Cub Scouts Corner- Bean Bags

I have been a cub scout leader for 6 years and I am always looking online for ideas.  I thought that I would occasionally start putting some ideas that I use on our blog to help out other leaders.  The great thing is that these ideas are fun for kids of all ages.   

Bean Bags are a simple way to keep scouts hands busy and you can use them for all sorts of games.  I like to fill bean bags with rice. It seems like it doesn't hurt as bad when you get hit with one.  (which happens in cubs a lot!)  I usually take my sewing machine to my den meeting and have the bean bags 3/4 of the way done before hand.  Then I let the scouts fill them up and I finish the sewing.  I serge mine but you can also make them with a regular sewing machine. Like these (made by my sister in law). 

 

Here are some fun games found here.  I love the challenges. They are quick and simple. I also made these targets for a bean bag toss.  I used wooden bean bag game targets that my kids made at the home depot kid workshop.  I painted them and then, I found the cub scout clip art. I printed it out and then I modge podged it onto the targets.     I usually let the scouts take home 5 bean bags and a copy of the games so that they can play with their families.  This activity will pass off  Wolf Achievement 10b and also Wolf Elective 4d.        

Snakes

Here is something for the little boys in your life! 

Start with some of your hubby's ugly ties or head to the thrift store for some cheap one's. 

Once your tie has been selected, find some matching buttons for your Snake's eyes.

Reach under the lining on the bottom side of the tie and you will find an opening.  This opening is on both ends.  Sew your buttons on, making sure not to go through the lining, but rather the top of the tie only.

Cut a tongue from a piece of felt. Sew or glue it on the underside of your snake.

Begin stuffing your snake with fiber fill.  I actually gutted an old pillow for this job. You can stuff from either end.  You will need a pencil or long stick to get the stuffing into the skinny parts of the tie.

When fully stuffed, glue or sew the opening closed.

I added a bow for Belle's snake because we all know that not all snakes can be boys!

Cabochon Crazy

I love the Resin Flower Cabochons showing up on jewelry designs everywhere. I wanted to learn to make my own.  But, when I realized all of the steps required and the different chemicals & dyes I needed, I became a little intimidated. Then I saw this on sale for $4.99.

Sculpey Pluffy Clay!  It is a modable clay that you bake to harden. There are easy baking instructions on the box and this stuff is really fun for kids too.  Anyway, I thought I would try making my own Cabochons, the simple way-with clay.  First, I needed some molds.

I found these HERE on etsy and I started creating. 

Using an old cheap ring I found drowning in the bottom of my jewelry box, I glued this Cabochon on top and created a brand new look.

Belle got a few new embellishments on some boring hair clips.

Earrings too!  Pluffy clay does not come in silver or navy, but by painting some white Cabchons the color possiblities are endless.  Again I used some old earrings (circa. 1985) to make them new.

I think the blue and silver flower are a definite improvement to the big gold heart!

You can even roll the clay into balls to create your own beads.  My son had a great time rolling the beads.  They aren't perfect but they have personality!

I stuck toothpicks through the beads before I baked them. Obviously, this makes stringing them together much easier.

With one package of sculpey clay you can make at least 100 Cabochons. As you can see, you can use them in lots of different ways! 

Olivia Pig Birthday Party

My sweet princess turned one last week. Unfortunately, she was sick on her big day.  We went ahead with the celebration, just without guests and not a lot of birthday excitement from Belle.

The Clothes

Her outfit consisted of red & white legwarmers, a red tutu, and a 1-sie!  Ironing Heat & Bond onto some coordinating fabric, then cutting out the number one and ironing it onto her onesie is how I created this shirt.  I also embroidered around the "1" with some red thread and sewed on a bow.

Tutu Tutorial

Legwarmer Tutorial

The Cake

Strawberry cupcakes with red and pink frosting topped off with Olivia on a lollipop stick.  I went online and found Olivia paper plates for sale. I then copied the image into a word document and printed a few dozen on cardstock. Notice my cupcake stand is sitting on top of a cupcake wreath that I made for Valentine's Day.  In fact, many of the decorations were recycled Valentine's projects.

Cupcake Wreath Tutorial

The Decorations

A little hard to see with our jungle of a backyard in the rear but the bunting says, "Happy 1st Birthday Harley Belle!"

With cooridinating black & red table cloths I decorated with Olivia books and red flowers.  I made these cone tress with some fabric and tissue paper rosettes.

