Bear Badge Requirements

Write or tell what makes America special to you.
With the help of your family or den leader, find out about two famous Americans. Tell the things they did or are doing to improve our way of life.
Find out something about the old homes near where you live. Go and see two of them.
Find out where places of historical interest are located in or near your town or city. Go and visit one of them with your family or den.
Choose a state; it can be your favorite one or your home state. Name its state bird, tree, and flower. Describe its flag. Give the date it was admitted to the union.
Be a member of a color guard in a flag ceremony for your den or pack.
Display the U.S. Flag in your home or fly it on three national holidays.

Achievement 4 - Tall Tales

Do all three requirements.

Tell in your own words what folklore is. List some folklore stories, folk songs, or historical legends from your own state or part of the country.
Name at least five stories about American folklore. Point out on a United States map where they happened.
Read two folklore stories and tell your favorite one to your den.

Achievement 5 - Sharing Your World With Wildlife

Do four of the following requirements.

Choose a bird or animal that you like and find out how it lives. Make a poster showing what you have learned.
Build or make a bird feeder or bird house.
Explain what a wildlife conservation officer does.
Visit one of the following: Zoo, Wildlife Refuge, Nature Center, Game Preserve
Name one animal that has become extinct in the last 100 years. Tell why animals become extinct. Name one animal that is on the endangered species list.

Achievement 6 - Take Care of Your Planet

Do three of the following requirements.

Save 5 pounds of glass or aluminum or 1 month of daily newspapers. Turn them in at a recycling center or use your community's recycling service.
Plant a tree in your yard, on the grounds of the group that operates your Cub Scout pack, or in a park or other public place. Be sure to get permission first.
Call city or county officials or your trash hauling company and find out what happens to your trash after it is hauled away.
Do a water-usage survey in your home. Note all the ways water is used. Look for any dripping faucets.
Discuss with an adult in your family the ways your family uses energy.
Find out more about your family's use of electricity.

Achievement 7 - Law Enforcement is a Big Job

Do four of the following requirements.

Make a set of your own fingerprints.
Make a plaster cast of a shoe print.
Check the doors and windows of your home.
Visit your local sheriff's office or police station.
Be sure you know where to get help in your neighborhood.
Be sure fire and police numbers are listed by the phone at your home.
Know what you can do to help law enforcement.

Achievement 8 - The Past is Exciting and Important

Do three of the following requirements.

Visit your library or newspaper office. Ask to see back issues of newspapers or an almanac.
Find someone who was a Cub Scout a long time ago. Talk with him about what Cub Scouting was like then.
Start or add to an existing pack scrapbook.
Trace your family back through your grandparents or great-grandparents; or talk to a grandparent about what it was like when he or she was younger.
Find out some history about your community
Write in a journal for 2 weeks.

Achievement 9 - What's Cooking

Do four of the following requirements.

With an adult, bake cookies.
With an adult, make snacks for the next den meeting.
Prepare one part of your breakfast, one part of your lunch, and one part of your supper.
Make a list of the "junk" foods you eat. Discuss "junk" food with a parent or teacher.
Make some trail food for a hike.
Make a dessert for your family.

Achievement 10 - Family Fun

Do both of these requirements.

Go on a trip with members of your family.
Have a family "make-and-do" night."

Achievement 11 - Be Ready

Do the first four requirements; the last one is recommended, but not required.

Tell what to do in case of accident in the home. A family member needs help. Someone's clothes catch on fire.
Tell what to do in case of a water accident.
Tell what to do in case of a school bus accident.
Tell what to do in case of a car accident.
Have a health checkup by a physician (optional).

Achievement 12 - Family Outdoor Adventures

Do three of the following requirements.

Go camping with your family.
Go on a hike with your family.
Have a picnic with your family.
Attend an outdoor event with your family.
Plan your outdoor family day.

Achievement 13 - Saving Well, Spending Well

Do four of the following requirements.

