Faith in God by Month - Complete File

I recently finished compiling my list of Faith in God activity ideas by month (core value). I put the entire year into one file for download. For each month I tried to include 2-4 suggestions for FiG requirements to work on, ideas for activities to go along with those requirements, and ways those requirements overlap or can overlap with Cub Scout requirements. I have uploaded the file in three different formats, so that you can download it in the format that works best for you:

Faith in God Ideas .pdf

Faith in God Ideas .doc

Faith in God Ideas .odt (Open Office)

[Legal note: Feel free to use in your ward and distribute to your friends, but please don't sell my file and remember to give credit where credit is due. If you are sharing online or via e-mail, I would appreciate it if you would provide a link to this post rather than to the file itself. Thanks.]

Faith in God by Month (Jun-Aug)

Here is another set of three months' worth of suggestions for working on Faith in God, relating to that month's character connection and/or theme. Most of these can easily be fit into various requirements the boys are working on anyway. Check their books to see how you can fit them in. You can find the first list of ideas (Mar-May) here.

Remember, many of the requirements will need to be completed at home, but you can use den meetings to discuss them with the boys and get them started working towards some things.

June: Perseverance, Head West Young Man

Prepare a pedigree chart with your name and your parents' and grandparents' names. Prepare a family group record for your family and share a family story. Discuss how performing temple work blesses families. (square knot requirement) 

The “Head West” theme invokes images of pioneers. While the boys work on their pedigree chart, you could discuss the meaning of the word “pioneer” and the many ways a person could be a pioneer. Ask the boys to find out interesting stories about “pioneers” in their families that they can share (don't forget to tell the parents yourself as well). Have an activity where you roast marshmallows around a campfire, and everyone takes turns telling family stories (Webelos Outdoorsman requirement 2; Bears requirement 9g). If it's not feasible to have a real fire, make a pretend one instead. (Bring marshmallows anyway.) Don't forget to work on the Heritages belt loop at the same time. This also fits with Bears achievement 8.

Read D&C 88:118. Discuss what it means to "seek learning, even by study and also by faith." Improve your personal study habits by doing such things as learning how to choose and read good books or being prepared for school each day.

Learning takes perseverance, and it is the one thing we take with us after we die. School is out for the summer, but you can help the boys think of some goals they can set for themselves for the next school year, or you can encourage them to participate in your local library's summer reading program.

Plan and complete your own activity that will help you develop your talents.

Developing talents definitely requires perseverance. Talk to the boys about what talents each of them is working on (learning to play the piano, participating in a sport?), and discuss what goals they have or help them set goals. You could also have someone come to your den meeting to teach the boys a new skill.

July: Courage, Cubs in Shining Armor

Give an opening and a closing prayer in family home evening or at Primary. Share your feelings about how prayer protects us and helps us stay close to Heavenly Father and the Savior. (square knot requirement) 

We can always pray when we need more courage. Sometimes it also takes courage to pray in front of others. Review the order of prayer with the boys.

Tell a story from the Book of Mormon that teaches about faith in Jesus Christ. Share your testimony of the Savior (square knot requirement) 

There are some fantastic stories about courage (not to mention fighting) in the Book of Mormon. Since the boys are studying the Book of Mormon this year, they may already have some favorite stories they want to share. You could also role play the story of Ammon (Alma 17-19), make war diagrams from some of the battles (some good ones include Alma 43:16-44:20 , Alma 55:5-23, and Alma 56:31-56), or have the boys make their own “titles of liberty” and relate the ideas from Captain Moroni's flag (Alma 46:12) to the Declaration of Independence for Independence Day.

August: Honesty, Kids Against Crime

Explain how taking the sacrament helps you renew your baptismal covenant. In a family home evening, teach others about the things we can do to remain faithful. 

The very first thing boys do when they enter Cub Scouts is learn the Cub Scout Promise and complete the Character Connection for Honesty. Have you ever noticed the similarities between the Cub Scout Promise and Baptismal covenants? See this post for some ideas on discussing similarities about what we promise as Cub Scouts and the promises we make when we are baptized. One of the main things we promise is to keep the commandments, which includes being honest. Brainstorm with the boys ways that we can keep our covenants as well as the Cub Scout Promise so that they can teach their families in Family Home Evening.

