By joining the Cub Scouts, you've taken your first step on the Scouting trail. Many people stay in Scouting, one way or another, for many years. Some stay for a lifetime.

Cub Scouting

Boys of different ages have different ranks in Cub Scouting. As you go from Tiger Cub (age 7) to Webelos Scout (age 10), you learn new things and new skills that you use to meet new challenges as you get older.

• Tiger Cubs. First-grade boys join a Tiger Cub den, where each boy works with an adult partner on the requirements to earn his Tiger Cub badge.
• Wolf Cub Scouts. Second-grade boys graduate into a Wolf den. They go to weekly den meetings on their own, but their families still help them work on the requirements for the Wolf badge.
• Bear Cub Scouts. Boys in the third grade are members of a Bear den. They also work with their families to do the requirements for the Bear badge, but boys this old have enough knowledge and skill to take on more of the work by themselves.
• Webelos Scouts. Boys in the fourth and fifth grades become Webelos Scouts. Webelos Scouts do more advanced activities to get ready to graduate into Boy Scouting.

Where you begin in Cub Scouting depends on your age at the time you join. If you join when you're in first grade, you will begin as a Tiger Cub. If you do not join until the third grade, you'll begin as a Bear Cub Scout. You won't have to go back and earn the Tiger Cub and Wolf badges.

The Arrow of Light Award

The highest award in Cub Scouting is the Arrow of Light Award, which you will begin working on as a Webelos Scout. It is the only Cub Scout badge that you can wear on the Boy Scout uniform. As you work on the Arrow of Light Award, you practice outdoor skills, get physically fit, and learn more about citizenship and working with others. All of these things prepare you for the next stage of Scouting.

If you are a boy in first grade through fifth grade—or you're 7 to 10 years old—then Cub Scouting is for you. It's for your family, too. This is the first and the biggest of the three Scouting programs (Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Venturing) from the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Cub Scouts Belong to Pack and Den

Every Cub Scout is a member of a Cub Scout pack. A pack is a large group of boys.

The pack is divided into smaller groups called dens. Each den has about six to eight boys. All of the Cub Scouts in a den are about the same age and live in the same neighborhood.

The Cub Scout pack belongs to a church, a school, or some other group of people in your community or neighborhood. This group makes sure your pack has good adult leaders, a place to meet, and exciting things to do. The group gets help from the Boy Scouts of America, which is part of Scouting around the world.

Cub Scouts Do Things and Go Places

Cub Scouting means "doing." You have lots to do as a Cub Scout—crafts, games, sports, songs, stories, and puzzles, to name a few things. Much of the fun happens right in the den and pack. The den usually meets every week, and the pack meets once a month all year long. At den meetings and pack meetings, Cub Scouts do different things for fun and learning.

Cub Scouts also go to events like the annual blue and gold banquet, field contests, and derbies such as the pinewood derby. They go on field trips. They go camping and have other kinds of outdoor adventures. They take part in community events. Cub Scouts do all sorts of exciting stuff! Whatever it is that you enjoy, you'll have a chance to do it in Cub Scouting.

Cub Scouts Earn Awards

While you're having fun, you'll also be earning badges and awards. You'll work on projects with your parents or other adults in your family, and all of you will feel good about the things you accomplish. When you have earned a badge, you and an adult member of your family take part in a ceremony. The badge is given to the adult, and he or she then gives it to you in front of the whole pack. This is a way of saying "thank you" to your family for their help in earning your award.

The most popular awards for Cub Scouts are the advancement awards. Boys do requirements to advance and earn their badges of rank: Tiger Cub, Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, and the Arrow of Light Award. The Arrow of Light is the highest award in Cub Scouting. Webelos Scouts also earn activity badges.

The Cub Scout Academics and Sports program is popular, too. Cub Scouts get to learn about favorite subjects such as art, math, science, and citizenship. Or they play individual and team sports such as archery, gymnastics, skating, or soccer. You don't need to be a star athlete to play Cub Scout Sports. You're a winner when you do your best.

Cub Scouts can earn many other awards and medals too, sometimes by themselves and sometimes as members of their pack. They can earn or help their pack earn Quality Unit awards, religious emblems, the Emergency Preparedness Award, the Outdoor Activity Award, or the World Conservation Award.

When you earn an award in Cub Scouting, you learn new skills. You also get to use your new skills and your new knowledge in projects and demonstrations. You show what you know. People get to see what you've learned as a Cub Scout.

Cub Scouting Has a Purpose

There is a reason for everything boys do in Cub Scouting. Apart from the fun and excitement, the aim of Cub Scouting is to help boys grow into good citizens who are strong in character and personally fit. This is why we say that Cub Scouting is fun with a purpose.

You meet and have fun in your neighborhood den and Cub Scout pack. Millions of other boys are also in Cub Scouting across the nation and around the world.

Your Den and Pack

Every Cub Scout is a member of a large group of boys called a pack. The pack has smaller groups called dens. Each den has about six to eight boys. All of the Cub Scouts in a den are about the same age and live in the same neighborhood.

Most of the things that Cub Scouts do happen in the pack and its dens. You have weekly den meetings and monthly pack meetings. You also go to special events and activities with the members of your pack. You may take part in district and council activities as a member of your pack.

Across America and Beyond

Cub Scouting is bigger than your own pack. Cub Scouting is nationwide, with Cub Scout packs in every single state and in places overseas. Even in far-off places where only a few boys live, those boys can be in the program as Lone Cub Scouts. And so, you are part of something huge.

The last time we counted (in December 2004), there were almost two million Cub Scouts in more than 50,000 packs, helped by more than half a million adult leaders. And that's just the Cub Scouts who belong to the Boy Scouts of America. Countries around the world have similar programs. The World Organization of the Scout Movement says there are Scouting programs in almost every nation.