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Need Ideas? This page has program aids that you can use to supplement
advancement activities, such as the Bird Call Game.
You'll also find other type of materials that scouts and scouters can use as a reference
for scouting and scouting related activities, such as the Spring
Camping Equipment Checklist or the Beading Projects.
 | Campfire Planning
 by
J. W. Zeszutek, Gateway District
Commissioner, Southeast Wisconsin Council, Kenosha,
WI
An 18 page primer on how to build a campfire program. Includes sample
songs, skits and cheers.
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| Owasippe Legends, Ballads &
Vignettes
, Compiled by Walter Muma
A compilation of stories, songs and
skits heard around the campfire or ringing off the dining hall walls at Owasippe Scout
Reservation, America's oldest and largest Boy Scout camp for ninety-five seasons. It is my
hope that this songbook can help in some way to keep the long standing Scouting traditions
from this historical camp alive around your campfires.
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| Proper
U.S. Flag Rules & Regulations
 , from The Betsy Ross Homepage
Instructions on proper display and use for our nation's flag.
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| Mini Personal Survival Kit (PSK) by
Doug Ritter, Equipped To Survive
A small PSK designed by Doug Ritter to fit in your pocket in addition to
the gear you may already carry, such as a knife and multi-tool, fire starting tool, signal
mirror, etc. It provides gear and supplies that are difficult or impossible to improvise
and which are small enough or critical enough to make them worthwhile carrying in the
event of an emergency. This kit easily fulfills requirement Five (5) of the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge
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| PSK Cheat Sheet by Willie
Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
A cheat sheet of some of the more common survival tips designed to fit into an Altoids tin
Mini Personal Survival Kit (PSK).
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| Spring Camping Equipment Checklist
Here's a handy one-page sheet for new scouts on what to bring for an early spring campout
where the weather can be spring-like one moment and turn winter-like the next.
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| Winter Camping
Two very important handouts for cold weather camping that are part of Mr. Guy's winter
camping presentation:
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Tired of grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch? Camp cooking should be
something everyone should look forward to as much as any other activity. Honestly,
how often to you heat up a Dutch oven at home? Here are some ideas to help
spice up your next outdoor meal.
| Cardboard Box Oven by
Chip Reinhardt, SM Troop 451, Durham, NC
An easy and economical way to make an oven to bake at camp. Pizza, cake, pies or
chicken anything you can bake at home you can bake at camp.
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| Silver Spoon
Award by Willie Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
This is an award I devised for our troop as a a way to encourage cooking skills and the
patrol method. The award rules, judging sheets and tally sheets are available in
HTML, PDF or MS Word DOC format.
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| Recipe Links
by Willie Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
There are many web pages that provide tasty recipes for camper, such as the the Dutch Oven
Society web site. This page provides a list of sites where you can find new to try
on that next campout
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| Don Johnston's High Performance Alcohol Stove
(AKA Photon Stove)
by Don Johnston
Here's a nifty do-it-yourself project for scouts to build their own light weight backpack
or day pack stove out of old tuna and soda cans. Brew a quick cup of tea or cocoa, or heat
up some raimon noodle soup for a hearty lunch on the trail. It uses cheap and easy
to find alcohol for fuel. Below are a few links to some small pots and mugs you can
purchase to use with your stove. I bought the inexpensive Snow Peak Personal Cooker I
Stainless
Steel pot.
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| Backpacker Reflector Oven
,
by Willie Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
A small personal size reflector oven for baking items by a flaming campfire (flames are
required for the reflected energy). Of course with today's Leave No Trace techniques it
may not be often that you'll need a backpack reflector oven. But it's small and light
enough that you can add it to your patrol box for weekend outings. The design for this
oven is from older editions of the BSA Scout Field Guide as well as a few websites where
others have applied their experience and skills in providing improved instructions and
drawings as the original text is pretty lean in that regard. I created the drawing in
Visio and printed it out as a Acrobat PDF file.
