Cub camp (or how to prevent a walking stick from becoming a weapon of mass destruction)

For the last thirty years or so, it has been assumed that I will take over the craft segment of Cub camp. Usually I am asked to come up with a suggested craft and let the organizers know what supplies I might need. So far, this has worked pretty well. A few times we had to tweak the plan when the parts did not show up but basically, we had a good craft that would be successful for boys of all ages and keep them busy for the allotted time.

This year, however, I was not asked but told that they had ordered 200 walking sticks and had colored markers for the boys to use to decorate them. Yeah right! six classes of 30 boys (plus siblings) are going to sit there for an hour and ten minutes each, decorating a walking stick??? And I assume I am also responsible for the ensuing chaos.

My friend and fellow leader (also a mother of two boys) was as shocked as I. We went through our stash of crafty stuff looking for something that would make the sticks a bit more user-friendly.

Between us we came up with some turkey feathers, some fluffies and pom-poms, some felt, thong material, rope and pony beads. We decided the sticks would get a rope grip with a ring, to which we would tie a memory feather.

I made up a story line to go with the activity:

     Once there was a boy named Lone Wolf. He lived with his father and their tribe on an Indian reservation.  Now, during the winter, the father had gone out of the reservation to see what was happening in the outside world. Spring had come and then summer but father had not returned. School was soon to begin and Lone Wolf decided he would go on a vision quest. All the adults told him he was much too young but he was determined to try, so one day he rolled up his blanket and water skin and tied it with rope and set out to the nearby mountains.
     After a while, he got tired and saw a nice shady tree where he could sit for a moment to rest. As he sat, he listened to the wind rustling the branches so it seemed that the tree was speaking to him. "Lone Wolf, what are you doing here"? Well, when Lone Wolf explained his mission, the tree thought he was way too young but if he insisted on going, the tree had lots of high branches holding its leaves to the sun but there was a lower branch he could have to use as a walking stick to lean on when the going got tough. And, as he was getting ready to leave, the tree suggested he might want to take some of the twigs and branches on the ground for a fire. Lone Wolf opened his blanket and placed the bundle of wood he gathered on it and rolled it back up, put it over his shoulder, thanked the tree, and set off with his new stick.
     As Lone Wolf walked farther, he became thirsty. He heard a soft tinkling in the distance and followed the sound to a small brook. There he filled his water skin. He had a long drink and took some water for the trip and to put out the fire. Just as he was about to leave, he saw something bright like a bubble in the water. When he reached for it, it became a small bell. This he put in his medicine pouch to remind him of the refreshing water each time he heard the sound.
     Now the path became steeper and Lone Wolf was above the tree line. All around were just low bushes and he heard the song of a little bird as it came hopping along from twig to twig. The bird was surprised to see him there and asked what he was doing so far from his village. When he told the bird he was on a vision quest, the bird was quite surprised, thinking him much too young to be hurrying through life. The bird told him, "though I can fly high and fast, I can not find food that way. It is better to take the journey one step at a time, hopping from branch to branch, eating, resting, seeing the flowers, and being so happy as to sing". The bird reached back and pulled out a feather which he gave to Lone Wolf to remind him to take it one step at a time, not to rush through life, and Lone Wolf put that feather with into his medicine pouch with the bell, thanked the little bird and went on up the mountain.
     It was late in the day and beginning to get dark. The bushes and trees were way below and the trail led between two big rocks. Just as Lone Wolf was going through, he was hit in the face by a huge spider web. "Wait, Wait"! called the spider "Where are you going"? Well, by now, you know what the conversation was like. The spider told Lone Wolf to stay right there and she would come down and get him un-tangled from the web. Of course there was discussion about the extreme strength of spider silk and the spider gave him a length to take with him, in case he might need it and to remind him about how nature is a cord tying all mankind and itself together.
     Just as he was about to go his way, Lone Wolf looked up to thank the spider and saw something glittering in the web. He asked the spider what it was and the spider explained that the dew gathers in the evening on the web and that was the reflection of the sun and moon and the stars and how important they were for finding one's direction. The spider climbed up and brought the sparkling bits down to Lone Wolf and when they were dropped in his hand, they turned to beads. Lone Wolf could identify one that was yellow like the sun and one that was white like the moon and others that looked like stars and flowers and nature around him. All these he put in his pouch, thanked the spider and went on up to the top of the mountain.
     At a place near the top, he opened his blanket and set up the wood, took out his flint and struck it with his knife and soon had a cheery fire going. He sat with his back against a boulder and took out his medicine pouch and placed the things he had been given onto his blanket.
     Suddenly he heard a voice from the top of the rock behind him. There were the usual questions about what he was doing there and how he was much too young etc. But the eagle, who was speaking now, said,"I have a better quest for you. One that is more suitable to someone your age" .And the Eagle told him all about Scouting and the "Trail to Eagle" Then the eagle gave Lone Wolf a "Working feather" If he looked closely he could see the feather was a bit worn. The eagle had used that feather all through the year while raising young, finding food for them and teaching them to fly and hunt for themselves. Now the eagle would be getting new feathers and Lone Wolf should keep that one to remind him of the new path of the Scout.
     Lone Wolf took the feather and made the end into a loop (demonstration) attached the small feather, a bit of blanket (felt) and the beads and hung it from his walking stick so that he would always remember his new vision in life.
     In the morning, Lone Wolf put out his fire and went back down the mountain. As he was almost to his village when he saw someone coming in the distance. Well, it was his father. Of course they were glad to see each other and Lone Wolf showed his stick and told his father all about the meaning of the feather and beads and that he had a goal of becoming a Scout and maybe some day, an Eagle Scout. The Father, too, had learned all about Scouting on the outside world and was ready to help Lone Wolf along the trail, changing his name to "Brave Wolf" for what he had accomplished.

