If you’re preparing to earn your Bear rank in Cub Scouting, you’re in the right place! In this guide, I’ll be providing you with all of the answers that you’ll need to complete your adventures and learn a ton along the way.In the upcoming adventures, we’ll learn about community, hiking, patriotism, safety, and more!
You’ve reached part 2 of my ultimate guide to the Bear rank! If you’re new to ScoutSmarts, you should first check out part 1 for the answers to Adventures 1-3 of the Cub Scouting Bear rank.
If you’ve just come over from part one, congratulations! You’re halfway done. Once you finish these adventures, you’ll be super prepared to be even more capable and confident in your pack! BTW, great job making it this far! 🙂
It’s time to get back into it! Take a minute to closely review and think through the remaining requirements for Bear rank. Soon, we’ll be covering: Fellowship and Duty to God, Fur, Feathers, and Ferns, and Paws for Action (Duty to Country), along with a few others in this guide!
What Are The Bear Rank Adventure Answers?
Complete each of the six required Adventures with your den or family:
In addition to the six required adventures listed previously, complete at least one elective Adventure of your den’s or family’s choosing.
A Bear Goes Fishing
Bear Picnic Basket
Critter Care
Forensics
Grin and Bear It
Marble Madness
Roaring Laughter
Salmon Run
Super Science
With your parent, guardian, or other caring adult, complete the exercises in the pamphlet entitled How to Protect Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide
Watch the Protect Yourself Rules video for 3rd Grade, Bear OR Earn the Protect Yourself Rules Preview Adventure for Bear.
Completing the ‘Fellowship and Duty to God’ Bear Adventure
Much like the “Duty to God” adventures of previous ranks, this adventure will have your Cub exploring their faith, what it means to them, and how they serve God and the community. However, your Cub can show their duty to God in other ways besides being religious!
For this adventure, all requirements must be completed. These requirements include:
Discuss with your parent, guardian, den leader, or other caring adult what it means to do your duty to God. Tell how you do your duty to God in your daily life.
Complete at least one of the following:
Identify a person whose faith you admire, and discuss this person with your family.
With a family member, provide service to a place of worship or a spiritual community, school, or community organization that puts into practice your ideals of duty to God
Complete at least one of the following:
Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not already done so.
Make a list of things you can do to practice your duty to God as you are taught in your home or place of worship or spiritual community. Select two of the items and practice.
As I said above, you don’t need to be religious to complete this adventure. Any kind of faith or belief system will work just fine, as long as it’s around a higher power guiding your actions. This is an adventure where parental involvement is very important. I’ll get into the details as we explore each requirement!
4.1) Discuss with your parent, guardian, den leader, or other caring adult what it means to do your duty to God. Tell how you do your duty to God in your daily life.
Duty to God can mean different things to different people. Your family may see it as something different than other families. Help your Cub by explaining your family’s faith and what it means to do your duty to God in that faith. By the end of your talk, they should then be able to explain their duty to God and show how they do it each day.
4.2) Complete at least one of the following: — Identify a person whose faith you admire, and discuss this person with your family. — With a family member, provide service to a place of worship or a spiritual community, school, or community organization that puts into practice your ideals of duty to God
For this requirement, your Cub can either pick someone who they feel shows “duty to God” or do a service project at some place they have a connection to. For the first option, this could just be someone in your Cub’s life that they admire, whether it be family or someone in your religious community.
The second requirement may require a bit more effort but this involves doing something, somewhere that does “duty to God”. This can be a place of worship or someplace that your Cub has a connection to. Ask around to see what your Cub can do at the place they choose to show their “duty to God”.
4.3) Complete at least one of the following: — Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not already done so. — Make a list of things you can do to practice your duty to God as you are taught in your home or place of worship or spiritual community. Select two of the items and practice.
Yet again, your Cub has a choice for this requirement! They can either earn a religious emblem or make a list of things that they can do to continue to show their duty to God. The religious emblems can vary depending on each religion/denomination so I suggest checking out the official Scouting website.
For the other option, encourage your Cub to list things that they could do that show duty to God. From there, they should pick two of these items and do them daily. A journal is a great way to track this requirement. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they can turn practice into a habit this way! 🙂
Completing the ‘Fur, Feathers, and Ferns’ Bear Adventure
Fur, Feathers, and Ferns is all about the outdoors. Your Cub will be visiting local nature attractions, identifying plant and animal signs, and broadening their understanding of the natural world! This adventure also allows for more choice on the part of your Cub and can let them explore their interests in nature.
To complete the ‘Fur, Feathers, and Ferns’ Adventure, requirement 1 will need to be done, but afterward your Cub can choose three from the remaining requirements! I’d recommend requirements 2, 4, and 5 as those are the most fun and hands-on, but if you’re looking for quick requirements to complete, requirements 3, 5, and 6 are easiest!
While hiking or walking for one mile, identify six signs that any mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, or plants are living near the place where you choose to hike or walk.
Visit one of the following: zoo, wildlife refuge, nature center, aviary, game preserve, local conservation area, wildlife rescue group, or fish hatchery. Describe what you learned.
