WEBELOS

Communicator
Sam Houston Area Council

Communications is the foundation for human relationships. Those that communicate successsfully go far in life. We need to teach our boys how to communicate effectively. In the Communicator Activity Badge, they will learn some of these skills.

Activities
Sam Houston Area Council

Have each boy prepare a story for a special edition of the den newspaper. They can tell about something they did in Webelos that was special for them, some school or sports activity that they enjoyed, or almost anything. Have them design the paper's banner (top of the first page). Distribute at the pack meeting or, if copying is a difficulty, prepare a poster with the newspaper on it to share with the pack.

If you are fortunate to have a parent with a video camera, have the boys' produce a television newcast that tells about their Webelos den activity. Share this with the den parents at a parents meeting.

Suggested Den Activities
Viking Council

Learn the alphabet in sign language, or study the Braille alphabet.
Invite a person who uses either of these skills to communicate in their daily life to come and speak to the den.
Study different codes, such as Morse or Flag. Build a telegraph.
Discuss hand signals used in work, in play, and in transportation.
Learn to use a CB radio properly and learn the code.
Visit a radio station, television studio, or Telephone Company.
Tour a newspaper office.
Learn about computers.
Take as a field trip to the library; learn to use microfilm records to look up something; read a book and give a report on it.

The Emergency Broadcast System Test
San Francisco Bay Area

Boys stand in a line facing the audience. The announcer for the group says, "THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM. REMEMBER THIS IS ONLY A TEST!" The boys then hum ver loudly for several seconds. After the boys stop humming, the announcer says, "IF THIS HAD NOT BEEN A TEST, BUT AN ACTUAL EMERGENCY, WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE HEARD IS THIS . . ."The boys all run off the stage frantically waving their arms and screaming at the top of their lungs.

Communications Quiz
San Francisco Bay Area

1. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and the Romans used a writing material called papyrus. Was it made of a metal, a plant or a clay?
2. When Columbus spoke with the Indians he handed them a Spanish-Indian dictionary, and they had no difficulty understanding each other. Was this true?
3. Johannes Gutenberg is known for inventing one of the most important methods of communication of all time. What was it?
4. What American who went to England to study art gave the world the telegraph?
5. What modern invention brought the ends of the world less than a second apart?
6. What instrument is responsible for instant personal communication? Call for help if you can't get this one!
7. What kind of bird has been trained to carry messages?
8. The American Indians could signal each other from great distances. What did they use to do this?
9. In August 1858, twenty-five hundred miles across the Atlantic Ocean were spanned for a certain type of communication. What was it?
10. If you were trying to communicate with a friend through the U.S. mail, the picture of what famous American would be on the postcard.

Answers

Codes and Ciphers
Viking Council

Prisoners in the American Civil War to send messages to their friends used the following cipher. The key to it is:

To encipher a letter, draw the shape of the box it is in. Then put a dot to show the position of the letter in it's box. Letter in position one, no dot; letter in position two, one dot; and letter in position three, two dots. Try using this method to decode the following:

Materials found in Baloo's Bugle may be used by Scouters for Scouting activities provided that USSSP, Baloo's Bugle and the original contributors are cited as the source of the material.