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How to Easily Complete the Webelos Cyber Chip Teachable Recipes

The Cyber Chip is no longer a Cub Scout rank requirement. However, the Teachable Recipes are great activities to help the Scouts learn about online safety.

Webelos Cyber Chip Teachable Recipes f

Note: As of the 2022-2023 program year, the Cyber Chip is no longer a Cub Scout rank requirement. This information is being retained for reference.

The Webelos and Arrow of Light Cyber Chip requirements are a bit more rigorous than the Cub Scout Cyber Chip requirements. The Scouts get to be the teachers for one of the requirements.

Not only is the fun for them, but it helps reinforce the message. But how exactly do you complete these requirements with a den of 8 or 10 Webelos?

Webelos Cyber Chip Requirements

  1. Read, commit to, and sign the Level I Internet Safety Pledge. (This is the BSA Cyber Chip blue card.)
  2. Watch the video “The Password Rap” and another video of your choosing.
  3. As an individual or with your den, use the Teachable Recipes to demonstrate Internet safety rules to your den leader, den, or pack.
  4. Discuss with your unit leader the acceptable standards and practices for using allowed electronic devices, such as phones and games, at your meetings and other Scouting events.

The Grades 4 & 5 tab of this page has these instructions for Cyber Chip Requirement 3:  Teach your Den or Pack about Internet safety using your favorite Teachable Recipes.

You will play the part of the teacher. Your Den members will be your students. Think about asking another Den member for help!

What are the Webelos Cyber Chip Teachable Recipes?

The Teachable Recipes document includes four different “recipes.”

Who's on the Internet? – For this one, the Scouts need to bake two batches of cookies. For the second recipe, they are supposed to swap the sugar and salt amounts. So, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt, the second batch would have 1 cup of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar.

The moral of this recipe is that people on the internet aren't always what they seem to be. You may think your online buddy “Trevor” is a 10-year-old just like you, but he may be an adult who wants to harm you.

webelos teachable recipes trying cookies

Trusted Adult – This recipe uses uncooked spaghetti noodles to teach the kids that it's easier to be strong and safe when you're surrounded by family and friends who help keep you safe.

Cyberbullying – Pudding mix and milk show how rumors and truth on the internet can get mixed up and permanently change a person's reputation.

Viruses – Using a piece of bread to represent a computer and water to represent a corrupted, downloaded file, this recipe uses mold to represent how a computer can become infected.

Potential Issues

When my son and his den were working on the Webelos Cyber Chip, I could see three potential issues with this part of the requirements.

  1. Element of Surprise – The recipes work as a teaching tool because of the element of surprise–especially the What's on the Internet? recipe. If a Scout did this activity with his den and a second Scout tried to do it, no one would taste the cookies!
  2. Number of Presentations Per Scout – The requirement says to teach your den using “your favorite Teachable Recipes.” Does that mean the Scouts need to teach all four of them? The Scouts would get bored watching the same old thing again and again.
  3. Amount of Time – We had twelve Scouts in the den. How were we going to fit in twelve presentations? Even though they can be done in just a few minutes, it would be difficult to do all of these plus complete the adventures they were working on.

Process for Webelos Cyber Chip Teachable Recipes

I haven't found an official Boy Scouts of America policy that says each Scout must teach all four recipes, so my personal opinion is that the Scouts do not need to teach all four to meet this requirement.

We decided to have the Scouts work in teams. We also decided that we would skip the Viruses activity because it would take two meetings to complete.

We divided the Scouts into three groups of four Scouts each and assigned a recipe and a meeting date to each group. I emailed the parents with the recipe and meeting date and asked that they plan some time for the team to prepare their presentation.

My son was on the Who's on the Internet? team. We invited the rest of the team to our house the night before our meeting date. It was fun watching them bake cookies. They especially loved that they were going to trick the other members of the den by serving very salty cookies to them.

webelos teachable recipes cookies 3

While the cookies were baking, the boys talked about their presentation and decided what each of them was going to do and say. They made notes for themselves and even wrote down when they would pass out the cookies.

And yes, there was a lot of “I think Tommy is going to be the most surprised” and “I can't wait to see the look on Billy's face.”

Because they took less prework, the Trusted Adult and Cyberbullying teams met about thirty minutes prior to the den meeting start time. This gave the Scouts time to talk about the lesson that their activity represented and what they would say to make sure the other kids understood the lesson.

This process worked great for us. All twelve of our Scouts were able to complete this Arrow of Light and Webelos Cyber Chip requirement in just four meetings.

What about your pack? How did your Webelos and Arrow of Light dens complete the Teachable Recipes?

Yours in Scouting,
Sherry

Cub Scout Cyber Chip Requirements for Each Rank

Saturday 23rd of February 2019

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