Arrow of Light Required adventure 5th grade

Citizenship requirements (Arrow of Light)

Citizenship is an Arrow of Light required adventure with 2 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.

Plan this meeting in DenBuddy Jump to the plan

Free for one den. DenBuddy reads your den from Scoutbook Plus, and writes back only when you press Send.

Citizenship requirements

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

Handbook requirement 1

Identify a community service project that your patrol or pack could accomplish. Use the BSA SAFE Checklist and develop a plan to conduct the service project safely.
Handbook requirement 2

Participate in a service project for a minimum of 2 hours or multiple service projects for a total of 2 hours.

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

Ready to run

A 60 minute den meeting for Citizenship

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: who helps here

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

Put a sheet of butcher paper on the wall with the question: who helps our town run?
Every Scout adds one job or one name as they come in, out loud, so the quiet ones hear ideas first.
Leave it up through the meeting and point back at it in the closing.

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, Citizenship, 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 Citizenship 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 · 35 min

Activity 1: Identify a community service project

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Citizenship.

Pick the project with the den, not for them. Read "Identify a community service project that your patrol or pack could accomplish" and take two or three ideas from the floor.
Break the work into jobs small enough that every Scout has one, and say who is doing what before you start.
Do the work, then take one photo of the finished job for the pack newsletter with photo permissions checked.
Ask the den what changed because they showed up. That answer is the requirement.
Then requirement 2: give every Scout a job inside the work so "Participate in a service project for a minimum of 2 hours or multiple service projects for a total of 2 hours" is something they did rather than watched.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

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
Cardboard, painter's tape and safety scissors

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 Citizenship 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 Citizenship

How many requirements does Citizenship have?

2. 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 Citizenship required for Arrow of Light?

Yes. Citizenship 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 Citizenship take?

The plan on this page runs 60 minutes and covers 2 of the 2 requirements. Most dens spend two meetings on an adventure, because somebody is always absent for the first one.

Can a Scout finish part of Citizenship at home?

Any of it can be. Nothing in Citizenship 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.