Bear Elective adventure 3rd grade

Bear Claws requirements (Bear)

Bear Claws is a Bear elective adventure with 3 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.

Bear Claws requirements

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

Handbook requirement 1

Learn about three common designs of pocketknives.
Handbook requirement 2

Learn knife safety and earn your Whittling Chip.*
Handbook requirement 3
- 3b[1] Demonstrate how to cut a piece of rope, twine or fishing line.
- 3a[1] Item 1
- 3a[2] Item 2
- 3b[2] Open a sealed box without damaging the contents.
- 3b[3] Open a can with a can opener tool on a pocket knife.
- 3b[4] Remove and replace the screws on an object with the screw driver tool on a pocket knife.
- 3b[5] Open a letter.

Ready to run

A 60 minute den meeting for Bear Claws

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: tallest tower

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

Put scrap cardboard, painter's tape and two pairs of safety scissors on the gathering table.
The task on the card: build the tallest thing that stands on its own before the opening.
Scouts join whichever table has room, so nobody waits alone for the meeting to start.

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, Bear Claws, 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 Bear Claws 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: Learn about three common designs of pocketknives

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Bear Claws.

Show a finished example first so every Scout can picture "Learn about three common designs of pocketknives" before they start.
Set materials out at two or three tables so nobody stands waiting for the scissors.
Move table to table while they work and ask each Scout to tell you what they are making and why.
Give a five minute warning, then have every Scout hold up what they made and say one thing about it.
Then requirement 2: read "Learn knife safety and earn your Whittling Chip.*" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:38 · 17 min

Activity 2: Demonstrate how to cut a piece of rope

Close requirement 3 of Bear Claws: Demonstrate how to cut a piece of rope, twine or fishing line.

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 how to cut a piece of rope, twine or fishing line" 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.

Requirement 3

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 hand tools named in the requirement, plus safety glasses
Pocketknives, whittling chip cards and a box of bandages
Two six-foot lengths of rope per Scout
Towels, drinking water and a change of clothes

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 Bear Claws 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 Bear Claws

How many requirements does Bear Claws have?

3. Some of them have lettered options underneath, where the Scout picks one. Check the current wording in the handbook or Scoutbook Plus before you sign anything off.

Is Bear Claws required for Bear?

No. Bear Claws is a Bear elective. A Scout needs the six required Bear adventures plus at least two electives, and this one can be part of those two.

How long does Bear Claws take?

The plan on this page runs 60 minutes and covers 3 of the 3 requirements. Most dens spend two meetings on an adventure, because somebody is always absent for the first one.

Can a Scout finish part of Bear Claws at home?

Any of it can be. Nothing in Bear Claws 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.