Their scouting year started in disbelief as they were handed a box of matches and encouraged to light them. Sure, Pack 170 Webelos leaders started out with a conversation about how fires are built and a reminder of the Scout Outdoor code: “Be careful with fire”, but we were asking THEM to light a fire! Some singed fingers and a lot of gleeful cheers later we had a fire going. These Webelos held true to being Trustworthy Scouts and rewarded us by being careful and following similar lessons they had learned last year with pocket knives. They did not treat the matches as toys, but even in their excitement treated the matches as a tool. They then finished their first den meeting off by Cheerfully eating burned popcorn.
But, as Webelos, they are getting ready to join Scouts BSA. This means they have to learn to plan, to lead, and to do it on their own.
At the next meeting they broke into two smaller patrols, one patrol decided what food that they wanted to cook, while the other group continued to practice building and lighting campfires. Then they swapped. At the end of this meeting, without ANY adult intervention or assistance, the Scouts had a beautiful campfire burning that they properly put out before leaving.
The following week, the Webelos met at Randalls, with each patrol having $20 to purchase all the necessary ingredients to cook the meal and dessert of their patrol’s choosing. They shopped as a Patrol and if they needed help, they went to store employees instead of the parents. It took them a bit longer than a typical 60 minute den meeting to find everything, but they did it on their own.
Finally, in the last week, the scouts prepared their Pizza wrap ups, their Spaghetti with Marinara sauce, and their Bonfire Fruit boats. Once again, the scouts showed that they were already getting ready for Scouts BSA by preparing and cooking their own food. An amazing job by and an amazing set of Webelos that ended in smiles and a sense of accomplishment.
S.T.E.M. Fact
Did you know you can tell how hot a fire is by what color the flame is? Our fire started out a dull red, but it got hot quickly with a nice clear Orange. How hot do you think that is? Click to find out.
A nice clear Orange is about 1200 C, which is much hotter than your oven at home gets!
A campfire this hot can melt some metals like Lead, Tin, Copper, Aluminum, or Bronze. That is why we are always careful with fire.
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