The group was divided in half and one section began to decorate their stick and work on the grip. The other half began to work on their feather. They put a bit of glue on the top of the feather and added the fluffie, then wrapped it with a piece of felt that had some double-stick tape to help hold it in place, and tied it top and bottom with string wrapped tightly and tied in a square knot.  If the feather was a bit messed up at the tip (some were rather old) the Cub could add a tassel and pompom as wished.

A thong went through the loop in the quill and on that he could put as many beads as he wished. The only rule was, each bead had to represent something he wished to remember. It could be a person or an experience or something at camp or something about nature, it was up to the kid. (I saw some put red ,white, and blue beads as it was memorial day weekend. There were some school colors too. I showed the Scouts the beads on my medicine pouch and told them about what some represented to me. I told them when I was small, we tied a string on our finger to remember things but this was much better, you could remember lots of things and I added a small blue flower-shaped pony bead to my pouch thong to remember the camp and all those Cubs, just bursting into bloom with new skills, like a flower beginning to bloom.

Did we avoid weaponry? I heard there was a bit but, for the most part, they remained hiking sticks. I did the prepping by cutting the quills and tucking the loop in the bottom with a touch of glue. Also the felt had to be cut and backed with double-stick tape. Several men came to help with the grip tying and my friend manned the station dispensing fluffies, beads, and thongs. A "parking lot" was set up for the sticks so the Cubs would have their hands free for feather work. There were colored pens and sandpaper and stuff for decorating the sticks and we had a hand-out with suggestions of how a stick could be used.

Luckily the weekend which had begun with rain, turned into a fine night and day. Though I would have liked a bit more time... like a week or so... to do the prep work, I would say the crafts turned out successfully. I wonder where those memory feathers are now. I wonder if those cubs will recall the camp in another week, month or year when they look at their hiking stick. I know I will not even need to look at that blue bead to remember this one!

The Cubmaster's Challenge ... (bribe)

Years ago, when the Webelos program was extended to two years, I found that, by the first year, the youth had managed to earn the Webelos badge and there was not much of a challenge to go on for the "Arrow of Light".

To stretch the second year youth a bit farther, I offered a challenge... To complete all the activity pins in the book and earn the "Panda" and religious knot by the time one bridged into Boy Scouts. The prize was a hand-carved neckerchief slide.

At first, the slide I carved was a ball and chain. It was carved of beechwood which is quite hard. Every year I had just a few boys complete the challenge so carving that slide was no problem. I wrote the twelve points of the Scout Law on the rotating ball.

Then, one year, a whole den of Webelos took up the challenge and completed everything. I seem to recall there were seven or eight boys in that den. From then on, I switched to a Scout sign slide.
This year one boy has met the challenge. He is no longer in my Pack but remembered the promise and met the challenge. The one I am carving here is from katsura wood. It will be the color of the lower slide when varnished. The one above is of hinoki (false cypress) . These are two of my favorite woods.

As a side note, more often than not, the boy who works for this award is likely to meet my second challenge. If he makes "Eagle" I will carve him an eagle slide. It is very rewarding to see that youth trade one slide for another. Often those youth have moved away from Japan and I send about five or six slides overseas every year with my congratulations.