Troop 60 > Activities > Troop Meeting Activities

Troop Meeting Activities

Ever wonder Why Scouts Join the Troop and Why They Leave?

What Scouts Thought they would be Doing:

What Scouts Ended up Doing:

Artwork by John Sweet - used with permission by Larry Green

Troop meetings MUST BE FUN and should include a mix of different types of activities that interest Scouts.   Keep things a bit crazy and mix it up a bit so that your meetings don't turn into a regular humdrum "Meeting in Can".  If meetings are fun, Scouts will stick around and stay in the program.  If meetings are boring, many will leave. 

Luckily, Scouting has been around for a long time, and generations of leaders have figured out ways of making thing fun an interesting.  There are volumes of information on how to make meetings fun.  Some are listed here. 

Interested in a special troop activity?  Talk to your Senior Patrol Leader.  

If the PCL needs more ideas, talk to our ASM team; they have some CRAZY Ideas to share with the Troop!

Scout Games & Challenges

Every Scout Meeting should have at least one game.  Games are vital to building teams and comradery.  Fun is how youth learn and is what helps keep them interested in the Scouting Experience. 

See our Games Subsection for ideas on games. 

Knife and Axe Skills Activities

Knife and Axe Skill are core Scouting skill and fun to learn.  This is part of the big three in Scouting - Knives, Fire and Guns!

Fire Starting Activities 

Solid Fire Starting skills are vital for wilderness travel in the Pacific Northwest and require a lot of practice.  These are also really fun activities for Scouts and can be used as recruiting events. 

Knot Tying and Pioneering Activities

Knot tying and Lashing are also basic Scout Skills that need a lot of hands-on practice.  These can also be really fun skills to work on if approached as a game or competition. 

Chariot Race

Pioneering Games and Challenges 

First Aid Activities

Approaching First Aid with fun Hand-On activities can be a blast!

Outdoor Ethics Activities

Outdoor Ethics covers some very core principles of hiking and traveling outdoors.  With a bit of preparation, classes and activities can be pretty fun. 

Rank Advancement Activities

Troops that focus on Rank Advancement all the time, can just kill a Troop.  That said, rank advancement is vital to help Scouts along in Scouting and to teach basic skills, the point of advancement.  

Campfire Events

A good campfire needs to be organized, exciting and really goofy!

Merit Badges

Merit Badges can be fun, depending on the Merit Badge and how it is delivered.  

Warning: Avoid turning Troop Meetings into Merit Badge mills.  This practice is often popular among parents, but they don't have to sit through these sessions.  Turning Troop Meetings into classroom sessions modeled after school will kill the magic of the Troop Meeting. 

Now - if the Troop wants to learn about a topic and it happens to be a Merit Badge, then fulfilling Merit Badge requirements at a Troop Meeting can be both fun and rewarding without turning your meetings into didactic torture.  Clarke Green talks about this on his Scoutmaster Podcast.

The Focus of your meeting should be on Fun and Skills and NOT on just for fulfilling requirements. 

Metal Work

Climbing

Pottery

Special Skills Instruction/Training Activities

There are SO Many Skills that can be taught at a Troop Meeting.  Some of these skills are best taught by local experts.  That said, most can by taught by the Senior Youth Leadership. 

Now, instruction can be fun and full of awe and instruction can be boring and just downright miserable.  The former is preferred.  

“The most important object in Boy Scout training is to educate, not instruct.” - Lord Baden Powell

We discuss this in our Special Instruction Section.

SM Clarke Green's notes on Scouting Instructional Technique:

Special Skills Instruction/Training Activities Themes

Monkey in the Middle

Outings

Regular Troop Meetings don't need to be regular and should never be boring.  Consider doing an outing during a scheduled Troop Meeting:

Other Resources