Ready to dive into the Webelos rank of Cub Scouting? Being a Webelos is all about exploring new things, having fun with your pack, and getting a taste of what’s to come in the world of Scouting! With this rank lasting for two years along a Cub’s journey (fourth and fifth grade) get ready to learn a ton of useful skills and have some great adventures along the way.
PS. This article is a collaboration between Arrow Of Light, Chandler M, and Cole 🙂
In this guide, we’re going to break down the adventures that make Webelos rank so special. You’ll get to learn useful real-world skills, improve your outdoorsmanship, and even discover new ways to help out in your community! Each required adventure is like a mini-challenge, giving you a chance to learn something new and show off what you’ve got.
It’s time to get started! Completing requirement 2, the five required Webelos adventures will be the bulk of this rank, but I’ll walk you through each step so there’s no need to worry. Now, to begin, let’s review the full list of the requirements a Cub must complete to earn Webelos rank:
What Are The Webelos Rank Requirements?
- Be an active member of your Webelos den for three months. (Being active means having good attendance, paying your den dues, and working on den projects.)
- Complete each of the five Webelos required adventures:
- In addition to the five required adventures listed, complete at least one Webelos elective adventure of your den’s or family’s choosing: Aquanaut, Art Explosion, Aware and Care, Build It, Castaway, Earth Rocks!, Engineer, Game Design, Into the Wild, Into the Woods, Sports
- 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 4th Grade Webelos.
OR Earn the Protect Yourself Rules Preview Adventure for Webelos.
Before diving in, I’d highly recommend having your trusty Webelos handbook to reference throughout each of these requirements and adventures. Here’s an Amazon link if you don’t have a handbook already, and here’s another link to a PDF version of your handbook! 😀
I) Be an active member of your Webelos den for three months. (Being active means having good attendance, paying your den dues, and working on den projects.)
Three months in a Webelos den will go by before you know it! You’ll learn new skills, experience the outdoors, and have fun times with your pack. So, in this article, I’ll be focusing on the required adventures that all Webelos need to complete. In answering these, any Cub will learn valuable lessons about safety and the outdoors.
II) Complete each of the five Webelos required adventures:
— Cast Iron Chef
— Duty to God and You
— First Responder
— Stronger, Faster, Higher
— Webelos Walkabout
The five required adventures include:
- Cast Iron Chef
- Duty to God and You
- Stronger, Faster, Higher
- First Responder
- Webelos Walkabout
In this guide, I’ll give you a detailed guide and some helpful tips on how to complete each of the required adventures. Webelos is a fun journey and I’m glad to help you along the way. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into our first Webelos Adventure! 😀
Completing The ‘Cast Iron Chef’ Webelos Adventure
Like many of the other adventures in Cub Scouts, this adventure only has a few requirements but teaches a useful range of skills. As the name implies, your Cub will be required to plan, shop for, and make a meal from scratch! This means that Cast Iron Chef involves your Cub managing a budget, observing safety practices around fire, and of course, cooking a delicious meal for themselves and their family/den!
The requirements for the Cast Iron Chef Webelos adventure include:
- Plan a menu for a balanced meal for your den or family. Determine the budget for the meal. If possible, shop for the items on your menu. Stay within your budget.
- Prepare a balanced meal for your den or family. If possible, use one of these methods for preparation of part of the meal: camp stove, Dutch oven, box oven, solar oven, open campfire, or charcoal grill. Demonstrate an understanding of food safety practices while preparing the meal.
- (Optional) Use tinder, kindling, and fuel wood to demonstrate how to build a fire in an appropriate outdoor location. If circumstances permit and there is no local restriction on fires, show how to safely light the fire, under the supervision of an adult. After allowing the fire to burn safely, safely extinguish the flames with minimal impact to the fire site.
As you might notice, only two of the requirements actually need to be completed! The final requirement to build an outdoor fire will be a great learning experience for your Cub Scout, but can be skipped if desired. The main goal of this requirement is to teach your Cub budgeting, meal prep, and cooking skills! 🙂
1.1) Plan a menu for a balanced meal for your den or family. Determine the budget for the meal. If possible, shop for the items on your menu. Stay within your budget.
The simplest way to complete this requirement is to allow your Cub to pick one day during your usual dinner schedule to cook their meal. I’d recommend picking a weekend, as this might get a little hectic on a school night! Also, you should plan to incorporate their shopping trip into your family’s typical grocery run!
