How to make a Play Whip

How to Make an Indiana Jones Type Play Whip

We had an Indiana Jones themed Arrow of Light, and we wanted to give the boys whips to complete their costumes.  I came up with this easy and inexpensive method to make a play whip.

You'll need: outdoor/lawn garbage bag, black tape, 1/2 inch PVC Pipe

Start with your basic lawn bag.

Cut off any draw strings or cinch tops.

Cut off the side seams.

Cut bag into three equal parts  from top to bottom. This will make three long strips.

Tape strips to the back of a chair or something.

Because the strips are so long it makes it a little easier to tie them off half way down with twist ties to make the braiding easier.

Start the braiding fairly loose, bunching up the trash bag strips as you go.

The start of the braid.

As you braid gradually make the braid tighter and tighter.  Here you can see the start of my braid (on the right) and the tighter smaller end of the braid (on the left).

Tape off the end with black electrical tape.

Make your own popper with some yarn. (this doesn't really pop or snap or anything, it's all for looks)

Tape the yarn popper onto the end of the whip.

Cut some 1/2 inch PVC pipe to make a handle. I made mine about 6 inches long. You could probably use a stiff cardboard tube or thick dowel.

Tape off the ends of the handle.

Tape the whip to the handle.  Make sure to include a good three inches or so of the plastic so that it won't unattach during play.

Wrap the electrical tape around the entire handle.

And there you have it. My finished whip was about 5 1/2 feet long when finished.

While this whip is pretty benign, it doesn't snap or anything, it still can be dangerous so be cautious and use with supervision.

Arrow of Light: Indiana Jones

Here is the Arrow of Light ceremony we did for my own son and another boy in my den.  The idea for the activities and the basic elements of the script are taken from this great blog called Arrow of Light Done Right. There are several different high action type Arrow of Light ceremonies there.   I rewrote most of the script to fit our needs and  make it more entwined with scouting and scouting values.

Instructions to how to make a toy whip, like the one we for this ceremony can be found on my blog HERE. 

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Narrator:  We have a special presentation to make tonight.  We will start with the telling of the story of a great explorer named Indiana Jones.  In the spirit of a true scout, Indiana Jones showed courage in the face of danger, and calm and cool in the face of challenges.    The training boys receive in cub scouts give them similar skills to face danger and challenges.  Tonight we have two scouts that have advanced through three years of cub scouting, and have satisfied the requirements to earn the highest: The Arrow of Light.   

_________________, please come forward.  Like the explorer Indiana Jones, these young men have acquired great skills.  Tonight they will face three challenges to show they are truly worthy of the great honor of the Arrow of Light. First they must wear proper explorer attire.  (give each boy a hat, whip, jacket,  for each). 

Challenge #1 Balance Beam Cross

Narrator:  The first challenge is the balance beam cross.  Indiana Jones had to cross many difficult passes to achieve his goals.  

*Scouts walk a balance beam while scouts shoot marshmallows at them, or hit them with pool noodles or nerf balls*

Well done! Remember Scouts, a scout must constantly balance school, family, hobbies and faith, choosing wisely how to spend his time and not allowing himself to be distracted by unworthy things.

Challenge #2 Rope Swing

Narrator: The second challenge is the rope swing.  Indiana Jones used his whip to swing across unfortunately placed bottomless pits, to save his life. 

*Scouts complete the swinging challenge (a rope tied to the basketball hoop) across the wild animal pit. (stuffed animals in a hula hoop or infant pool) *

Nice work scouts! That was a close one!  Remember scouts, living the standards of the scout law, standards like being Honest, Helpful and Obedient, helps you avoid many of the pitfalls of life.

Challenge #3 Temple Run

Narrator:  The Final Challenge is the temple run. Indiana Jones risked his life entering the temple to get to his goal, because he knew the prize found there was worth any sacrifice. 

*Scouts complete the temple run challenge.  They run down the aisle, around obstacles, while other scouts shoot q-tips at them with straws, chased by a large yoga ball. At the end of the aisle they grab the arrow*

Good work! Remember scouts, there is great value in setting goals and working towards the prize of becoming an Eagle Scout.   

