Bear Necessities requirements (Bear)

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, Bear Necessities, 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 Necessities 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 · 12 min

Activity 1: While working on your Bear badge

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Bear Necessities.

• Walk the route before the meeting and pick the two places you will stop to cover "While working on your Bear badge, attend one of the following".
• 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: set the materials out on a second table and let them build "Make a list of items you should take along on the activity selected in Requirement 1" while you move between the two.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:32 · 12 min

Activity 2: Make a list of equipment

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Bear Necessities.

• Show a finished example first so every Scout can picture "Make a list of equipment that the group should bring along in addition to…" 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 4: give the den five minutes in pairs on "Help set up a tent", then take one answer from every Scout.

Requirement 3 Requirement 4

0:44 · 11 min

Activity 3: Demonstrate how to tie two half hitches

Close requirements 5 and 6 of Bear Necessities.

• 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 tie two half hitches and explain what the hitch is used for" 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 how to read a thermometer and a barometer" out loud, work it in pairs, and mark it off as each Scout finishes.

Requirement 5 Requirement 6

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.