Giving your Cub suggestions on what to cook based on some of their favorite home-cooked meals is also a fantastic idea. Ideally, their meal should include all of the main food groups that they’ve likely learned in school. The main ones to look out for are:
- Protein: Examples are chicken, fish, beef, pork, tofu
- Veggies: Examples are broccoli, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, carrots
- Grains: Examples are rice, tortillas, quinoa, lentils, bread
Educate your Cub on how other meals they’ve had include these groupings. If they have a favorite dish you often eat as a family at home, talk them through how it covers all of the above. There’s also no need to be too extravagant unless your Cub already has the ability and wants to create something requiring more effort.
For example, a simple meal of grilled chicken breast on rice with steamed vegetables is super easy to make and could easily be under $20. Staying under that budget shouldn’t be too hard, but make sure your Cub knows they probably want to prioritize using ingredients at home over buying new food!
1.2) Prepare a balanced meal for your den or family. If possible, use one of these methods for preparation of part of the meal: camp stove, Dutch oven, box oven, solar oven, open campfire, or charcoal grill. Demonstrate an understanding of food safety practices while preparing the meal.
Once you’ve got their ingredients, this part takes place at home during your normal cooking time, though you may want to allow a little longer if your cub isn’t used to using a kitchen. Preparing the food shouldn’t be hard but your Cub may need a little guidance.
A big part of this adventure is learning about food safety. This includes safety around hot surfaces, washing hands, food contamination, knife safety, and using clean utensils. Your Cub likely already has a grasp on many of these concepts, but reminders while they cook are always helpful.
While preparing the meal, also ask your Cub to demonstrate safe practices and explain them to the best of their ability. These can be pretty basic, like washing their hands after touching raw meat, but it’s important to instill these messages early on!
1.3) Use tinder, kindling, and fuel wood to demonstrate how to build a fire in an appropriate outdoor location. If circumstances permit and there is no local restriction on fires, show how to safely light the fire, under the supervision of an adult. After allowing the fire to burn safely, safely extinguish the flames with minimal impact to the fire site. (Optional)
While not required, this is a fun requirement to complete if you’re able to. Be sure to watch out for local restrictions before deciding to complete this requirement. REI has a great short video (3:23) on the subject to help guide you through building an outdoor fire safely. Once this fire burns to coals and smoldering logs, that’s what you should cook over!
Whether you choose a teepee, log cabin, or pyramid style of fire, it’s important to choose a safe and legal location and consider how you’ll safely put the fire out afterward. Again, if it’s not feasible to do this requirement due to fire restrictions or other factors, don’t worry! This requirement is not mandatory in order to complete the Cast Iron Chef adventure. 🙂
Completing The ‘Duty to God and You‘ Webelos Adventure
Duty to God and You is the last adventure of Cub Scouting! In it, your Cub will need to take a closer look at their family’s beliefs and explain why they are important. This adventure contains four requirements, but only three are required. Cubs must complete the first requirement, and then choose two from the remaining three.
- (Required) 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.
- Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not done so already.
- Discuss with your family, family’s faith leader, or other caring adult how planning and participating in a service of worship or reflection helps you live your duty to God.
- List one thing that will bring you closer to doing your duty to God, and practice it for one month. Write down what you will do each day to remind you.
These requirements, while not too lengthy, will require a good amount of introspection on the part of your Cub and family. Even if you are not religious or non-practicing, this requirement can provide some good insights into how a Cub sees the world and their role in it.
2.1) 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. (Required)
Whether you’re religious or not, everyone has a duty to God. Even though not everyone believes in the same god or believes in god at all, service to others is one way we can serve a greater purpose than ourselves.
Everyone’s faith can differ but the one thing that everyone can agree on is helping others, especially those who may be less fortunate. These acts can be as simple as donating to a canned goods drive, or more intensive, like volunteering at a soup kitchen.
With your Cub, determine some ways they have helped others. If they’re having a hard time coming up with things, create an action plan. Simple things like putting a percentage of their allowance away to give to charity is a great way to start their duty to God!
2.2) Earn the religious emblem of your faith that is appropriate for your age, if you have not done so already.
Every religion and denomination has its own religious emblem. Even agnostics or atheists have a religious emblem. These can vary widely by requirement but all include meeting with religious leaders and discussing your faith. Typically Webelos emblems are different from other Cub emblems.