The Arrow of Light you have earned has several symbols.   The arrow is straight and narrow, reminding you to live your life straight and true.  The point of the arrow is similar to the compass point found on the scout symbol, a point that directs you on the true path of Eagle Scout. The compass always helps you know the right way to go, the values you have learned in cub scouts and at church will always help to point you the right way.  Your Arrow of Light patch also has seven rays of the sun, these rays may remind you of the seven days of the week, that each new day, is a day to do your best. 

Congratulations Scouts!  

*The Narrator now invites the parents forward and the cub master will award the Arrow of Light patch to the boys and pins to the parents.

 

Indiana Jones hat and whip.

The temple run.

Swinging across the pit.

The balance beam walk.

Some Ideas on How to Implement the Faith in God Program in Primary

This post is about the Faith in God Program, a religious program for girls and boys 8-11 from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

There has been quite a discussion in my area recently about how the Faith in God program should be administered at the church and scout level.  I wrote an email to a friend explaining how I had the program organized when I was a Primary President, and I thought perhaps some of you out there in cyberspace might find something useful here for your own programs.

As always, there is no right and wrong way to do things, this is just the way that we did it, and it worked for us in our situation.  For reference, note that we had around 150 primary aged children at the time.

*FIG = Faith in God

How One Primary Faith in God Program was Organized

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Primary Teachers

• Primary teachers were trained in FIG at our semiannual teacher training, and all new teachers were trained about the program  (we had our teacher training during singing/sharing time to ensure attendance).
• Primary teachers were given FIG books and were encouraged to incorporate and reference FIG during lessons when possible. Primary Presidency talked often about FIG in sharing time.
• Articles of Faith games and activities were included in teachers binders and teachers were encouraged to use them when they had extra time after a lesson. 

Activity Days

• Activity Days had a FIG tracking sheet for each girl, that moved up with them as they advanced.
• Primary President and Counselor over Activity Days met with activity days leaders quarterly to coordinate

Scouting

• Exact plans for Bears, Wolfs, Webelos were laid out so that boys would be on track to earn both Religious Knot and FIG.
• Primary Presidency member shared a "Faith in God" minute at each pack meeting.
• Primary Presidency put on a FIG skit at Blue and Gold Banquet.
• Counselor over scouting attended  Cub Committee to help coordinate and encourage these efforts.
• Religious Knots were awarded in pack meeting, usually by attending bishopric member or by member of the Primary Presidency. We tried to make a big deal out it.

11 Year Old Scouts
(I always struggled to have 11 Year Old scout leaders to participate in FIG. They never seemed to think it was important)

• Primary President attended Courts of Honor to show her support of 11 Year old Scouts
• Primary President attended Key Scouter meeting
• FIG talked about at Priesthood Preview
• Two FIG goals accomplished at Priesthood Preview by giving a talk about the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and discussing out Duty to God (often invited the Scout Master or Young Men President to do this).

Baptism Visits

• A member of the Primary Presidency along with scout/activity days leader made a pre-baptism in home visit. FIG explained to child and parents at this visit as well as the scouting/activity days program.
• When our primary had 30 baptism in a year we had to change to holding three Baptism Previews (we held them throughout the year so that they took place just a few months before a child's baptism) where the same information was given.

Advancement

• Three months before a child turned 12 a member of the Primary Presidency would call the parent and talk to them about FIG and make sure they were on track.
• Three months before a child turned 12 the Primary President provided dated Primary Advancement Certificates to the Bishop, to help him remember who needed to be called in for a FIG interview soon. 
• FIG was awarded in Primary and we made a big deal about it!  Certificates were framed. Parents were invited to attend.  Each child was asked to share their favorite moments from working on FIG (this to encourage the other children).

Also Helpful:

• Activity Days and Scouting were all held at the same time, same place, for everyone.  This way for the three years a child was in the program it was always clear when and where the activities were.  It also was less stress on families with multiple children.  It also created deeper leadership at the church building in case of emergencies.  (It took me a year to get this to happen. I gave all leaders months in advance notice and we made the change over the summer.  I released leaders who's schedule would  not accomidate the change.)   In the long run this helped attendance greatly.

