I just spoke with a regional Girl Scouts Director about this same
prospect earlier today. This is the info I gave to her for an
upcoming event here in the Pac NW...

Least expensive materials out there:

Carving medium: EZ Kut purchased via art supply store online (Dick
Blick's?)--cut large sheet in individual smaller pieces for stamps--
a rather large sheet runs about $5 plus S&H for about 8"x16" (I
think)--this will make a WHOLE BUNCH of stamps if you cut it up--I
don't even think dollar store erasers can beat this price

Containers: small food storage containers purchased at a dollar
store or used small food storage containers (thoroughly cleaned
before using) found at a thrift shop (I've found a couple dozen
tupperware sandwich containers for about $2 TOTAL at our local St
Vincent de Paul 'plasticware's last stand' store)

Logbooks: purchased in bulk via www.orientaltrading.com do a
search on 'notebook' and you'll be amazed at the results, usually
unruled/unperforated tablets work best--I think you can get about
108 notebooks for $30 plus S&H? There are smaller packages but that
seemed to be the best 'bang for your buck' if you're looking at a
large group of participants...

Carving tools: don't know any better readily available carving tool
except for the Speedball linoleum cutter/carving tool available at
Michaels and other arts/craft stores in the area (this will be the
most expensive purchase)

A Boy Scout troop in our region used letterboxing as an event to
help the Scouts 'fly up' to the next level of scouting about a year
and a half ago (Kennedy Creek letterboxes near Olympia, WA).
Instead of placing new boxes, veteran LBers in the region placed
letterboxes specifically for the event. The clues focused on
orienteering/navigation, puzzle solving, plant identification,
situational/environmental awareness, etc. It was a big hit with the
scouts!!! Hopefully, they learned something in the process, too!

Hope this helps,

dvn2r ckr
DuPont, WA

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Kathi LK Krankoski"
wrote:
> Ah, a fellow GS leader! (I'm a Cadette/Senior leader)
>
> A couple of other leaders and I want to set up a few private boxes
at our
> camp (unposted clues, available only to those with legit access to
the camp,
> for safety reasons). Has anyone ever done something like this
before?
> Obviously I'd have to provide introductory material and provide
supplies for
> them to make up their own stamps. What would be the preferred
cheapest
> route to do this? Art gum or plain old "pink pearl" school
erasers, or
> something else? Any other experiences/ideas to help us get this
off the
> ground? (or should I say "in/on the ground, trees, etc."??)
>
> Thanks,
> --klk/FungusWoman
> Troop 1921, Whispering Oaks Council

Camp Yawgoo in Rockville, RI has some of its own boxes, I understand. (It's also next to two regularly posted boxes in a great, rocky area!) I think it's not a bad idea to make 'Introductory' or 'starter' boxes for them, with appropriate stamps, in a known, private area, for learning purposes. Orienteering is great fun!
The KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Scout - er - -that's a little re-writing) is fine for an 'Intro' course, so using the garden-variety erasers is not only easy on you, it shows people of all income levels that they can do neat things like make stamps for next to no money. No one gets embarrased or bummed because they don't get an allowance and can't get the sheets of material. Plus, if/when they make mistakes, it's not a budget-burner to try again.

Dave
the von der Insels
----- Original Message -----
From: Kathi LK Krankoski
To: Letterbox-USA
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 11:52 AM
Subject: [LbNA] introducing Lb at a GS camp


Ah, a fellow GS leader! (I'm a Cadette/Senior leader)

A couple of other leaders and I want to set up a few private boxes at our
camp (unposted clues, available only to those with legit access to the camp,
for safety reasons). Has anyone ever done something like this before?
Obviously I'd have to provide introductory material and provide supplies for
them to make up their own stamps. What would be the preferred cheapest
route to do this? Art gum or plain old "pink pearl" school erasers, or
something else? Any other experiences/ideas to help us get this off the
ground? (or should I say "in/on the ground, trees, etc."??)

Thanks,
--klk/FungusWoman
Troop 1921, Whispering Oaks Council

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 00:10:26 -0000
From: "sfcgsa120"
Subject: Staunton River State Park

Hi,
My Girl Scout Troop wants to find these letterboxes when they are out
of school next week. Can anyone tell me if they are still there or
should we go elsewhere and not take up the time. They were placed
quite awhile ago. We will have a girl new to letterboxing with us
and don't want to disappoint her on the first try. Thank-you.
A Leader in Virginia



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kathi LK Krankoski wrote:
>A couple of other leaders and I want to set up a few private boxes at our
>camp (unposted clues, available only to those with legit access to the camp,
>for safety reasons). Has anyone ever done something like this before?
>Obviously I'd have to provide introductory material and provide supplies for
>them to make up their own stamps. What would be the preferred cheapest
>route to do this? Art gum or plain old "pink pearl" school erasers, or
>something else? Any other experiences/ideas to help us get this off the
>ground? (or should I say "in/on the ground, trees, etc."??)