Go grocery shopping with a parent or other adult member of your family.
Set up a savings account.
Keep a record of how you spend money for 2 weeks.
Pretend you are shopping for a car for your family.
Discuss family finances with a parent or guardian.
Play a board game with your family that involves the use of play money.
With an adult, figure out how much it costs for each person in your home to eat one meal.

Achievement 14 - Ride Right

Do requirement a and three more.

Know the rules of bike safety. If your town requires a bicycle license, be sure to get one.
Learn to ride a bike, if you haven't by now. Show that you can follow a winding course for 60 feet doing sharp left and right turns, a U-turn, and an emergency stop.
Keep your bike in good shape. Identify the parts of a bike that should be checked often.
Change a tire on a bicycle.
Protect your bike from theft. Use a bicycle lock.
Ride a bike for 1 mile without rest. Be sure to obey all traffic rules.
Plan and take a family bike hike.

Achievement 15 - Games, Games, Games!

Do two of the following requirements.

Set up the equipment and play any two of these outdoor games with your family or friends: Backyard Golf; Badminton; Croquet; Sidewalk Shuffleboard; Kickball; Softball; Tetherball; Horseshoes; Volleyball
Play two organized games with your den.
Select a game your den has never played. Explain the rules. Tell them how to play it, and then play it with them.

Achievement 16 - Building Muscles

Do all of the following requirements.

Do physical fitness stretching exercises. Then do sit-ups, pushups, the standing long jump, and softball throw.
With a friend, compete in at least six different two-person contests.
Compete with your den or pack in the crab relay, gorilla relay, 30-yard dash, and kangaroo relay.

Achievement 17 - Information, Please

Do requirement a and three more of the following requirements.

With an adult in your family, choose a TV show. Watch it together.
Play a game of charades at your den meeting or with your family at home.
Visit a newspaper office or a TV or radio station and talk to a news reporter.
Use a computer to get information. Write, spell-check, and print out a report on what you learned.
Write a letter to a company that makes something you use. Use e-mail or the U.S. Postal Service.
Talk with a parent or other family member about how getting and giving facts fits into his or her job.

Achievement 18 - Jot It Down

Do five of the following requirements.

Make a list of the things you want to do today. Check them off when you have done them.
Write two letters to relatives or friends.
Keep a daily record of your activities for 2 weeks.
Write an invitation to someone.
Write a story about something you have done with your family.
Write a thank-you note.
Write about the activities in your den.

Achievement 19 - Shavings and Chips

Do all of the following requirements.

Know the safety rules for handling a knife.
Show that you know how to take care of and use a pocketknife.
Make a carving with a pocketknife. Work with your den leader or other adult when doing this.
Earn the Whittling Chip card.

Achievement 20 - Sawdust and Nails

Do all of the following requirements.

Show how to use and take care of four of these tools: Crescent Wrench; Coping Saw; "C" Clamp; Hand Saw; Drill Bit; Hammer; Hand Drill; Bench Vise; Wood Plane; Screw Driver; Pliers
Build your own tool box.
Use at least two tools listed in requirement a to fix something.

Achievement 21 - Build a Model

Do three of the following requirements.

Build a model from a kit.
Build a display for one of your models.
Pretend you are planning to change the furniture layout in one of the rooms in your home.
Make a model of a mountain, a meadow, a canyon, or a river.
Go and see a model of a shopping center or new building that is on display somewhere
Make a model of a rocket, boat, car, or plane.

Achievement 22 - Tying It All Up

Do five of the following requirements.

Whip the ends of a rope.
Tie a square knot, bowline, sheet bend, two half hitches, and a slip knot. Tell how each knot is used.
Learn how to keep a rope from tangling.
Coil a rope. Throw it, hitting a 2-foot square marker 20 feet away.
Learn a magic rope trick.
Make your own rope.

Achievement 23 - Sports, Sports, Sports!

Do all of the following requirements.

