InsaneScouter News
| Volume: 2 | Issue: 11 | November 2002 |
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What's New at http://insanescouter.com
I am proud to announce many of the new features and content now available at InsaneScouter. Below you will find a list of what these updates are and where to find them.
Internet Safety for Kids
It is sad that rules such as these have become a fact of life, but as our kids become more sophisticated so do those wanting to harm them.
This is one of the problems online, a pedophile, for example, could be lurking in their favorite chat room, by pretending to be an 11-year-old.
How would your child, yourself, or for that matter anyone know that he wasn't who he says he is.
The following list is an example of rules that kids should follow while online.
- Never give out personal information such as name, age, address, phone number, school, email address, or even hobbies
- Tell your parents right away if you across any information that makes you feel uncomfortable
- Never meet with anyone you meet online without first asking your parents
- Never send anyone a picture or anything else without first asking a parent
- Never respond to any messages that make you feel uncomfortable
- Never give out your password, not even to my friends
- I will be a good online citizen and not do anything that hurts other people or is against the law
- I will follow the rules my parents and I set
I would encourage every parent I meet to talk with their child and set-up mutually agreeable rules that they will follow while online. I say mutually agreeable because if the child doesn't actually agree in his soul, then he will not follow the rules. The types of things that should be decided upon are for example the time of day the child can be online, the length of time the child can be online, and appropriate areas for the child to visit.
Halloween Safety
For kids
- Wear a costume that lets you move easily and safely. Try makeup and a wig instead of a mask. Youll have more fun walking around.
- Stay with the grownup or group you're trick-or-treating with.
- Stick to the route you agreed on with your folks.
- Visit only homes that have the lights on, and don't go inside.
- Don't eat candy until an adult has checked it out for you.
For parents
- Be sure costumes fit well -- no tripping or tangling hazards. Makeup and wigs are better choices than masks. Check any mask used for fit and vision.
- Go with younger children or make sure someone you trust does. Are children old enough to go on their own? Agree in advance on the route, the groups
- members, and the time your child is due home.
- Remind children to visit only lighted homes and to remain outside.
- Insist that your child not eat trick-or-treat candy until you have inspected it. Check for undamaged wrappers; examine any homemade treats carefully.
- For next year, consider a neighborhood party instead of door-to-door visits. It's generally safer and maybe more fun.
Halloween offers a great chance for parents to talk with and listen to their kids on personal safety issues. Discussing family safety rules and listening thoughtfully to children's concerns is a never-ending challenge. Taking advantage of this teachable moment can make Halloween safer and create a learning opportunity as well.
October is Crime Prevention Month, and Halloween has become a widespread occasion for hundreds of law enforcement agencies, businesses, and community groups to distribute a variety of Mc Gruff products and educational materials that remind families about personal safety and encourage street-smart behavior by kids whether trick-or-treating, playing with friends, or traveling to and from school. More than 30 million young people will be stashing their door-to-door collections or gathering goodies at neighborhood parties in colorful, educational Mc Gruff Halloween bags. Hundreds of thousands will be smarter about safe trick-or-treating because they've gotten one of Mc Gruffs Safe Halloween kits.
Modified from Ordinal Source: National Crime Prevention Council
Fun Activities
Bat and Spider Cups
What You Need
- Black chenille stems (4 for each spider cup)
- Scissors
- Craft glue or hot glue gun
- Purple paper cups
- Black poster board (for bat wings)
- Small wiggle eyes
- Ruler, optional (only if you need to measure)
How To Make It
- Cut four pipe cleaners in half to make eight spider legs.
- Fold one end of each pipe cleaner up 1/4 inch.
- Glue the folded part to the side of the cup, putting four legs on each side. Bend legs into a spider pose.
- Cut two bat wings from black poster board.
- Bend the ends and glue one on each side of a cup.
- Glue eyes on each cup. Let dry.
- Serve drinks or treats in the cups.
- Have fun!
Cereal Box Gravestones
What You Need
- Black and white tempera paint
- 3 cups for mixing paint
- Paintbrush
- Assorted-size cereal boxes
- 2 sponges
- Thick black permanent marker
How To Make It
- Mix paints to make a light gray, medium gray, and dark gray.
- Paint boxes with two to three coats of medium gray. Let dry.
- Use the sponges to dab on the light and dark gray paint to give gravestones a mottled look. Let dry.
- Write names and dates with marker. Such as: Dracula died here 1768-1842, etc.
HINT: Fill Ziploc plastic bags with sand or rocks and place inside boxes to keep them from blowing over. Stand them in mounds of dirt or sand.
Egg Carton Spiders
What You Need
- Black paint
- Paint brush
- Egg carton
- Scissors
- Awl or small phillips head screwdriver
- Black chenille stems
- Wire cutters
- Wiggle eyes
- Glue
How To Make It
- Note: Precut the carton and prepare the holes ahead of time for classroom use.
