Amazing Pack Activities Jenny Burroughs – Allegany Pack 677

Introductions – Ice Breaker Your Name Your Pack Position Pack Number and Location What Do You Like To Do For Fun?

So What Can I Do For My Scouts? One of the hardest challenges to running a den or pack is finding creative ways to engage young scouts. Resources and finances may be limited depending on where you live making difficult and creative decisions on what age appropriate pack activities are suitable for that engagement.

I Love Being A Leader But Not The Most Creative Person …. I have a secret! I’m not the most creative person either. It takes experience, many mistakes, training, and reaching out to others to generate amazing pack activities. This is the primary reason we are all here today and that is to share what activities we feel might work and what might not work.

Provide An Idea Each of you please think of resources you have in your area and generate an idea that you feel would benefit your scout pack. Even a “silly” idea can be a very creative idea. After you think of an idea, please write it down and ask yourself if this is suitable for all age groups for the pack or specific age for the den and please share with the rest of the class.

Age Appropriate Pack Activities One of the biggest challenges to preparing scout pack activities are accommodating all the scouts. Scouts who are in first grade have a different mindset then fifth graders. Something fun for tigers, wolves, or bears may be “boring” for Webelos. I completely understand this can be a difficult task.

So What Is The Solution That Can Accommodate Everyone? Planning and preparing ahead of time. Try to plan a pack activity once a month. This will provide parents and scouts variety based on the interests and age of the scout. For example if Tommy has no interest in the fishing derby in October and has an interest in camping in November, then there is his opportunity to enjoy the learning experience.

So What Are Some Examples of Pack Outings That You Can Plan? As mentioned prior, we all live in different places so resources will vary from one place to another. Here are some general examples that can accommodate all age groups: Family Camping Sports Communication Fishing Fire/Police Station Historical Local Museum Survivor Day College Campus Agricultural Conservation Day Hike

So What Are Some Examples of Pack Outings That You Can Plan? A great resource that can help you plan for pack outings is the Age-Appropriate Guidelines for Scouting Activities. This publication was developed based on the mental, physical, emotional, and social maturity by the Boy Scouts of America. This resource can your building block to generating amazing pack activities. Lets review shall we!

Another Great Resource – Den Outing Ideas Guide Created by my husband Scott Burroughs – Cub Master for Pack 677. He created this resource to allow the den leaders to have a directory in the palm of their hand. Listed are Community Service, Museums & History, Sciences & Engineering, etc.

Sometimes We Forget… This often happens and that is we sometimes forget the immaturities and attention spans of young boys. What we as adults may like to do for fun may not be the same for scouts. We as adults need to “do our best” in planning amazing pack activities. A great idea would be to ask your scouts what they would like to do and make notation of it.

My Pack Activity Was A Disaster, What Do I Do Now? This has happened to me a few times. You spend hours on what you think is the most amazing scout activity in the world only to find out the parents and scouts didn’t enjoy the experience. This can be frustrating but don’t give up. You heard the saying “we learn from our mistakes.” I would like to hear from you on how you would handle a pack activity disaster and what you would do better next time.

Preparation of Pack Activities Depending on what is decided on your pack or den activity, preparation will vary. From past experience, some of the most fun activities only took me five minutes of preparation (calling the bowling alley) to hours/days (family weekend campouts). But what all these activities have in common is arrangement. You need to gather a date, time, and location of the activity. You need to get the word out to parents and scouts in advance. Sometimes plans can fall through to please have a plan B.

After The Amazing Pack Activity Try to solicit feedback from your parents and perhaps learn what you may want to better next time. Remember you cannot please everyone and “do you best” in the matter. Feedback is a gift. It is there to help you become a better leader.

Questions