Figure 1.--Games are favorite activity for Cubs and younger Scouts. One popular game is a pillow fight on a log. This was a activity at a regional Scout show in 1983.

Early American Boy Scouting had a wide range of activities that are now seen as traditional Scouting. Central to early Scouting was hiking and camping. There was of course much more involved. Thanks to Dan Beard there were many frontier skills like archery, camp craft, hunting, riflery, stalking, and outdoor skills. Beards' books The Boy Pioneers and the The Sons of Daniel Boone! were an important source of activites for early Scouts. Earnest Seaton helped introduced Indian lore including ceremonies, dancing, and handicrafts. His book The Birch Bark Rollwas another important source of activities. Many skills were adopted by Scouts around the world, such as cooking, First Aide, knot tieing, and swiming. Scouting has evolved over the years. Boys are esprcially interested in technoloy. Thus as new technologies developed, they were added to the Scouting program, including" computers, morse code, radio, rocketry, and much more. There also have been special activities such as in time of national emergency.

Archery

Bands

Scouts bands seem to have been very popular in the early years of Scouting. We notice quite a few photographs of Scout bands. We do not, however, know much about them. They seem to have been formed at the troop level. Apparently the BSA also organized Scout bands among the U.S. contingent to World Jamborees. We note an American Scout band at the 1951 World Jamboree in Austria. For some reason Scout bands declined in popularity in America. We rarely see Scout bands by the 1960s.

Camping

Camping was at the beginning of the Scout movement the most popular activity. Scouting was a first organized around camping. The camps were at first makeshift affairs held in rural areas with the permission of local landowners. Gradually as the movement gained momentum, local Scout groups purchased land and built permanent facilities for camping. Pergapd the best known American camp is the Philmont Scout ranch, but many Scout Councils now operate camps throughout the country. Most camps had regulations about the uniforms to be worn. As the major season for caming was the summer after school was out, many camps selected the short pants uniform. American Scouts, especially Scouts in the northern states, did not wear shorts until the 1970s. This often meant that the boys had to buy a special uniform for thde camp. Early American Boy Scouting had a wide range of activities that are now seen as traditional Scouting. Central to early Scouting was hiking and camping. There was of course much more involved. Thanks to Dan Beard there were many frontier skills like archery, camp craft, hunting, rifelry, stalking, and outdoor skills. Beards' books The Boy Pioneers and the The Sons of Daniel Boone! were an important source of activites for early Scouts.

Computers

Cooking

First Aide

Games

All manner of games are popular Scouting activities. Some games are more suited for camping environments than the weekly meeting. The most popular are outdoors wide games, but there are many other outdoor games when a large area is not available. Many popular indoor games as well suitable for all levels of Scouting.

Hiking

Hunting

Indian Lore

Earnest Seaton helped introduced Indian lore including ceremonies, dancing, and handicrafts. His book The Birch Bark Rollwas another important source of activities. This is a major difference between American and other Scouting programs around the World Baden Powell's program, especially the Cubbing program, gave considerable emphasis on Africa and Powell's experiences with military Scouts during the Bohr War. The American program had more of a focus on American Indian lore. While this emphasis is much less important today, Indian lore is still a Scout merit badge and Indian lore continues to be used in both BSA Cub and Scout publications. Some Scout Troops have shown a real interest in Indian loreand have organized Native American dance teams which give demonstrations at campfires and other Scouting events.

Knot Tying

Morse Code

National Emergencies

There also have been special activities such as in time of national emergency. we have only limited information here, but we do have some information on scouting during World War II.

Radio

Riflery

Riflery has been for years a popular activity in Scouting. For many years it was an non-contoversial part of American life. Advertisement for guns were common in Scout publications such as Boys' Life. In more recent years it has become more controversial as guns have become a less accepted in many American homes. In this case there are differences among urban and rural troops as well as regional fifferences with guns more acceptable in the West and South. A major part of the continuing Scout riflery program is gun saftey training as well as developing shooting skills. Some boys grow up in families when guns and hunting are an important part of family life. Other boys would have had no opportunity to be involved with riflery had it not been for Scouting. Many Scout camps have rile ranges.

Rocketry

Stalking

Swiming

Trips

We note quite a few Scout groups taking trips. This seems especially common among pre-World War II Scouts, perhaps because the Scout camp system was not as well established. We see quite a number of Scout grops taking long trips to a variety of attractions. Especially popular were visits to national parks. Some of them wre major trips, including cross country journeys. These must have been real adventures because the national highway system was only beginning to develop in the 1910s ad 20s. These would have been larely camping expeditins. A good example is a 1929 trip made by 12 Scouts and their scout leader, the school principal of Pompton Plains, New Jersey. They went on a 9,000 mile tent camping trip by truck out West and around the United States along with their mascot, an English bull dog.