Cub Scouting is all about adventure! To earn their rank badge, Arrows of Light complete five “adventures,” which are collections of themed, multidisciplinary activities. They also complete safety exercises.
Below the requirements, you'll find fun activities that can be used to complete this rank.
Arrow of Light Rank Requirements
1. Be active in your Webelos den for at least six months since completing the fourth grade or for at least six months since becoming 10 years old.
2. Complete each of the following Arrow of Light required adventures with your den or family:
a. Building a Better World
b. Camper
c. Duty to God in Action
d. Scouting Adventure
3. Complete one Webelos/Arrow of Light elective adventure of your den or family’s choosing.
4. With your parent or adult partner, complete the exercises in the pamphlet How to Protect Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide, and earn the Cyber Chip award for your age.*
*If your family does not have Internet access at home AND you do not have ready Internet access at school or another public place or via a mobile device, the Cyber Chip portion of this requirement may be waived by your parent or adult partner.
Arrow of Light Required Adventures
Your Cub Scout must complete all four of these adventures to earn his Arrow of Light badge.
Arrow of Light Adventure: Building a Better World
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Complete Requirements 1-6.
1. Explain the history of the United States flag. Show how to properly display the flag in public, and help lead a flag ceremony.
2. Learn about and describe your rights and duties as a citizen, and explain what it means to be loyal to your country.
3. Discuss in your Webelos den the term “rule of law,” and talk about how it applies to you in your everyday life.
4. Meet with a government or community leader, and learn about his or her role in your community. Discuss with the leader an important issue facing your community.
5. Show that you are an active leader by planning an activity for your den without your den leader’s help. Ask your den leader for approval first.
6. Do at least one of these:
a. Learn about Scouting in another part of the world. With the help of your parent, guardian, or den leader, pick one country where Scouting exists, and research its Scouting program.
b. Set up an exhibit at a pack meeting to share information about the World Friendship Fund.
c. Under the supervision of your parent, guardian, or den leader, connect with a Scout in another country during an event such as Jamboree on the Air or Jamboree on the Internet or by other means.
d. Learn about energy use in your community and in other parts of the world.
e. Identify one energy problem in your community, and find out what has caused it.
Arrow of Light Adventure: Outdoor Adventurer
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Complete Option A or Option B.
Option A:
1. With the help of your den leader or family, plan and participate in a campout.
2. On arrival at the campout, with your den and den leader or family, determine where to set up your tent. Demonstrate knowledge of what makes a good tent site and what makes a bad one. Set up your tent without help from an adult.
3. Once your tents are set up, discuss with your den or family what actions you should take in the case of the following extreme weather events which could require you to evacuate:
a. Severe rainstorm causing flooding
b. Severe thunderstorm with lightning or tornadoes
c. Fire, earthquake, or other disaster that will require evacuation. Discuss what you have done to minimize as much danger as possible.
4. Show how to tie a bowline. Explain when this knot should be used and why. Teach it to another Scout who is not a Webelos Scout.
5. Recite the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids from memory. Talk about how you can demonstrate them while you are working on your Arrow of Light. After one outing, list the things you did to follow the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace.
Option B:
1. With the help of your den leader or family, plan and participate in an outdoor activity.
2. Discuss with your den or family what actions you should take in the case of the following extreme weather events:
a. Severe rainstorm causing flooding
b. Severe thunderstorm with lightning or tornadoes
c. Fire, earthquake, or other disaster that will require evacuation. Discuss what you have done to minimize as much danger as possible.
3. Show how to tie a bowline. Explain when this knot should be used and why. Teach it to another Scout who is not a Webelos Scout.
4. Recite the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids from memory. Talk about how you can demonstrate them while you are working on your Arrow of Light. After one outing, list the things you did to follow the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace.
Arrow of Light Adventure: Duty to God in Action
Fun ideas for this adventure coming soon!
Complete Requirements 1 and 2 plus at least two others of your choice.
