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American Business Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  The American Business merit badge can help Scouts understand the history of business in the United States and practical aspects of modern business. If you have a budding entrepreneur in your troop who runs his own lawn care service or summer snow cone stand, then this is the badge for him.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 7 - Go See It: Where I Live and How I Tell It  This is the seventh in the series of Tiger den meeting plans provide by BSA. If you are using this series, it works best if you do the plans in order. This meeting plan covers the Go See It for Tiger Achievement 2 - Where I Live and completes Tiger Achievement 4 - How I Tell It.

BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 3: Your Flag, Keep Your Body Healthy, and Bowling Belt Loop  BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Meeting 3 completes Wolf Achievement 2 - Your Flag, starts Wolf Achievement 3 - Keep Your Body Healthy, and covers part of the Bowling belt loop.

Cycling Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  We haven't had anyone earn this badge in recent memory. The Scouts in our troop always earn the Swimming merit badge their first year at summer camp. The troop does go out riding occasionally, especially on Grant's Trail which is very close to us. They have considered doing a longer camping/biking trip on the Katy Trail, but no Scout has stepped forward to plan that yet

Bicycle Riding Log  For some cycling recogintions, Scouts must record the time or distance spent riding. A basic log sheet is located at the bottom of this post to help you complete this. If you really become interested in cycling, you might consider getting a simple bike computer to aid you in figuring out this data. These devices record the time spent riding, mileage, average speed, and more.

Help for Boy Scout Early Rank Requirements  Boy Scouts working on their Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks might want to check out the early rank requirements videos from the BSA. Troop Instructors will also find these videos helpful when preparing to teach younger scouts a skill. These videos give step by step instructions for all of the requirements for these three ranks.

BSA Bear Den Meeting 1 - The Past Is Exciting and Important and Building Muscles  BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the first Bear plan and including some tips and ideas which are related to the covered requirements. If you don't already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Bear Den Meeting Plan 1 to follow along with this article.

BSA Webelos Den Meeting 2: Naturalist and Forester  BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the second Webelos plan. This plan covers part of Naturalist and part of Forester.

Camping Information Sheet for Camping Merit Badge  I recently spent a week at Swift Base at S bar F Scout Ranch with our Boy Scout troop. Swift is normally a Venturing camp, so when they do a week for Boy Scouts, the only merit badges offered by the staff are Canoeing, Swimming, Lifesaving, Rowing, Water Sports, Small Boat Sailing, Climbing, Horsemanship, Rifle Shooting, and Shotgun Shooting. So the Scouters attending camp with their units were asked to offer additional outdoor oriented merit badges.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 6 – Where I Live and How I Tell It  This is the sixth in the series of Tiger den meeting plans provide by BSA. If you are using this series, it works best if you do the plans in order. So do the previous meetings before this one. This meeting plan covers part of Tiger Achievement 2 - Where I Live and part of Tiger Achievement 4 - How I Tell It.

BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 2: Your Flag and Feats of Skill  BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the second Wolf plan. If you don't already have the BSA den meeting plans, download BSA Wolf Den Meeting Plan 2 to follow along with this article.

Lifesaving Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  LC earned this last summer. Even though he was a first year Scout, they let him do it because it was our second summer camp for the summer and he had completed Swimming merit badge at the first camp. LC is a good swimmer but is small. The only part he had trouble with was getting the 10lb weight out, but he managed to do it. If you are not a strong swimmer, I recommend you practice your skills before attempting this badge.

BSA Webelos Den Meeting 1: Athlete and Fitness  BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the first Webelos plan. This plan covers Bobcat and part of the Fitness and Athlete activity badges. If you don't have any new Cub Scouts in your den, then nobody needs to earn Bobcat, but it doesn't hurt to review the material anyway.

Environmental Science Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  LC was at camp with our Boy Scout troop last week. One of the merit badges he finished there was the Environmental Science merit badge. He had to work on it two sessions every day, but he was glad to get it finished.Most of our Scouts do this one at camp. We don't have a registered counselor for this badge in our troop, and when the scouts do it individually, it seems to take them a very long time.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 5 – Let’s Go Outdoors and Song Time  This is the fifth in the series of Tiger den meeting plans provide by BSA. If you are using this series, it works best if you do the plans in order. So do the previous meetings before this one. This meeting plan covers Tiger Achievement 5 - Let's Go Outdoors. It also completes Tiger Elective 6 - Song Time.

Camping Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  Our scouts frequently do this badge at summer camp. But they often come home from camp with an incomplete because they haven't complete requirement 9. They often think they have 20 days and nights of camping when they sign up for the badge, but they don't realize that those must all be tent camping and they can only count one summer camp. Or they haven't done the part where two of the campouts must include climbing to an elevation, rappelling, etc. So as a registered counselor, I can sign off on this badge when they finally get enough nights and days of tent camping.

