Instructional YouTube video for these Marshmallow Shooters.

The Daring Boys really loved playing with them outside, especially pulling them apart and redesigning them.

Fleece Rug

After the Marshmallow Shooters we went inside to make our Fleece Rugs. They are coming along nicely. We had snack and talked about what would be fun to try in the Spring.

After the trip to the police station I wanted to expand on my own ideas of poverty, criminals and linking the two as best I could for the boys. Here is my lesson:

Welcome everyone! I would like to say I am very pleased with you after going to the police station last meeting. WE are the DBC—-(continued with the creed) As you know, I wrote a note to the Police Officer to thank him for our tour and that we all signed it, I assume he got it.

When we were on our tour of the police station, some of what the police officer was saying was that the people the police come into contact with are making poor choices with their lives. Some people are desperate and want to get more money to survive, or they want to buy more drugs or they want to sell the things that they steal. Some people are so desperate that they decide to break the law in order to help their family and the people they love. It is up to the police to take care of people who break the law and encourage them make better choices in their life. Therefore, it appears that sometimes people without the ability to earn enough money for their families resort to crime.

We often feel like we want to help. Have you ever see people begging on the streets? Behind each person is a story. Without knowing that story it is hard to empathize with each situation. This is what I want you to think about…….

Sometimes you may notice a kid at school or in a neighborhood who needs a friend. Being a friend to someone can help them feel good about themselves.  It is nice to be a friend. Some children are not friendly. Some kids can sometimes be mean to each other. For example: if a kid is living in a car they may not be able to wash their bodies, or clothes or hair very often. They may feel ashamed about this and may not want people to know about how they live. What happens to you if you don’t wash for a few days???

So if you think you can be a friend to someone. What might be a good way to help show that person you care? Let’s talk about all the things that you can think of that you could do that would show someone you care about them. Turn to person sitting next to you and tell them. I think the important point here is not to judge another persons situation.

Nice, now let’s focus on each of you. I want to talk about money. Lets look at ways you can be smart with your money.

read this book to boys

(Read the book while kids eat SNACK.) This book is about Chelsea and Jack and the choices they made with their money……..The message I get from this book is on page 25.

Have you ever heard someone say, “getting a good education is needed for a well paying job?” You might just help a kid enjoy school better through being their friend.

This concludes our time on Forensic Science, Police Station and Caring Friends.

———————————————————————————————————————-

Now we are going to do Sports Science

We will break into 3 activity groups, then do an obstacle course

I pulled the activities from this book

Activity 1 —Keep Your Eye on the Ball p. 37,

Activity 2 —Armed for Running p. 29

Activity 3 —Ball Bounce Bingo p. 17

3. swing across the bars

4. balancing on a wiggly line

5. crawl under dome

6. balancing on lily pads

7. swinging across the bars

8. do it all over again!10. Start all over again

9. go back to the beginning

We gathered until we had everyone who was going on the field trip. Three parents drove the kids to the police station where we met our guide. Here are some photos. The boys were very excited and love the experience. I wrote the Police a thank you note the next day and had all the boys sign it and took it over to them.

I began the lesson by recapping the meaning of Forensic Science, which they were very sharp on. Then we moved on, discussing the role of the police. While enjoying snack, the boys listened to a story about what police officers do. I asked them to write down their questions for police officers, as next DBC we will be going on a field trip to the police station.

Activity: Police Questions—each boy researched and came up with questions to ask a police officer on our field trip. They wrote their questions in their CSI Journals.

Activity: Tire Prints—each boy made a set of tire prints in their CSI Journals. They needed to identify which vehicle made which print and match them.

Activity: Pen Ink (same as last DBC) some boys wanted to finish this test.

Activity: Memory Picture—each boy studies the picture for 30 seconds. Take the picture away. Ask questions about the detail in the picture. What time was it? Was the man in the front of the row wearing a hat? Can you remember any other unique features about anyone in the picture? Write them down in your CSI Journal.

