Home and Community - Blue Star Activities

(Click on any star to access other badges)

Learning how to take care of your home and getting around your community are part of becoming a responsible grownup. These activities win get you started on exploring where you live.

BLUE STAR
DISABILITY AWARENESS BADGE
FAMILY HELPER BADGE
FAMILY SAFETY BADGE
FIRST AIDER BADGE
GUIDE BADGE
HOME REPAIR BADGE
LAW AWARENESS BADGE
PET CARE BADGE
CANADIAN FAMILY CARE AWARD

BLUE STAR  
To earn the Blue Star; choose and do any of of the A requirements and any four of the B requirements: 
A. Requirements
1. Accept and carry out a home chore for one month, such as washing dishes, cleaning your room or caring for the family pet. 
2. With an adult, show how to make simple repairs around your home. 
3. Discuss with your leader some safety rules when home alone and in dealing with strangers. 
4. Show how to use a home telephone, a public telephone, and a telephone book. Show you know your own home telephone number and can find emergency numbers in a telephone book. 
5. Send and receive a simple message in Bliss symbols, Braille, American Sign Language, or another form of communication used by some disabled people. 
6. Demonstrate basic first aid skills.
7. Make use of two community resources such as a library, museum, playground, recreation centre, skating rink, swimming pool, etc., and tell other Cubs how they can use them. 
8. On a map of your community, point out the location of your home and three other interesting places, such as your school, the library, your place of worship, your Cub meeting hall, etc. 
9. Describe the highway codes for pedestrians and cyclists and explain why we have these codes. 
10. Plan and prepare a party for a family, pack, six or other group.
B. Requirements
1. Visit a national, provincial or local government building such as a courthouse or city hall. Tell about or make a scrapbook of your visit. 
2. Visit a municipal service such as the police or fire station, water works, sewage treatment plant, etc. Tell about or make a scrapbook of your visit. 
3. Visit a communications service, such as a newspaper plant, telephone exchange, printing press, radio or TV. station, etc. Tell about or make a scrapbook of your visit. 
4. Visit a transportation centre, such as an airport, a railway station, bus depot, taxi dispatcher, etc. Tell about or make a scrapbook of your visit. 
5. Carry out out an accident and fire prevention check of your home, garage, Cub meeting place; or community. With your family, draw an emergency escape plan for your home. 
6. Make a list or point out in your meeting place and community what services are available for disabled people.

BADGE ACTIVITIES

DISABILITY AWARENESS BADGE  
Do any four of the following:
1. Recognize the International Symbol of Accessibility and point out places where this sign is found.
2. Discuss with your leader how building entrances, water fountains, elevators, public telephones and washrooms, and sidewalk corner curbs can be made more accessible to persons in wheelchairs.
3. Visit your library and find out how books are made available for visually impaired people.
4. Meet with a social worker, agency representative or knowledgeable adult as to what services are available in your community to people with various disabilities.
5. Talk to your gym teacher, Parks and Recreation department or leader about how disabled persons participate and compete in various sports.
6. Talk to a representative from the phone company; TV station or other knowledgeable adult about what services are available for the hearing impaired.
7. Find out what American Sign Language (ASI) is. Learn some sign language and how to make a large variety of words.
8. Where possible, meet with a disabled person and talk about that person's personal interests and activities.

FAMILY HELPER BADGE  
With the help of an adult, do any seven of the following:
1. Show how to use the kitchen stove or microwave oven safely, and then make tea, coffee, cocoa, soup or cook an egg. 
2. Set a table for a two course meal for your family.
3. Know how to load and operate a dishwasher, of show the proper way to wash dishes by hand.
4. Clean windows and mop a floor.
5. Make a bed and clean and tidy a room.
6. Vacuum a rug.
7. Show the correct way to answer callers at the door and on the telephone, and show how to pass on a message.
8. Wash and dry a load of laundry and iron your neckerchief.
9. Show how to recycle, compost and dispose of household garbage.
10. Sew on a badge and a button.
11. Discuss how to properly dispose of household toxic waste such as paint, oil, paint thinner, old medicine, cleaners and batteries.
12. Wash an automobile.
13. Keep an entrance to a home clear of snow for one month.
14. Water a lawn or garden for one month.

FAMILY SAFETY BADGE
With the help of an adult, complete the following:
1. Help reduce the risk of fire and burns in the home by checking that: 
     a) Matches and flammable liquids are stored properly and out of reach of small children
     b) Paint, paper and rags are away from heat
     c) Pot handles are turned toward the back of the stove to prevent the pots being knocked or grab bed by small children
     d) Your hot water tank is set below 54 degrees C (130 degrees F) to help prevent scalding
2. Show how to test and care for a smoke alarm.
3. Help reduce the risk of poisoning in the home by checking that: 
     a) Poisons, cleaners and medicines are out of reach of children. Show how to find poison information on household products labeled as poison,
     b) Food containers such as pop bottles are not being used to store poisonous products
     c) Food is stored safely and handled properly
4. Know and draw the following hazardous products symbols for poison, flammable, explosive and corrosive. Find some products that are labeled this way.
5. Show how to lock and secure all windows, doors and other entry ways into your home.
6. Tell or demonstrate what to do if: 
     a) The lights go out in your home
     b) A fuse blows or circuit breaker trips
     c) There is a broken water pipe
     d) There is a smell of natural gas
     e) The drains back up
7. Help reduce the risk of falls in the home by checking that halls, stairs, and walkways are clear of objects.
8. Do one of the following projects: 
     a) Make a poster or display that show the dangers of playing on or near train tracks, trestles, crossings and/or train yards
     b) Make a poster or display that shows the dangers of touching power lines with a stick or ladder, climbing on electrical power poles, towers and substations, poking electrical outlets and/or pulling toast out of a toaster with a knife or fork
     c) Make a poster or display that shows the dangers of playing around storm sewers, construction sites, garbage dumps or dumpsters, ice covered water or water areas, vacant buildings, farm machinery, quarries, old wells and/or unfriendly animals
9. Make a list of emergency numbers, such as: police, fire, ambulance, etc., and post it by a phone in your home.

