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, Good Knights, 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 Good Knights 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: Discuss with your den or Tiger adult
Close requirements 1 and 2 of Good Knights.
- Sit the den in a circle, or in small groups if you have more than eight Scouts.
- Read "Discuss with your den or Tiger adult partner what it means to have courteous behavior, how a knight behaves" out loud and give the den ten seconds of quiet before anyone answers.
- Take one answer from every Scout. Nobody gets skipped and nobody gets rushed.
- Write the den's answers on a flip chart so parents can read them at pickup.
- Then requirement 2: set the materials out on a second table and let them build "Create a shield that can be for your den or a personal shield" while you move between the two.
Requirement 1
Requirement 2
0:38 · 17 min
Activity 2: Using recycled and other materials
Close requirements 3 and 4 of Good Knights.
- Show a finished example first so every Scout can picture "Using recycled and other materials, design and build a small castle in your den or at home" 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.
- Then requirement 4: read "Do a Good Turn" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.
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.
What to bring
- Tonight's requirement list, printed, with a box to tick per Scout
- A clipboard and pen for sign-offs as they happen
- Cardboard, painter's tape and safety scissors
- Labeled bins or bags for the sorting activity, and work gloves
- The den flag, a US flag on a stand, and Oath and Law cards for new Scouts
Plan this meeting for your own den
This plan does not know your Scouts. DenBuddy does: import your den from Scoutbook
Plus and the planner starts from the requirements each Scout is actually missing,
keeps the block times, and turns the agenda into the record sheet afterwards.
Plan Good Knights
Create a free den
Youth protection is built in: Scouts have no accounts, check-in is done by a parent
from a public link, and nothing DenBuddy does writes back to Scoutbook.