Learn the rules of and how to play three team sports.
Learn the rules and how to play two sports in which only one person is on each side.
Take part in one team and one individual sport.
Watch a sport on TV with a parent or some other member of your family.
Attend a high school, college, or professional sporting event with your family or your den.

Achievement 24 - Be a Leader

Do three of the following requirements.

Help a boy join Cub Scouting or help a new Cub Scout through the Bobcat trail.
Serve as a denner or assistant denner.
Plan and conduct a den activity with the approval of your den leader.
Tell two people they have done a good job.
Leadership means choosing a way even when not everybody likes your choice. Talk about these hard choices with a parent or another adult. What would you do if it were up to you? [It is time to go home, but you are having a good time with your friends and they don't have to be home until 30 minutes later. What do you do?] [Your friends are going to ride their bikes to the other side of town, and they ask you to go with them. You know you are not allowed to do that. What do you say to them?] [A new boy has moved into the neighborhood. How do you become his friend?] [While your class is taking a test, the teacher leaves the room. Some of the students start trading test answers. Do you?] [What if another student asks you for an answer?] [Is it hard to keep from cheating?]

Congratulations! If you've completed all the steps required you have earned your Bear Badge. Next, do some extra requirements in the achievements or from the Arrow Point Trail to earn Arrow Points. When you've done 10 electives, you will earn a Gold Arrow Point. For each additional 10 you do, you will receive a Silver Arrow Point.

Arrow Point Trail: Electives - Do as few or as many from each category as you wish. When you've completed 10, you will receive a Gold Arrow Point. For each additional 10 you do, you will receive a Silver Arrow Point.

Space	Boats	Art	Magic	Repairs	Sales
Weather	Aircraft	Masks	Landscaping	Backyard Gym	Collecting Things
Radio	Things That Go	Photography	Water and Soil Conservation	Swimming	Maps
Electricity	Cub Scout Band	Nature Crafts	Farm Animals	Sports	Native American Life

Elective 1 - Space

Identify two constellations and the North Star.
Make a pinhole planetarium and show three constellations.
Visit a planetarium.
Build a model of a rocket or space satellite.
Read and talk about at least one man-made satellite and one natural one.
Find a picture of another planet in our solar system. Explain how it is different from Earth. (This link will help you with all of the above!)

Elective 2 - Weather

Learn how to read a thermometer. Put a thermometer outdoors and read it at the same time every day for 2 weeks. Keep a record of each day's temperature and a description of the weather each day (fair skies, rain, fog, snow, etc.).
Build a weather vane. Record wind direction every day at the same time for 2 weeks. Keep a record of the weather for each day.
Make a rain gauge.
Find out what a barometer is and how it works. Tell your den about it. Tell what relative humidity means.
Learn to identify three different kinds of clouds. Estimate their height.
Watch the weather forecast on TV every day for 2 weeks. Describe three different symbols used on weather maps. Keep a record of how many times the weather forecast is correct.

Elective 3 - Radio

Build a crystal or diode radio. Check with your local craft or hobby shop or in the nearest Scout shop that carries a crystal radio kit. It is all right to use a kit.
Make and operate a battery-powered radio, following the directions with the kit.

Elective 4 - Electricity

Wire a buzzer or doorbell.
Make an electric buzzer game.
Make a simple bar or horseshoe electromagnet.
Use a simple electric motor.
Make a crane with an electromagnetic lift.

Elective 5 - Boats

Help an adult rig and sail a real boat.
Help an adult repair a real boat or canoe.
Know the flag signals for storm warnings.
Help an adult repair a boat dock.
Know the rules of boat safety.
With an adult, demonstrate forward strokes, turns, and backstrokes. Row a boat around a 100-yard course involving two turns.

