Kub Car Races can be built into your weekly program. There is no right or wrong way to do this - as always, be guided by the needs of your Unit. We've included some ideas in this section.

The Kub Kar race is a great way to learn about physics and design.

Incorporating these themes into your weekly program will give Cubs some knowledge they might find helpful when considering building their Kub Kar. While these ideas are not all strictly related to the race, the more they learn about aerodynamics and the physics principles around gravity, the better as they'll be able to apply that knowledge to their Kub Kar.

Explore aerodynamics to get Cubs thinking about how design influences speed through the air. Run a paper aeroplane night and consider building launchers for your planes!

You could look at different paper aeroplane designs and learn different methods of making them.

Take a look at some of these designs: https://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2.

Make sure you ask your Cubs to consider why some fly further, some twist in the air and others plummet to the ground. Your review is what will help them solidify their knowledge.

You can explore making parachutes which you could build into various challenges - try parachutes of different sizes, made from different materials and carrying different weights.

If your brave, and don't mind some mess, work up to incorporating this into an egg drop challenge.

The applicable learning here is what makes something slow down through the air - this is exactly what you DON'T want to do on a Kub Kar

Run an engineering challenge to get Cubs thinking about clever material choices and design.

The aim could be that they need to built a boat that will be propelled across a long tub of water.

Provide the cubs with a "shopping list" of craft equipment along with a budget. This could include ping pong balls, paper, foil, glue, tape, icypole sticks, straws or whatever else you think is a good material to consider.

In small patrols, have them plan their boat deciding what materials are required. They'll need to plan a design that doesn't exceed the budget.

Once planned, they can purchase their equipment and execute their plan.

Of course, you should finish the night by racing the boats using a fan to propel them down a tub of water.

Here's a helpful resource.

Perhaps the most obvious way to involve your unit is to start working on their Kub Kar.

Explore themes around aerodynamics, discuss different materials that could be used, theorise on the various methods that could be used to build a car.

Start planning or building! This could count towards turning this activity into an SIA.

Those cubs who engage in this event are likely going to spend the requisite 4 hours on their car, so why not turn it into an SIA?

You can help Cub's understand the process by spending some time on their PLAN during cubs.

They can work in small patrols and spend some time discussing their build, following three simple rules for ideas generation:

1. Quantity, not quality - list all the possible ways they can approach this challenge. Turn this into a competition to see which patrol can list as many methods for building / materials they could use as possible!

2. No negative feedback. Make sure your patrol's understand that all ideas are good ideas as this is a brainstorming exercise.

3. Piggy-backing is encouraged. When they hear another cub introduce an idea, piggy-back off it and add other variations or ways to use this! Ideas can grow from other ideas, they don't need to be unique.

Once you've brainstormed in the unit, send these ideas out to your cubs so throughout the following week or few they can work on their own personal plan to build a car. Ask them to present that plan back to leaders and their patrol so that they can discuss, advise and help each other.

After planning is complete, they can execute their plan by building and racing their car. This is the DO phase of their SIA. You might like to start this in a regular meeting but Cubs will likely need to source materials suitable for their design so it may be unrealistic unless your Unit decides to all use similar materials for their build.

And of course, after the race, there'll be plenty of opportunity to review - how did their car perform? What did they notice about other cars on the day that they'd like to incorporate into their design next time? What would they do differently if they did this activity again?

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SIA opportunities aren't limited to the activity itself. Exploring STEM activities may get Cubs thinking about what STEM activities they can explore at Cubs or outside of Cubs and this too could generate SIA ideas too.