Kids Haven Visit - 25th April 2009

On Saturday afternoon we took the 9th Benoni Cub Scouts to visit Kids Haven. Kids Haven is a home that shelters street children as well as those abandoned by their parents as well as children who have lost parents as a result of HIV/Aids.

I placed this photo first as I think it is just a joy to see how happy children can be - no matter what the circumstance.

We started off with a few games of "getting to know you" and then went into a few other run-around games.

Kids run around and the whistle is blown 5 times - kids must group together in 5's.

If the whistle is blown 3 times - kids must group in threes..... and so on.

We then lined everyone up so that we could put them into 3 groups for bases.

Each group had to decide on a suitable name.

They came up with

* Best of the Best

* The Wild Ones

* The Happy Cubs

The one base was to make cars which we were later going to race.

These are made out of recyled items.

Inner from a toilet roll

4 x bottle tops

skewer sticks

The next base they had to make a tube into which a ping-pong ball was placed. They then had to hit a coloured paper plate on the wall.

Those who hit it 5 times, received a reward.

The 3rd base was a fun 'rounders' game where the kids got to hit the ball with any item handed to them. So it could be a bat, a tin, a broom, a hat, a t-sqaure. This is really fun and not all that easy to hit a ball with a strange object!

Racing their home-made cars!

Just watch them go!

We also treated them all to a party!

Thanks to all the parents who so generously donated Easter Eggs, cold drinks and chips.

The children had a bit of free time to play around and they certainly had a fun time.

Kids Haven has 6 homes and house approximately 90 children in the Village.

Each home has a house-mother who looks after a certain number of children.

What an enjoyable visit.

Before we knew it, out time was up and we needed to go home.

Thanks to all the parents and cubs who joined us for this Cub Outing - we hope that you all enjoyed it.

Till next Time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

Can you be an Inventor? 24th April 2009

Today we were discussing inventions and how commom things like coke, the computer etc. came about.

The cubs enjoyed making their own little craft item which we called the "wrrr-wrrr"

A wire 'u' shape is made - this must be very sturdy.



A circle is cut out of cardboard and 4 holes punched into it as above.

An elastic is passed through these holes and hooked onto the wire.

The circle is then wound up by turning it around and around and around. Feathers can be attached to the cardboard to make it look pretty.

This is placed inside a book and when mom or dad open the book, this 'wrr-wrr' starts to unwind and, of course, mom and dad get a huge fright!

Cheetah, Leopard and Lion paintings that were done a couple of years ago. These paintings are about 2 foot high.

One of the games we played was "Find that Invention"
Cubs were in their Sixes and puzzle pieces were colour coded for thier Six. Here Red Six has found all their puzzle pieces that were hidden around the grounds, and are putting it together to find the invention!

Our Lions made a knotting board.

This is a super, easy idea.

Getting those knots right.

The Leopards did some compass work.

And this was the funniest game ever!

Cubs were in relay formation. The first cub ran to a designated spot and back. He then tied the 2nd cub onto him and they ran to the spot and back. They then tied the 3rd cub on and ran.... and so so and so on until the whole Six was tied together and they had to run to the designated spot and back!

One Team just got the hang of it and they won 'hands down'.

I caught this game on video as it is quite remarkable how these kids worked together as a team and managed extremely well to pull this game off!

Till next Time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

Be Prepared - 17th April 2009

Hi there -

we are back for another term of fun and adventure!

Join us each week and see what we get up to!

Our first game was a quick NSWE - just to get the cubs to run off some energy!

We had a special yarn prepared on Sir Edmund Hillary - and how important it is to "be prepared" for any eventuality.

Our craft this week was to make clocks and to be able to tell the time.

Happily cutting out the clocks.

Improving fine motor co-ordination

Further down you will see what activity we did making use of these clocks.

We always need to "be prepared" and here the cubs were given a situation that they were lost on a hike and one of them had broken a leg. They needed to build a stretcher to carry the injured cub to safety.

Finding North without a compass.

This is a very simple and effective method of finding North.

Face the sun and have the 12 on the clock face the sun.

Place you stick on the 12 and make sure the shadow cast, falls through the 6.

We worked out the North was at just past the 2 o'clock position.

See here for more details.

Stretcher fun.....

Once the cubs had assembled their own stretchers, they had to carry their "patient" around an obstacle course and back.

Off course, the girls paid more attention to details and their stretcher actually lasted the whole distance!

The Cheetahs learnt all about road safety and how to cross the road.

Spot the difference!

The Leaping Wolves made conservation stoves and warmed up sausages.

... whilst the Lions learnt more about the recovery position ....

All in all a great meeting of fun for the cubs.

Till next Time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy