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.