Scout Saturday Live! just one example of BSA councils offering quality quarantine programming

Live, from the living rooms, kitchens and backyards of Scouting families like yours, it’s Scout Saturday Live!

This new web series, created by Scouts, volunteers and professionals in the BSA’s Western Los Angeles County Council, serves up a fun mix of games, competitions, projects, science experiments and more.

Everything featured, even the interactive elements, can be experienced from the comfort of your home using common household items.

The premiere episode on March 28 was viewed by hundreds of Scout units across 34 states, Puerto Rico, England, Germany and Canada. The episode began with a scavenger hunt to find items around the house. After that, viewers were challenged to turn those items into a Rube Goldberg machine.

The show airs every other Saturday, and if you can’t watch live, the council will post the full broadcast on the Scout Saturday Live! site.

Local councils, national service center stepping up

Scout Saturday Live! is just another example of local councils showing remarkable creativity and flexibility as they bring Scouting-specific programming into the homes of families across the country.

We’ve heard about innovative solutions from councils in Minnesota, Iowa, New York, Georgia and many, many more.

To see what your council is planning, visit your local council website or Facebook page. (Not sure of your council’s name? Use the handy Local Council Locator.)

On a national level, the BSA is regularly updating its Scouting at Home page with tons of great resources organized by program: Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Sea Scouts and Venturing. There’s even a section of STEM-related content. Nice!

And even though your nearest Scout Shop may be closed, ScoutShop.org is open to deliver Scouting at Home essentials right to your door.

More about Scout Saturday Live!

To learn more about Scout Saturday Live!, I spoke with Jeff Rudner, special event chairman for the Western Los Angeles County Council.

“The objective of the program is to keep the Scouting spirit and fun alive amid the uncertainty of what’s going on in our world,” he says.

Scouting doesn’t stop being youth-led just because everyone is physically separated. That’s why Rudner and his team made sure to find Scouts to serve as hosts.

The premiere featured six hosts from three different councils in California. To find them, Rudner held online auditions and received dozens of responses from interested Scouts.

“We asked older Scouts to submit one-minute videos that allowed us to see their personality and enthusiasm about Scouting,” he says. “They were outstanding!”

The first batch of hosts were from California, but residency in that state is not a requirement. Rudner hopes to involve Scouts from other states as the series continues.

“The ultimate goal is to try to have other councils across the country take turns producing episodes to contribute to Scout Saturday Live!” he says.

Advancement and the future of Scout Saturday Live!

Rudney wants Scout Saturday Live! to be about more than entertainment. That’s why with each episode, Rudner and his team post an Advancement Tracker graphic that outlines the various requirements viewers can complete while watching.

(Speaking of advancement, check out our overview of how advancement works during the COVID-19 outbreak.)

So how many episodes of Scout Saturday Live! can viewers expect? There’s no way to know, Rudner says.

“Certainly for the foreseeable future until normal Scout programming can continue,” he says. “But the fact is that there’s so much potential for this to become a regular activity for both Scouts and non-Scouts — it’s really exciting!”