1. Discuss with your parent, guardian, den leader, or other caring adult what it means to do your duty to God. Tell how you do your duty to God in your daily life.
2. Under the direction of your parent, guardian, or religious or spiritual leader, do an act of service for someone in your family, neighborhood, or community. Talk about your service with your family. Tell your family how it related to doing your duty to God.
3. Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not done so already.
4. With your parent, guardian, or religious or spiritual leader, discuss and make a plan to do two things you think will help you better do your duty to God. Do these things for a month.
5. Discuss with your family how the Scout Oath and Scout Law relate to your beliefs about duty to God.
6. For at least a month, pray or reverently meditate each day as taught by your family or faith community.
Arrow of Light Adventure: Scouting Adventure
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Complete the following Requirements.
1. Prepare yourself to become a Boy Scout by completing at least a-c below:
a. Repeat from memory the Scout Oath, Scout Law, Scout motto, and Scout slogan. In your own words, explain their meanings to your den leader, parent, or guardian.
b. Explain what Scout spirit is. Describe for your den leader, parent, or guardian some ways you have shown Scout spirit by conducting yourself according to the Scout Oath, Scout Law, Scout motto, and Scout slogan.
c. Give the Boy Scout sign, salute, and handshake. Explain when to use each.
d. Describe the First Class Scout badge, and tell what each part stands for. Explain the significance of the First Class Scout badge.
e. Repeat from memory the Pledge of Allegiance. In your own words, explain its meaning
2. Visit a Boy Scout troop meeting with your parent or guardian and, if possible, with your den members and leaders. After the meeting, do the following:
a. Describe how the Scouts in the troop provide its leadership.
b. Describe the four steps of Boy Scout advancement.
c. Describe ranks in Boy Scouting and how they are earned.
d. Describe what merit badges are and how they are earned.
3. Practice the patrol method in your den for one month by doing the following:
a. Explain the patrol method. Describe the types of patrols that might be part of a Boy Scout troop.
b. Hold an election to choose the patrol leader.
c. Develop a patrol name and emblem (if your den does not already have one), as well as a patrol flag and yell. Explain how a patrol name, emblem, flag, and yell create patrol spirit.
d. As a patrol, make plans to participate in a Boy Scout troop’s campout or other outdoor activity.
4. With your Webelos den leader, parent, or guardian, participate in a Boy Scout troop’s campout or other outdoor activity. Use the patrol method while on the outing.
5. Do the following:
a. Show how to tie a square knot, two half hitches, and a taut-line hitch. Explain how each knot is used.
b. Show the proper care of a rope by learning how to whip and fuse the ends of different kinds of rope.
6. Demonstrate your knowledge of the pocketknife safety rules and the pocketknife pledge. If you have not already done so, earn your Whittling Chip card.
Arrow of Light Elective Adventures
Your Arrow of Light must complete ONE of these adventures to earn his Arrow of Light rank badge. But you aren’t limited to just one–your family or your den may choose to do as many of these as you would like.
This list also serves as the Webelos elective adventures.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Adventures in Science
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Complete Requirements 1-3.
1. An experiment is a “fair test” to compare possible explanations. Draw a picture of a fair test that shows what you need to do to test a fertilizer’s effects on plant growth.
2. Visit a museum, a college, a laboratory, an observatory, a zoo, an aquarium, or other facility that employs scientists. Prepare three questions ahead of time, and talk to a scientist about his or her work.
3. Complete any four of the following:
A. Carry out the experiment you designed for Requirement 1.
B. If you completed 3a, carry out the experiment again but change the independent variable. Report what you learned about how changing the variable affected plant growth.
C. Build a model solar system. Chart the distances between the planets so that the model is to scale. Use what you learned from this requirement to explain the value of making a model in science.
D. With adult supervision, build and launch a model rocket. Use the rocket to design a fair test to answer a question about force or motion.
E. Create two circuits of three light bulbs and a battery. Construct one as a series circuit and the other as a parallel circuit.
