Everything in Cub Scouting is designed to have the boys doing things. Activities are used to achieve the aims of Scouting—citizenship training, character development, and personal fitness. Many of the activities happen right in the den and pack. The most important are the weekly den meetings and the monthly pack meetings.
Apart from the fun and excitement of Cub Scout activities, the Cub Scout Promise, the Law of the Pack, and the Cub Scout sign, handshake, motto, and salute all teach good citizenship and contribute to a boy's sense of belonging.
Join Us in Cub Scouting!
About Cub Scouting
In Cub Scouting you'll have lots of fun, adventure, and activities with your den and pack. But there's more to it than that. Being a Cub Scout means you are a member of a worldwide youth movement that stands for certain values and beliefs. Cub Scouting is more than something to do. It's all about the boy you are and the person you will become.
What Is Cub Scouting?
What do Cub Scouts do? How old are they? What awards can they earn? Look here for quick answers.
Cub Scout Values
Everything you do in Cub Scouting has a purpose. Find out what the Cub Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack mean.
Learn the Cub Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack
Baloo will help you learn to recite the Cub Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack.
Scouting for All Ages
Cub Scouting is the first step on the Scouting trail. Learn more about Scouting's family of programs, and how you can stay an active member your whole life.
Around the World
Cub Scouting is bigger than your den and pack. Millions of boys are Cub Scouts across the nation and around the world.
Den and Pack Meetings
Boys in Cub Scouting meet regularly. Weekly den meetings are like stepping-stones: each week a boy progresses a little further toward the next rank, learning skills as he goes. The monthly pack meetings are like milestones that mark achievements along the Cub Scout trail and celebrate accomplishments along the way.
Den Meetings
Each week, your son attends a den meeting with a small group of boys in his grade level. The meeting is conducted by a den leader and an assistant. The den may meet at the home of one of the leaders or at another suitable location. Tiger Cubs attend their den meetings with their adult partners, but Wolf and Bear Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts attend den meetings on their own.
While the meetings include games and other activities that are fun for the boys, program delivery is the main goal. Boys participate in activities and work on projects that are related to a monthly theme and that help them learn the skills they need to progress in rank. The boys also prepare to do their part in the monthly pack meeting.
Pack Meetings
The monthly pack meeting brings together boys from every den, their leaders, and their families for a large-scale event that showcases all that the boys have learned and done in their individual den meetings. Such a gathering gives the boys a larger experience beyond their own den. It also helps them see how their individual activities fit into the bigger Cub Scout program.
A typical pack meeting begins with a formal opening ceremony. Next, in the program section of the meeting, dens may give presentations and performances that demonstrate what they learned during the month. The program section may also include activities that involve the entire audience, or a featured event.
Another important part of the pack meeting is the formal recognition given to the Scouts who have earned badges, Arrow Points, beads, or other awards, and to leaders who have earned training awards, religious emblems, or other community awards. This is followed by some general announcements and a formal closing ceremony to end the meeting.
Besides bringing together the boys in the pack, Cub Scout pack meetings are family events. Parents or guardians, brothers, sisters, and other family members attend. The pack meeting is a social event for the community, bringing together the families of many boys.
A Family Program
Family involvement is essential to Cub Scouting's success. When we talk about "family" in Cub Scouting, we're sensitive to the realities of present-day families. Many Cub Scouts do not come from traditional two-parent homes. Some boys live with a single parent or with other relatives or guardians. Cub Scouting considers a boy's family to be the people with whom he lives.
Family Activities
As a program for the entire family, Cub Scouting can help families teach their children a wholesome system of values and beliefs while building and strengthening relationships among family members.
Your Role as a Parent
Cub Scouting helps parents and sons grow closer, and your involvement as a parent of a Cub Scout is vital.
Becoming a Leader
Volunteer leaders support Cub Scouting by serving in many roles, and often find great satisfaction in lending their support to youth and the community.
The BSA Family Award
The BSA Family Award program offers activities to help strengthen all families—whether two-parent, single-parent, or nontraditional.