Write a poem, story or short play that teaches a principle of the gospel or is about Heavenly Father's creations.

Have the boys pair up and write short plays about honesty. Then they can take turns performing them.

This is also a great chance to work on the 13^th Article of Faith with the boys. Here are a few ideas:

You could give them a gathering activity where they need to unscramble key words, like honest, true, chaste, benevolent. Discuss what each of the words mean. Why do you think “honest” and “true” are mentioned first? Why are they so important?

Have the boys assemble the appropriate puzzle from here:

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7780

Make cards with words or phrases from the Article of Faith. Distribute them, and have the boys assemble them in the right order. You can even make distributing the cards a game by hiding them around the room to find or handing them out to boys who answer a question correctly or recite the Cub Scout Promise.

Faith in God by Month (Mar-May)

To help our leaders nourish their boys, I am working to expand my Faith in God ideas and fit them in with upcoming monthly themes. Here are some suggestions for Faith in God requirements that fit in with March, April and May's Cub Scout themes. Following each is an idea for an activity to help the boys fulfill the requirement. (Note: Many of the Faith in God suggestions are things the boys will need to finish on their own or with their family, but you can encourage them, get them started, and give them tools that will help them.) Remember to look for overlaps with requirements from their Cub Scout books.

March: Compassion, Planting Seeds of Kindness

Read and discuss the parable of the good Samaritan. Plan and complete a service project that helps a family member or neighbor. After completing the project, discuss how it helped your faith grow stronger.

“Do a Good Turn Daily.” Boys this age love role play. Why not role play the scripture story with your den, then give them suggestions for ways to serve their families and neighbors. A fun display for pack meeting could be a poster of all of the service your den did that month, maybe written on wolf-shaped paper cut-outs or something.

Learn about and practice good manners and courtesy.

This is a chance to be silly. Play a game that involves role-playing a bunch of bad manners in a given scenario, then have the boys turn it around and replace all the bad manners with good manners.

Write a letter to a teacher, your parents, or your grandparents telling them what you appreciate and respect about them. (square knot requirement)

This could be used this month or next month, and it should fulfill a writing requirement.

April: Faith, Cub Scouts Give Thanks

Give a Family Home Evening Lesson on Joseph Smith's First Vision. Discuss how Heavenly Father answers our sincere prayers. (square knot requirement)

One of our wolf leaders used to give the boys mini flannel figures they could use to teach their families. You can find the download and instructions here (she reduced them 50% to save resources; you could also use card stock instead of flannel and call them "puppets").

Read a recent conference address by the prophet. Decide what you can do to follow the prophet and do it.

We are thankful to have a living prophet and April is a great time to remember that. To help the boys find ways they can follow the prophet, print out recent statements by the prophet and cut them into strips. Fold the strips and put them in a can, jar, bag or box. Have the boys take turns pulling them out and reading them.

Learn to sing “Choose the Right.” Explain what agency is and what it means to be responsible for your choices. Discuss how making good choices has helped you develop greater faith.

Agency is definitely something to be thankful for. The primary theme this year is “Choose the Right” so chances are the boys are singing this in primary already, so a discussion on choices and agency should be all they need to pass this one off (if they haven't already).

May: Health and Fitness, Cub Cafe

Read D&C 89. Discuss how Heavenly Father blesses us when we faithfully live the Word of Wisdom. Help plan and conduct an activity to teach the Word of Wisdom to others.

Here is an idea for a lesson on the Word of Wisdom that would be perfect to use with Cub Scouts. And here is a printout you could give the boys to use to teach their families about the Word of Wisdom in a Family Home Evening. It is based on the old “MyPyramid” printouts. The latest is “MyPlate” which would also fit well into a Word of Wisdom lesson.

Plan, prepare and serve a nutritious meal.

I believe each level of Cub Scouts has a requirement that fits with this. Obviously it's something the boys need to do at home, but you can help them plan a meal using “MyPlate” as a guide to show them how to balance things out. Have them fold a paper into quarters, then unfold it. Have them label the sections: Protein, Grain, Fruit, Vegetable. Have them think of at least one thing they can make/serve for each category and write or draw it in. If they want to add a dessert and/or dairy (they probably will) just have them add it on the back of the paper. Putting it on the back is a reminder that it's optional, while the other groups are essential.

