The Badge Archive

Cub Scouting

Scouting America’s program for grades Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Ranks

There are currently 6 ranks, each associated with a different Elementary grade year. There are 6 required adventures for each year and 2 elective adventures. Elective adventures can be rank specific, for all ranks, restricted (range & target), or for multiple ranks.

Special Awards

Updated Program

The last major overhaul of the program was done in 2024. The Arrow of Light rank was added and each rank was streamlined into what was required. Bobcat is no longer a rank award, but a required adventure for each rank.

The Official Announcement for the updated 2024 program.
A Great Summary of the updated 2024 program.

Helpful Resource Link

Basic Cub Scout History

1916 – Started by Robert Baden-Powell called Wolf Cubs with The Wolf Cub’s Handbook released in June of 1916, inspired by his friend Rudyard Kipling who wrote The Jungle Book.

1918 – Boy Scouts of America started experimenting with their own Wolf Cub program.

1930 – The official Cub Scout packs were organized with sub sections of Wolf (age 9), Bear (age 10), and Lion (age 11).

1941 – Created Webelos Award rank, but it was not a sub section, just something scouts could earn in a six month program.

1949 – Age lowered to 8-10 years old, and BSA programs would now start at 11.

1954 – Webelos Award rank was expanded and Lion badge was renamed Lion-Webelos.

1956 – Webelos Day Camp was started.

1967 – Dropped the Lion sub section and Webelos became a year long program for the final year of Cub Scouting. The first 15 Webelos activity badges were created. A new cloth Bobcat patch was introduced.

1972 – New cloth badges for Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos were introduced.

1974 – Bobcat requirement for joining became a rank.

1977 – Created Webelos sub section rank (the old Webelos Award rank was renamed as Arrow of Light rank).

1982 – Added Tiger Cubs sub section to allow scouts to start one year earlier than Wolf, age 7 or 2nd grade. Wolf was 8 year old or 3rd grade, Bear was 9 year old or 4th grade, and Webelos was 10 year old or 5th grade.

1986 – Tiger Cubs were now 1st grade and Wolf was for 2nd and 3rd grade.

1987 – Added 5 more Webelos activity badges (total of 20 now). Wolf became a 2nd grade program only. Bear became a 3rd and 4th grade program.

1988 – A new Webelos program was introduced for 4th grade and the old was kept for 5th grade.

1989 – Webelos covered the last two years of Cub Scouting.

1996 – Update the Tiger Cub program to be fully integrated into the Cub Scout pack and given a rank to earn.

2015 – Adopted the traditional Scout Oath and Law and Tiger Cubs was renamed to just Tiger. The rank insignia was updated from a cartoon Tiger to a realistic Tiger that match the look and feel of Wolf and Bear rank insignia.

2018 – Added a new Kindergarten rank and revived the Lion sub section name. Girls were allowed to join Cub Scout packs.

2024 – Revamp of program to drop the Bobcat rank but added the Bobcat adventure to each rank: Lion (Kindergarten), Tiger (1st grade), Wolf (2nd grade), Bear (3rd grade), Webelos (4th grade), and Arow of Light (AOL) (5th grade). The Webelos two year program was split into just one year and a new sub section called Arrow of Light.

References:

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Tia Kennard