Before the meeting:
- Ask Cub Scouts’ parent or legal guardian to bring a compass to the meeting if they have one.
During the meeting:
- Tell Cub Scouts that they’ll be making a sundial.
- Pass out supplies.
- Ask Cub Scouts to carefully poke a hole through the center of the plate using the pencil.
- Instruct Cub Scouts to push the straw through the hole and tape the short end underneath to hold it in place.
- Explain to Cub Scouts that they’ll need to do part of this activity over a day’s time at home, but that they’ll be practicing what to do.
- Tell Cub Scouts to place their sundial on the floor. Explain that when they’re home, they’ll put their sundial in a sunny area. They may need to find rocks to hold their sundial down.
- Ask Cub Scouts to use their compass to find north. Next, they need to tilt the straw slightly north. Explain that when they do this at home, the tilted straw will cast a slightly longer shadow.
- When Cub Scouts are at home, they will mark the shadow with the time.
- Every hour, Cub Scouts will check their sundial and will mark the shadow with the time.
Tip: This is a good activity to do during a pack campout.