I can’t help but chuckle… Me. The dad who was never a scout, asked to teach the kids how to tie knots.
No sweat, I can do this!
I already had a couple of ropes that I keep within my CERT bag. Nothing extravagent, basic 100′ ropes that I picked up at Home Depot.
So I decided, you can’t really practice without rope, so I took one of my ropes and cut it in to 10′ sections. This way each kid can have their own segment of rope to take home and practice tying their knotes — hopefully not to tie up their little brothers or sisters!
My plan is to also provide them with about 12″-18″ of nylon construction string so they can dress the ends of their ropes. I’ve done one end for them, they now will be able to dress the other end of their ropes using a Sailor’s Whipping as pictured here to the right.
Of course, not being a scout myself, I had to learn these knots myself. The book for the bear scouts has a few different knots that the kids must learn to complete this achievement, a sailor’s whipping, timber hitch, Reef (square) knot, a bowline knot, and a sheet bend. Each has their own specific uses, which oddly I don’t find within the scouting book, but I was able to locate a great source online at Grog’s Scouting Knots. Here they list the different knots and provide some information on their usage.
We’re also going to play a little game where the kids will add a small weight (a bean bag) to the end of a rope and then attempt to toss the rope in to a target.
Should be fun, but I know time will be limited and we’ve got a lot of other things to do all within 1 hour. Wish me luck!
