Recently my ward had a great ward activity. Every year Cub Scouts holds the Pinewood Derby, and sadly more often than not dads will make the cars for their sons. The competition is very fierce, and often the activity does not end in a positive light. Well our ward had a Pinewood Derby Ben Hurr Style. This was a no holds barred Pinewood Derby.
There were very few rules. The first was that your car had to finish to qualify. There was a five pound weight limit. You could have a motorized car. Anyone could enter, so there could be dads who built the car and kids who built another one. The kits were handed out, but you did not have to use them. The biggest rule was that you could not harm the other cars.
There were several contests. Of course there was the contest for fastest car. Additional categories were slowest, best looking, most unique, best design, and most creative. There were three judges to determine the winner in all of the categories. You may consider having the audience vote on their favorite car as well.
This activity was a lot of fun. The young children enjoyed themselves as much as the adults. Because the rules were lifted, the attitude was a lot more lighthearted than a real Pinewood Derby. The activity was about an hour long, and clean up seemed to be fairly easy.
If you are on the ward activities committee you may want to consider doing this activity with your ward. You can have it around the time of the real Pinewood Derby, since it may distract some of the fathers’ attention away from that. In addition you do want to make sure that you keep the activity upbeat. You should not let the competition take over the activity.
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