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| Kraiker's Baker
Collapsible
Campsite Reflector Oven, by Rolf Kraiker (www.blazzingpaddles.on.ca)
A large reflector oven big enough to bake a pie! Rolf Kraiker, a canoe outfitter in
Canada, created this design and uses it regularly on his treks |
| Pioneering
Projects
compiled by Andrew J. Miller, Scoutcraft Director, Bert Adams Scout
Reservation, Covington, GA
Most likely the most comprehensive collection for Scout pioneering project ideas. Includes
easy to understand diagrams of bridges, towers, catapults, camp gadgets and much more!
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| Rope Works
, Gerald L Findley, Hermon, NY
The Rope Work site promotes the sale of two products from Mr. Finley, a spiral bound book
of knots, hitches, splicing, lashing and ropemaking and a CD of animated knots.
There are also a few samples and some downloadable PDF pages. The key ones for rank
advancement include:
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| Animated Knots by Grog
, Grog
This site has great animation of many different type of knots, including Animated
Scouting Knots by Grog
, Animated Climbing Knots by Grog
, Animated
Boating Knots by Grog
, Animated Fishing Knots by Grog
, Animated Search
and Rescue Knots by Grog
and Animated Rope Care by Grog
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Basketry, beading, leatherworking, metalworking and wood carving are all fun crafts
that can lead to a lifetime with an enjoyable hobby or even develop a budding artist.
| Beading Projects by Willie
Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
I recently started to learn how to bead on a loom. I was inspired by an experienced
beader at a Circus World Heritage scouting event in Baraboo, WI. This page includes
advise from my own limited experience (so far), a few patterns, and links to the few but
helpful web sites on scout beading.
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Orienteering Course -
McHenry Township Park, by Mike Guy, Scoutmaster Troop 149, McHenry, IL
Mike Guy has created four separate loop course of increasing difficulty at the
McHenry Township park at Route 31 and Johnsburg Road. Successful completion of
the longest, Course 4: Difficult - Flag Loop
,
qualifies for First Class requirement #2, Orienteering.
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| Map Symbol Flash
Cards by
Neal Musto,
Scoutmaster Troop 33, Takoma Park, MD
Learn and practice your understanding of map symbols with these easy to make
flash cards. Understanding map symbols is part of
Second Class requirement #1a, "Explain
what map symbols mean."
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Nature and conservation are two very important components in the scouting program.
With the beautiful outdoors, there would be no place to put the
"out" in scouting.
| Bird Call Game by
Willie Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
"Here's a Scout contest I'm developing to help teach scouts to identify bird calls.
Properly identifying bird calls can be used to identify some of the animals for
Second Class rank requirements (10 animals total are required), or part of the Bird Study
merit badge (5 bird calls required)."
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| Geology Merit Badge at Devils Lake State
Park, WI, by Willie Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
Merit badge links and materials that use the geological feature of Devils Lake as a
reference to fulfill requirements. Not all of the requirements for the badge are
listed, only those that pertain to the geology at Devils Lake. We used this in
conjunction with the "An Adventure Through Time" tour of
led by Paul Herr, founder of Devils Lake Nature
Safaris. Mr. Herr even provided comments and information for most of the
requirements. (Mr. Herr donated the company to the University of Wisconsin - Madison Geology
Museum.)
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| Natural Dyeing by Willie
Vannerson, ASM Troop 149, McHenry, IL
"I took on a rather ambitious project at this year's summer camp (2000). I
decided to try my hand at using natural plants to dye cotton yarn. I would then use
this yarn to braid or knot a band to wrap at the top of my hiking staff. I could
then use yarn tails from the band to string our troop activity beads for
display. The project went very well thanks to help and/or advise I received
from my old National Camping School instructor, Joe "Duke" Olechno, Teri from The Fold and several web sites dedicated
to the subject." |
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