Uniform & Awards
Wearing a uniform gives youth and adult members a sense of identification and commitment to the goals of character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. The awards displayed on the uniform mark significantmilestones in every Scout and leader's progress in achieving these goals and successfully practicing Scouting's ideals.
The Cub Scout Uniform
Learn more about the uniform worn by all Cub Scouts: its purposes, parts, and proper use, as well as tips for obtaining a uniform for your son.
BSA Insignia Guide
Th BSA Insignia Guide presents detailed information to enable our members to wear the correct complete uniform on all suitable occasions.
Advancement Awards
Advancement is the process by which a boy progresses from badge to badge, learning new skills. Requirements are progressively more challenging, matching the increased skills and abilities of a growing boy.
Cub Scout Academics and Sports Program
The Academics subjects and Sports activities allow boys to learn new techniques, increase scholarship skills, develop sportsmanship, and have fun.
The BSA Family Award
The BSA Family Award program includes activities designed to help strengthen all families—whether two-parent, single-parent, or nontraditional.
Other Awards
In addition to the awards available through the Cub Scout advancement program, Cub Scouts can earn other awards for their personal achievements or participating in special events.
Your Cub Scout Uniform
Whenever you see a person in a uniform, you get a quick sense of who they are and what they do. The members of a sports team wear their uniforms to say "I belong to this group." Police officers and firefighters wear their uniforms to say "I provide a service to my community." Even superheroes wear uniforms to say "I'm one of the good guys, and I stand for what's right."
Just like all of these people, Scouts also wear a uniform, and for the very same reasons. As a Cub Scout, you belong to a special group of people, you give service to your community, and you have made a promise to do your best to be one of the "good guys." Wearing your uniform is a way of saying these things to everyone who sees you.
Parts of the Uniform
The parts that make up your Cub Scout uniform are these:
- The Cub Scout shirt, with long or short sleeves
- Cub Scout shorts or trousers
- A cap that shows your rank in Cub Scouting—orange for Tiger Cub, yellow for Wolf Cub Scout, blue for Bear Cub Scout, and plaid for Webelos Scout
- A neckerchief that matches the color of your cap
- A blue belt with a brass buckle
- Official blue socks with orange or gold tops (orange tops for Tiger Cubs; gold or yellow tops for all other ranks)
Because Webelos Scouts are close to becoming Boy Scouts, some Webelos dens choose to wear the tan and olive uniform similar to the one that Boy Scouts wear (tan shirt, olive shorts/slacks, olive socks).
Badges, Patches, Pins, and Medals
Besides showing that you are a member of the Cub Scouts, your uniform gives you a place to display your personal achievements and those of your den and pack. Badges of rank, award emblems, special recognitions, and the medals you win at Cub Scout activities are all sewn or pinned onto your uniform.
Wearing the Uniform
Unless your den leader says otherwise, you should wear your Cub Scout uniform to all Scouting activities—not only den and pack meetings, but every activity in which you take part with other Cub Scouts.
Things Cub Scouts Do
Some of the best things about Cub Scouting are the activities you get to do: camping, hiking, racing model cars, going on field trips, or doing projects that help your hometown and the people who live there. Cub Scouting means "doing."
Cub Scout Camping
Learn to live in the outdoors. Camping takes you on exciting adventures into the natural world.
Outings and Field Trips
Cub Scouts have many kinds of outdoor fun, such as field trips, hikes, nature and conservation activities, and outdoor games.
Blue and Gold Banquets
In February, when Scouting celebrates its "birthday," packs across the country hold blue and gold banquets. In nearly all packs, the banquet is a very special event.
Cub Scout Derbies
Race a model car, sailboat, or miniature rocket in a Cub Scout derby—the pinewood derby, raingutter regatta, or space derby.
Pinewood Derby Car Designer
Need help finding a cool design for your pinewood derby car? This interactive feature will help you pick a design and print out templates for building it.
Service Projects
Doing service projects is one way for Cub Scouts to keep their promise "to help other people."