FIRST AIDER BADGE  
With the help of an adult, do the following:
1. Explain: 
     a) The meaning of first aid
     b) The meaning of medical aid
     c) The three most important measures you must learn to save a life
2. Do the following: 
     a) Demonstrate rescue breathing
     b) Demonstrate first aid for a severe wound
     c) Show how to care for an unconscious person
     d) Show how to give first aid for a burn or scald
     e) Show how to give first aid for a wound that is bleeding
     f) Show how to stop a nose bleed
     g) Show what to do if your clothes or another person's clothes catch fire
     h) Describe the signs of frost-bite and how to treat it
     i) Describe what to do if an insect or animal bites you or another person
     j) Explain how to prevent and treat hypothermia and overheating
Note: Direct human contact (human to human) is not required for Cubs practicing rescue breathing. You can get more information from the local office of St. John Ambulance or The Canadian Red Cross that serves your area.

GUIDE BADGE
1. Show that you can politely give clear, simple directions to someone asking his or her way. Describe what you would do if a stranger offered you a ride of asked you to come along to show him or her how to get to a place.
2. Describe how to call for fire fighters, police or ambulance.
3. Show on a map the route of your local bus, or school bus or a direct route from your home to the centre of your community.
4. Describe how to get to the main highways around your community.
5. Describe or point out on a map the location of as many of the following as are found in your community: 
     a) nearest mail box or post office
     b) police station
     c) hospital/doctor
     d) school
     e) drug store
     f) public telephone
     g) fire station or alarm box
     h) railway or bus station
     i) gas station
     j) hotel or motel
     k) block parent

HOME REPAIR BADGE  
With the help of an adult, do any seven of the following:
1. Show how to turn on and off the electric power supply and the water supply in your home. Explain how to turn off the gas supply if your home uses gas.
2. Replace a light bulb in a socket.
3. Replace a tap washer.
4. Lubricate a door hinge and/or lock.
5. Finish a wood surface and stain.
6. Properly prepare and paint a piece of wood or metal.
7. Help keep work areas, such as garage or basement, clean and tidy for one month.
8. Re-sod or reseed a worn out part of a lawn.
9. Tell or show how to clear a stopped up sink or toilet.
10. Replace a doorknob or install any kind of door or window lock.

LAW AWARENESS BADGE
1. Talk to your six about the laws of the Wolf Cub Pack and what they mean. What rules should you have in your six so that everyone can enjoy Cubs more? What might happen if your pack or six did not have rules?
2. Talk to one of your leaders about who makes the laws in our country and why these laws are important to us. Who is responsible for making sure our laws are followed? Who can you ask for help if you see a law being broken?
3. For any Our of the following situations, explain to your six what the laws are and why we have them: 
     a) Crossing private property
     b) Burning or damaging private property
     c) Traffic laws for bicycles, pedestrians and automobiles
     d) Littering
     e) Hurting other people
     f) Taking what doesn't belong to you
     g) Polluting or damaging the environment
     h) Drinking and driving
     i) Taking illegal drugs. Talk about what would happen in your neighbourhood if you didn't have these laws
4. Talk with your parents or guardian about the following situations and decide what you would do for any four of them: 
     a) Someone breaks into or damages your house
     b) Someone steals your bicycle
     c) A stranger asks questions about your parents, neighbours, or yourself
     d) You see someone hurting or bullying another person
     e) Someone asks you to break open a school locker
     f) Someone offers you drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes
     g) Someone dares you to shoplift

PET CARE BADGE
1. Keep and take care of a pet for three months or, if this is not possible, help take care of another persons pet for three months.
2. Explain and obey local regulations for keeping an animal as a pet.
3. Read a book about your pet.
4. Explain the care of the pet: shelter, feeding, common illnesses and inoculations, cleanliness, exercise, and training.
5. Describe how to be careful around a strange animal and what to do if you suspect it might have a dangerous disease such as rabies.
6. Explain how and why the pet became domesticated. 
Hint: Requirement 6 works for animals like cats, horses, and dogs. For some animals (like snakes), it will be hard to learn when they became domesticated, if they ever did. If, for any reason, you can't care for a pet at home, ask one of your leaders how you can arrange to care for a pet elsewhere. Check the library in your community or at school for books on pets.

AWARDS

CANADIAN FAMILY CARE AWARD
1. Earn the Blue Star.
2. Earn the following Home and Community related badges: 
     a) Family Safety
     b) First Aider
     c) Disability Awareness
3. Earn one other Home and Community related badge.
4. Help show other Cubs how to do a family care skill of your choice.