S.W.A.P.S.

SWAPS stands for...."Special Whatchamacallit Affectionately Pinned Somewhere"

Girl Scouts are known for swapping SWAPS. Troops would decide on a theme....then girls make a SWAP based on that theme....and then they are exchanged with other troops. There was a huge swapping area at the Washington Monument in NY when GS celebrated their 100th year. Girls swap at camp too....themes can be holidays, GS related, Juliet Low related, Food, Girls, Camping....just about anything!!

Kaitlyn has started swapping with troops/girls from different states/countries. Its very addicting....and exciting while your waiting to see what is coming to you. Kaitlyn has been stalking the mail box daily. Coby has even expressed interest in wanting to find a Cub Scout Pack to exchange with.....after all...swapping did start with Boy Scouts. BS would swap at camps or Pow Wows with councils.

Here are the swaps KK has been making.....

 

Crawfish  AKA 'Mud Bug'

Sleeping Bag Girls

 

Baked Potato

 

Alligators

 

Slushy (drink from Sonic)

Cub Scout Neckerchief Slides

I have been trying to incorporate a new neckerchief into our lessons with Cub Scouts. They are so easy to make and the boys love them. So far we have made a derby car, a s'more, and a camp fire. I plan on doing some holiday ones coming up...so keep a look out for those.

THE DERBY CAR

This neckerchief I made ahead of time for the boys to receive once they registered for our Pinewood Derby. This is molding bought from Lowes....then sanded down to remove one beveled edge. I painted them blue...added the Cub Scout Logo...and flat thumb tacks that were painted black for wheels. Once all dry....I hot glued a small piece of  PVC pipe to the back. These were not hard to make...the time consuming part was the sanding and painting. If I could have found a piece of molding without the extra bevel....I wouldn't have had to sand hardly any ay all.



THE CAMP FIRE

 

I downloaded a camp fire template off the internet. It had 3 separate flames to create the fire. I opted to use only 2 since I was preparing kits for our district camping trip and 200 was a lot to do..... I traced each flame onto colored foam and cut out. I then used mini popsicle sticks and colored them brown with a marker. I use a fine tip sharpie to add detail such as knots and lines in the 'bark' on the 'logs'. To assemble...you just place the smaller flame on top of the larger one...and add your 'logs' crossing them like in a real fire. We use pipe cleaners for the back to attach them to the neckerchiefs. These were a big hit...even the girls made them and then used them in their hair for decoration.


THE S'MORE

We met a few weeks back to finish up our Summertime Activity Awards. The boys played Scout Bingo, made S'more Neckerchief Slides and ate S'more's on a Stick.

I precut the foam/felt ahead of time so the kids could focus on the assembly. I went with 2x2 squares to make them noticeable but not too big to wear. The light foam served as the graham cracker. The dark brown served as chocolate and the marshmellow was a cotton ball un-coiled. We then hot glued a piece of PVC pipe (or pipe cleaner) to the back.