F. Study the night sky. Sketch the appearance of the North Star (Polaris) and the Big Dipper (part of the Ursa Major constellation) over at least six hours (which may be spread over several nights). Describe what you observed, and explain the meaning of your observations.
G. With adult assistance, explore safe chemical reactions with household materials. Using two substances, observe what happens when the amounts of the reactants are increased.
H. Explore properties of motion on a playground. How does the weight of a person affect how fast they slide down a slide or how fast a swing moves? Design a fair test to answer one of those questions.
I. Read a biography of a scientist. Tell your den leader or the other members of your den what the scientist is famous for and why his or her work is important.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Aquanaut
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Complete Requirements 1-4 and at least two others.
1. State the safety precautions you need to take before doing any water activity.
2. Discuss the importance of learning the skills you need to know before going boating.
3. Explain the meaning of “order of rescue” and demonstrate the reach and throw rescue techniques from land.
4. Attempt the BSA swimmer test.
5. Demonstrate the precautions you must take before attempting to dive headfirst into the water, and attempt a front surface dive.
6. Learn and demonstrate two of the following strokes: crawl, sidestroke, breaststroke, or elementary backstroke.
7. Invite a current or former lifeguard, or member of a rescue squad, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, or other armed forces branch who has had swimming and rescue training to your den meeting. Find out what training and other experiences this person has had.
8. Demonstrate how to correctly fasten a life jacket that is the right size for you. Jump into water over your head. Swim 25 feet wearing the life jacket. Get out of the water, remove the life jacket, and hang it where it will dry.
9. If you are a qualified swimmer, select a paddle of the proper size, and paddle a canoe with an adult’s supervision.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Art Explosion
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Complete Requirements 1-3. Requirement 4 is optional.
1. Visit an art museum, gallery, or exhibit. Discuss with an adult the art you saw. What did you like?
2. Create two self-portraits using two different techniques, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and computer illustration.
3. Do two of the following:
a. Draw or paint an original picture outdoors, using the art materials of your choice.
b. Use clay to sculpt a simple form.
c. Create an object using clay that can be fired, baked in the oven, or air dried.
d. Create a freestanding sculpture or mobile using wood, metal, papiermâché, or found or recycled objects.
e. Make a display of origami or kirigami projects.
f. Use a computer illustration or painting program to create a work of art.
g. Create an original logo or design. Transfer the design onto a T-shirt, hat, or other object.
h. Using a camera or other electronic device, take at least 10 photos of your family, a pet, or scenery. Use photo-editing software to crop, lighten or darken, and change some of the photos.
i. Create a comic strip with original characters. Include at least four panels to tell a story centered on one of the points of the Scout Law. Characters can be hand-drawn or computer-generated.
4. Choose one of the following methods to show your artwork:
a. Create a hard-copy or digital portfolio of your projects. Share it with your family or members of your den or pack.
b. Display your artwork in a pack, school, or community art show.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Aware and Care
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Complete the following Requirements.
1. Develop an awareness of the challenges of the blind or visually impaired through participation in an activity that simulates blindness or visual impairment. Alternatively, participate in an activity that simulates the challenges of being deaf or hard of hearing.
2. Engage in an activity that simulates mobility impairment. Alternatively, take part in an activity that simulates dexterity impairment.
3. With your den, participate in an activity that focuses on the acceptance of differences in general.
4. Do two of the following:
a. Do a Good Turn for residents at a skilled nursing facility or retirement community.
b. Invite an individual with a disability to visit your den, and discuss what activities he or she currently finds challenging or found challenging in the past.
c. Attend a disabilities event such as a Special Olympics competition, an adaptive sports event, a performance with sign language interpretation, or an activity with service dogs. Tell your den what you thought about the experience.
d. Talk to someone who works with people who have disabilities. Ask what that person does and how he or she helps people with disabilities.
e. Using American Sign Language, sign the Scout Oath.
f. With the help of an adult, contact a service dog organization, and learn the entire process from pup training to assignment to a client.
g. Participate in a service project that focuses on a specific disability.
h. Participate in an activity with an organization whose members are disabled.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Build It
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Complete the following Requirements.