BSA Wolf Den Meeting 1 - Bobcat and Your Flag  BSA provides den meeting plans for den leader on the Scouting.org website. Today, I am going to go through the first Wolf plan. This plan covers Bobcat and part of Wolf Achievement 2 - Your Flag. If you don't have any new Cub Scouts in your den, then nobody needs to earn Bobcat, but it doesn't hurt to review the material anyway.

Swimming Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  Our first year Boy Scouts almost always work on Swimming merit badge at summer camp. At our council camps, it is always integrated into the program for first year campers. This works well because the requirements for this badge overlap with the aquatics requirements for Second Class and First Class.

Camp Programs for First Year Boy Scouts  Summer camp is usually the highlight of the Scouting year. It can be particularly exciting for first year Boy Scouts. It can also be a little intimidating. A program designed specifically for new Scouts will help them adjust to camp life.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 4 - Keeping Myself Healthy and Safe   This is an overview of the fourth Tiger den meeting plan from the BSA program helps. I've included some additional information I think would be helpful. The main focus for this meeting is the Go See it for Achievement 3. You will be going to a sporting event.

Wolf Den Meeting Plan for Achievement 12 - Making Choices  I found that the best way to make this fun was to turn it into a role play game. We started out with the Character Connection, and then we started going through the scenarios. We went through more than four. They really enjoyed doing them. And with a couple of the scenarios there was some lively discussion over what they should do.

Tenderfoot Rank Requirements for Boy Scouts  The requirements for Tenderfoot mostly introduce the new Scouts to the basic skills they should know now that they are Boy Scouts. They are completely age appropriate for a typical 10, 11, or 12 year old.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 3 - Keeping Myself Healthy and Safe (Food Pyramid and Fire Drill)  This is an overview of the third Tiger den meeting plan from the BSA program helps. I've included some additional information I think would be helpful.

Webelos Showman Activity Badge Den Meeting   The Showman activity badge offers a lot of choices, so this is less of a step by step den meeting plan and more a set of suggestions.

Venturing Bronze Award  The Venturing program offers a flexible recognition program to meet the interests of its members. The first award Venturers work on is the Bronze award.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 2 - Bobcat and Making My Family Special   This is an overview of the second Tiger den meeting plan from the BSA program helps. I've included some additional information I think would be helpful.

Wolf Den Meeting Plan for Achievement 7 - Your Living World  Wolf Achievement 7 - Your Living World - focuses on conservation. This den meeting plan covers the whole achievement.

Webelos Engineer Activity Badge Den Meeting Plan Part 2  Today I am posting another den meeting plan for Webelos Engineer activity badge. This meeting plan, along with the first meeting plan, completes all of the requirements.

BSA Methods - Advancement  Advancement is one of the "Methods of Scouting" used in Boy Scouts. I am the Advancement Chair for our troop, so I am always interested in other Scouters' thoughts on advancement.

Life to Eagle Reports  One thing we have done in our troop which seems to motivate our Life Scouts a little is the Life to Eagle reports at every Court of Honor. Each Life Scout gets up in turn and tells what he has done since the last Court of Honor to try to advance and what he plans to do next on his path to Eagle.

BSA Tiger Den Meeting 1 - Bobcat and Making My Family Special  For the most part, I like the new BSA Program helps. Sometimes the helps are a little light on specifics or you have to hunt around in another publication or online for some additional resources. So I've included some additional information I think would be helpful.

Wolf Den Meeting Plan for Achievement 4 - Know Your Home and Community  Wolf Achievement 4 - Know Your Home and Community - helps Cub Scouts learn how to take care of themselves and be safe. This den meeting plan covers requirements a, b, c, d, and e.

Webelos Den Meeting Plan - Webelos Badge  Instead of giving you a typical den meeting plan, I am going to list the badge requirements below and explain what we are doing for each one.

Setting Advancement Goals with Boy Scouts  My plan is to get all of the Scouts of the same rank together at one time and give them some encouragement. I'll give each of them an advancement goals sheet to fill out.

Webelos Badge Scramble Puzzle  I am going to go over some of the requirements for the Webelos badge with my den at our next meeting. We'll use this word scramble puzzle as a gathering activity. It is based on the requirements for the Webelos badge.

Wolf Den Meeting Plan for Achievement 11 - Duty to God  Don't be afraid to talk about faith with your Cub Scouts. Even if your group represents very diverse faiths, they should be able to learn to talk about faith respectfully with each other.

Tiger Achievement 2 - Where I Live - Go See It  The Go See It for Tiger Achievement 2 (Where I Live) is always a lot of fun. I haven't met a first grade boy yet who doesn't want to see a fire truck or police car up close.

Family Life Merit Badge for Boy Scouts  I like this badge because it makes them think about the many aspects of being a member of a family, from pitching in on chores to considering outside influences on our families.

Webelos Communicator Activity Badge Den Meeting Plan Part 2  Giving the talks was definitely the high point of this meeting. My den all brought in props and were well prepared for the talks.

Webelos Communicator Activity Badge Den Meeting Plan Part 1  My den seemed to enjoy doing this badge. They are all good at talking, but they had to spend some time listening and cooperating to finish the requirements.