I read through tons and tons and tons of ideas on the BSA website, pinterest and blogs, on things that had been done previously for Arrow of Light ceremonies. I wasn’t really inspired to do any of them, but I did take bits and pieces to create THIS ceremony.
Having been a leader of the 8 year old cub scouts (Wolves) for so long, I know that the boys really just want to have fun at these meetings, and so do I. I could have had a ceremony with a bunch of adults talking about how important scouting is, etc, etc (which of course, it is important!). But instead I tried to make it a little more interactive, with the cub scouts themselves helping and incorporating a game!
PREPARATIONS:
1. Light jars & “plaques”
- I used my Silhouette machine to create the rank cut out “plaques”. I say quote-un-quote plaques because these were only cardstock cut-outs. I had originally planned on cutting them out of wood and make them fancy looking plaques, but decided I didn’t have enough time to get them all cut with my Scroll Saw, so I opted for simple cardstock “plaques”. You can find the Silhouette file I created HERE.
- I found the rank images (bobcat, wolf, bear, Webelos, and arrow of light), imported them into the Silhouette program, traced them and then cut the outline of the image out of cardstock (save both the cutout and the whole paper), and also cut the traced lines out of vinyl.
- I sandwiched the cardstock and a piece of copy paper together, then put the vinyl cut-out on the white paper.
- (sounds VERY confusing…and of course I didn’t take ANY pictures. But it really was simple!!)
- I then taped those “plaques” to a mason jar filled with a strand of clear mini Christmas lights – when plugged in (in a darker room), the light shines through the copy paper parts.
This is a horrible zoomed in cell phone picture, but you can KIND OF get an idea!!2. Rank Targets & bow and arrows
- This was actually VERY easy. I just used the cutouts (from above) and taped a folded paper piece of cardstock on the back to make them stand up.
- Buy a fun bow and arrow set, like THIS ONE. Make sure you have 4 arrows!
Again, a horrible picture, but this is what they are used for during the ceremony.
3. Fletching toothpicks for the refreshmentsCEREMONY: ---> HERE is the script I created and used for the ceremony
- I printed and cut THIS on my silhouette to make the fletching for the mini arrows (glued to toothpicks). These were stuck in donut holes!
We only had one boy receiving his Arrow of Light, so the spotlight was on him. After handing out everyone else’s awards first, we went into the ceremony for the Arrow of Light portion. This is the highest rank earned as a cub scout, so it’s important to make it a big deal!
Before the meeting started, I passed out 5 different parts to cubs scouts, in different ranks. There was a Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, and Arrow of Light part and I tried to get boys that were in or close to those dens. I also gave them an arrow, except the cub scout with the ‘Arrow of Light’ part, he got the bow.
Each boy read a little bit about what their rank was and then gave the cub scout receiving his Arrow of Light a task to complete before we moved on to the next rank’s part. The tasks were simple things that he should be able to do, as he learned it along his cub scout trail.
Here is an example from the script, that the Wolf scout read:
For that task, he had to fold the flag of the United States of America. This is a requirement in the old book, and in the new book, so the boys should learn this no matter what! We had to give him a little help, as it has been a couple years since he first learned it!! After he folded it, he was awarded an arrow and I plugged in the lights to the Wolf plaque. Then the boy with the Bear part read his script. Etc.
The really fun part was after he finished all the tasks for each rank and the ‘Arrow of Light’ part was read. His final task was to take the bow & use the arrows he earned to aim at the rank targets and try to hit them. It took him a little while to get warmed up, and he kept taking steps closer, but all the boys had so much fun watching him shoot the arrows. I think it’s something that stood out to them, and hopefully this helps encourage their desire to get to this point in cub scouting! If nothing else, it was entertaining for all of us!
Once he hit all the targets down, the boys that helped read parts sat back down and I had the honoree stay in the front with me. His mother came up too and I then presented him with his Arrow of Light awards – the patch, parent pin, and certificate (the certificate isn’t mandatory, it’s up to you as a cub master if it’s something you want to present or not).
Then I gave some closing remarks and thanked all the cub scouts for working so hard to get to where they’ve gotten so far & encouraged them to keep working hard. We had a closing prayer and then they dug in to the refreshments.
Again, hopefully this inspired the other boys to set some goals to get to this point in cub scouts. We have had a lot of changes in our pack, not to mention the book changes in June. But in the past 3 years, we’ve gone through quite a few cub masters. I’m not sure many of the boys even new this award existed. Now they do! And I’m so excited for them to keep earning belt loops, pins, and patches to get to this point!!
READER PICTURES:
--->If you've done this Arrow of Light ceremony, or used anything that I shared...please share it with me! I'd love to see how it turned out!!
[shared 6/22/2016]