Here's some info you might find useful:
http://www.letterboxing.info/PLGS/

It's a handout and other info for a letterboxing class that I taught to
girl scout leaders at a training conference this past winter (targeted at
teaching them about letterboxing so they could then teach their scouts). I
gave each attendee a "kit" made up of supplies that I got mostly from
dollar stores -- a pack of plastic erasers, an x-acto style hobby knife, a
piece of tracing paper, stamp pad, a piece of fun foam and materials to
make a small journal, all in a waterproof Rubbermaid-style container.

We covered the material in the handout in 90 minutes -- plus made journals
and carved stamps, so it was a real whirlwind. The carved images from their
stamps are on that page, too, so you can see the results of their fast and
furious first efforts at carving.

For younger kids, I recommend Bob Prager's tutorial on making stamps from
fun foam (also developed as part of a girl scouts program):
http://www.geocities.com/pragerr/SkylandLetterboxing/stampmaking.html

(BTW, I'll be repeating the class at another Girl Scouts training
conference this fall, so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for
improving the materials, please let me know!)

Good luck!

Doug



|-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-|
Silent Doug, P37 F308 E09 X62
silentdoug@letterboxing.info
http://www.letterboxing.info

Any Nonprofit groups/organizations (Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, etc)
that are looking to explore letterboxing as something they want
to do with their group and are searching for supplies, please
contact me off list concerning supplies and other materials.

I can be contacted at ssheeley at myndworx dot com

Steve

If you don't have the budget and/or have a lot of girls but you want
them to get the general gist, they can make stamps from styrofoam
(like you'd find packaged with meat). It's not as glamourous by any
means, but it works. They can also make their own log books, which
may cut down on buying them...?

I'm racking up cheap ideas because I'll be introducing LB to my
summer camp of 300 kids, and erasers, logbooks, etc., are not in the
budget!

Good luck :)

FdL


--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Kathi LK Krankoski"
wrote:
> Ah, a fellow GS leader! (I'm a Cadette/Senior leader)
>
> A couple of other leaders and I want to set up a few private boxes
at our
> camp (unposted clues, available only to those with legit access to
the camp,
> for safety reasons). Has anyone ever done something like this
before?
> Obviously I'd have to provide introductory material and provide
supplies for
> them to make up their own stamps. What would be the preferred
cheapest
> route to do this? Art gum or plain old "pink pearl" school
erasers, or
> something else? Any other experiences/ideas to help us get this
off the
> ground? (or should I say "in/on the ground, trees, etc."??)
>
> Thanks,
> --klk/FungusWoman
> Troop 1921, Whispering Oaks Council
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 00:10:26 -0000
> From: "sfcgsa120"
> Subject: Staunton River State Park
>
> Hi,
> My Girl Scout Troop wants to find these letterboxes when they are
out
> of school next week. Can anyone tell me if they are still there or
> should we go elsewhere and not take up the time. They were placed
> quite awhile ago. We will have a girl new to letterboxing with us
> and don't want to disappoint her on the first try. Thank-you.
> A Leader in Virginia

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Kathi LK Krankoski" wrote:
> Ah, a fellow GS leader! (I'm a Cadette/Senior leader)
>
> A couple of other leaders and I want to set up a few private boxes at our
> camp (unposted clues, available only to those with legit access to the camp,
> for safety reasons). Has anyone ever done something like this before?
> Obviously I'd have to provide introductory material and provide supplies for
> them to make up their own stamps. What would be the preferred cheapest
> route to do this? Art gum or plain old "pink pearl" school erasers, or
> something else? Any other experiences/ideas to help us get this off the
> ground? (or should I say "in/on the ground, trees, etc."??)

Hey there,

We've been working on hiding letterboxes in our Girl Scout camps for Scouts only. To
start out and to prove to the council that this won't be too tough on the site, we're going
to be hiding at our council sponsored daycamp and will make the clues available to the
older girl units. We're not even discussing letterboxing at that point, just having the girls
do a "treasure hunt" for a rubber stamp, but we're hoping to expand into a similar
situation that you're describing.

We were planning dollar store erasers since they're so ubiqitous, but I'm also interested in
any answers you receive!

Howls,
Werewulf
Central Maryland Council

Thanks for everyone's help on this topic! I'm passing it on to my friends
so we can start planning.

Sally, we're in Whispering Oaks (suburban Chicago [Brookfield]).

--klk