6 Ways to Make the Program Fun

The BSA has a great resource for meeting plans. The Troop Meeting Agenda has time slots for group and skills instruction and offers an outline for the Troop Patrol Leaders Council to learn new things and spur advancement.

There are times however when a change to the usual schedule will help Scouts learn new things or hone their skills in different ways.

Here Are Six Ways to Stimulate Learning and Rank Advancement

1. The Guest Speaker

Guest speakers can really punch up a meeting. In addition to breaking the routine, a guest speaker can stimulate the Scouts to try new things (or avoid them), consider different career paths, or learn about sports. Some of our guest speakers have been the local anti-drug unit from the sheriff’s office, sports figures, owners of different local businesses, and professionals like engineers and medical people. The speakers are not there as Merit Badge counselors but as a way for the Scouts to interact with people, they would not normally meet.

Also consider local Eagle Scouts as speakers for the Troop. We have also had great luck approaching the local service clubs with requests for someone to come out and talk to the Scouts.

We would also try to have a game for the Scouts to play related to the Speaker’s topic… easy with sports, really tough with Real Estate!

2. The Wide Game

We tried to have a wide game once a year. The Scouts wanted to have one every month! Be advised, this takes a lot of work and a lot of volunteers but I still hear about the fun times some twenty years later. The concept is simple – take a Round Robin event and move it outside. What makes it unique is how the scouts move from the station and how each event is managed when they arrive. Here are the wide game steps that we used.

Pick a theme

Use a current (or classic) movie, TV show, or even a video game as your theme. The best themes are “save the world”, “rescue the missing”, “find the treasure”, or “solve the mystery”
Gather your volunteers

We used the committee, and nearly all the parents to man the stations and run the event. Most got so into the event that they made costumes, created personas, and even made props! This is a great time to pick a date for the event.
Plan a Route

We used a five-mile hike in our town as our route, and provided multiple routes to keep the Scouts separated. We visited government buildings, the fire station, the police station, the hospital, parks, and the like. (the keen eye will realize that the hike itself is a 2nd class requirement, and the places visited are from the Citizenship in the Community merit badge requirements) The route has to have several options so the patrols don’t just follow each other. Plan the destinations first, then prepare different ways and different first destinations. We used copies of street maps for our planning and hiked the route for timing.
Determine the events

This is an all-day event so you can have as many events as you want (or have staff for) We allowed 3 hours for the hiking part, one hour for lunch, and 2 hours for events and 1 hour for the end game. This allowed time for between 5 and 6 events. A great event can be cooking a meal.
Hold a meeting

The first staff meeting is where it will start to come together. You will want to get volunteers to man each challenge station and for them to start thinking about how they will set it up, run it, score it, and pass on the clues to the next station. If you are using some “standard” competitive events (knot relay, pioneering challenge, fire building, first aid) this is a great time to have those events printed out.
Work on the Clues

Admittedly, this can be daunting. I loved this part! Think about designing a maze using scout skills to navigate through the maze. Taking the routes, you provide a map to the first station for each patrol. From that station, they will need to navigate to the next station on their route. Here is an example that I used. “Determine the height of the church steeple. Multiply the height by 10 and head South that distance. Head west for 8 blocks.” In our town, the streets are gridded and the church steeple is 60 feet off the ground so it was going one block south and turning left.
Provide an out

Sometimes a patrol will make a mistake. Always have one person assigned to keep everyone on the path. We used one volunteer, on a scooter, who traveled the routes and looked for wayward patrols. When he found one, he would engage them and use subtle hints to get them back on track. One year, our volunteer dressed up in a safari costume complete with a pith helmet, monocle, and a (terrible) British Accent! The volunteer who does this job should be very familiar with the routes, clues, and destinations.
Start promoting the event

Honestly, we picked a date and started telling the Scouts 2 months in advance. This became such a big deal that we would often get some boys who joined the Troop so they could participate!
Have another meeting

(Or two) Follow up with the volunteers and see how they are doing. Rehearse the challenges so the volunteers understand how they work. This can be a lot of fun as every volunteer tries out every event.
Designate a fill in person

Be sure to have someone who can fill in if someone can not run their station on the day.
Create the end game

The end game is culmination of the quest. It can either use clues accumulated from each station or be a stand-alone event. What seemed to work best for our Troop was a series of puzzles. For example, to open the treasure chest, the Patrol had to press the correct button. I had a bunch of buttons all numbered from 1 to 20. The clue was “The Scout Law”. (12 points – button 12)
Hold a final volunteer meeting

Tie up all the loose details. be sure all the volunteers are ready to go.
Hold the event

Be sure that the Scouts bring their books, paper, pencils, etc.
Hold a meeting

Write down what worked and what didn’t and start planning for the next one!

