish
15b,c Play two organized games with your den and select a game that your den has never played. Explain the rules. Tell them how to play it and then play it with them.
18d Write an invitation to someone

WEBELOS
-Showman : create a puppet show, write it , make puppets, build stage
-Craftsman : make decor out of non-wood materials

Other ideas:
Decorating cupcakes as a contest.
Don't forget to write Thank you notes for the parents
Find themed music stations online on Pandora, Spotify, etc.

Tracking Webelos Advancement - Spreadsheet

Here is a file that you can use to track your Webelos as they earn badges and advance. I can't credit the original author since it was given to me by our former Webelos leader (I'm not sure where she got it), but I did update it a tad so it better suited my needs. I wanted one that would fit on one page, so the font is quite small. If the font is too small, then it will give you a good example to look off of to create your own in excel. Others I have seen have included a place to mark the dates that each boy was a Denner etc. I have also seen an example that added the Faith in God activities (for LDS Webelos). Since it is a PNG file, when you go to print, change your settings to Fast Draft so it won't print picture quality and use a lot of ink.

Tracking Webelos Advancement - Spreadsheet

Webelos to Scouts "Graduation" Cake

Here is a picture of the cake we made for one of our boy's transition from Webelos to Cub Scouts. We frosted graham crackers as the trees and used pirouette cookies for the campfire. My favorite part is the camper in the tent. We took half the chocolate off a whopper for his head and used red two small pieces of red licorice side by side for his sleeping bag.

It really took no time at all! -  (compared to a lot of cakes decorated with fondant that we saw on pinterest).

And the best part was that he loved it and it made him feel special!

Making the Scholar Activity Badge Fun!

The scholar activity badge can be more than just having the boys do paperwork. Here are two ideas we came up with to make it fun!

Careers in Education Charades - Instead of just writing down and discussing full-time positions in the field of education, we decided to have our boys act out these careers. We came up with the positions, wrote them down and put them in a bowl. The boys acted them out and when the others had a hard time guessing, they used words to describe the career.

School System Chart with Chalk - Using information found online about our local elementary school and school district, I made five difference charts, one for each boy. After explaining each section to the boys and how they fit together, we had each of the boys recreate each chart on a section of my driveway with chalk. This was a very interactive and fun way for the boys to learn about their local school system and how each job fits together.

Keeping parents informed

The best way that we have found to communicate with our parents is through email. Especially for requirements that need to be done at home. We have found that the notes we send home with the boys may or may not be seen by parents. My co-leader and I like to meet quickly on Sundays so we usually send an email to all the parents on Sunday. The email tells them what we have done in our last den meeting, what they need to do at home, what is coming up in future den or pack meetings, and what requirements of Faith in God (LDS church) correspond to the activities we have worked on so the parents can sign off in the Faith in God booklet. I think it is nice for the parents to have announcements in email form so they can refer back to them for dates in the futures.

I have heard that other leaders like to send a weekly email and follow up with a text to the parents the day of den meeting if there are any reminders like a change of location or something the boys need to bring with them.We email weekly, then give each parent a phone call if we need to remind them of something.

We spoke with our parents and this seems to work the best for them...and us!