Cubstruction...An Educational Word

What is Cubstruction, you ask?

It's a word I learned about just tonight. Basically, it's having cub scouts construct something--anything--out of common household items.

We also talked about thrift.

You see, being thrifty involves not only the wise handling of money, but also the conservation of resources. I am the cub master in our congregation. It's challenging--a little bit more than some church assignments--a lot less challenging than others. But is is a fun assignment. Tonight we had our Pack Meeting, and we learned about Cubstruction.

For the past week I went around the house and gathered up fifteen of various items around the house. Fifteen nails, fifteen buttons, some almost-impossible-to-blow-up balloons, paper cups, paper plates, toilet paper tubes, pencils, yarn, ribbon, rubber bands, and even pinecones from our yard. We set up everything before the meeting started and the scouts had to sit to the side and wait for our meeting to be over before they could begin building.

To be honest, I was a little worried that the kids would be bored with the collection of stuff. I mean, we're talking about kids who most likely spend a lot of time playing video games. I told them there were no rules--they could build whatever they wanted, and you should have seen the look in their eyes. They could not wait to get at it. I saw them all scoot to the edge of their seats in anticipation. And when I said, "Go!" they ran to the table and got to work.

I suppose I should have more faith in these industrious kids. If I did they wouldn't surprised me as much. They each jumped in and for about twenty minutes, the usually noisy hall was quiet as the kids worked. They were even disappointed when I told them they needed to stop. Not even the mention of refreshments dampened their spirits.

In the end, the things they created were not function and they were in no way useful, except they taught their cub master something: never underestimate these incredible scouts.