3. The Round Robin

The Round Robin is a great meeting that will captivate the Scouts. Set up several Stations (usually 5 or 6) that relate to a particular Scout Skill. Using your adult volunteers, each patrol rotates through each station completing the task in a timed competition. Award prizes for the winner in each event as well as the overall winner. Great fun and some learning too. Here are some examples of stations:

Knot relay

Lash poles together to retrieve a ring

Make a stretcher and transport a Scout 50 feet

A Kim’s game of tools (points for most correct answers)

Map Symbol Relay

Casting Challenge – Each team member gets 3 casts to hit a target (hula hoops work great) Earn points for each cast in the hoop. You can have several hoops at different distances with different point values

4. The Campout where everything is a requirement

This is one of my favorites as it takes a lot of effort by the PLC to plan and execute. It is, however, one of the most satisfying campouts to hold. The basic concept for this is to design the campout to meet as many rank and merit badge requirements as possible. The PLC is charged to meet this goal with minimum lecture and maximum activity! Here are just a few examples of activities that can meet multiple requirements (rank requirements in parentheses):

String Burning Contest

Sharpen a knife and axe. (T-3d)

Use them to gather tinder, kindling, and fuel for a fire (2-2b)

Insert 2 poles in the ground on either side of your fire site

Using diagonal sticks, brace the two vertical poles using lashings. (1-3b,3c)

Tie three short pieces of string together using a square knot (Sc – 4a)(T-3a), and a sheet bend (2-2f)

Tie the string to the two poles using two half hitches on one pole and a taut-line hitch on the other (Sc – 4a)(T-3b,3c) Tighten the string until it is straight across and 15” above the ground.

Start the fire and burn through the string. (either time this or have a head-to-head race)

Properly extinguish the flames with minimal impact to the fire site. (2-2c)

The Baseball Game

This is played like regular baseball – except questions are used instead of a ball and bat. To play you will need a list of questions. You can make up your own from the requirements or check out our resource “Scout Baseball Rank Questions”

Divide into two teams – usually by patrol

Designate a “pitcher” This is usually an adult or the SPL

Each side gets three outs. An out occurs when a “batter” gets the wrong answer to a question. If the batter misses the question, the runner closest to home can “steal” by answering the question.

The number of bases is determined by the rank requirement covered by the question of the question. Usually a single for Scout and Tenderfoot; a Double for Second Class; a Triple for First Class; and a home run for Star and above.

A batter can ask for a double, triple, or home run question at any time.

Play continues until all unanswered questions are used(you should have a bunch) or the game reaches a set number of innings or runs. Have older Scouts serve as scorekeeper, umpire, etc.

You can have multiple games if you have multiple patrols.

5. The Monthly Merit Badge

We would have the PLC pick out a Merit Badge to feature at a meeting. The Counselor would come in and introduce it. We would include a game that related to the merit badge and the Scouts would plan out how to finish the merit badge. Traffic Safety was one of the most memorable as the Scouts spent a lot of time getting in and out of my car and working the lights and the windshield wipers!

6. Summer Time Merit Badge Meetings

Have you ever noticed how attendance falls off during summer vacation? Family vacations, summer school, meeting fatigue, and other factors can leave your summer meetings a little flat. One solution we used that was very effective was to do merit badges! Here are some merit badges we did that are easy for Scouts to accomplish. The Merit Badge counselors happily helped out.

Electronics:
We all built an electronic neckerchief slide from a plastic bolo tie skull and a very basic circuit. Soldering was fun as well.

Fingerprinting:
This is a great Merit Badge that is easy to accomplish and fun as well. Our MB Counselor even had the Scouts collect fingerprints from around the Scout Hut!

Fishing:
This was a month-long theme that included casing competitions, fishing knot tying relays (with rope instead of mono), and culminated with a day trip to a “secret” fishing spot.

Woodwork:
Our Counselor brought in tools, wood samples, and books of plans. He helped our Scouts, build a bunch of different projects and even built 100 birdhouses from some scrap fence lumber. It was hard to tell who had more fun, the Scouts or the counselor.

I hope these ideas will give you some alternatives to your Troop meeting.

References:

100 Ideas For Troop Meetings
Merit Badges
Meeting Plans & Ideas: CAMPING
Scout Baseball Activity
Meeting Plans & Ideas: ORIENTEERING