Basic Meeting Plans are designed to have minimal supplies and still hit the GSUSA Requirements. Most meetings can be done in a 90 minute time frame.
Items needed:
- Print cards with scenarios to use for Truth or Lie
- Brown Paper Bag for each scout.
- Pen/Pencil for each scout
- Troop coloring supplies (markers, crayons, or colored pencils)
- (Optional) Construction paper, scissors, glue for scouts to use on the paper bag puppets.
(Troops with a larger budget may want to try making another type of Puppet instead of the Brown Paper Bag puppets. Just keep the same activity of Supply Trouble when making the puppets for the first activity.)
Puppet Making
Info Needed: Being Fair is treating everyone with kindness and respect. We make sure that everyone has a fair opportunity to participate and feel included and all items are shared equally.
Fun Activity: Make Paper Bag Puppets – Supply Trouble
Break the scouts into groups of three to work on their puppets. When you hand out the bags, hand two to one, one to another, and zero to the third. Ask if everyone has a bag. Allow them to figure out how to resolve the unequal handing out of supplies.
Allow scouts to draw and color their own face for human or animal puppets on the paper bags. (Optional – use construction paper, scissors, and glue as well as the drawing and coloring supplies.) Have them use their imagination, or show them examples.
(Requirement 2 Earned)
Note to Leaders – You can do a more detailed sharing activity by splitting the rest of the supplies you hand them out unequally. See the Supply/Snack Trouble activity for more details.
What is a Lie?
Info Needed: A lie is when you say something that isn’t true on purpose, to trick someone or make them believe something that isn’t real.
Action Needed: Use the Truth or Lie cards to give scouts scenarios they role-play. Pair the scouts up and they’ll use their puppet to make a show of the various scenarios. The rest of the troop decide whether the action constitutes the truth or a lie after they watch their show.
(Requirement 1 Earned)
Puppet Simon Says
Action Needed: Practice being honest and fair by playing the game by the rules and being honest when you are out. For those leaders unfamiliar with the rules of Simon Says, please see the mini lesson.
Fun Activity: Play Simon Says, but it’s all about making the puppets do things.
(Requirement 3 Earned)
Note to Leaders – For those leaders unfamiliar with the rules of Simon Says, please see the mini lesson.
Meeting End
Scouts can keep rounds of Simon Says until it’s time to go home, or you can play other simple games like Simon Says.
For leaders who want to know more about children and the topic of lying, here is a good Mini lesson.
General Notes
Note to Leaders – No Basic Plan compiled by The Badge Archive will earn multiple badges in one level. Part of being budget friendly is not costing more than the price of one official GSUSA badge per meeting.
Some badges will take two meetings to finish. This helps scouts enjoy activities and keeps the troop budget in mind by only needing one GSUSA badge for every two meetings. Troops may choose to get a fun patch for one of the meetings if scouts want a badge/patch for every meeting. Scouts can earn the fun patch if they only attend one meeting and get a fun patch and the official badge if they go to both.
The Badge Archive 