About Cub Scouting

What Is Cub Scouting?

If your child is in Kindergarten through fifth grade—or 5 to 10 years old—then Cub Scouting is for them! It’s for your family, too. Cub Scouting is the first and the biggest of the three Scouting programs (Cub Scouting, Scouting, and Venturing) from Scouting. Boys and Girls are welcome!

Cub Scouts Belong to a Pack and a Den

Every Cub Scout is a member of a Cub Scout Pack. A pack is a large group of youth. The pack is divided into smaller groups called Dens. Each den has about six to eight youth, and dens are either all male or all female. All of the Cub Scouts in a den are about the same age.

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 month, 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. Cub Scouts complete requirements to advance and earn their badges of rank: Bobcat, Lion, Tiger, 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 youth 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.

The Cub Scouting program has 10 purposes related to the overall mission of the Boy Scouts of America – to build character, learn citizenship, and develop personal fitness. For more information on the Purposes and Methods of Cub Scouting, visit the Boy Scouts of America website.