Cone Trees Tutorial

Umbrella Wreath

A paper drink umbrella wreath just in time for summer.  My wreath is actually hanging on Belle's bedroom door, hence the fuzzy picture. The hallway is a little too dark for picture taking.

Basic Supplies: 

I had to break the umbrella sticks in half because they were a bit too long.  Then I just stuck them into my foam,  added a ribbon to hang, and a flower to make it even cuter.

Dinosaur Party

Last weekend my oldest kid Ethan turned 7!  He wanted to have a dinosaur party and so... here are some of the ideas that we did.  It was so much fun and now we are exhausted!

The Decorations

I used a banner from my father in laws Green Bay Packer party and my sister wrote Ethan's name on a set of small pennants from the same party.  We got green tablecloth's from the dollar store and crate paper and balloons to put around.   My favorite thing was the dinosaur puzzles.  We found them at Michael's for $1!  We painted them with acrylic paint and then as we built them we used a little wood glue.  We just used a little paint on a card and wrote the kids names for the dino's to hold.  All the kids got to take these home at the end of the party. 

Games

Jurasic Time Machine

This was Ethan's idea.  He wanted to have the kids go into a time machine and turn into dinosaurs.  We did this as the kids arrived before they played the Dino Tar Pit game. I made this with a hula-hoop from the dollar store.  I just found the break in the Hula hoop opened it up and with my camo material I just folded it over and sewed a casing to tread the hula hoop through.  Then I threaded the hula hoop through and put the hula hoop back together. We just pinned the sign on with safety pins.   

 Dinos in the Tar Pit

We played this game at the begining as we were waiting for all the guest to arrive.  This is a game that is like musical chairs.  Put out a table cloth or rug across the floor.  I used a table runner.  Put the music on and have the kids act like their favorite dinosaur and as the music plays they have to walk across the "tar pit" table cloth.  When you stop the music the kids who are stuck in the "tar pit" table cloth are out.  We just started it again until the all the kids got to the party.   

(sorry that we don't have any pictures of this)

Pin the bones on the dinosaur

 My sister found this game at a party store for $5.  We blind folded and spun the kids around.  It was funny you can always tell which kids cheat. 

Homemade Lava

 This was Ethan's favorite part of the party.  I found a tutorial to make slime here. We just called it Lava.  I made the one with clear glue and I cut the recipe in half for each kid.  It made plenty.  We put it in small disposable containers and made sure the kids knew not to eat it. (It looked a little too much like red jell-o!)  This is a little messy so make it in a place where you can clean up easy. 

Palentologist bags

I sewed drawstring bags and used yarn as the drawstring. Then, I used a cricut and freezer paper to stencil on each kids name with orange acrylic paint. We went to home depot and found a bag of paint brushes and painted them with a few coats of acrylic paint, used sharpie to write each kids name on the handle and put ribbon through the handle. Here is a tutorial for those.  We also found the dust masks at home depot. I found the magnifying glasses at a party store. Other party favors that we put in the bags at the end were chocolate dino suckers, dino bubbles and dino stickers.   

The kids are now ready for a Dino-Dig!

It was a rainy day so we had to bring the sand box in the house. Maybe it is because we rent but we are a little crazy like that. We hid plastic dinosaurs, dog milk bones, toy solders, and a few plastic snakes. The kids used their paint brushes and shovels to find things.

Dino-Egg Hunt

 

Since Ethan's birthday is around Easter it made it easy to find eggs for an egg hunt.  I found these camo eggs at the dollar store.  We put little plastic dinosaurs in them and hid them in our playroom.   

Dino-Egg Relay

Using a few of the eggs and large spoons the kids did a relay.

Mento and Coke Geyser

Ethan's aunt sent this for his birthday.  We bought a few 2 liter bottles of diet coke and shot this off at the end of the party.  It was awesome!   

Food

For Lunch we served Dino-nuggets, tatertots and fruit Kabobs
We also made Jell-o jiggler dino egg's. I used the jell-o beans mold. It was easy and the kids really loved them.  We made red kool-aid as Lava juice.   

The Cake

I cannot take any credit for the cake.  My husband made it and I think that he did an awesome job.  He made two round cakes and one bundt cake.  Then he stacked all 3 and put a cup down the middle and frosted it.  For smoke he used dry ice and a little water. 

That is All!  Happy Birthday Ethan!