1. Learn about some basic tools and the proper use of each tool. Learn about and understand the need for safety when you work with tools.
2. With the guidance of your Webelos den leader, parent, or guardian, select a carpentry project and build it.
3. List the tools that you use safely as you build your project; create a list of materials needed to build your project. Put a checkmark next to the tools on your list that you used for the first time.
4. Learn about a construction career. With your Webelos den leader, parent, or guardian, visit a construction site, and interview someone working in a construction career.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Build My Own Hero
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Complete Requirements 1-3 plus at least one other.
1. Discover what it means to be a hero. Invite a local hero to meet with your den.
2. Describe how citizens can be heroes in their communities.
3. Recognize a hero in your community by presenting him or her with a “My Hero Award"
4. Learn about a real-life hero from another part of the world who has helped make the world a better place.
5. Learn about a Scout hero.
6. Create your own superhero.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Castaway
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Complete Requirements 1 and 2.
1. Complete a. and your choice of b. or c.
a. On a campout or outdoor activity with your den or family, cook two different recipes that do not require pots and pans.
b. With the help of an adult, demonstrate one way to light a fire without using matches.
c. Using tree limbs or branches that have already fallen or been cut, build a shelter that will protect you overnight.
2. Do all of the following.
a. Learn what items should be in an outdoor survival kit that you can carry in a small bag or box in a day pack. Assemble your own small survival kit, and explain to your den leader why the items you chose are important for survival.
b. With your den, demonstrate two ways to treat drinking water to remove impurities.
c. Discuss what to do if you become lost in the woods. Tell what the letters “S-T-O-P” stand for. Tell what the universal emergency signal is. Describe three ways to signal for help. Demonstrate one of them. Describe what you can do to help rescuers find you.
d. Make a list of four qualities you think a leader should have in an emergency and why they are important to have. Pick two of them, and act them out for your den. Describe how each relates to a point of the Scout Law. Describe how working on this adventure gave you a better understanding of the Boy Scout motto.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Earth Rocks!
Fun ideas for this adventure coming soon!
Complete all Requirements.
1. Do the following:
a. Explain the meaning of the word “geology.”
b. Explain why this kind of science is an important part of your world.
2. Look for different kinds of rocks or minerals while on a rock hunt with your family or your den.
3. Do the following:
a. Identify the rocks you see on your rock hunt. Use the information in your handbook to determine which types of rocks you have collected.
b. With a magnifying glass, take a closer look at your collection. Determine any differences between your specimens.
c. Share what you see with your family or den.
4. Do the following:
a. With your family or den, make a mineral test kit, and test minerals according to the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
b. Record the results in your handbook.
5. Identify on a map of your state some geological features in your area.
6. Do the following:
a. Identify some of the geological building materials used in building your home.
b. Identify some of the geological materials used around your community.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Engineer
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Complete at least Requirements 1 and 2. Requirements 3 and 4 are optional.
1. Pick one type of engineer. With the help of the Internet, your local library, or an engineer, discover three things that describe what that engineer does. (To use the Internet, be sure that you have a current Cyber Chip or that you have permission from your Webelos den leader, parent, or guardian.) Share your findings with your Webelos den.
2. Learn to follow engineering design principles by doing the following:
a. Examine a set of blueprints or specifications. Using these as a model, prepare your own set of blueprints or specifications to design a project.
b. Using the blueprints or specifications from your own design, complete your project. Your project may be something useful or something fun.
c. Share your project with others at a den or pack meeting.
3. Explore other fields of engineering and how they have helped form our past, present, and future.
4. Pick and do two projects using the engineering skills you have learned. Share your projects with your den, and also exhibit them at a pack meeting.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Fix It
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Complete Requirements 1-4.
1. Put a Fix It Toolbox together. Describe what each item in your toolbox can be used for. Show how to use three of the tools safely.