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When I became Primary President most of our girls were getting Faith in God but few to none of the boys were.  Many leaders of boys did not know there was anything to the program beyond the Religious Knot.   By the time I was release three years later we had almost 100% of our active boys getting their Faith in God awards.

Rank Cheers

Rank Specific Cheers

Here are five rank specific cheers.

Wouldn't it be great if each rank had their own cheer that they were familiar with and that would mean something to them rather than many new and different ones each month?

Here are some ideas. I wrote some of these and others I borrowed from other places on the internet.

Tiger: "They're Greeeeeat!"

Bobcat: Stand and give a loud "Meow" three times.

Wolf: Wolf, wolf, wolf, then give wolf howl.

Bear: Growl like a bear four times, turning halfway around each time.

Webelos: Caller: We-be-los  Boys Repeat: We-be-los (2x)  Stomping feet All: We-be-los(x3) Yea!

Cub Scout Fortune Teller

Here is an activity that we did as a pre-opener last month at our pack meeting.  We set up a table in the back and the Webelos scouts helped the younger scouts fold the "fortune teller" and explain the game.

There is no set way to play the game, but this is basically how it's done:

• Player 1 holds the fortune teller and asks player 2 to choose wolf, bear, bobcat or webelos.  
• Player 1 then spells out the one chosen while opening and closing the fortune teller.  
• On the last letter the numbers are revealed and Player 2 chooses a number.  Player 1 then opens it as many times as the number said.   
• This can go on as long or as short as you want. Usually  2 or 3 times.
• When the final number is chosen, Player 1 opens the flap and reads the question. Player 2 answers the question.
• Player 2 now gets the fortune teller and then the game begins again.

(If you still have no idea what I'm talking about then I recommend looking  up "fortune teller game" on youtube for further reference.)

Click on the image below to see a bigger size.  I'm not sure how you save this image in every browser, but in Firefox, you just right click on the image and select "Save Image As".

(This is an updated version of a fortune teller I had on my computer that I had gotten from a site a while ago. I wish I remembered where I got the original so that I could give them credit, but alas. Just know that I am not the creator of this idea, just a good sharer.)

I am getting ready to do a new scout visit today and thought some of you might  be interested in the Welcome Letter I give to all new Webelos Parents. Obviously you'd need to change the information to match your calendar and goals. Note that is for an LDS scouting unit.


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Welcome to Webelos

The goal of Webelos (short for “We’ll Be Loyal Scouts”) is to prepare a boy to enter Boy Scouting.

your scout will need:
•    Webelos Book ($8.99)
•    Blue or Tan Scout shirt ($24.99+)
•    Webelos neckerchief ($7.99)
•    Neckerchief slide (the official slide ($4.99) or a homemade one)
•    Webelos colors ($4.99) or Webelos hat ($12.99) (to display badges)
•    Long Pants (if participating in a flag ceremony)

Awards:

Activity Badges (pins): 20 different badges are available for a boy to earn in his time in Webelos.  Our den will cover 13 of them.  A boy can earn 3 at camp (in July) and 3 at Cub-o-Ree (in September) and must work on the Fitness Badge at home.  Aquanaut will not be covered but may be done with parents. A boy may earn all 20 badges, but it is NOT required.  Boys earning all 20 badges at the time of Arrow of Light may earn the Super 20 patch.

Religious Knot: If not already awarded, a Webelos should complete his religious knot.  The religious knot is earned by completing the activities in the Faith in God book that have a knot symbol by them.

Webelos Rank Badge:  Earned 3-6 months after entering Webelos.  Boys must have finished Fitness (to be completed at home), Citizen and one other. He also must demonstrate the scout salute, sign, handshake, oath, law, motto and slogan and have earned the Religious Knot. There are a few other requirements, all outlined in detail in the Webelos book.

