Strengthen the Mind
Just being a kid
Cub scouts complete building projects
Photo and reporting by
The Town Line
At a Cub Scout meeting in Skowhegan, kids from first grade through fifth built birdhouses from kits, each one checking off a different rank requirement, from Tiger to Build It elective. Kurtis Brown's family had already cut out every piece for the whole pack, so all that was left was hammer, glue, and paint.
The parent pitched in
Marci Gilpin worked the wood next to her son Joshua, Zack worked next to Philo, and nobody did a kid's birdhouse for them. They just sat at the same table and passed the tools.
Why we picked this one
Nobody here invented anything. A family cut some wood ahead of time, a room full of first through fifth graders showed up, and by the end of the meeting every kid had a birdhouse and a requirement checked off. That's the whole trick: precut the boring part, then get out of the way.
Cut the pieces the night before, the way Kurtis Brown's family did for the whole pack, then hand your kid the hammer and the glue and go do something else for an hour.
Read the full story at
The Town Line
Where it happened:
Skowhegan, Maine
You don't need a troop meeting or a rank requirement, just a scrap of pine, a saw, and a Saturday before the birds pick somewhere else to live this spring.