- Cut the egg carton apart into little cups/sections.
- Using the awl or screwdriver make 8 holes in the bottom edge of each section for the legs.
- Paint the egg carton section with black paint. Let dry.
- Cut the chenille stems in half.
- Push the chenille stem in one side of the section and out the opposite side. Bend down the legs.
- Repeat for each of the legs.
- Glue on wiggle eyes.
Q-Tip Skeleton
Using black construction paper, Q-tips, white paper, scissors and glue you can create a skeleton body. You can make your skeleton a dancing skeleton or a standing skeleton. Use your imagination and have fun!
What You Need
- Black construction paper
- Q-tips
- White paper
- Scissors
- Glue
How To Make It
- Using the white paper you can draw a skeleton skull. Cut out the skull and then glue that to your black construction paper.
- Using the Q-tips as bones you can arrange your skeleton body. Give your skeleton some arms, legs, ribs, etc. You can cut the Q-tips into smaller pieces to be used as smaller joints.
- Glue all the Q-tips on the black paper once you have it laid out like you like!
Fun Halloween Cooking
Witches Brew
Mix up a batch of lemonade from concentrate. Add green food coloring to the lemonade to give it a spooky look. Get a plastic witchs cauldron and place a piece of dry ice in it. Pour the brew over the dry ice and watch your kids delight. Do NOT drink after putting dry ice in, it is just fun to see the effect :)
Ghost Cookies
Dip Nutter Butter cookies in white chocolate and let completely dry. Then let the kids decorate the face with cake mate frosting or chocolate chips.
Potato Ghosts
Hand sculpt mashed potatoes to look like a ghost. Place them on an oiled cookie sheet, brushed with melted butter, and put in the oven to heat and brown a little. You can serve it with bat shaped meat loaf (using a bat cookie cutter).
Spooky Sandwich Puzzles
Let the children make their own peanut butter sandwiches with two pieces of bread. Give each child a Halloween cookie cutter and let them press the shape out of the center of their sandwich. They will now have a "spooky sandwich puzzle."
"Hand" Snacks
Ingredients:
Clear food server gloves (one for each child) Popcorn Candy corn Yarn
Directions:
Take one of the food server gloves and place a candy corn in each of the fingers. Fill the rest of the glove with popcorn. Fasten the top of the glove with yarn. Make a glove for each child in your class.
Monster Cookies
Ingredients:
Oatmeal cookies Candy corn Chocolate chip pieces Raisins
Directions:
Each child creates a monster cookie by making a face on an oatmeal cookie (can be precooked or store bought cookies) by using candy corn, chocolate chips, marshmallows, raisins, etc. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and place in a hot oven just long enough for the faces to melt. This creates truly monster faces.
Prepare Chocolate Drizzle and Orange Drizzle - Drizzle Chocolate Drizzle over top. Drizzle Orange Drizzle over chocolate. Let stand 1 hour until drizzles set. Cut into wedges.
CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE
In small microwave-safe bowl, place 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1-1/2 teaspoons butter flavor shortening. Microwave at MEDIUM 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until the chips are melted when stirred.
ORANGE DRIZZLE
In small bowl stir together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water, 3 drops yellow food color and 2 drops red food color; stir until well blended.
Makes about 16 to 20 servings
Crime Prevention Activity Ideas
- During a meeting have Scouts bring in special belonging to be engraved, or otherwise mark for easy identification in case it is ever stolen or lost
- Just for fun make some kind of alarm system from garbage such as string and tin cans so that when bumped into it makes noise
- Do various plays/skits on what to do if ......
InsaneScouter Monthly Tip
The difference between the possible and the impossible is the measure of the man's will.
InsaneScouter Moment - A Balanced Menu For Life
Tonight we've spent a lot of time talking about the four food groups we need to be healthy. And we've looked up some of those recipes, using those four food groups. I hope you'll remember what you've learned when we go on our campout at the end of this month because Im getting tired of hamburgers and hot-dogs.
But just as a balanced diet of foods is vital for your physical health, so is a balanced diet of activities vital for your mental and spiritual health. You all know by now, that if you ate nothing but potato chips, candy, and soda, you wouldn't stay healthy very long. The same idea applies to your activities.
If you did nothing but play sports all the time, and neglected your schoolwork, your religious duties, your Scouting, and other activities with friends, you would be a pretty sad case before long. Oh, you might be a good ballplayer, but that's all. You would not make any progress mentally, spiritually or as a person who is a pleasure to be around.
Well, you might say, I love sports. Fine - play them - and play for all your worth. But remember that life has many satisfactions besides sports. Don't cut yourself from them by spending all your time in one activity.
Join a school club. Become active in your church's youth group. Come to every troop meeting and activity. Take full advantage of the school; don't do just enough work to get by. And play sports.
You can do it all, and if you do I think you'll enjoy life even more than you do now
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