Elective 6 - Aircraft

Identify five different kinds of aircraft in flight, if possible, or from models or photos.
Ride in an airplane (commercial or private).
Explain how a hot air balloon works.
Build and fly a model airplane. (You may use a kit. Every time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)
Sketch and label an airplane showing the direction of forces acting on it (lift, drag, and load).
Make a list of some of the things a helicopter can do that other kinds of aircraft can't? Make a list. Draw or cut out a picture of a helicopter and label the parts.
Build and display a scale model airplane. You may use a kit or build it from plans.

Elective 7 - Things That Go

Make a scooter or a Cubmobile. Know the safety rules.
Make a windmill.
Make a waterwheel.
Make an invention of your own design that goes.

Elective 8 - Cub Scout Band

Make and play a homemade musical instrument - cigar box banjo, washtub bull fiddle, a drum or rhythm set, tambourine, etc.
Learn to play two familiar tunes on an ocarina, a harmonica, or a tonette.
Play in a den band using homemade or regular musical instruments. Play at a pack meeting.
Play two tunes on any recognized band or orchestra instrument.

Elective 9 - Art

Do an original art project and show it at a pack meeting. Every project you do counts as one requirement. Here are some ideas for art projects: Mobile or Wire Sculpture; Silhouette; Acrylic Painting; Watercolor Painting; Collage; Mosaic; Clay Sculpture; Silk Screen Picture
Visit an art museum or picture gallery with your den or family.

Elective 10 - Masks

Make a simple paper-mache mask.
Make an animal mask.
Make a clown mask.

Elective 11 - Photography

Practice holding a camera still in one position. Learn to push the shutter button without moving the camera. Do this without film in the camera until you have learned how. Look through the viewfinder and see what your picture will look like. Make sure that everything you want in your picture is in the frame of your viewfinder.
Take five pictures of the same subject in different kinds of light: Subject in direct sun with direct light; Subject in direct sun with side light; Subject in direct sun with back light; Subject in shade, on a sunny day; Subject on a cloudy day.
Put your pictures to use: Mount a picture on cardboard for display; Mount a picture on cardboard and give it to a friend; Make three pictures that show how something happened (tell a story) and write one sentence explanation for each.
Take a picture in your house: With available light; Using a flash attachment or photo flood (bright light).

Elective 12 - Nature Crafts

Make shadow prints or blueprints of three kinds of leaves.
Make a display of eight different animal tracks with an eraser print.
Collect, press, and label ten kinds of leaves.
Build a waterscope and identify five types of water life.
Collect eight kinds of plant seeds and label.
Collect, mount, and label ten kinds of rocks or minerals.
Collect, mount, and label five kinds of shells.
Build and use a bird caller.

Elective 13 - Magic

Learn and show three magic tricks.
With your den, put on a magic show for someone else.
Learn and show four puzzles.
Learn and show three rope tricks.

Elective 14 - Landscaping

With an adult, help take care of your lawn or help take care of the lawn of a public building, school, or church. Seed bare spots. Get rid of weeds. Pick up litter. Agree ahead of time on what you will do.
Make a sketch of a landscape plan for the area right around your home. Talk it over with a parent or den leader. Show which trees, shrubs, and flowers you could plant to make the area look better.
Take part in a project with your family, den, or pack to make your neighborhood or community more beautiful. These might be having a cleanup party, painting, cleaning and painting trash barrels, and removing ragweed. (Each time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)
Build a greenhouse and grow twenty plants from seed. You can use a package of garden seeds or use beans, pumpkin seeds, or watermelon seeds.

Elective 15 - Water and Soil Conservation

Dig a hole or find an excavation project and describe the different layers of soil you see and feel. (Do not enter an excavation area alone or without permission.)
Explore three different kinds of earth by conducting a soil experiment.
Visit a burned-out forest or prairie area, or a slide area, with your den or your family. Talk to a soil and water conservation officer or forest ranger about how the area will be planted and cared for so that it will grow to be the way it was before the fire or slide.
What is erosion? Find out the kinds of grasses, trees, or ground cover you should plant in your area to help limit erosion.
As a den, visit a lake, stream, river, or ocean (whichever is nearest to where you live). Plan and do a den project to help clean up this important source of water. Name four kinds of water pollution.