Compass Point Emblem: After receiving the Webelos Rank, a Webelos can earn the Compass Point Emblem after completing seven Activity Badges.  For each additional 4 badges completed, he will be awarded a compass point, up to a total of three compass points.

Arrow of Light:  Earned after being active in Webelos for a year. A Webelo must understand the Scout Oath, Promise, 12 Points of the Scout Law, motto, slogan, sign, salute, handshake, scout uniform and square knot.  He must complete at least 7 Activity Badges and
go on a day hike with the den. He must also meet with the Scoutmaster, and a few other requirements as outlined in the Webelos Handbook.

How you can help your Scout to be successful:
•    Make sure he comes to meetings. 
•    Help him obtain and wear the correct uniform and display patches and awards when earned.
•    Help him bring and keep track of his Webelos handbook and Faith in God books
•    Check your email/calendars for home assignments, reminders and up-coming dates.
•    Finish home assignments and send us emails, texts or notes to let us know when things are completed.
•    Communicate with us any concerns or conflicts.
•    Be familiar with what is in the Handbook. Things like camping and traveling help boys with requirements.
•    Practice the Scout motto, oath, etc. at home. Quiz him when he least expects it.
Things that MUST be finished at home:
•    An adult member of the family must read the Webelos Scout Parent Guide (pgs 1-22) and sign in the book on page 49 #1 when complete (During the first month or two).
•    The Fitness Badge (p.246) must be finished in the first 6 months that a boy is in Webelos. 
•    The Religious Knot requires a lot of family involvement, including teaching a FHE lesson.
•    Family Member Badge has several requirements that can only be done at home, including attending four family meetings and inspecting your home for hazards.
•    For Outdoorsman a boy must sleep in a tent that he has helped pitch.
•    The Athlete badge requires a boy to practice and improve in several areas over a 30 day period.

Some things Your Webelos is probably already doing, that can help pass of Webelos requirements:
•    Artist badge: sculpting clay, or making an art construction
•    Communicator: emailing a friend, search the internet
•    Craftsman: building his space/pinewood derby vehicle
•    Family Member: Clean the house for a month, do the family’s laundry 2x
•    Handyman: wash a car, inflate bike wheels, take care of the lawn
•    Naturalist: visit a museum or zoo
•    Outdoorsman: cook and clean up a meal while camping
•    Scholar: have good grades and attendance in school, take part in a school activity
•    Showman: play a tune on an instrument, attend a play
•    Sportsman: If your scout is participating in a sport, he’s probably already filled the requirement for that sport’s belt loop.
•    Traveler: take a trip by car, bus, boat, or plane.  Help pack for a two day or longer trip.

Belt Loops and Pins

We will be earning a few belt loops including: communicator, language or math, a team sport, an individual sport and computers.   But there are many, many, more available for your boy to earn if he would like.  You can learn about them by Goggling “cub scout belt loops”.  If your Webelos has met the requirements for a belt loop or pin, just let one of the Webelos Leaders know.

Meeting Times

Our den meetings are _________________ at ________________________.  There will be no den meetings the week of Pack Meeting, which is usually the 3rd Wednesday of the month.  Occasionally we will take some field trips or do some Saturday hikes, which we will let you know about in advance.    When there is a 5th Thursday in a month, we will focus on Faith in God at that meeting.

Faith in God

There are many things that we are doing in Webelos that cross over with the Faith in God program.  When there is a 5th Thursday in a month, we will focus on Faith in God activities. 

Webelos Leaders

Contact Info:

Cub Scout Olympics Blue and Gold Dinner

Scouts made the centerpieces. They are soft styrofoam rings with shiny colored paper squares pushed in. The center torch is black paper rolled up with red and orange tissue paper for the flames. The torch is in a cup of sand to hold it upright.  Also stuck in the styrofoam, are olympic rings, the scouts cut out of paper, taped together and then stuck on a stick.  Table cloths were in the olympic colors.

At the front we had and banner painted on butcher paper.  Our olympic cauldron (more below) and cupcake table.

Cupcakes in the shape of olympic rings served as our dessert.

