 Ideas for Winter Field Trips Crafts Games Den Activities   Winter Field Trips  Sledding! - A good sledding hill is way too fun! The sledding hill at Rum River Scout camp is great! Call the campmaster and see if it's free for you to use. (763)427-8340. Otherwise, I'm sure you can think of other fun sledding hills. You might want to for-go the snowboards though, for safety reasons. Leave those for Mom and Dad to deal with. You really can't get hurt sitting on your backside. Ice Skating - There are 3 different rinks at Central Park on Armstrong Blvd. One of them should open for you to use. They also have a warming house. Bring the hot cocoa and you'll have a super fun field trip!Sleigh Ride - Roselawn Stables in St. Francis, offers a winter sleigh ride to groups. Have another Den join you and go for a sleigh ride!I use winter for my indoor field trips. It just makes more sense. Kids like hands-on experiences and they like to see how things are made. Take them to businesses that will show them around! Here are some good indoor places to go in the winter or really anytime of year! During the winter the kids have winter break, so you can take advantage of daytime field trips Printing Company - A big commercial printer is really interesting. There are LOTS of them in Minnesota too. John Roberts Printing Co. in Coon Rapids, will take the kids around and show them the world of printing! Call (763)755-5500, and ask to bring the kids for a tour! Newspaper or Television Stations - Super fun and interesting too! Talk with a D.J. or meteorologist if you can!Connexus Energy - Call (763)323-2600 to book your tour. City Official's Office - The Mayors office or other elected official's office is usually open to the Scouts to visit. Show the Scouts how our community is run, and don't forget that question and answer seccion! You might just have a future Polititian with you! Bakery -
Can you think of a better time of year to walk through a warm, yummy smelling bakery? Interesting field trip and tasty too!Garden Center/Wreathmaking - Bring the boys to one of the busiest places before Christmas. The wreath making center of a large Garden shop. Mickmann Bros. Nursery in Ham Lake, makes wreaths before Christmas and they would be glad to show the boys how it's done! Call (763)434-4047 to see if you can take a tour. Pizza Hut - What kid doesn't like pizza! This is a great field trip. For about $3.00 per boy the Pizza Hut in Anoka will let the boys come in and MAKE their own 'Personal Pan' pizza right there in the kitchen. The price includes a pizza, beverage and a tour of the kitchen! This is way too much fun! Give them a call and schedule a date for your Dens Pizza Party!
Winter Crafts Winter is the perfect time for making fun crafts. Sometimes it's too cold to go outside, and Christmas is coming. You can make decorations, small gifts for family members, or work on your Blue & Gold Banquet table decorations! Here are a few crafts to get you started:
Winter Games Ice Hockey - If you are luck enough to have an ice skating rink nearby, let the boys try a little ice hockey. Make sure you take some safety precautions, and maybe have Parents attend this one, just to be safe. Maybe you could have another Den join you!Marbles - The boys can earn the Marbles Beltloop for learning to play this easy and time honored game. Marbles are cheap. Set up a bag of marbles for each boy and let them take them home. Remember to use your Den Dues to pay for this one. You can buy Marbles at Walmart. There are usually rules for different marble games along with the sets of marbles. Charades - There are so many different 'charades' games. You can alter this game to fit almost any lesson. Who am I? What am I? Where am I? The boys love to ham it up a bit and the this also promotes 'team work'. You can pair up the boys, assign teams or play individually. There are some ideas for different charades games in the Old How-To Book.Snow Bowling - Page 8-34, Old How-To Book.Den Activities for Winter Make Cookies! - There is no better smell than warm chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven on a cold day. Let the boys measure, stir, and bake up some great Den snacks! It may be a little messy, but worth every bit. Wolves can use this activity to complete part of the 'What's Cooking?' section of their handbook. Snowman Making Contest - If you are lucky enough to have the boys on an evening when it has just snowed, sticky snowman snow, go to plan "B" and let them make snowmen. Assign 2 or 3 boys to a team and see who can build the biggest, the fattest, the skinniest, the funniest, or the most 'inventive' snowman! Loads of fun, and many laughs.Caroling - Bring back this old Christmas tradition and take the boys to sing at a Nursing Home, Hospital or an Assisted Living