Every year we have a River Regatta for the Cub Scouts. It's combined with the other local LDS packs, just like our annual Pinewood Derby. We all have fairly small packs so it's nice to combine forces: the more, the merrier.
This year our pack was put in charge of awards and after some googling I decided to make little trophies similar to the ones I found here. They're similar to the trophies I've made for the Pinewood Derby the last couple years and are pretty easy to make. Even better, all the wood came from my scrap stash. All that needed to be purchased were the rubber duckies. We bought one package of these and one package of these, though if we're in charge of them again next year we're only buying the pirate duckies.
I made 21 trophies, 7 each of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The Wolves, Bears, and Webelos each had two races of different lengths, and there was one final race that everyone, including siblings, participated in.
The upright portions are 2"x2" and the bases are 1"x4" boards cut into squares (so they're about 3.5"x3.5"). They're glued together with a screw connecting them from the bottom.
The 2x2s are cut to 3" for the 3rd place, 3.5" for the 2nd place, and 4" for the 1st place. I then cut 1/4" off each corner, like the inspiration trophies. I debated doing this since it was a bit fiddly and looked a little weird on the unpainted wood. After spray painting, they looked fine, so I'm glad I went ahead with the extra fiddly-ness.
After the paint dried, I cut sailboat shapes and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lettering from white vinyl. I cut little flags from red vinyl and little stars from yellow vinyl. Those were completely unnecessary, but my OCD demanded the extra little details :)
After I finished fiddling with the vinyl I used gorilla glue to attach the duckies to the wood. I used strips of painter's tape to hold the duckies in place while the glue dried.
I love how they turned out and everyone agreed. I had the wood, screws, glue, spray paint, and vinyl, so the only cost was the two dozen duckies. Since we have a tight Cub Scout budget, the cheaper we can do things, the better.
You might be wondering why we do a river regatta rather than the standard rain gutter regatta. Well, a member of one of the other wards has a river running through his front yard and they've hosted the regatta for the past 10+ years. It's so much more fun than a rain gutter regatta :)
The river regatta consists of boats made from chunks of 2x4, with races started at two points in the river. The first time they're placed in the water upstream, the second time they're dropped from the pedestrian bridge into the water.
The great thing about this is that you can't design your boat to win- it's pure luck how your boat does. Which side of the river, which eddies it encountered, and rocks, branches, etc all affect how fast or slow each boat goes. Lots of fun for everyone!
This year our pack was put in charge of awards and after some googling I decided to make little trophies similar to the ones I found here. They're similar to the trophies I've made for the Pinewood Derby the last couple years and are pretty easy to make. Even better, all the wood came from my scrap stash. All that needed to be purchased were the rubber duckies. We bought one package of these and one package of these, though if we're in charge of them again next year we're only buying the pirate duckies.
I made 21 trophies, 7 each of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The Wolves, Bears, and Webelos each had two races of different lengths, and there was one final race that everyone, including siblings, participated in.
trophies waiting to be painted
The upright portions are 2"x2" and the bases are 1"x4" boards cut into squares (so they're about 3.5"x3.5"). They're glued together with a screw connecting them from the bottom.
The 2x2s are cut to 3" for the 3rd place, 3.5" for the 2nd place, and 4" for the 1st place. I then cut 1/4" off each corner, like the inspiration trophies. I debated doing this since it was a bit fiddly and looked a little weird on the unpainted wood. After spray painting, they looked fine, so I'm glad I went ahead with the extra fiddly-ness.
After the paint dried, I cut sailboat shapes and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lettering from white vinyl. I cut little flags from red vinyl and little stars from yellow vinyl. Those were completely unnecessary, but my OCD demanded the extra little details :)
After I finished fiddling with the vinyl I used gorilla glue to attach the duckies to the wood. I used strips of painter's tape to hold the duckies in place while the glue dried.
I love how they turned out and everyone agreed. I had the wood, screws, glue, spray paint, and vinyl, so the only cost was the two dozen duckies. Since we have a tight Cub Scout budget, the cheaper we can do things, the better.
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You might be wondering why we do a river regatta rather than the standard rain gutter regatta. Well, a member of one of the other wards has a river running through his front yard and they've hosted the regatta for the past 10+ years. It's so much more fun than a rain gutter regatta :)
The river regatta consists of boats made from chunks of 2x4, with races started at two points in the river. The first time they're placed in the water upstream, the second time they're dropped from the pedestrian bridge into the water.
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