Arrow of Light Required adventure 5th grade

Bobcat (AOL) requirements (Arrow of Light)

Bobcat (AOL) is an Arrow of Light required adventure with 8 requirements. Below is what each one asks in plain language, and a sixty minute den meeting plan that works through them: a gathering activity, the opening, the activity blocks, and what to say in the closing.

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Bobcat (AOL) requirements

Paraphrased for planning. Read the current wording in the handbook or Scoutbook Plus before you sign anything off.

Handbook requirement 1

Demonstrate the patrol method by choosing a Patrol name and electing a patrol leader. Discuss the benefits of using the patrol method.
Handbook requirement 2

Get to know members of your patrol.
Handbook requirement 3

Recite the Scout Oath and Scout Law with your patrol.
Handbook requirement 4

With your patrol, create a Code of Conduct.
Handbook requirement 5

Demonstrate the Scouts BSA sign, Scouts BSA salute and Scouts BSA handshake. Show how each is used.
Handbook requirement 6

Learn the Scouts BSA slogan and motto.
Handbook requirement 7

With your patrol, or with your parent/legal guardian, visit a troop.
Handbook requirement 8

At home with your parent or legal guardian, do the activities in the booklet "How to Protect Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parent's Guide."

Check out this resource page to get the most out of this adventure!

Ready to run

A 60 minute den meeting for Bobcat (AOL)

Five kinds of block in the order that works: something to do on arrival, the opening, den business, the adventure work split into chunks a Cub Scout can hold attention through, and a closing that names what got finished.

0:00 · 10 min

Gathering: what would you do

Give the Scouts who arrive first something to do, so the meeting starts the moment they walk in.

Write three short what-would-you-do situations on index cards and lay them face down.
Arriving Scouts turn one over with a partner and agree on a first move.
Hold the answers until the activity block, then let those pairs go first.

0:10 · 5 min

Opening

Flag ceremony, Scout Oath and Scout Law. The same five minutes every week, run by the Scouts.

The denner calls the den to order and leads the flag ceremony.
Say the Scout Oath and the Scout Law together. New Scouts read from a card and nobody makes anything of it.
One sentence on tonight's adventure, Bobcat (AOL), and the one thing everybody will get done.

0:15 · 5 min

Talk time

Den business while everyone is still sitting down, and a look at what is coming.

The two dates parents need: the next den meeting and the next pack event.
Ask who already did part of Bobcat (AOL) at home, and write the names down so it gets recorded.
Take one question from the den. Answer it or say when you will.

0:20 · 9 min

Activity 1: Demonstrate the patrol method by choosing

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Bobcat (AOL).

Do it once yourself at normal speed, then once slowly while you narrate every step.
Put the den in pairs so each Scout practices "Demonstrate the patrol method by choosing a Patrol name and electing a patrol leader" while their partner watches for the one thing that matters.
Go round the circle and have every Scout show you once, in their own way.
Mark it off as each Scout finishes rather than trying to remember at the end.
Then requirement 2: read "Get to know members of your patrol" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:29 · 9 min

Activity 2: Recite the Scout Oath and Scout Law

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Bobcat (AOL).

Do it once yourself at normal speed, then once slowly while you narrate every step.
Put the den in pairs so each Scout practices "Recite the Scout Oath and Scout Law with your patrol" while their partner watches for the one thing that matters.
Go round the circle and have every Scout show you once, in their own way.
Mark it off as each Scout finishes rather than trying to remember at the end.
Then requirement 4: set the materials out on a second table and let them build "With your patrol, create a Code of Conduct" while you move between the two.

Requirement 3 Requirement 4

0:38 · 9 min

Activity 3: Demonstrate the Scouts BSA sign

Close requirements 5 and 6 of Bobcat (AOL).

Do it once yourself at normal speed, then once slowly while you narrate every step.
Put the den in pairs so each Scout practices "Demonstrate the Scouts BSA sign, Scouts BSA salute and Scouts BSA handshake" while their partner watches for the one thing that matters.
Go round the circle and have every Scout show you once, in their own way.
Mark it off as each Scout finishes rather than trying to remember at the end.
Then requirement 6: read "Learn the Scouts BSA slogan and motto" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.

Requirement 5 Requirement 6

0:47 · 8 min

Activity 4: With your patrol, or with your parent/legal

Close requirements 7 and 8 of Bobcat (AOL).

Line the visit or the guest up a week ahead and tell them the den has fifteen minutes and one ask: "With your patrol, or with your parent/legal guardian, visit a troop".
During gathering, have each Scout write one question on an index card so nobody freezes.
Every Scout asks their question, then the den thanks the guest in its own words.
Then requirement 8: read "At home with your parent or legal guardian" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.

Requirement 7 Requirement 8

0:55 · 5 min

Closing

End on time, and make sure every Scout leaves knowing what they finished.

Cubmaster's minute: one short thought tied to what the den just did. Sixty seconds, no lecture.
Read back what got finished tonight, requirement by requirement, so the Scouts hear their own progress.
Send the den off with the den yell, and catch the parents who need to hear something at pickup.

What to bring

Tonight's requirement list, printed, with a box to tick per Scout
A clipboard and pen for sign-offs as they happen
Paper, markers and a few pencils
The den flag, a US flag on a stand, and Oath and Law cards for new Scouts
One laptop or tablet, and a printed copy of the pack's device rules
The book or story printed out, one copy per pair

Worked out from the requirement text. Swap anything you already have in the den box.

Plan this meeting for your own den

This plan does not know your Scouts. DenBuddy does: import your den from Scoutbook Plus and the planner starts from the requirements each Scout is actually missing, keeps the block times, and turns the agenda into the record sheet afterwards.

Plan Bobcat (AOL) Create a free den

How the planner works

Youth protection is built in: Scouts have no accounts, check-in is done by a parent from a public link, and nothing DenBuddy does writes back to Scoutbook.

How youth data is handled

Questions about Bobcat (AOL)

How many requirements does Bobcat (AOL) have?

8. Each one is a single thing the Scout does. Check the current wording in the handbook or Scoutbook Plus before you sign anything off.

Is Bobcat (AOL) required for Arrow of Light?

Yes. Bobcat (AOL) is one of the six required Arrow of Light adventures, so the Arrow of Light badge cannot be awarded until it is complete.

How long does Bobcat (AOL) take?

The plan on this page runs 60 minutes and covers 8 of the 8 requirements. Most dens spend two meetings on an adventure, because somebody is always absent for the first one.

Can a Scout finish part of Bobcat (AOL) at home?

Any of it can be. Nothing in Bobcat (AOL) is marked as family-only work, so a Scout who misses the meeting can finish with a parent and you record it when the family tells you.