Encouraging Cub Scouts Reading

I’ve been an avid reader my entire life. I had a small library in the hall closet as a child, and learned that my mom would grant me “a little more time” to stay up past my bedtime so long as I was reading. In middle school, I had two friends who would sit with me on the sidewalks and read. I came to adore used bookstores at an early age, and when I found out I was pregnant with my son, the first purchases were books to develop his own library.

I love that the NOVA program encourages reading by making reading or watching stories about the STEM topics the first requirement in each award. I have created a mini library for our NOVA program filled with books the Cubs can check out to read if needed for their award.

Wanting to encourage more reading, I instituted summer reading programs this year for my NOVA den as well as my Pack (PDFs available below). I have patches I’ve acquired from various buys on Facebook groups and eBay as well as the old Academics program Reading and Writing belt loops. Only my NOVAs participated, but I’m hopeful that it will catch on next time.

My other literacy love is Little Free Libraries. A few years back, I converted an old doll suitcase into a mobile one for my animal shelter that I take to our adoption events. So today, while out and about, I ran across this old Caboodles case and knew exactly what to do with it: mobile Cub Scout Little Free Library.

The interior of the case was fabric, so I ran and grabbed some self-adhesive shelf liner to go over the old, stained fabric.

I had some Cub stickers leftover from a couple years ago, and am still looking for some others I might add to over time. The books I added are some picked up from Goodwill of varying reading levels and others from my son’s collection that he doesn’t read as much anymore.

I still need to get it an official LFL charter, but looking forward to having it at our upcoming campouts, which should be a nice addition to our game box I made a couple years ago.

Summer Reading Programs: