Gizmos and Gadgets requirements (Lion)

0:00 · 10 min

Gathering: three questions

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

• Tape three index cards around the room, each with one question from tonight's adventure.
• Arriving Scouts move between them and write an answer on the card under the question.
• Read the best two answers out during talk time so the early arrivals get the credit.

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, Gizmos and Gadgets, 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 Gizmos and Gadgets 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: Explore properties of motion

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Gizmos and Gadgets.

• Read the requirement to the den in plain words: "Explore properties of motion".
• 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: read "Explore properties of force" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:38 · 17 min

Activity 2: Use household materials to create a useful object

Close requirement 3 of Gizmos and Gadgets: Use household materials to create a useful object .

• Show a finished example first so every Scout can picture "Use household materials to create a useful object" 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 3

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.