Craftsman Badge {Webelos}

Grandpa Cliff welcomes members of Peter's Webelos den to his shop.

Grandpa Cliff instructs the Scouts in proper use of the nail gun.

Enoch works on his bird feeder.

Peter uses the scroll saw.

Helping facilitate the Craftsman Badge with Peter's Webelos den this month, Tim supervised knife building & engraving, leather branding & lacing, and Grandpa Cliff hosted two Saturdays in his shop for woodworking instruction.   This badge is particularly interesting for the Webelos' dads, and most of them were on hand and assisted during all the meetings.

It's awesome to watch the dads (and grandpas) working closely with the boys, passing on their know-how and helping the boys learn new skills.

This was a repeat for the most part of Joseph's den's Craftsman Badge from two years ago...

The concept for the knife building dates back to Tim's Webelos' days when his dad, (now known as Grandpa Cliff), helped his den build knives (which are not Scout legal by today's standards due to the {impressive} blade length).

Like father, like son!
Passing it on....

Blowtorch Project {Scouts}

Using his hand-made branding iron, Peter presses the design onto a piece of leather. 

Peter displays his finished brand: a mountain with the number 3 (for Troop 3, his future troop).

Would you let your ten year old son work on a craft project involving a blow torch?

Two years ago, Joseph's den worked on this very same Craftsman requirement.
Peter has been waiting for his opportunity to brand a leather neckerchief slide, and last night his waiting ended.

The Craftsman Badge is a real hands-on experience for Webelos, and one of our favorites to lead.


May I suggest an inspirational article for you today?
Read about a home schooled hero at work!

Fighting for Life

LILA ROSE

Webelos: Showman {Then and Now}

2010 Webelos Showman Badge

Webelos 1 & 2's prepare to construct & decorate a stage for their puppet shows.

As an assistant den leader for Peter's Webelos den, I taught the Showman badge in September.
Tonight is their grand finale, as they will be performing their puppet shows at the pack meeting for all the Cub Scouts and their families.
On Friday we met to construct, design, and decorate a main puppet stage and 4 different back-drops.

In 2007, I led Joseph's Webelos den in the Showman badge.
It was during our Showman meetings in 2007 that we met Boaz and Ezra, who had just been adopted into the Bergeron family.  I remember how Boaz and Ezra stood like statues against the wall in their matching neon yellow and green coats, just staring, as the den practiced drama skills under my direction.
Yesterday, we celebrated the 3 years anniversary of Ezra, Boaz and Keziah's arrival in the US from Liberia.
It's fun to look back at our early adventures with Boaz and Ezra, who became great friends and visited our home regularly with their brothers Judah and Enoch (all homeschooled).

Here I am helping Joseph's den in 2007 with stage construction.  

See Ezra and Boaz in the background?

This is one of the first nights we met Ezra and Boaz, as we were preparing the stage for the Webelos' den puppet shows.  Notice the two of them glued to the wall near their dad, Chuck?

It took a few weeks before they were comfortable joining in the den's activities.

Amazingly, they were both able to earn their Webelos Rank as well as their Arrow of Light and cross over into Boy Scouts along with their den.

Flash forward back to Showman 2010:

Nolan and Peter enjoy mixing colors to make a tie-dye house for their show's backdrop. 

Enoch paints the sunshine on his puppet show's backdrop.

Jonah puts finishing touches on the big red barn.

I'm excited for tonight's performances... they are cleverly written scripts
and the puppets are all quite unique~
just like the Webelos who created them.