Wolf Elective adventure 2nd grade

Paws of Skill requirements (Wolf)

Paws of Skill is a Wolf elective adventure with 7 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.

Paws of Skill requirements

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

Handbook requirement 1

Talk with your family or den about what it means to be physically fit. Share ideas of what you can do to stay in shape.
Handbook requirement 2

With your family or den, talk about why it is important to stretch before and after exercising. Demonstrate proper warm-up movements and stretches before and after each activity you do that involves action.
Handbook requirement 3

Select at least two physical fitness skills and practice them daily for two weeks. See if you can improve during that time.
Handbook requirement 4

With your family or your den, talk about what it means to be a member of a team. Working together, make a list of team sports, and talk about how the team works together to be successful. Choose one and play for 30 minutes.
Handbook requirement 5

With your den, develop an obstacle course that involves five different movements. Run the course two times and see if your time improves.
Handbook requirement 6

With your den, talk about sportsmanship and what it means to be a good sport while playing a game or a sport. Share with your den how you were a good sport or demonstrated good sportsmanship in requirement 4.
Handbook requirement 7

Visit a sporting event with your family or your den. Look for ways the team works together. Share your visit with your den.

Ready to run

A 60 minute den meeting for Paws of Skill

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, Paws of Skill, 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 Paws of Skill 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 · 9 min

Activity 1: Talk with your family or den

Close requirements 1 and 2 of Paws of Skill.

Sit the den in a circle, or in small groups if you have more than eight Scouts.
Read "Talk with your family or den about what it means to be physically fit" out loud and give the den ten seconds of quiet before anyone answers.
Take one answer from every Scout. Nobody gets skipped and nobody gets rushed.
Write the den's answers on a flip chart so parents can read them at pickup.
Then requirement 2: put the den in pairs and have every Scout show you "With your family or den, talk about why it is important to stretch before and after exercising" once, in their own way.

Requirement 1 Requirement 2

0:29 · 9 min

Activity 2: Select at least two physical fitness skills

Close requirements 3 and 4 of Paws of Skill.

Do it once yourself at normal speed, then once slowly while you narrate every step.
Put the den in pairs so each Scout practices "Select at least two physical fitness skills and practice them daily for two weeks" 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 4: set the materials out on a second table and let them build "With your family or your den, talk about what it means to be a member of a team" while you move between the two.

Requirement 3 Requirement 4

0:38 · 9 min

Activity 3: With your den, develop an obstacle course

Close requirements 5 and 6 of Paws of Skill.

Mark the play area and walk the rules through once, slowly, before anyone runs.
Play one practice round and one for real so "With your den, develop an obstacle course that involves five different movements" gets a fair try.
Rotate teams between rounds so the same Scout is not last twice.
Close with the sportsmanship question: what did somebody else do well tonight?
Then requirement 6: run it as a game, one practice round and one for real, to cover "With your den, talk about sportsmanship and what it means to be a good sport while playing a game or a sport".

Requirement 5 Requirement 6

0:47 · 8 min

Activity 4: Visit a sporting event with your family

Close requirement 7 of Paws of Skill: Visit a sporting event with your family or your den. Look for ways the team works together. Share your visit with your den.

Line the visit or the guest up a week ahead and tell them the den has fifteen minutes and one ask: "Visit a sporting event with your family or your den".
During gathering, have each Scout write one question on an index card so nobody freezes.
Every Scout asks their question, then the den thanks the guest in its own words.

Requirement 7

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
Paper, markers and a few pencils
Cardboard, painter's tape and safety scissors
A ball, four cones and a whistle
A mat or a clear stretch of floor, and a timer

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 Paws of Skill 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 Paws of Skill

How many requirements does Paws of Skill have?

7. 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 Paws of Skill required for Wolf?

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

How long does Paws of Skill take?

The plan on this page runs 60 minutes and covers 7 of the 7 requirements. Most dens spend two meetings on an adventure, because somebody is always absent for the first one.

Can a Scout finish part of Paws of Skill at home?

Any of it can be. Nothing in Paws of Skill 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.