Activity: Observation through touch, sound and smell—each boy takes a turn of being blindfolded. Object is placed in his hands. He guesses what it is and looks to see if he is right.

Activity: Rug—each boy will tie squares of fleece together to make a rug to take home. (This is a major undertaking.)

Finished off today with a group experiment. We wanted to see if we could Extract DNA from a strawberry!   It was a fun thing to do… We did it. After all that work it was time for all to go home.

During snack I introduced the definition of Forensic Science and we listened to stories about solving crimes.

Forensic Science means science as it relates to the law. Studying and learning about science is fun and hard. Through elementary school science is mostly easy, fun and interesting, but what a lot of kids don’t realize is that you need to stick with science thought middle, high and college if you are to get a job as a scientist. In order to solve a grime you need to know. 1. What happened? 2. Where and when did it occur? 3. Who are the suspects, and why did they do it? (Forensic Psychologists determine motive) 4. How was the crime done?

After giving each boy their CSI Journals, in small groups, they moved around the activities.

Activity: Finger prints—each boy made a set of their own finger prints. “Compare and contrast your own fingers, and then each others.” Tape your set of finger prints in your CSI Journals.

Activity: Handwriting—each boy will write out this short sentence two times. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. “Try and see if you can play a matching game with your friends. Compare and contrast each sample, see if you can match your friends’ writing when mixed with other samples.” Tape yours in your CSI Journal.

Activity: Memory—each boy takes a turn at hiding something from the tray. Others say what is missing. This is a great memory game.

Activity: Pen Ink Test—each boy will test three pens to see what will happen when water is absorbed up the coffee filter paper, past the dot of pen ink. Tape yours in your CSI Journals.

Activity: Lip Print—just like finger prints we each have different lip prints. Each boy will add their lip prints to their CSI Journals.

Great work Forensic Scientists! Now that you have done your job you may be asked to give your expert opinion and the evidence in a court of law. This is where a Judge listens to both the victim and the perpetrator and decides a punishment suitable under the law. Sometimes a jury needs to decide if some one is guilty or not guilty.

The boys worked on their gifts of stamped clay jewelry from previous weeks. This was a really great activity, as some of the boys found it hard to wait. They needed to wait and keep the surprise from their families until they gave them the gift. The boys loved experiencing the joy of giving (and waiting). With great excitement they wrapped their gifts, made a card or two and moved onto fun and games in the gym.

One Daring Dad brought scooters today. This was a new skill for some and they loved it! They could go fast on the smooth gym floor. He also showed the boys aiming  games with a ball and a bin. Boys and Balls go together so well, I don’t think you can go wrong, whatever you want to do. This was the final DBC for the Fall. I had a blast teaching it!

Today we built a fire pit with our snack food. The boys practiced what we knew about building a fire, in the woods. The boys used their imaginations and built their fire pits from snack foods. This was a huge success especially when it was time to eat it.

They even “roasted” marshmallows. I read a story about why it is a good idea not to feed wild animals.

Other activities today were:

Boys attached pendents to necklaces, key chains, clips etc. Worked on making pendents into gifts. I used the following website.

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2012/09/stamped-clay-jewelry-and-keychains-and-gift-tags.html

Boys made mini bow and arrows, tying the floss was the challenging part. I used the following website.

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/01/mini-bow-arrow-set-with-free-printables/

Boys played in the gym with balls, hoops and jump rope. A great time was had by all.

Listening to survival skills talk

It was a beautiful day. We walked a mile to Hendricks Park from School. Where we met another talented Daring Dad volunteer.

He had set up a shelter with an emergency blanket and explained to the DB how and why you would build one. He talked about: What should you do if you get separated from your group in the woods?

