Here are the top 10 most viewed posts for June 2009 (other than those solely about monthly theme items):

• New Cub Scout Belt Loops Coming
• Kindergarten Lions: Pilot Description
• Girls in Cub Scouts?
• 2008-2009 Program Helps
• No More Monthly Themes?
• New Centennial Uniform
• Example Schedule Flyer
• New (2009) Webelos Books?
• “Words to Live By” Flyers
• Cub Scout Program Helps Online

[Photo:  Flickr/ElizabethGreen]

July 2009 Theme Patch

There are now more signs that 2009-2010 is the last year for Cub Scout Monthly Themes:

• The 2009-2010 Cub Scout Program Helps book has no mention of the 2010-2011 themes.
• The 2010-2011 themes have been removed from the BSA National website. Link

I picked up a copy of the 2009-2010 Cub Scout Program Helps at my local scout shop this week.

According to unofficial sources, this will be the last edition of Cub Scout Program Helps. No word yet on what will be replacing Program Helps in the future.

One nice change in this edition is that the monthly suggestions are grouped first by age level (Tiger, Wolf, Bear) and then by month. The helps for Cubmasters are at the front of the book.

The August 2009 (Fun in the Sun) Program Helps pages from BSA National are available (free) for download.

Cub Scout Program Helps is a great resource for crafts, games, activities, and more for pack meetings and activities and Tiger, Wolf, and Bear den meetings.

This one also contains tips on planning an outdoor pack meeting.

Link (pdf)

You may think that “Webelos” has always stood for “WE’ll BE LOyal Scouts.”

But actually, “Webelos” originally stood for the first letters of the ranks leading up to Boy Scouting:  Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout.

The term is explained in this excerpt from the 1948 Lion Cub Scout Book:

“The name WEBELOS (say Wee-belos) is like the name of an Indian tribe.  It’s the word to use when you want to talk about all of the boys everywhere who are Cub Scouts.

The letters W-B-L-S in Webelos are the first letters of the Cub Scout Ranks which lead up to Boy Scouting — WOLF, BEAR, LION, SCOUT.

The highest rank in Cub Scouting, after Lion, is the Webelos Rank. A Webelos Cub Scout is one who is fully prepared to become a Boy Scout and join a troop when he is twelve years old.

The Arrow of Light, shown above, is used for the Webelos Badge.  The Arrow of Light stands for advancement along the trail from Wolf, all the way up to Boy Scout.”  [Bold added]

The July 2009 (Be a Sport) Program Helps pages from BSA National are now available (free) for download.

Program Helps is a great resource for crafts, games, activities and more for pack meetings and activities and Tiger, Wolf, and Bear den meetings.

Link (pdf)

I have heard from several sources that Fast Tracks is being adopted as part of the official BSA Cub Scout program beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.

My guess is there will be a public announcement in the not-too-distant future.

Stay tuned.

BSA Supply Group’s Spring/Summer 2009 catalog is now available.

It appears that they have heeded some of the complaints about the small catalogs.  At 52 pages, this one is twice as big as the Spring 2008 catalog.

You can download the pdf here (link) or view the catalog online here (link).

DLTK’s Crafts for Kids website has instructions on doing this “Sunny the Sunflower” craft which would probably be a fun project for your Tigers or Wolfs. The site has a template for the project.

Theme: Fun in the Sun

Link

A recent advisory from BSA National warns that any ceremonies (e.g., some Webelos graduation ceremonies) that involve a flaming neckerchief are prohibited.

As stated in the Guide to Safe Scouting and elsewhere:  “The use of liquid fuels for starting any type of fire is prohibited.”

Link [Photo: Wikimedia.org]