Bear Elective adventure 3rd grade

Critter Care requirements (Bear)

Critter Care is a Bear elective 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.

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.

Critter Care requirements

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

Handbook requirement 1

Identify an animal that would be good pet for your family.
Handbook requirement 2

Choose two animals that are allowed as pets in your community. Compare and contrast why these pets may be a good choice for you.
Handbook requirement 3

Based on your choice in requirement 1, investigate how to properly care for your chosen animal.
Handbook requirement 4

Discover three ways a pet can help people.

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

Ready to run

A 60 minute den meeting for Critter Care

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 lives here

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

Tape six pictures of local animals or plants around the room, numbered one to six.
Each Scout gets a scrap of paper and writes down the two they have actually seen near home.
Collect the slips as the opening starts and read three of them out during talk time.

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, Critter Care, 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 Critter Care 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: Identify an animal that would be good

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Critter Care.

Put the answers where the den can find them: three stations, a set of cards, or a chart for "Identify an animal that would be good pet for your family".
Give the den five minutes in pairs to work it out, then bring the answers together on one sheet.
Go round the circle so every Scout says one answer out loud in their own words.
Then requirement 2: sit the den in a circle and take one answer each on "Choose two animals that are allowed as pets in your community".

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:38 · 17 min

Activity 2: Based on your choice in requirement 1

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Critter Care.

Put the answers where the den can find them: three stations, a set of cards, or a chart for "Based on your choice in requirement 1, investigate how to properly care for your chosen animal".
Give the den five minutes in pairs to work it out, then bring the answers together on one sheet.
Go round the circle so every Scout says one answer out loud in their own words.
Then requirement 4: give the den five minutes in pairs on "Discover three ways a pet can help people", then take one answer from every Scout.

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
A field guide or printed identification cards, and two magnifying glasses

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 Critter Care 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 Critter Care

How many requirements does Critter Care 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 Critter Care required for Bear?

No. Critter Care 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 Critter Care 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 Critter Care at home?

Any of it can be. Nothing in Critter Care 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.