Other safety aspects of the lesson were as follows. The best way to drink safe water is, to be prepared. We looked at all the things in a backpack that would be good to bring with you in the woods. How to: build a good shelter, keep warm, save your strength and energy, signal your position so rescuers can find you. Where to go to the bathroom and to always bring a map and compass and know how to use them.

After their survival skills training… It was time for Archery. 

Some of the DB wanted to touch and hold the real bows, but some didn’t. They all were excited to try out their own Bow and Arrows.

I based my activity on this website, but I used recycled equipment where I could.

www.craftinterrupted.com/2012/07/fun-

jar-friday-11-kid-friendly-pvc-bow.html

Make sure everyone waits until it is safe

Walking back to school, we survived the woods!

Have your DB practice in safe open spaces. Arrows are light weight and will get caught up in trees and on roofs.

Quote: “That was the best day ever!”

 

DB listening to explanation

In small groups of 4 DB went outside with one of our great Daring Dad volunteers and worked out how to use a compass with a map. They must have been successful as each DB found the “treasure” they were looking for. This is a great activity to revisit, as the DB get older, so they are able to apply it to real life navigation.

October 30th, Weaving Skills.

Weaving paper strips to make place mats

Weaving is a tricky skill to master. The boys practiced and were very focused. The place mats turned out well in the end. We want the DB to be cognizant of reduce, reuse and recycle. So when they asked if we can laminate the place mats we talked about recycling the art work after its use. A thought process that will take some time to catch on, I think.

All activities were a good fit for the 2hrs. It seemed to work best to have the snack towards the end of the time today.

from the Disney website, Spoonful

from Pikadilly Charm

from Family Fun

spiraling ghosts, cursive skeletons, or old-fashioned scarecrows.  They had a good time getting crafty, and quite significantly, because of their wonderful behavior, so did we!  What a difference from the previous meeting.

Thanks to Caitlin for the useful and aesthetically pleasing boards!

We explained to them that we would all be happier and achieve more of our goals as a group if we found a better way to manage our behavior.  We introduced the Daring Boys at Bat System.  They all start out “at bat.” Good behavior can get boys to first base, second base… even to home run.  They all wanted to know what they “got” if they managed a home run.  (They get a happy, effective group, and the pride of knowing they contributed to it.)  When they fail to meet expectations they move to “strike 1″ or “strike 2″ or so on.  If somehow a boy strikes out three times, he’s out, meaning he won’t be able to come to the next DBC meeting.  In reality, I can’t imagine doing that (shhh, don’t tell the boys that), but it is a powerful reminder to them of the importance of cooperating and respecting our group guidelines.  Likewise, we added (at the spur of the moment) the ability to move the entire group up or down the board.  We decided that we would work towards a goal, perhaps something like rock climbing when the boys got a certain number of points.  They can earn points (or lose them) by getting on base (or striking out).  The boys were clearly enthusiastic about the new system and it really helped manage the large group more effectively.  I like it because it incorporates responses to both negative and positive, group and individual behavior in the same system.  The other thing that made our gathering so successful was the number of grownups.  We had five of us there, with one grown-up to each station and me as the floater.  Dividing the boys up into smaller groups is essential.  This time we even divided them up for snack.  Told them who to go sit with, where to sit, and even what question to discuss while they munched on apple oatmeal cookie bars and cheddar cheese slices.  (I won’t even tell you how many cookie bars some of those boys ate, but sorry if they didn’t eat dinner… at least they were all organic and made with yogurt, apples, and oatmeal).  The more we structure it like a classroom experience (with lots of grown-up support), the better experience they have.  Thanks to our helpful team of grow-up volunteers (Caitlin, Michael, Dani, and Chris).

This Daring toddler feels like he has more than a dozen big brothers on Daring Boys' Club days.

making scarecrows with Michael (or having fun messing in straw)

Dani helping the boys make paper bag trees

Making the spiders were a big hit.

Even the toddler brother gets to help make a pipe cleaner spider with Chris.

scary spider

hard at work making cursive skeletons and spiraling ghosts