Save the Date - Pack Holiday Party & Pinewood Derby 2016

Post date: Nov 16, 2015 6:30:35 PM

We will have our Pack Holiday party on Friday, December 4th.  Please check your email for the potluck sign-up list and location details!  It will be a fun program for the whole family!

Our much anticipated Pinewood Derby will be held on Saturday, January 23rd. Scouts will be able to work on building their race cars during the month of December and January.

The Pack will provide scouts with Official Pinewood Derby Kits at the Holiday Party on Dec. 4th. Siblings and family members may purchase the kits from Sara ($5, cash only please. limited quantities available) or from the Scout Shop in Anaheim.  Pack PWD rules and regulations for the cars and derby will also be distributed at the Holiday Party. 

To attend a workshop, you must sign up for a time slot since there are only 1 or 2 saws, and the cutting process can take up to 20 minutes car. Please come with your scout prepared with your designs and outlines.

Thanks to the Bear Den (with the assistance from the Wolf Den) for assisting the PWD Committee to organize and plan this fun and memorable event!

Pinewood Derby (PWD) General Information

The Pinewood Derby is one of the most popular and successful family activities in Cub Scouting. I have heard time and time again from dads that their fondest memories as Cub Scouts were from their childhood Pinewood Derby races! Pinewood Derby cars are small wooden models that Cub Scouts make with help from their families, then race in competition. The cars are powered by gravity and run down a track. Every scout and sibling can design and build his own "grand prix" car to enter in the race.

The three main Scouting goals that the Pinewood Derby help a Scout achieve are:

Sportsmanship and good citizenship: taught by following the derby rules and cheering on friends and den partners as they race against others in the pack.

Personal achievement: comes to any boy who picks up a woodworking tool and shapes raw wood into a sleek design. And, by learning woodworking, he prepares himself to more easily serve in the Boy Scouting's service projects.

Family understanding: enhanced because building a pinewood derby car puts the boy and his mom, dad, or other adult partner into a close and sometimes intense learning experience over, potentially, many hours.

While there are many, many approaches, methods and steps to building a PWD car, generally the FIRST three steps are:

1. Scout imagines or researches a design for his car. Don’t limit his imagination!

2. By himself or together with an adult, sketches are drawn on paper. There are also templates available in books, at the scout shop or even online. Once a design is finalized, the outline is traced on to the wooden block.

3. There are several ways to cut the block of wood. The easiest (and recommended) is to use a band or scroll saw. Since most people don’t have this kind of tool in their garage, the Pinewood Derby Committee has set up workshops for scouts and their parent/family member to cut out the designs. This is a real, and dangerous electric saw- close parental supervision is required and necessary for safety!