Pinewood Derby - Built by Your Own Hands
| Category: | Pack Events |
|---|---|
| Props: | A finished Pinewood Derby car, preferably one that looks kid-built (optional) |
| Notes: | For a pack meeting or den meeting when Pinewood Derby kits are handed out, or at a car-building workshop. Speaks to the Cub Scouts and, gently, to the parents in the room. For race-day minutes, see also before-the-starting-line, finishing-with-pride, losing-with-grace, and pinewood-derby-the-pit-crew. |
Hold up your block of wood. Right now it doesn't look like much. In a few weeks, it's going to be a race car. Your race car.
That word, your, is the most important part of the whole derby.
Some cars on race day will be shiny and perfect. Some will have crooked wheels and paint that dripped a little. Here's a secret: the crooked car that a Cub Scout sanded, painted, and argued with for three weekends is worth more than a perfect car somebody else built for them. Every bump in that paint is a fingerprint. It says, "I made this."
Now, a word to the grown-ups. Your Cub is going to need help. Somebody has to run the saw, and somebody has to make sure all ten fingers are still attached at the end. Please help. But let them make the decisions. Let them pick the shape, even if it's a weird one. Let them put the stickers on crooked. When it's done, they should be able to point at every part of that car and tell you how they made it.
Cub Scouts, here's your mission. Build a car you're proud of. Not the fastest car in the pack, but the one you're proudest of. If you do that, you've already won the part that counts.