Each scout made a flag in den meetings.  They chose a team name for their families and decorated this name on a flag.  The flags are an old bed sheet cut into rectangles and attached to dowels.  On the table was a pre-opener craft for younger siblings where they could make a torch out of rolled paper and tissue paper for the fire.

Our olympic cauldron was a large black garbage can with a fan and a light inside.  Tissue paper was attached on a wire across the top.  When it was plugged in, it lit up and the paper swayed in the wind.

After dinner, we had an eagle scout in full uniform run in while an olympic fanfare played over the sound system.  He carried a torch around the gym, and then "lit" the cauldron, which we simultaneously plugged in.  Our MC announced "Let the games begin!"

After the cauldron lighting we played olympic music and had the boys with their flags and siblings with their torches march around the gym.  The lights flashed on and off and the MC announced the names of the competing "teams" while we all clapped.  I think the kids could have done this all day!

After the opening ceremony we had 8 different events for the boys and their families to compete in.  Each boy could choose 4 to do Events included such things as relays, basketball, and nurf gun shooting.After the events we gave out medals to the winners.  We had them stand on a stand and gave out gold, silver, bronze. At the end of the evening we gave out large chocolate medals to all the scouts, and then smaller medals to all the sibling who participated.  The entire event, dinner included, lasted 2 hours.

Making Class B T-Shirts for Webelo Scouts

How to Spray Paint a T-Shirt

I wanted to get some Class B uniform shirts (t-shirts) for my Webelos. "What is a Class B uniform?" you ask.  It's basically a t-shirt for your den or pack that you use when you are doing things that would be hard on a Class A uniform (your regular one). This site had a good explanation of how a Class B t-shirt is used.  I thought these would especially helpful for Webelos as we do a lot of hiking, running, swimming and sports.    There are some Class B t-shirts available from the scout shop, and there are a lot of independent places online where you can design and print shirts for your den, but my problem (as is often the case in scouting) is I had very little cash, and I didn't want the families to have to fork out even more money.  So after doing a lot of internet research I decided to give spray paint t-shirts a try.

Here is what you need:

A drawing of the stencil you want to make
Some sort of stiff, yet flexible plastic (I used a plastic folder)
Spray on adhesive (cost me around $6.00 at the walmart)
Spray paint.
Square of card board (to stick in the shirt)
Tape
Newspapers
t-shirts


Step 1: Decide on your design

This first step can be as simple or as complicated as you wish. It could be as simple as buying som stencil numbers at the craft store and laying them down on your shirt. Depending on what you want, you could  find an image on the internet and just print it and use it as-is.  It's up to you how complicated you want to make this process.  The simpler the image, the easier it will be.  The image I chose was somewhat complicated.

Draw your design

Our den mascot is the dragon so I started searching on the internet for dragon stencils. I tried to find one that was very simple and had only the negative and the positive. I found a lot of tattoo sites that had just what I was looking for, but ended up choosing a logo from some high school some where.  I didn't like some parts of the image, so I printed the logo and then put a piece of trace paper over it. I then traced the parts of the logo I wanted and then free handed the parts I wanted to change.  I wanted to add some sort of scouting symbol in there, so I free hand drew the "W" for webelos under my dragon.

Scan your design into the computer.

After I had all that drawn, I scanned my trace paper into my computer. And then in Microsoft Publisher (you could use any editing software) I added my pack numbers.  Be sure to use the "stencil" font when adding any  numbers or text, as you'll have to cut this out.   Then I saved the whole thing as an image file.  Now I can make the file large or small and print it out at will.



Step 2: Cut out your stencil

Tape your design over your plastic.

Print out your design the size you want it to be.  Then tape your design onto the plastic you are going to use for your stencil.   (The first time I did this I cut my stencil out of a cereal box. It worked great the first shirt, but on the second and third shirt the cardboard started to rip and stick.  Online someone recommended that you use one of those old overhead plastics to make stencils with, but I didn't have anything like that lying around.  What I did have is one of those supple plastic folders, so I decided to give that a try.)