Elective 16 - Farm Animals

Take care of a farm animal. Decide with your family the things you will do and how long you will do them.
Name and describe six kinds of farm animals and tell their common uses.
Read a book about farm animals and tell your den about it.
With your family or den, visit a livestock exhibit at a county or state fair.

Elective 17 - Repairs

With the help of an adult, fix an electric plug or an electrical appliance.
Use glue or epoxy to repair something.
Remove and clean a drain trap.
Refinish or repaint something.
Agree with an adult in your family on some repair job to be done and do it. (Each time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)

Elective 18 - Backyard Gym

Build and use an outdoor gym with at least three items from the following: Balance Board; Trapeze; Tire Walk; Tire Swing; Tether ball; Climbing Rope; Running Long Jump Area.
Build three outdoor toss games.
Plan an outdoor game or gym day with your den (this can be a part of a pack activity). Put your plans on paper.
Hold an open house for your backyard gym.

Elective 19 - Swimming

Jump feet first into water over your head, swim 25 feet on the surface, stop, turn sharply, and swim back.
Swim on your back, using the elementary backstroke, for 30 feet.
Rest by floating on your back, using as little motion as possible, for at least one minute.
Tell what is meant by the buddy system. Know the basic rules of safe swimming.
Do a racing dive from edge of pool and swim 60 feet, using a racing stroke. (You might need to make a turn.)

Elective 20 - Sports

In archery, know the safety rules and how to shoot correctly. Put six arrows into a 4-foot target at a distance of 15 feet. Make an arrow holder.
In skiing, know the Skier's Safety and Courtesy Code. Demonstrate walking and kick turn, climbing with a side step or herringbone, a snowplow stop, a stem turn, four linked snowplow or stem turns, straight running in a downhill position or cross-country position, and how to recover from a fall.
In ice skating, know the safety rules. From a standing start, skate forward 150 feet and come to a complete stop within 20 feet. Skate around a corner clockwise and counterclockwise without coasting. Show a turn from forward to backward. Skate backward 50 feet.
In track, show how to make a sprint start. Run the 50 yard dash in 10 seconds or less. Show how to do the standing long jump, the running long jump, or the high jump. (Be sure to have a soft landing area.)
In roller skating (with conventional or in-line skates), know the safety rules. From a standing start, skate forward 150 feet and come to a complete stop within 20 feet. Skate around a corner clockwise and counterclockwise without coasting and show a turn from forward to backward. Skate backward 50 feet. Wear the proper protective clothing.

Elective 21 - Sales

Take part in a council or pack-sponsored money-earning sales program. Keep track of the sales you make yourself. When the program is over, add up the sales that you have made.
Help with a garage or rummage sale. This can be with your family or a neighbor, or it can be a church, school, or pack event.

Elective 22 - Collecting Things

Start a stamp collection. You can get information about stamp collecting at any U.S. Post Office.
Mount and display a collection of emblems, coins, or other things to show at a pack meeting. This can be any kind of collection. Every time you show a different kind of collection, it counts as one requirement.
Start your own library. Keep your own books and pamphlets in order by subject. List the title, author, and subject of each on an index card and keep the cards in a file box, or use a computer program to store the information.

Elective 23 - Maps

Look up your state on a U.S. Map. What other states touch its borders?
Find your city or town on a map of your state. How far do you live from the state capital?
In which time zone do you live? How many time zones are there in the U.S.?
Make a map showing the route from your home to your school or den meeting place.
Mark a map showing the way to a place you would like to visit that is at least 50 miles from your home.

Elective 24 - Native American Life

American Indians once lived all over what is now the United States. Find the name of the tribe who lived nearest where you live. What was this tribe best known for?
Learn, make equipment for, and play two Native American games with members of your den. Be able to tell the rules, who won, and what the score was.
Make a model of an early Native American house.