Cub Scout Ranks

In the Cub Scout program, Cub Scouts are split into various ranks.  As the youth in this program are relatively young and life experience and maturity level differ greatly from year to year, ranks are divided  by age and grade level.  The Ranks are as follows:

Tiger Cubs

Bobcat Badge

Cub Scouts -- A family- and home-centered program for boys in the second through fifth grade (or 8, 9, and 10 years old). Cub Scouting's emphasis is on quality program at the local level, where the most boys and families are involved.  Earning the Bobcat Badge indicates that a Scout  knows the ideals of scouting and can earn the Wolf, Bear, and WEBELOS badges.

After your Cub Scout has earned his Bobcat badge, he can start along the Wolf Trail. This is a big adventure for a boy, one the Boy Scouts of America hopes all boys will complete. When you have okayed the tracks your boy has filled in for all twelve achievements, he may become a Wolf Cub Scout. How quickly your boy progresses is up to him and you. He should do his best to complete each track; that's a part of the promise he made to become a Bobcat and it is the Cub Scout Motto - Do Your Best. Don't okay a track if you both know that he can do a better job. Move on to something else, then go back and try again. The important thing is to keep him interested by working on the trail with him as often as possible.

Bear Scout

Any boy may earn Bear achievements and electives if he is in the third grade, or is nine years old. To earn the Bear badge, a boy must complete 12 of the 24 specified achievements listed below. He can select the ones he wants to do from four different groups: God, Country, Family, and Self. The Progress Towards Ranks badge is available as an incentive during the Bear program to encourage a Cub on his achievement work. Details regarding the completion of the achievements and associated electives can be found in the BSA Bear Cub Scout Book (No. 33107, 1998.)

Webelos Scouts

Webelos stands for "WE'll BE LOyal Scouts."

Webelos Scouts are Cub Scouts preparing to be Boy Scouts. The Webelos Scouts learn about Boy Scouts and may participate in Boy Scout meetings and activities. Their den meetings are typically held on evenings or Saturdays. They do not follow the monthly theme of the Pack, but have their own program. They are the oldest Scouts in the Pack and as such carry the responsibility of being good role models to the younger Cub Scouts. It falls upon the Webelos Scouts to help explain what exciting activities await the younger Cubs and to help the Cubs during Pack activities.

The den is central to Webelos Scouting. Webelos Scouts take more responsibility for the running of their den. And they do more things as a den. The emphasis shifts from home-centered activities to group-centered activities similar to those they will encounter in Boy Scouting.

The major goal of Webelos Scouting is to give the Scouts a taste of what it is like to be a Boy Scout and to get them use to how Boy Scouting is structured. Webelos Scouts learn that it is their responsibility to earn their activity badges. They are helped by their den leaders and Activity Badge Councilors (adults who volunteer to host an activity badge) and it is the den leaders who pass the Webelos Scout on the requirements. Parents play a new, more supportive, and less directive role with Webelos Scouts.

The den conducts some projects that can be credited towards the ranks and activity badges that the boys earn, but not all of the requirements are addressed at den meetings. This is deliberate. The Webelos Scouts learn that if they wish to advance, they are responsible for meeting the requirements outside den meeting times. This is patterned after the merit badge and advancement process in a Boy Scout Troop. The activities, themselves, are designed to appeal more to the older boy and are patterned after Boy Scout merit badge requirements.

It is in Webelos that world of outdoor Scouting begins to open up. With their parents, the Webelos are able to camp and go on other outdoor activities with their den and with Boy Scout Troops. They also may participate in Boy Scout Troop meetings and other Scouting events.

In short, Webelos Scouting is the transitional program between Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting. Webelos are still under the direction of the Cub master, but hold their own activities and do many things too advanced for younger boys.

At the end of the Webelos program, the Scouts truly have a taste for what Boy Scouting is all about and have a head start in proceeding through the Boy Scout program.