Whittling requirements (Bear)

0:00 · 10 min

Gathering: tallest tower

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

• Put scrap cardboard, painter's tape and two pairs of safety scissors on the gathering table.
• The task on the card: build the tallest thing that stands on its own before the opening.
• Scouts join whichever table has room, so nobody waits alone for the meeting to start.

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, Whittling, 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 Whittling 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 · 18 min

Activity 1: Read, understand, and promise to abide

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Whittling.

• Read the requirement to the den in plain words: "Read, understand, and promise to abide by 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

0:38 · 17 min

Activity 2: Demonstrate that you know how to care

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Whittling.

• 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 your pocketknife 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: set the materials out on a second table and let them build "Make two carvings with a pocketknife" while you move between the two.

Requirement 3 Requirement 4

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.