Thursday, July 1, 2010

Rockin' with the cub scouts

This year was my first time participating in the camp itself. The program directors were our good friends from church and they asked me to do the "Rockin' Cubs Music" station. I knew it would be a big time commitment when I agreed to do this project, but the full realization of how much time did not come until after the first day.

I was responsible for teaching three different music classes (each individualized for wolves, bears, or webelos) to help the cub scouts earn their beltloops and all of the other music requirements in their rank. That translates to teaching 300+ boys over the course of 16 one hour classes. That does not include prep time, the lunch hour, or set up and clean up. Whew! Yes, it was a busy busy week!

It was a lot of time, yes, but it was also very fun. I threw a TON of information at those boys during their time with me. Here's some of the stuff we covered:

1. They learned about records, cassette tapes, cds, and mp3 players (the Elvis record album I had on display was a hit!)

2. They listened to several different kinds of music. I had to make it interesting for these boys so of course, I chose their favorites - Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, We will Rock You, Taylor Swift, etc.

3. The boys each made their own musical instrument - a kazoo.

4. They had a great time playing their kazoos and being noisy noisy boys. The other stations set up near us did not appreciate our volume, but what do you expect when it's called "Rockin' Cubs"? Of course we were going to ROCK OUT! And that's exactly what we did.

It was fun to meet so many boys just like my own. I also very much enjoyed teaching my own boys and watching them interact with their teams. I earned a new respect for the people that put on the exhibition that is Cub Scout Day Camp.

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