WEBELOS

Citizen
Circle 10 Council

Suggested Den Activities

Invite a guest speaker from a local community board to explain his/her duties and tell the Scouts why he/she volunteers time.
Obtain a pack of US commemorative stamps. Pass out several to each Webelos and challenge them to discover the story behind the stamp.
Plan and carry out a citizenship project or litter campaign, complete with posters, etc.
Visit a city council meeting, police station, fire station, etc.
Tour city hall or your county court house.
Fly a flag at home, particularly on appropriate occasions.
Learn more about your community. Your local historical society can help with this.
Make a chart that shows the responsibilities of a citizen and discuss this with the parents and younger Cub Scouts at a pack meeting.
Make and hand out small posters showing how to raise and lower the flag; give a demonstration on folding the flag.
Make posters and hand out voter registration cards; tell everyone why it is important to vote.
Make and hand out litterbags. Tell why litter hurts all of us.
Invite a new citizen to speak to your den on what becoming an American citizen means to him or her.
Plan and make a citizenship display for the pack meeting.
Make “GET OUT AND VOTE” door hangers and help the pack place them on every door in your neighborhood. Remember - DO NOT put them in the mailbox. It is against the law!

DO YOU KNOW YOUR STATES?
Circle 10 Council

1. Which state has a ton?
2. Which state starts with a pen?
3. Which state has an Indian?
4. Which state has a tuck in the middle?

5. Which state has a ham?
6. Which state is cut on the end?
7. Which state has a tan?
8. Which state is a color?
9. Which state has ore in it?
10. Which state is an island?
11. Half of which state is land?
12. Which state starts with ten?
13. Which state greets you with “Hi”?
14. The first thing you see in two states is a “Miss”.

ANSWERS:

1. Washington
2. Pennsylvania
3. Indiana
4. Kentucky
5. New Hampshire
6. Connecticut
7. Montana
8. Colorado
9. Oregon
10. Rhode Island
11. Maryland
12. Tennessee
13. Ohio
14. Missouri & Mississippi

GAMES

Heads Of Government Game
Circle 10 Council

Material needed:
Pictures of government officials from newspapers or magazines, nametags with the officials’ names written on them.
Have Webelos match the correct name with each official. You may wish to try this at the local, state and federal government levels.

Newspaper Study

Material needed:
One current newspaper per team.

Divide boys into teams. On signal, each team starts a search for news items that illustrate good citizenship. Team with the most clippings in a given time period is the winner.

Build A Flag

Materials needed:
For each team, 1 set of the five US flags shown in Citizen section of the Webelos handbook. With a color copier, each flag to fit onto a standard sheet of card stock. If preferred, draw a set of the flags for each team. When the flag sets are copied, cut each flag picture into 2 pieces, the stripes and the field of stars. Prepare cards with the name of each flag and year of each flag. A corkboard and pushpins are needed. 
Divide Webelos into two teams.  First boy from each team runs to his team’s pile of pieces, grabs a stripe piece and a push pin and pins it to the corkboard.  He runs back and touches off the second boy, who pins up a star field piece, which matches the striping.  Next team member matches appropriate flag name and fourth member pins up the year of the flag.  Continue to rotate until all five flags have been properly constructed, named, and dated.

Citizenship Test

Two teams face each other with a wide space between them.  The leader asks each player a question about the Declaration of Independence, the Star Spangled Banner, the President, Vice-President, Governor, or other fitting subject.  A correct answer entitles that team to move one step forward. An incorrect answer passes the question to the other team. The first team to cross the other team’s starting line is the winner.

Flag Quiz
Santa Clara County Council

1. Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole, better known as Betsy Ross, made the first Stars and Stripes at the request of George Washington.
True or False

2. The biggest free-flying flag flies over the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
True or False

3.  The flag may not be flown upside down.
True or False

4.  When a flag is used to cover a casket in a military funeral, the flag is buried with the casket.
True or False

5. The flag may be half staffed only by Presidential proclamation.
True or False

6. The flag should be hoisted slowly and lowered quickly.
True or False

7. The flag should be flown every day, regardless of the weather.
True or False

8. The Stars and Stripes was designed by Francis Hopkinson, an artist and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
True or False

9. It is a Federal crime too knowingly cast contempt on the flag by publicly mutilating, defacing, burning or trampling upon the American Flag.
True or False

10. The American colonies used British flags for 150 years.
True or False

Answers:
1.  Unknown.  The Betsy Ross story is charming, but unproved.
2. False.  The largest free-flying U.S. Flag hangs (on holidays and special occasions.) from the New Jersey Towers of the George Washington Bridge that spans the Hudson river and connects New York and New Jersey.  The flag measures 60' x 90'.
3. False. The flag may be flown upside down as a signal of dire distress.
4. False.  The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.  It is folded and usually presented to the next of kin.
5. False.  But then the flag is half-staffed to honor persons for whom the nation officially mourns.  On Memorial Day the flag is half-staffed until noon and at full staff from noon until sunset (at noon it is raised full-staff to show that the nation lives.)
6.  False.  It is the other way around.  The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered slowly.
7.  False.  The flag should not be flown in inclement weather.
8. True.
9. True.
10. True.

Ring The Liberty Bell
Circle 10 Council

Materials needed:  bell wire coat hanger, heavy cord/rope. small rubber ball

Bend the coat hanger into a hoop with the hook at the top.  Hang the bell in the middle of the hoop with rope, then hang the hoop from a low tree branch. Players take turns trying to throw the ball through the hoop.  Have a person stand on the other side of the hoop to catch the ball. This game can be played by individuals or by teams. There are 3 ways to score points.  Each time the bell is rung, the player scores 3 points. If the ball goes through the hoop but doesn’t ring the bell, he sores 2 points. If the ball hits the outside of the coat hanger, the player scores 1 point. Keeps score as points are made. Each player throws the ball only once per turn and gets 5 turns. Add up points after everyone has had his turn. The individual or team with the most points wins!

PROJECTS

Know Your Community
Circle 10 Council

As a project, your den might like to check out the following list to see which of the agencies listed can be found in your community, who operates them, and how they are funded.  For the pack meeting, identify the agencies you find on a large local map that you can display.  The boys should be able to answer simple questions about the agencies they have located.

Health: Hospitals, clinics, water filtration plant, sewage disposal, garbage collection, etc.

Protections: Fire and police protection, etc.

Education: Public schools, colleges and vocational schools, libraries, etc.

Recreation: Theaters, pools, parks, playgrounds, golf courses, and lakes, etc.

Transport: Roads and highways, bus and train terminals, airports, parking lots, etc.

Stores: Shopping centers, supermarkets, corner stores, etc.

Business: Major companies in your community.

Religion: Churches, synagogues, temples, and seminaries.

Volunteers: Volunteer agencies such as Good Will, shelters, food pantries, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, etc. What do they do in your community?

Good Turn Ideas
Circle 10 Council

While earning the Craftsman badge, make some wooden toys and give them to a children’s home or abuse shelter.

Use your Craftsman and Handyman skills to repair or refurbish toys and give to a hospital children’s ward or institution for special needs children.
Give a holiday party for children in a hospital. Plan games, songs, small gifts and treats.

Collect good used books and magazines for the library of a children’s home, abuse shelter, retirement home, or hospital.