Plan a physical fitness program for yourself that may include learning to play a sport or game. Participate in the program for one month.

How perfect is this? Come up with a plan together as a den and challenge everyone to follow it for the month of May. You may want to work on one of the sports belt loops together. (I am a fan of badminton myself.)

Learn about and practice good nutrition, good health, and good grooming, including modest dress.

If you're spending the month working on health and nutrition, you've got the first half of this one covered already. Why not throw in a lesson about how the way we dress affects our actions? That is another way we treat our body as a temple. You might have one of the dads come as a guest speaker/teacher to talk a little about dressing appropriately to pass the sacrament or to teach the boys how to tie a tie.

Incorporating Faith in God into Cub Scouts

One of the things that is emphasized a lot more in the new Handbook is that Faith in God should be a part of your Cub Scout program. This is something I have wondered about as both a den leader and a primary teacher – whose job exactly is it to do Faith in God with the boys? Well, number one should be the parents, of course, just like with the Cub Scout requirements. But prepared leaders and teachers can find ways to work Faith in God into what they are already doing. I am trying to get better at this, and I wanted to share some of the ideas I have had.

I am still getting to know the new Cub Scout program (err.... delivery method) with using Character Connections as the themes. I think these make it easier than ever to work Faith in God into meetings. I have just started putting together a resource book with our Ward's Wolf Den Leader with ideas organized by theme. I went through the Faith in God for Boys book and matched many of the suggestions up to the themes:

Health and Fitness:

Learning and Living the Gospel: Read D&C 89. Discuss how Heavenly Father blesses us when we faithfully live the Word of Wisdom. Help plan and conduct an activity to teach the Word of Wisdom to others.

Serving Others: Plan, prepare and serve a nutritious meal.

Developing Talents: Plan a physical fitness program for yourself that may include learning to play a sport or game. Participate in the program for one month.

Developing Talents: Learn about and practice good nutrition, good health, and good grooming, including modest dress.

Citizenship:

Serving Others: Read the twelfth article of faith. Discuss what it means to be a good citizen and how your actions can affect others.

Memorize Twelfth Article of Faith.

Respect:

Serving Others: Write a letter to a teacher, your parents, or your grandparents telling them what you appreciate and respect about them. (one of the requirements for square knot)

Serving Others: Make a list of qualities you like in a person. Choose one quality to develop in yourself. Discuss how showing respect and kindness strengthens you, your family, and others.

Memorize Eleventh Article of Faith.

Responsibility:

Learning and Living the Gospel: Learn to sing “Choose the Right” (Hymn 239). Explain what agency is and what it means to be responsible for your choices. Discuss how making good choices has helped you develop greater faith.

Serving Others: Entertain young children with songs or games you have learned or made yourself. Show that you know how to care for and protect a young child.

Memorize Second Article of Faith

Honesty:

Memorize Thirteenth Article of Faith.

For Faith and Compassion there are entire sections of possibilities, so I will not list them all, but I will share one more idea my den leader friend used. She made half-sized versions of the Joseph Smith's First Vision flannel board characters from here. She gave a set to each of her Wolves to help them teach about the First Vision in Family Home Evening (another square knot requirement).

The Church has also put out a list of where Faith in God suggestions overlap with Cub Scout requirements.

How about working the Articles of Faith into your den and pack meetings? Here is a post on another blog about activities ideas I am using as a Primary teacher to help the boys with their Articles of Faith. Many of them could be used in den meetings. Here a couple more ideas that could be used in pack meetings:

As a gathering activity you could break several Articles of Faith into short phrases, each on a separate card. Give these cards to people as they arrive. They have to find the other people who will complete their Article of Faith.

For an activity you could have 1-3 words (depending on which Article of Faith you choose and how much participation you expect to get) from an Article of Faith written on cards. Hand these out and have the people line up in order without talking. Then have them read the cards in order to see how they did. If you have especially large pack meetings you could have two or three teams, each with a different Article of Faith (use a different color of cards for each one to keep them straight).