What Cub Scouts Do, Grade by Grade
Every grade has its own den, its own rank, and its own adventures. The program grows up alongside your kid. Here's the whole arc, written for parents who never scouted (that's most of us).
Lion · K Tiger · 1st Wolf · 2nd Bear · 3rd Webelos · 4th Arrow of Light · 5th
How it works, once, for every rank
- Dens follow grade, not skill. A scout who joins in 3rd grade starts right at Bear. There's never anything to catch up on.
- The standard is "Do Your Best." That's the official measure. No tryouts, no failing, no bench.
- Den leaders track progress in Scoutbook Plus, Scouting America's official system. Parents can see it anytime.
Full requirements live on the official Cub Scout adventures pages; this page is the parent translation. Uniforms by grade: the Join page.
Lion (Kindergarten)
Scouting with training wheels, and the training wheels are you: every Lion attends with a parent or caring adult, every time, and Lion families take turns helping lead. Meetings are short, playful, and built for five-year-old attention spans.
The year's flavor: build-and-race a Pinewood Derby® car together (grown-ups run the saws; Lions sand, paint, and cheer), go fishing, build towers and knock them down, and camp out with the pack, adult partner right there in the tent.
Tiger (1st Grade)
Still side by side with an adult partner for every adventure, but the world gets bigger, and the first real neckerchief appears.
The year's flavor: make a shield and build a castle, find constellations in the night sky, den bike rides, boats and what floats, and pack campouts together.
Wolf (2nd Grade)
Wolves start working more with their den leader and their den. Parents and guardians are still part of every meeting; the scouts just carry more of it themselves, and grow an inch the day they notice.
The year's flavor: a real den hike done right, secret codes and patterns (math disguised as spycraft), dinosaurs and fossils, bike skills, and family campouts with the pack.
Bear (3rd Grade)
The year scouting hands kids real things: pocketknives (taught safely, earned properly), real tools, real responsibility. Third graders are ready, and the program knows exactly how much rope to give them.
The year's flavor: whittling and safe knife handling, woodworking projects, fingerprints-and-clues forensics, hands-on science, and campouts. Expect to admire a large number of whittled sticks.
Webelos (4th Grade) (say "WEE-buh-lows")
The outdoors gets serious, in the fun way: Webelos dens can camp on their own, scouts help plan the outings, and the famous plaid neckerchief signals they've been around.
The year's flavor: planning a real campout with weather prep and Leave No Trace, swimming and water-emergency skills, geology, and engineering builds. Adventures become pins instead of belt loops. The wardrobe upgrade matters to them.
Arrow of Light (5th Grade)
Cub Scouting's highest award and its graduation year. AOL scouts learn how real Scout patrols work, can camp with a troop they might join, and finish the year crossing over to Scouts BSA in a ceremony that involves actual Scouts welcoming them. Bring tissues.
The year's flavor: real first aid, knife skills that earn real privileges, GPS and modern gear outdoors, canoes and kayaks, and one last Pinewood Derby®. Dynasties end here. Joining 5th graders are extra welcome; this is a starting line, not a finish.