Arrow of Light Required adventure 5th grade

Personal Fitness requirements (Arrow of Light)

Personal Fitness is an Arrow of Light required adventure with 4 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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Personal Fitness requirements

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

Handbook requirement 1

Plan a balanced meal that you would eat when camping. Prepare that meal using the gear you would use on a campout.
Handbook requirement 2

Examine what it is to be physically fit and how you incorporate this in your life. Track the number of times you are active for 30 minutes or longer over a 14-day period. Share with your patrol or family what you enjoyed and if you feel you are living up to the Scout Oath of being physically fit.
Handbook requirement 3

Be active for 30 minutes with your patrol, a younger den, or at least 1 other person, that includes both stretching and moving.
Handbook requirement 4

Review your BSA Annual Health and Medical Record with your parent or legal guardian. Discuss your ability to participate in pack and den activities

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

Ready to run

A 60 minute den meeting for Personal Fitness

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: pack the bag

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

Spread the Cub Scout Six Essentials and four things that do not belong on a table by the door.
The card on the table says: pick the six you would carry, and be ready to say why.
As Scouts arrive they join in, so the ones who came early are never left sitting.

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, Personal Fitness, 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 Personal Fitness 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 · 18 min

Activity 1: Plan a balanced meal that you would

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Personal Fitness.

Walk the route before the meeting and pick the two places you will stop to cover "Plan a balanced meal that you would eat when camping".
Line the den up in pairs, check that every Scout has the Six Essentials, and set the turnaround time.
Stop at both spots so every Scout gets a turn, not just the three who are always in front.
Back at the door, ask each Scout for one thing they noticed, then mark the requirement off.
Then requirement 2: sit the den in a circle and take one answer each on "Examine what it is to be physically fit and how you incorporate this in your life".

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:38 · 17 min

Activity 2: Be active for 30 minutes with your patrol

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Personal Fitness.

Read the requirement to the den in plain words: "Be active for 30 minutes with your patrol, a younger den".
Work it in pairs or small groups for most of the block while you move between them.
Bring the den back together and have each Scout tell you what they did.
Mark requirement 3 off as each Scout finishes rather than trying to remember afterwards.
Then requirement 4: sit the den in a circle and take one answer each on "Review your BSA Annual Health and Medical Record with your parent or legal guardian".

Requirement 3 Requirement 4

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
The Cub Scout Six Essentials for every Scout, and a full water bottle
Snack ingredients, napkins and hand sanitizer
A mat or a clear stretch of floor, and a timer
The den flag, a US flag on a stand, and Oath and Law cards for new Scouts
A tape measure, a kitchen scale and a jar of something countable

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 Personal Fitness 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 Personal Fitness

How many requirements does Personal Fitness have?

4. 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 Personal Fitness required for Arrow of Light?

Yes. Personal Fitness 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 Personal Fitness take?

The plan on this page runs 60 minutes and covers 4 of the 4 requirements. Most dens spend two meetings on an adventure, because somebody is always absent for the first one.

Can a Scout finish part of Personal Fitness at home?

Any of it can be. Nothing in Personal Fitness 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.