2. Be ready. With the help of an adult in your family, do the following:
a. Locate the electrical panel in your home. Determine if the electrical panel has fuses or breakers.
b. Determine what heat source is used to heat your home.
c. Learn what you would do to shut off the water for a sink, a toilet, a washing machine, or a water heater. If there is a main shut-off valve for your home, show where it is located.
3. Describe to your Webelos den leader how to fix or make safe the following circumstances with help from an adult:
a. A toilet is overflowing.
b. The kitchen sink is clogged.
c. A circuit breaker tripped, causing some of the lights to go out.
4. Let’s Fix It. Select and do eight of the following. You will need an adult’s supervision for each of these Fix It projects:
a. Show how to change a light bulb in a lamp or fixture. Determine the type of light bulb and how to properly dispose of it.
b. Fix a squeaky door or cabinet hinge.
c. Tighten a loose handle or knob on a cabinet or a piece of furniture.
d. Demonstrate how to stop a toilet from running.
e. Replace a furnace filter.
f. Wash a car.
g. Check the oil level and tire pressure in a car.
h. Show how to replace a bulb in a taillight, turn signal, or parking light, or replace a headlight in a car.
i. Help an adult change a tire on a car.
j. Make a repair to a bicycle, such as adjusting or lubricating the chain, inflating the tires, fixing a flat, or adjusting the seat or handlebars.
k. Replace the wheels on a skateboard, a scooter, or a pair of inline skates.
l. Help an adult prepare and paint a room.
m. Help an adult replace or repair a wall or floor tile.
n. Help an adult install or repair a window or door lock.
o. Help an adult fix a slow or clogged sink drain.
p. Help an adult install or repair a mailbox.
q. Change the battery in a smoke detector or a carbon monoxide detector, and test its operation.
r. Help an adult fix a leaky faucet.
s. Find wall studs, and help an adult hang a curtain rod or a picture.
t. Take an old item, such as a small piece of furniture, a broken toy, or a picture frame, and rebuild and/or refinish it. Show your work to your Webelos leader or another adult.
u. Do a Fix It project agreed upon with your parent or guardian.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Game Design
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Complete all Requirements.
1. Decide on the elements for a game.
2. List at least five of the online safety rules that you put into practice while using the Internet on your computer or smartphone. Skip this if your Cyber Chip is current.
3. Create your game.
4. Teach an adult or another Scout how to play your game.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Into the Wild
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Complete at least six of the following Requirements.
1. Collect and care for an “insect, amphibian, or reptile zoo.” You might have crickets, ants, grasshoppers, a lizard, or a toad (but be careful not to collect or move endangered species protected by federal or state law). Study them for a while and then let them go. Share your experience with your Webelos den.
2. Set up an aquarium or terrarium. Keep it for at least a month. Share your experience with your Webelos den by showing them photos or drawings of your project or by having them visit to see your project.
3. Watch for birds in your yard, neighborhood, or area for one week. Identify the birds you see, and write down where and when you saw them.
4. Learn about the bird flyways closest to your home. Find out which birds use these flyways.
5. Watch at least four wild creatures (reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, fish, insects, or mammals) in the wild. Describe the kind of place (forest, field, marsh, yard, or park) where you saw them. Tell what they were doing.
6. Identify an insect, reptile, bird, or other wild animal that is found only in your area of the country. Tell why it survives in your area.
7. Give examples of at least two of the following:
a. A producer, a consumer, and a decomposer in the food chain of an ecosystem
b. One way humans have changed the balance of nature
c.How you can help protect the balance of nature
8. Learn about aquatic ecosystems and wetlands in your area. Talk with your Webelos den leader or family about the important role aquatic ecosystems and wetlands play in supporting lifecycles of wildlife and humans, and list three ways you can help.
9. Do ONE of the following:
a. Visit a museum of natural history, a nature center, or a zoo with your family, Webelos den, or pack. Tell what you saw.
b. Create a video of a wild creature doing something interesting, and share it with your family and den.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Into the Woods
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Complete at least Requirements 1-4 and one other.
