Pack Meeting - Minute to Win It

For my first pack meeting I decided to go with a Minute to Win It theme.  The first thing did was figure out how much time I needed to fill.  As this was my first pack meeting, I wasn't too sure.  We have 1 hour and 15 minutes to fill.  The first 5 - 10 minutes is taken up with flag ceremony and announcements. We needed to save at least 15 minutes at the end for awards and treats.  So I had about 50 minutes to fill.  With Minute to Win It the games obviously only take a minute, but including set up and explanation time, plus repeating it a few times so everyone can participate I figured I needed to come up with 7 games.  I searched the internet for different game ideas and wrote down anything that sounded fun.  I ended up with a couple pages of ideas, so then it was time to pare it down to what would work best for us.  The games I chose (I feel like I'm forgetting one, but don't remember as it was two years ago) are:

Mummy Wrap
Cereal Box Puzzle
Card Toss
Balloon in the Air
Apple Stacking
Towel Races
Bubbles and Hula Hoops

Once you choose your games, write up your list of items you will need.  For these games I would need toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, apples, balloon, towels, cones, bubbles and hula hoops.  For the items I needed to purchase I hit up the Dollar Store, except for the apples which were purchased from the local grocery store.  As I was splitting my kids into 4 teams (Wolves, Bears, Webelos, and family) I needed to make sure to have enough supplies for that many groups.  The total cost of the whole activity was less than $20.

Mummy Wrap:
One person is chosen to be the mummy.  The others are each given a couple rolls of toilet paper.  The "mummy" starts out holding one end of the toilet paper.  When they are given the word to "go" they try to get their mummy completely wrapped first.  The team that finished first got 2 points, each team that finished got 1 point.

Next up was the cereal box puzzle.  I collected some cereal boxes at home and cut off the front of 4 boxes.  Each box front was then cut into 12 pieces.  Each group was given an envelope with the puzzle in it.  When the time started they pulled out the pieces and worked together to put the puzzle together.  Again 2 points were given to the team that finished first and 1 point to each team that completed their puzzle.

Next we did a card toss.  Each group was given a trash can and a deck of cards.  The boys took turns throwing the cards at the trash can.  At the end of the minute we counted up who had the most cards in the trash can.  Winning team got a point.

Next all the kids were given a balloon.  Object of this game was to keep the balloon in the air by hitting it.  If it fell and hit the ground you were out.  The teams all got 1 point per person still in it by the end of the round.

For apple stacking each group was given, I think, 4 apples.  It may have been 3, again it's been a couple years.  :)  When the time started the boys had to stack the apples one on top of another into a stack, which had to stay up for at least 3 seconds.  This one was a lot harder than it seemed like it would be.

 For the next game we had cones set up and each team was given a towel.  The boys had to sit on the towel and go down around the cone and back to starting using only their feet and bottoms to inchworm themselves along.  This one was really entertaining to watch.

The last game we played involved blowing bubbles through hula hoops.  This also ended up being more difficult than it seemed like it would be.  The bubbles didn't fly as far as we thought they would, so we had to let the boys all move forward a couple steps.  They took turns being the hula hoop holder and the bubble blower.

Not all the boys necessarily participated in every activity, but when they weren't participating they were cheering on their team mates.  The kids all had so much fun with this one.  We will repeat this again at some point.  Lots of smiling and laughing going on.  I don't remember what the winning team got, but it was some little prize or another.  After closing ceremonies everyone got a treat, so nobody was unhappy.

Pack Meetings

For me I think that pack meetings are probably the hardest part of being the Cub Master.  Due to his work schedule my predecessor was pretty much just doing awards and treats.  With his crazy schedule I don't blame him at all.  When I became Cub Master I wanted to take Pack Meetings to being something fun for the whole family.  That's what I remember them being as a child.  No I wasn't a Cub Scout, but my family has been heavily involved in Scouting since before I was born.  So for me a pack meeting should go as follows:  a flag ceremony, opening prayer, announcements, an activity for the whole family (parents rarely participate, but siblings do), awards, retrieving the colors, a closing prayer, and treats.  One thing I often forget to do, as I'm in the middle of running things, is to take pictures.  It is great to have pictures of your activities.  We use them to make a video of the previous year in review for our Blue & Gold Banquet.  We also try and throw them into a Dropbox for parents to view and download.  It is fun having those scouting memories!  Plus, it is helpful in remembering what you have done, what was successful, and maybe what wasn't.

I get flustered sometimes on the standing in front of a group of people talking.  I often feel like I say the wrong thing or something just really stupid, but the boys don't care.  They just want to have fun at scouts!  At the end of the day, that is my goal - to make it fun.  I want the boys to want to come to scouts.  I may make a fool of myself from time to time, but it isn't about me.  Since the end goal is for the boys to have fun, I try my best to come up with pack meetings that fulfill that.  I haven't written down all my pack meeting plans anywhere, so I am going to do my best to write up the different themes we have had and what we have done.  After my first pack meeting I had one scout, whose last meeting it was, tell me that he was so sad to leave because that was the best pack meeting ever.  It made me realize I was on the right path with what I was doing.  It makes the planning, and the stress that often comes with it, worth it.  Hopefully what we have done and found to be successful will help you.  Just remember, at the end of the days it truly is all about the boys.