Ron,

I am a den leader, now in my Webelos II year, and when working on knots I bought some fairly thick (1/2"?) cotton sash cord from Ace Hardware. I bought some cotton string too. I cut the rope into 6' and 4' lengths and then whipped the ends before using them. It wasn't cheap, but it is kind to the hands and handles real well. The thicker rope is easier for young kids to handle. Thin cord (1/4" or 3/8") is just too thin for the younger boys and most synthetics are too slippery.

Figure one 6' & 4' pair for each boy. I'd also recommend you hang on to them. If the ropes go home with the boys - they will get lost. You'll use them again for the Webelos Outdoorsman activity badge next year.

I'd demonstrate the knot to the boy and his parent, and then we'd all work together to tie it properly, then untie, the re-tie, untie, retie .... you get the idea. The Handbook gives good info, but web searches will give additional info. Don't try to teach too much at any one time since the boys are easily overwhelmed.

I'd also recommend you repeat the practice through the year to reinforce memory.

I would NEVER use the sash cord in the field, but it makes for great learning rope. It would be great of the two ends were dyed different colors, but I didn't have the time to do that.

Another cool thing we did was to make rope. Take three different colors of yarn (I used purple, yellow & red) and cut one 15' length of each. Tie together each end using an overhand knot. Now, find an small screw hook and insert it into the chuck on a drill. Tie one end of the three yarn lengths to the eye on the drill. have someone hold the free end of the yarn while you run the drill to twist, twist, twist the lengths of yarn until pretty tight.

Now, while having one person holding the free end and another person holding the drill end, have a third person grab onto the twisted year midway between the ends - hold it securely for now. Slip the end off of the drill and walk it over to the person holding the other end and give it to them without loosing tension or allowing it to untwist. Tie the two ends together with another overhand knot. At this point one person has both free ends and another is holding the middle, with neither letting thier parts twist or loosen. Now without letting go of the original ends side, have the person with the middle part gently release their grip so that it can just barely twist in their hand, but they should still maintain some tension. Don't just let go, but do let it twist. Gently stroke along the length of the rope to smooth it out.

It magically turns into twisted rope. It is very cool and meets the respective Bear requirement. For real fun repeat this again with three legths of yarn rope and see what you get. Having different colors allow you to see what happened.