Non-school and non-gaming activities for stay-at-home

Scouts,

Like most of you, I really want to get out of the house and go camping. But of course we can’t do that right now. It’s not safe for us, and just as important it’s not safe for everyone else either — we don’t want to accidentally infect someone else. So we’ll have to find things to keep us busy at home.

In my travels around the Web I found a few things that you might want to try:

• Did you know that it is actually possible to push on a string? A “tensegrity structure” can hold up a table from below using strings, and this video shows you how to make one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4D6BOSbVfI (You might want to turn off the cheesy music track.) (Constantine, Robert: I’m thinking of you guys especially.)
• You can visit some National Parks during the quarantine (virtually of course)  https://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2020/04/12/travel-virtually-to-us-national-parks-including-ones-you-probably-wouldnt-otherwise-get-to/
  https://artsandculture.withgoogle.com/en-us/national-parks-service/parks
• Become an international spy. The Spy Museum in Washington DC has some interesting online activities. https://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/educators/lesson-plans-activities/   “Q’s Gadget Lab” in particular seems fun, plus there is a reading list and movie list.
• Scouts UK (Great Britain: England, Scotland Wales, Northern Ireland) has a page of at-home activities. Many of them are Cub-aged, but there are a few others that are more your speed. https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/?setting=At%20home  I think some of you might like: “Brush bugs”, “Be a blackout poet”,”Butcher, baker bath bomb maker”, “Compass Coding”, “Compass Crafting”, “Lolly stick catapults”, “Destination Oscillation”. Also, while you are visiting their site, think about how Scouts UK is different from Scouts here in the US, and how they are the same.
• Read! There are tons of reading lists out there. But here are a few of my favorite books that you might like:
  • It’s probably a little young for most of you, but From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler  has a theme that is very Scout-like, even though it is set entirely inside the Museum of Natural History in New York. If you do read it, think about that and then tell me why.
  • Ray Bradbury is probably my favorite author. Dandelion Wine is great, but The Martian Chronicles is a classic – especially since it was written many years before we went to the moon.
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the funniest books I’ve read (and if you read it you’ll know why I occasionally answer a question with, “42” or ask you where your towel is.)
  • For you older Scouts who enjoy history, The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman is a great read, and was my father’s favorite book.

So, stay safe and healthy, and we’ll see you on Zoom on Monday.

Mr Dickson