Scouts Building Edible Structures...For Pioneer Day

How do you help a bunch of cub scouts celebrate Pioneer Day the week before the state holiday?

You help them build mini-log cabins out of pretzels, frosting, and graham crackers, of course.

Thanks to my wife, I was able to keep the attention of several kids under the age of eleven for the entire meeting. We had the pack meeting business, flag ceremony, reciting of scout motto, oath, law, etc., and after the awards, I talked to the scouts, their parents and siblings, and the other scout leaders about pioneers and how important they were in our state culture. If it weren't for the pioneers, much of the western United Sates would be incredibly different.

The top edible shelter is the one I made. I know I could have taken more time, spread the frosting between each pretzel, you know, to eliminate any huge gaps that would allow wind, rain, and/or slow to creep into my structure. But, I wanted to build something a child could build.

I'd say mission accomplished.

I love watching the kids create on their own. It was bound to happen--some of the kids didn't make anything. They just ate the glob of frosting and snapped up the pretzels. Others explained to me what they made, like the kid who explained that his pretzel and frosting house only had three walls because the missing wall was the door and the extra pretzels on the roof helped to divert rain from those who found shelter underneath the roof pretzels. 

Last year I helped the kids build little covered wagons. This year, log cabins. I wonder what amazing edible, buildable things we'll come up with next year.

How To Make A Drum...Or, How To Make A Cub Scout Make A Drum?

Do you remember those days of your youth when even the simplest things could bring such wonder and joy? Maybe it's easy for me to remember because when I was a cub scout, there were no such things as video games, cellphones, computers, or even VCRs (or Batamax machines...). No, we had skateboards, bicycles, friends, open roads, and public parks.

But I think the wonder of a child care be reached even in our electronic age. Case in point, tonight we helped a bunch of eight to ten-year old boys build drums. These drums were rudimentary, and the finish product produced sounds that sounded a little like what you hear when you bang a proper drum. Still, the scouts didn't care. They were excited for the opportunity.

And that tells me something. We took some large cans, some faux leather fabric, some rubber bands, and some paint and let them loose. The only complaints I heard was there wasn't enough red paint. Apparently, the kids liked red (a good sign for the next generation, if you ask me...).

So, how do you get a young boy to make a drum? Basically, you provide the materials and let them go for it. Like I said, I doubt these things will be effective drums, but those kids didn't care. They had a blast putting them together anyway, and there's something important to be learned in that.