Name one animal that has become extinct in the last 100 years and one animal that is currently endangered. Explain what caused their declines.
Observe wildlife from a distance. Describe what you saw.
Use a magnifying glass to examine plants more closely. Describe what you saw through the magnifying glass that you could not see without it.
Learn about composting and how vegetable waste can be turned into fertilizer for plants.
Plant a vegetable or herb garden.
This adventure, depending on what your Cub chooses, may require some extra time and effort. In particular, you may need to factor in time to visit somewhere for the second requirement. It could be a great excuse for a family day out! Allow your Cub to explore their interests and discover local wildlife when picking requirements.
5.1) While hiking or walking for one mile, identify six signs that any mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, or plants are living near the place where you choose to hike or walk.
What could be better than getting some fresh air and learning at the same time? For this requirement, you’ll need to hike or walk for one mile while your Cub identifies 6 examples of local wildlife. My recommendation is to buy a local wildlife pamphlet and allow your Cub to use that to identify wildlife. Have them record these findings in a journal or digitally on the trail.
5.2) Visit one of the following: zoo, wildlife refuge, nature center, aviary, game preserve, local conservation area, wildlife rescue group, or fish hatchery. Describe what you learned.
While this requirement is pretty self-explanatory, there are lots of different options for where you can go. A zoo, wildlife refuge, nature center, aviary, game preserve, local conservation area, wildlife rescue group, or fish hatchery are all options here, so talk to your Cub and see what preferences they have. After visiting, have your Cub explain a few things they’ve learned and write them down!
5.3) Name one animal that has become extinct in the last 100 years and one animal that is currently endangered. Explain what caused their declines.
For this requirement, your Cub will need to name an animal that has gone extinct in the last 100 years as well as an endangered animal and explain how it got this way. This will require a little research on the part of the Cub. Here are some good resources:
Have your Cub write about each animal they picked, explaining their population decline. Typical causes of decline are hunting, climate change, and pollution. This will help reinforce what they’ve learned, and perhaps teach them some valuable lessons about our duty to care for the planet.
5.4) Observe wildlife from a distance. Describe what you saw.
To complete this requirement, your Cub will need to head outside and find some animals to watch. This could be bird-watching through binoculars in your backyard, or from a dedicated observation area at a wildlife preserve or nature center. To make things more fun, take pictures! Then afterward, have your Cub write down what they saw.
5.5) Use a magnifying glass to examine plants more closely. Describe what you saw through the magnifying glass that you could not see without it.
This requirement is another easy one, as long as your Cub has access to a magnifying glass! All they need to do is look at a plant under a magnifying glass and then explain their findings. Writing their findings with and without the magnifying glass, in categories, will be helpful in spotting neat differences.
If you don’t have a magnifying glass, making one can be a fun activity! It’s also a great way to learn about how light refracts in different materials. It might not offer the same level of magnification, but it sure will be interesting!
5.6) Learn about composting and how vegetable waste can be turned into fertilizer for plants.
This requirement can be theoretical or practical. You may even already have a compost pile, which will make things much easier! If not, here’s a great video (18:10) for your Cub to watch on how to make their own compost pile.
The video provides a very thorough overview of how composting works and how you can do it at home. Afterward, you can discuss with your Cub whether a compost pile is something you could implement at your house, if you don’t already have one. 😉
5.7) Plant a vegetable or herb garden.
This is another requirement that you may have already completed inadvertently. Many people have small herb and veggie gardens for cooking (myself included). If so, you might get your Cub to add to your existing garden, or find somewhere else (like a community project) where they could plant a few mall things.
For this requirement, I have another helpful video (11:52) for your Cub to watch.
Make sure your Cub knows the importance of growing their own food. They can get real satisfaction from seeing their hard work eventually come to fruition many weeks or months later. It’s also a great lesson in how patience is rewarded, and can make your meals even more tasty! 🙂
Completing the ‘Paws for Action (Duty to Country)’ Bear Adventure
The last adventure required for the Bear rank is all about your Cub’s duty to their country. This requirement will explain the country’s history and how your Cub can become a standup citizen. Requirement 1 is required and then your Cub can choose two requirements from the remainder to work on.
Learn about our nation’s flag. Display it at home for one month. Say the Pledge of Allegiance and learn its meaning.
Do at least one of the following:
Find out about two famous Americans. Share what you learned.
Find out where places of historical interest are located in or near your community, town, or city. Go and visit one of them with your family or den.
Do at least two of the following:
With your school or den, visit a local sheriff’s office, police station, or fire department OR talk with a fire safety officer or law enforcement officer visiting your school or den. Find out what skills the officers use to do their jobs. Ask questions that will help you learn how to stay safe.
Make a list of emergency numbers and discuss with your family where the list should be kept. Show your family that you know how to call for help in an emergency. Talk with your family about people who could help you if a parent is not available.
With your family, develop a plan to follow in case of an emergency, and practice the plan at least three times. Your family can determine the emergency, or you can develop several plans.
Do at least one of the following:
Do a cleanup project that benefits your community.
Participate in a patriotic community parade or other civic event that honors our country.