Cut along the lines with your exacto knife

Use an x-acto knife to carefully cut out your stencil. I put my plastic on piece of corrugated paperboard (cardboard) and then on a cutting board. This made it easier for me to cut all the way through the plastic sheet because the cardboard beneath was soft and forgiving. Be careful!








Step 3: Prep your shirt

Slide a square of cardboard inside your shirt.

Slide a square piece of cardboard into your shirt. This both smooths out the shirt, but also protects the back of the shirt from the paint soaking through.

The spray paint I chose faded after a few washings. I'll try a different brand next time.

Step 4: Spray adhesive

I don't know that this is a critical step, depending on how crisp you want the lines to be on your stencil.  If you don't mind a little fuzziness, you could just tape your stencil down right on your shirt.  But since I was looking for sharp lines, I used spray adhesive to stick my stencil to my shirt.  Follow the directions on the can for a temporary bond.  The product I used instructed me to spray the stencil and then wait for 60 seconds before sticking it to the shirt.

Spray adhesive stuck to the shirt

Note: If you add too much adhesive or leave it on too long you can sometimes get spray adhesive gunk stuck onto your shirt.  If you do, do not despair. I've had great luck removing the gunk with Goo Gone and following the instructions in this video.  The trick it to add the solvent to the reverse side of the stain.



Step 5: Protect your work area

tape paper around the stencil for overspray

Cover the rest of your shirt with newspapers.  I've found that I have to tape them on around the edge of the stencil.  Unless you are looking for a more splatter type look (like you see at this website), then you might consider using the over spray as part of the design. 



Step 6: Spray paint your shirt

Spray you stencil flat so that the paint doesn't run.  Use short controlled bursts.  Wait 20 minutes between coats. I used four coats on my shirts.

spray flat. use several coats

After allowing another 20 minutes to dry, carefully peel off your stencil. Since I'm making 15 shirts, I want my stencil to last as long as it can.  Once you tear the stencil you'll have to make another one.

Finished shirt!

Step 7: Wash your shirt

After 5 washings the paint is fading. 

Wait 24 hours before washing your shirt. Wash inside out in cold with other dark colors, tumble dry low.   I've had no problem with paint running or sticking.

I have had a problem with fading.  After the first washing the shirt faded about 50%.  In the picture here you can see what the shirt looks like after 5 washings.  For me, the fading isn't that big of deal. These shirts only have to last a year and will not be worn all that often.  If fading is an issue for you, maybe a more expensive brand of spray paint might be in order.  I read one blog where they were using "Testors" brand spray paint and they reported very little fading.

 If you give this a try I'd love to hear about it, so leave a comment.

*Update*

I found this product "Stencil Spray" at our local craft store and thought I would give it a try.  It cost $6.00 and is a really small bottle.  After doing one shirt it feels a little more than half full. So I may get 3 shirts out of this bottle.  It had a spray paint like nozzle, but it sprayed more like thick snake venom then spray paint. It was a sticky tar like substance and at first I panicked because it kind of globed on and I worried that it would just soak through everywhere.  I ended up smearing the stuff around with my thumb, because it just didn't spray on.  The good new is it only took one coat, and after letting it dry I was able to peal away the stencil.  It dried with a plastic like quality.  And has a smooth, thick like texture.  You can see especially on the numbers how it dried kind of thick and dimensional on the shirt.  

Overall I think it looks pretty good. I haven't washed it yet, so I'm not sure how it will wear.  The biggest down side for me was price. At $6 a bottle, and it doing 3 shirts at the most, that is more than I can pay, as I'm trying to do the shirts for more like $3 each.  But if I were making just one shirt for a special reason, I would consider using this product.  

***A Year Later Update****
Edit:  A year latter the shirt I made with the Stencil Spray still looks like the day I made it.  I've used this spray stencil stuff now for several other project including painting over bare spots on black vinyl shoes and repairing rips in black vinyl furniture.

Also, I bought one of those Yudu t-shirt makers at a garage sale for 50$, and I printed another 15 shirts on it for this year.  Wow was that so much easier!   If your going to print a lot of shirts, this may be the way to go.