1. Identify two different groups of trees and the parts of a tree.
2. Identify four trees common to the area where you live. Tell whether they are native to your area. Tell how both wildlife and humans use them.
3. Identify four plants common to the area where you live. Tell which animals use them and for what purpose.
4. Develop a plan to care for and then plant at least one plant or tree, either indoors in a pot or outdoors. Tell how this plant or tree helps the environment in which it is planted and what the plant or tree will be used for.
5. Make a list of items in your home that are made from wood and share it with your den. OR: With your den, take a walk and identify useful things made from wood.
6. Explain how the growth rings of a tree trunk tell its life story. Describe different types of tree bark and explain what the bark does for the tree.
7. Visit a nature center, nursery, tree farm, or park, and speak with someone knowledgeable about trees and plants that are native to your area. Explain how plants and trees are important to our ecosystem and how they improve our environment.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Looking Back, Looking Forward
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Complete all Requirements.
1. Create a record of the history of Scouting and your place in that history.
2. With the help of your den leader, parent, or guardian and with your choice of media, go on a virtual journey to the past and create a timeline.
3. Create your own time capsule.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Maestro!
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Complete Requirements 1 and 2.
1. Do a or b:
a. Attend a live musical performance.
b. Visit a facility that uses a sound mixer, and learn how it is used.
2. Do two of the following:
a. Make a musical instrument. Play it for your family, den, or pack.
b. Form a “band” with your den. Each member creates his own homemade musical instrument. Perform for your pack at a pack meeting.
c. Play two tunes on any band or orchestra instrument.
d. Teach your den the words and melody of a song. Perform the song with your den at your den or pack meeting.
e. Create original words for a song. Perform it at your den or pack meeting.
f. Collaborate with your den to compose a den theme song. Perform it at your pack meeting.
g. Write a song with words and music that expresses your feelings about an issue, a person, something you are learning, a point of the Scout Law, etc. Perform it at your den or pack meeting, alone or with a group.
h. Perform a musical number by yourself or with your Webelos den in front of an audience.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Moviemaking
Fun ideas for this adventure coming soon!
Complete all Requirements.
1. Write a story outline describing a real or imaginary Scouting adventure. Create a pictured storyboard that shows your story.
2. Create either an animated or live action movie about yourself. Your movie should depict how you live by the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
3. Share your movie with your family, den, or pack.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Project Family
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Complete the following Requirements.
1. Interview a grandparent, another family elder, or a family friend about what life was like when he or she was growing up.
2. With members of your family or a family friend, discuss some of your family names, history, traditions, and culture. Do one of the following:
a. Create a family tree of three generations.
b. Make a poster or Web page that shows the places that some of your family members came from.
c. Choose a special celebration or holiday that some of your family members participate in, and create either a poster, picture, or photo slideshow of it.
3. Show your understanding of your duty to family by creating a chart listing the jobs that you and other family members have at home. Choose three of the jobs you are responsible for, and chart them for two weeks.
4. Select a job that belongs to another family member, and help that person complete it. Some examples would be to create a grocery shopping list for the week, to take out trash for a week, to do the laundry for your family one time, to prepare meals for your family for one day, or to complete some yard work.
5. With the help of an adult, inspect your home and its surroundings. Make a list of hazards or security problems you find. Correct one problem you found, and tell what you did.
6. Complete one of the following:
a. Hold a family meeting to plan an exciting family activity. The activity could include:
*A family reunion
*A family night
*A family outing
b. Create a list of community service or conservation projects that you and your family can do together, and present it to your family. Select one project, plan it, and complete it with members of your family.
Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Sportsman
Fun ideas for this adventure coming soon!
Complete all Requirements.
1. Show the signals used by officials in one of these sports: football, basketball, baseball, soccer, or hockey.
2. Participate in two sports, either as an individual or part of a team.
3. Complete the following requirements:
a. Explain what good sportsmanship means.
b. Role-play a situation that demonstrates good sportsmanship.
c. Give an example of a time when you experienced or saw someone showing good sportsmanship.