facility. You won't be sorry when you see the look an the faces of the people who have entertained. Toys For Tots - Use this as one of your Good Turns or service projects. Have the boys and their families donate to Toys For Tots or another charity. Bring them with you to deliver. It always feels good to give a little at this time of year. Help out at a Food Shelf - Around the holidays, the ACBC Food Shelf in Anoka is always in need to help. The boys can sort food items into boxes or do whatever the good folks at the Food Shelf need help doing. This is a good learning experience for the boys and adults alike. Sometimes we all forget how fortunate we are to have a warm home and enough to eat. This is a wonderful opportunity to do a community service project and teach the boys a little something about the joy of helping and giving. Call the ACBC Food Shelf in Anoka at 422-0046 and ask how your Den can help.Make Birthday Bags - Another project the boys can work on for the ACBC Food Shelf are 'Birthday Bags'. Children have birthdays all year around, and now while we are focused on Christmas, people forget about everyday needs. A Birthday Bag consists of: a brown paper bag decorated with a birthday theme, a cake mix, a frosting and a toy (around $10.00). They told me the Girl Scouts do this too and they are overwhelmed with 'girl' toys. They need bags for boys too! The bags are grouped by age 1-3, 4-6, 7-10. This can be done as a Den project or individually, whichever your den can afford. After the bags are done, you can make arrangements for the boys to drop them off at the Food Shelf and the people there will give the boys a tour and info session. This is sometimes the only gift a child receives for their birthday, so these bags are very important any time of year. This counts as a service project or a 'Good Turn'. Let's see if we can't help out. Winter Nature Hike - Look for animal tracks in the snow! See which birds fly south for the winter and which ones stay. Talk about how they find food, and combine this activity with one of the winter Bird Feeder craft projects! You can look at the trees, why do they shed their leaves, and why do evergreens stay 'green'. What happens to the trees when their leaves fall off? These are all good questions to ponder while earning some achievements at the same time. Make sure the weather isn't too cold and there is fresh snow so you can see the bird tracks. You can make plaster casts of tracks in the snow if you follow the directions on page 8-34 of the Old How-To Book.Maple Syrup Demonstrations - Roselawn Stables in St. Francis has a Maple Syrup demonstration sometime in February. You can call to book a time that your Den can visit. A very "sweet" activity!Ice Skating - There are 3 different rinks at Central Park on Armstrong Blvd. One of them should open for you to use. They also have a warming house. Bring the hot cocoa and you'll have a super fun field trip/Den activity! Earn your Skating Beltloop too!Snowball Throwing Contest - See who can make their snowball fly the farthest.Measure a Snowdrift - Page 8-33, Old How-To Book.Make a Snowgauge - Page 8-33, Old How-To Book.Collect Snowflakes - Page 8-32, Old How-To Book.Have a BBQ - It may sound silly to BBQ in the winter, but if you can grill up some hamburgers or hot dogs and have a potato salad in the middle of winter, it breaks up the monotony (and length) of our long, cold winters. They will be the best hot dogs you have ever tasted. Have the parents each bring something to share and buy the hot dogs with your Den Dues. Let the boys do the grilling. The Wolves and Bears can earn achievements for cooking for themselves as well. Puppet Show - Group a few boys together and ask them to come up with a 'puppet skit'. Then have them make puppets for their show. Before the next Den Meetings, make a stage area and invite the parents to come to the puppet show! Webelos can earn their Showman activity pin for completing the 'Puppetry' section of this achievement. There are lots of ideas in the Old How-To Book starting on page 5-1. Cub Scout Band - This is the perfect time for working indoors on fun projects. Let the boys make homemade "instruments" and practice playing a song for the next Pack Meeting!Work on a Skit - Each Den will have it's turn to do a Skit. Be prepared and work on one early, check your yearly Pack schedule to see when it's your Den's turn! Stumped for skit? There are over 500 Skits on the Resource page. You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this pdf document. Get the Adobe Acrobat Reader here.The ideas are limitless! I'm sure you can think of more than I have listed here and if so, let me know and I'll add them to the list! If your Den has participated in a fun Winter activity, we'd like to hear about it! |
