Knife Safety requirements (Arrow of Light)

0:00 · 10 min

Gathering: pack the bag

Give the Scouts who arrive first something to do, so the meeting starts the moment they walk in.

• Spread the Cub Scout Six Essentials and four things that do not belong on a table by the door.
• The card on the table says: pick the six you would carry, and be ready to say why.
• As Scouts arrive they join in, so the ones who came early are never left sitting.

0:10 · 5 min

Opening

Flag ceremony, Scout Oath and Scout Law. The same five minutes every week, run by the Scouts.

• The denner calls the den to order and leads the flag ceremony.
• Say the Scout Oath and the Scout Law together. New Scouts read from a card and nobody makes anything of it.
• One sentence on tonight's adventure, Knife Safety, and the one thing everybody will get done.

0:15 · 5 min

Talk time

Den business while everyone is still sitting down, and a look at what is coming.

• The two dates parents need: the next den meeting and the next pack event.
• Ask who already did part of Knife Safety at home, and write the names down so it gets recorded.
• Take one question from the den. Answer it or say when you will.

0:20 · 12 min

Activity 1: Read, understand, and promise to follow

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Knife Safety.

• Read the requirement to the den in plain words: "Read, understand, and promise to follow the Cub Scout Knife Safety Rules".
• Work it in pairs or small groups for most of the block while you move between them.
• Bring the den back together and have each Scout tell you what they did.
• Mark requirement 1 off as each Scout finishes rather than trying to remember afterwards.
• Then requirement 2: put the den in pairs and have every Scout show you "Demonstrate the knife safety circle" once, in their own way.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:32 · 12 min

Activity 2: Demonstrate that you know how to care

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Knife Safety.

• Do it once yourself at normal speed, then once slowly while you narrate every step.
• Put the den in pairs so each Scout practices "Demonstrate that you know how to care for and use a knife safely" while their partner watches for the one thing that matters.
• Go round the circle and have every Scout show you once, in their own way.
• Mark it off as each Scout finishes rather than trying to remember at the end.
• Then requirement 4: cover "Demonstrate the proper use of a pocketknife to make a useful object on a campout" outside while you are already walking, rather than sitting the den back down.

Requirement 3 Requirement 4

0:44 · 11 min

Activity 3: Choose the correct cooking knife and demonstrate

Close requirement 5 of Knife Safety: Choose the correct cooking knife and demonstrate how to properly slice, chop, and mince.

• Show a finished example first so every Scout can picture "Choose the correct cooking knife and demonstrate how to properly slice, chop, and mince" before they start.
• Set materials out at two or three tables so nobody stands waiting for the scissors.
• Move table to table while they work and ask each Scout to tell you what they are making and why.
• Give a five minute warning, then have every Scout hold up what they made and say one thing about it.

Requirement 5

0:55 · 5 min

Closing

End on time, and make sure every Scout leaves knowing what they finished.

• Cubmaster's minute: one short thought tied to what the den just did. Sixty seconds, no lecture.
• Read back what got finished tonight, requirement by requirement, so the Scouts hear their own progress.
• Send the den off with the den yell, and catch the parents who need to hear something at pickup.