This adventure requires a little bit more work than some of the others, with a few visits or projects that your Cub will need to complete. However, it’s an extremely fun and informative adventure, so try to make the most of it! Without further ado, let’s get into our final Bear adventure…
6.1) Learn about our nation’s flag. Display it at home for one month. Say the Pledge of Allegiance and learn its meaning.
For this requirement, your Cub will be required to learn about the US flag as well as recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Both of these topics will require some research on the part of your Cub, so I’ve included a good video (13:30) to help your Cub out.
Your Cub likely already knows the Pledge so this part will be easy. Have them explain each of the points of the Pledge after they say it as well, so they understand what it means rather than just reciting the words. It can be quite eye-opening to really explore the meaning behind it.
6.2) Do at least one of the following: — Find out about two famous Americans. Share what you learned. — Find out where places of historical interest are located in or near your community, town, or city. Go and visit one of them with your family or den.
For this requirement, your Cub can either pick two historical figures from US history to learn about or visit a local historical site. This may require some help on your end as they may have a hard time picking people to research. Here’s a great website listing famous Americans and their biographies!
If you have a historical site near you, this is another fun option. Have your Cub visit the site and then learn and write about what happened there. Along with completing this requirement, you might also discover an interesting new attraction nearby!
6.3) Do at least two of the following: — With your school or den, visit a local sheriff’s office, police station, or fire department OR talk with a fire safety officer or law enforcement officer visiting your school or den. Find out what skills the officers use to do their jobs. Ask questions that will help you learn how to stay safe. — Make a list of emergency numbers and discuss with your family where the list should be kept. Show your family that you know how to call for help in an emergency. Talk with your family about people who could help you if a parent is not available. — With your family, develop a plan to follow in case of an emergency, and practice the plan at least three times. Your family can determine the emergency, or you can develop several plans.
This requirement is all about emergency services and how they can help you. Your Cub needs to complete two of the three options to complete this requirement. They can visit a fire/police station, make a list and explain emergency numbers, or develop a family emergency plan.
The first two are pretty easy. The third one will require some parental help. Creating an emergency plan is a family effort where you need everyone to participate. However, making a plan could literally save lives in case of an emergency! You should follow the Ready.gov guide to complete this requirement.
6.4) Do at least one of the following: — Do a cleanup project that benefits your community. — Participate in a patriotic community parade or other civic event that honors our country.
For the final requirement, your Cub will either need to participate in a service project or a local civic event. You should see what’s happening in your area before deciding which one you want to complete. Your pack will likely have service projects that your Cub can easily participate in.
II) In addition to the six required adventures listed previously, complete at least one elective Adventure of your den’s or family’s choosing: A Bear Goes Fishing, Bear Picnic Basket, Critter Care, Forensics, Grin and Bear It, Marble Madness, Roaring Laughter, Salmon Run, Super Science
Along with the choice of one of the following elective Bear adventures. To check out requirements for these, see usscouts.org‘s up-to-date elective adventures page:
I’d personally recommend doing the Roaring Laughter or Grin and Bear It adventures, as those are a lot of fun and can involve the whole den. Or, if your Cub Likes a specific topic like fishing or science, there are adventures for those too. Just pick 1 to complete and learn all you can! 🙂
III) Watch the Protect Yourself Rules video for 3rd Grade, Bear OR Earn the Protect Yourself Rules Preview Adventure for Bear.
Part of every rank in Cub Scouts is completing the pamphlet entitled How to Protect Yourself From Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide and the Protect Yourself Rulesvideo. At this stage, you’re likely familiar with both of these materials.
The pamphlet exercises are the same for each rank, but it’s important to review them regularly. You can access this pamphlet through the official Scouting website. As a parent, read through the pamphlet, and then you’ll be able to do the “Five Topics to Cover With Children” section with your Cub. This includes:
Why should I check with a parent first?
What are my personal boundaries?
How do I talk about touches and private parts?
Who are my trusted adults?
What if someone asks me to keep a secret?
IV) Watch the Protect Yourself Rules video for 3rd Grade, Bear OR Earn the Protect Yourself Rules Preview Adventure for Bear.
After completing these exercises, watch the Protect Yourself Rules video for Bears with your Cub. There are no exercises for this video, your Cub just needs to watch it. You can either watch the video online or download and watch it in your own time.
Conclusion
Great work making it so far! As we near the end of our deep dive into the Bear rank, let’s take a moment to appreciate the journey. It’s not just about badges and checklists; it’s about laughs, learning, and the precious memories you’re creating with your Cub as they complete their adventures.
For support in advancing to the Webelos rank, be sure to also check out my Webelos rank guide!
With that, you’re now prepared to earn the Cub Scout Bear rank! Make sure to share this with your pack buddies if they need an extra hand, since not everyone will be lucky enough to stumble across this guide like you. Wishing you some amazing experiences in your Cub Scout pack ahead! 😀
I'm constantly writing new content because I believe in Scouts like you! Thanks so much for reading, and for making our world a better place. Until next time, I'm wishing you all the best on your journey to Eagle and beyond!
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