Code of the Wolf

Resources

for this

Adventure

Learn About the Adventure

Current requirements can be seen HERE as well as found in your rank manual - along with great ideas for completion. We guide you through the completion of the requirements in bold below.

Complete the following requirements:

  1. Complete two of the following:

(a) With the members of your den or family, make a game with simple materials that requires math to keep score. (b) Play a game of "Go Fish for 10s." (c) Do five activities at home, at school, or in your den that use mathematics, and then explain to your den how you used everyday math.(d) Make a rekenrek with two rows, and show your den leader or other adult how you would represent the numbers 4, 6, 9, and 14.(e) Make a rain gauge or some other measuring device, and use it.

  1. Complete one of the following:

(a) With other members of your den or family, identify three different types of shapes that you see in nature.(b) With other members of your den or family, identify two shapes you can see in the construction of bridges. (c) Select a single shape or figure. Observe the world around you for at least a week, and write down where you see this shape or figure and how it is used.

  1. Complete one of the following:

(a) With your den, find something that comes with many small, colored items in one package. Count the number of items of each color in your package. Keep track of each color. Then:i. Draw a graph showing the number of items of each color. ii. Determine what the most common color is. iii. Compare your results to those of the other Scouts.iv. Predict how many items of each color you will find in one more package. v. Decide if your prediction was close.(b) With your den or family, measure the height of everyone in the group and see who takes more steps to walk 100 feet.(c) Have each member of your den shoot a basketball. Count the number of shots it takes for each scout to sink five baskets. Make a graph that shows how successful your den was. Your graph should show each group that needed 5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, and more than 20 tries to sink their shots.

  1. Complete one of the following:

(a) Use a secret code using numbers to send a message to one of your den members or your den leader. Have that person send a message back to you. Be sure you both use the same code.(b) Send a message to another member of your den or your den leader using the pig pen code or another code that changes letters into special shapes. (c) Practice using a code stick to create and decode a message.

#1b | Go Fish for 10s

Materials: ☐ Deck of regular playing cards.


GO FISH FOR 10S

Played like regular “Go Fish,” except the goal is to get two cards that add up to 10. Use a regular deck of cards and remove all the 10s and face cards. Aces count as 1.


  1. Start with five cards, and put the extra cards face down on the table. If you have a pair of cards that add up to 10, put them down in front of you.

  2. When it’s your turn, ask one player for a card that you can add to one of your cards to make 10. If he has the card you asked for, put down the pair, and take one card from the deck. If he doesn’t have the card, take one from the deck.

  3. Your turn is over when you can make no more pairs that add up to 10. The game ends when you run out of cards.

#1d | Rekenrek

The rekenrek was designed in Holland. Its name means arithmetic rack. You can make one with some string, 10 red beads, 10 white beads, scissors, and a piece of cardboard. (You can use two different colors if you wish, but use 10 of each.)

Materials:

☐ 2 pipe cleaners, ☐ 10 red beads, ☐ 10 white beads, ☐ foam sheet

Directions:

  1. Use the tips of the pipe cleaners to poke two holes through the foam sheet. The holes should be about 1½ inches from the edge of the sheet and 1 inch apart.

  2. Thread the pipe cleaners through the holes at one side of the foam sheet.

  3. Push five red beads and five white beads onto the long side of each pipe cleaner. Each row of your rack will contain five beads of one color and five beads of another color in the pattern below. That makes 10 beads on each row of your rack.

  4. Press your pipe cleaners through the foam sheet about and 1 ½” from the other end of the sheet and 1 inch apart. So the racks are even and parallel.

  5. Secure the reverse side by twisting the pipe cleaner ends together or bending them in and using a heavy adhesive tape (like Duck) to secure them.

How to Use:

The rekenrek allows you to use different math strategies to come up with the right number or to add and subtract numbers. Start by placing all the beads on the right side of the rack.

As you count the number of beads you need to show a number, push the beads you counted over to the left. Let’s say the number you are asked to find is 5. You know that you have five beads of one color and five beads of another color on each line of your rack. You would simply push the first five beads of one color on the first row over to the left. You have just shown the number five on the rekenrek. Or you could count by ones to make five beads on the left.

#2a | Shapes In Nature

Take a hike or a walk. Spread a blanket in the yard and spend some time looking around. Identify three different types of shapes that you see in nature.

#3b | Compare

Activity:

  1. Mark a starting line and a finish line at least 100 feet apart.

  2. Have each person walk from the starting line to the finish line, and count the number of steps he or she takes.

  3. Next, measure how tall each person is.

What do you notice? Does everyone take the same number of steps? Who took the most steps? Who took the fewest steps? Do you think it takes more steps or fewer steps if you are taller or shorter?

#4c | Code Stick

Materials:

☐ Pencil,

☐ marker,

☐ paper,

☐ scissors,

☐ tape

Directions:

  1. Cut a long, thin strip of paper about ¼ to ½ inch wide from the side of a sheet of paper.

  2. Tape the piece of paper to the top of a pencil. Wrap it tightly around the length of the pencil so the edges of the strip are exactly side by side.

  3. Tape the paper strip to the other end of the pencil so the paper strip stays in place when you write on it.

  4. Write your secret message down one side of the pencil. Add a few extra letters on other sides.

5. Unwrap the strip of paper from the pencil. The letters should be mixed up and seem random. Pass the secret code to another person.

6. Your buddy can wrap the paper strip around a pencil to decode it. The letters will now form the secret message. See if you can send a message made on a code stick and decode a message sent back to you by a friend!