Webelos-o-ree 2024

My youngest went to the local Webelos-o-ree, a day of fun stations for the oldest cub scouts. Local troops host each station. They teach various skills and try to sell the boys on joining their troop. Parents go along and meet the leaders of the troop (typically the older boys since troops are scout-led).

Our first stop was a gaga ball pit. Gaga ball is like dodge ball, but the ball needs to hit a player below the knee to get the player out. The game has no teams, every man is for himself. My son took a "let everyone fight each other" approach, calmly waiting by the side for the crowd to thin down. 

Going for the under-the-leg shot

Keeping his eye on the ball

The next station was the axe yard. Here, cub scouts learn safe handling of saws, hatchets, and axes. This particular station was run by my eldest son's troop, so the boys got to see each other.

Using an axe

Practicing sawing with a sibling

Later on, my son had to practice his army crawl under a bunch of strings pretending to be lasers. The station also had some knot-tying skill challenges. 

Being safe

Down by the water, a teamwork exercise challenged the boys to communicate without using words (they were only allowed to say "lava"!). They had to cross a field of lava with only a few boards of different lengths. It was a fun exercise. Since my son was alone, we joined up with another pack for the group challenges.

Getting to the other end

The last station before lunch involved climbing to the top of a wall. Some of the boys could make it on their own, some needed help. They worked together to lift up or pull up the boys who needed assistance (my son included), eventually getting everyone up.

Seven on the wall

We had lunch at my older son's troop, which was a bit of a hike from the wall. After eating, we had to go back to the middle of the trail for the shooting range. After joining a different pack for the trail, we had a good time with the bb guns. 

Posing with Pack 737

Practice with the rifle

Other stations we went to were the first aid station (with some realistic-looking injuries), orienteering (with some awesome home-made cookies), and more teamwork challenges. We had a fun day but didn't camp there, so we headed home for dinner.