OPENING CEREMONIES

Farming Around the World

Setting:  World map on the wall behind the Cubmaster, with a mark to make it easy for each boy to locate the country he is representing.  Or have the ACM assigned to know where to put a pin to mark each country that is mentioned.   Seven Cubs, each with a card showing the crop or country represented.  Each boy can draw his own picture of the country, crop or how it’s grown, or you can get pictures online)  If you don’t have enough boys, either delete some of the crops or have each boy show more than one picture.

CM:  (wearing overhauls or some kind of farming clothing)  Welcome to Pack _____’s Farm! This month, we’ve learned that people farm for food all over the world.

Cub # 1:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on Iceland, then shows his picture) Would you believe it – in Iceland they grow all kinds of food – even bananas!  They use greenhouses that are heated by the geothermal energy coming out of the ground!

Cub # 2:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on Brazil, then shows his picture) In Brazil, everyone in the family helps to harvest their main crop, coffee beans.

Cub # 3:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on Israel, then shows his picture) In Israel, many of the farms are communal – with many families living together on a Kibbutz, where everyone, including the children, work together to plant and harvest a variety of crops.

Cub # 4:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on China, then shows his picture) Rice is the main crop throughout China – in fact, rice feeds billions of people in the world, especially in Asia!

Cub # 5:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on Jamaica, then shows his picture) In Jamaica, allspice is the main crop – in fact, most of the world’s supply is farmed here!  (The picture here could be a picture of a tin of allspice and a pumpkin pie)

Cub # 6:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on Zanzibar, then shows his picture)  Zanzibar is the major producer of cloves – think how we would miss that spice during the Holidays!  (One idea for a picture would be an orange or a ham studded with cloves)

Cub # 7:       (Boy enters and puts a pin in the map on America, then shows his picture)  And here in America, you’ll find mile after mile of corn being grown – for everything from corn on the cob to ethanol fuel!  We’re proud to be the world’s number one producer of corn. 

Cub # 8:       As Americans, we’re also proud of our flag.  It represents all the people and places in this great land. Please stand and join us in the Pledge to Allegiance.  (Or you could just introduce the flag ceremony to be done by a den)

Farmer’s Welcome Opening

Baltimore Area Council

Personnel - Cubmaster enters dressed in farmer garb. He or she could wear overalls or jeans with a plaid shirt, a straw hat, boots, etc.

Welcome, everyone, to the farmyard of Pack ______. I’m Farmer __________, the boss around here. I’m really glad you could come visit us tonight!

You know, on the farm there is plenty of work to do. Everyone in my family is busy planting seeds, harvesting crops, feeding the animals, and just keeping the farm running. But we are never too busy to help our neighbors in need, or help out at the local church, or even raise the flag down at the town square.

That’s one thing I like about the Cub Scouts. You are busy with schoolwork and earning all those fancy awards, and playing with your buddies, but you are never too busy to help when you’re needed. I like that line in the Cub Scout promise that says “… to do my best, to do my duty to God and my Country…” You really know how to do your best and do your duty, both to God and your Country. Will you please rise and reflect on how you can continue to do your duty to God and this great country as we salute the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Cub Scout Garden

Baltimore Area Council

Personnel: Narrator, 4 Cub Scouts in uniform

Arrangement: Cub Scouts come on stage, one at a time, carrying large replicas of seed packages - Peas, Lettuce, Squash, Turnips, and pretend to plant garden as narrator reads script.  A large felt board works great to “plant” the rows of seeds.

Our theme this month is “Down on the Farm,” so we’d like to show you how you can help grow a Cub Scout Garden. This is the kind of garden that all parents want their sons to have.

First, we plant five rows of peas. (First boy comes on stage) Preparedness, Promptness, Perseverance, Politeness, Praise.

Next, we plant five rows of lettuce. (Second boy comes out) Let us be faithful; let us be unselfish; let us be loyal; us be- truthful; let us help one another.

Then we plant three rows of squash. (Third- boy comes out). Squash impatience; squash criticism; squash indifference.

No garden is complete without turnips. (Fourth boy comes out) Turn up for Pack meetings; turn up with new ideas; turn up with determination.

But without many hours of work and care, no garden can grow, so… don’t wait to be asked – volunteer! Don’t-say, “I can’t.” – do it! Don’t wait for someone else – be first!

Without the help of every person in our pack, our garden will turn to weeds. So help us build the background, work the soil, pull the weeds, and spread the  sunshine so that  the garden of Pack ____ will thrive and we can say, “We have done our best.”

America, the Beautiful Opening

Baltimore Area Council

Cubmaster: Flying across the country, you can look down and see the patchwork quilt of the nations farms. Mile after mile of different crops, each one supplying a different color to the “quilt.” You can look down and literally see the “amber waves of grain.” Please stand and join me in singing, “America the Beautiful.”

Farm Country

Heart of America Council

Personnel: 5 Cubs dressed in farm clothes with posters depicting farm scenes on one side and their words in LARGE print on the other side.

Setting: Cub Scouts in farm work clothing parade into meeting room by dens to recorded farm music.  Extinguish lights and shine spotlight on U.S. flag. 

Cub # 1:       Agriculture, the oldest work done by man, means “taking care of the fields”.  It is the work and science of using the earth to produce food.

Cub # 2:       Farming means about the same thing, but we generally use the term when referring to a particular branch, such as dairy farming, chicken farming, cotton farming, wheat or vegetable farming. There have been farmers since history began. Cain, the first man born on earth, the son of Adam and Eve, was a tiller of the soil.

Cub # 3:       Farm life, was quite different in days past. Entire families including children, had to carry their share of the load in order to raise enough food for themselves. The family did not have much time for comfortable living .

Cub # 4:       Crowing roosters still announce dawn on many American farms. In the early morning fresh odors of growing crops and blooming flowers fill the air. Even before daybreak, in farm country, lights begin to twinkle as folks rise early to feed the animals and do the chores.

Cub # 5:       Now may we all stand and sing “America the Beautiful”.