I earned my Chi Ro (the Orthodox Christian medal) as a Webelo and I remember really enjoying the experience. I was able to learn more about my faith and get closer to those in my community. I think this is a valuable experience if you choose to pick this requirement.
While I won’t go into every emblem here, if you’re interested in doing this requirement I encourage you to check out the official Scouting.org page on religious emblems for each faith. This goes into detail on every medal and how your Cub can earn theirs!
2.3) Discuss with your family, family’s faith leader, or other caring adult how planning and participating in a service of worship or reflection helps you live your duty to God.
This requirement will likely be the quickest to complete. In it, your Cub will have to discuss how service helps them live their duty to God. Good topics for this discussion can include how service instills religious or moral values, understanding of one’s place in life, and a greater closeness to one’s community.
There are multiple routes this conversation can take. The best thing you can do as a parent is to have an engaged and supportive discussion with your Cub. Let them do most of the talking, and give them time to think. Don’t judge their answers. Then, share what faith means to you and what you gain from it to help guide your Cub in the discussion.
2.4) List one thing that will bring you closer to doing your duty to God, and practice it for one month. Write down what you will do each day to remind you.
This is similar to the action plan I mentioned earlier when discussing what their duty to God is. For this requirement, your Cub will be required to list something that can help them get closer to doing their duty to God and then act on it for a month.
These actions can include setting aside money for charity, committing to daily prayer or reflection, or anything else that you or your Cub can come up with. This should be something that they can do regularly over a period of a month. Once they select something, you should help keep them on track for the remainder of that month (30 days is like an eternity in kid time 😛 ).
Completing The ‘Stronger, Faster, Higher’ Webelos Adventure
Stronger, Faster, Higher is all about personal fitness and how it’s a healthy lifestyle choice. Your Cub will have to put in a lot of effort, but they’ll have a ton of fun along the way too! There are six requirements, but your Cub is only required to complete four (the first three and then one of their choosing).
- (Required) Understand and explain why you should warm up before exercising and cool down afterward. Demonstrate the proper way to warm up and cool down.
- (Required) Do these activities and record your results: 20 yard dash, vertical jump, lifting a 5 pound weight, push-ups, curls, jumping rope.
- (Required) Make an exercise plan that includes at least three physical activities. Carry out your plan for 30 days, and write down your progress each week.
- Try a new sport that you have never tried before.
- With your den, prepare a fitness course or series of games that includes jumping, avoiding obstacles, weight lifting, and running. Time yourself going through the course, and try to improve your time over a two week period.
- With adult guidance, help younger Scouts by leading them in a fitness game or games.
These requirements are easy to understand and mostly just require planning and physical exertion on the part of your Cub. Most Cubs will love the chance to run around completing fun challenges and sports! The requirements will be easiest to complete with the whole den, as they’re likely to need some equipment and space. 😀
3.1) Understand and explain why you should warm up before exercising and cool down afterward. Demonstrate the proper way to warm up and cool down. (Required)
This is a pretty easy concept that’s not too hard to integrate into a workout. The goal is to raise your Cub’s heart rate before they start an activity and then slowly lower it after they finish. This can be done with some simple exercises.
Before starting a workout, they could take a light jog or perform any other cardio activity that isn’t too strenuous to raise their heart rate. Dynamic stretches are also a good idea to prevent strains and pulling injuries. At the end of the workout, some bodyweight exercises and stretching will transition them safely back to resting levels.
3.2) Do these activities and record your results: 20 yard dash, vertical jump, lifting a 5 pound weight, push-ups, curls, jumping rope. (Required)
In order to complete the fitness test, Cubs must record their results while doing the following:
- 20-yard dash
- This is 60 feet. Measure off the distance first and have someone time you with a stopwatch.
- Vertical jump
- Stand near a wall with a piece of chalk in your hand. Jump as high as possible and make a mark on the wall at the highest point.
- Lift a 5-pound weight
- This is done as a bicep curl where you keep your elbow at your side and lift the weight up and toward your shoulder with your hand in front of you.
- The Webelos handbook says you could also use a milk jug about two-thirds full of water as your weight.
- Push-ups
- If you’re having trouble, the Webelos handbook says you can try keeping your knees on the ground instead of lifting your whole body.
- Curls
- These are basically sit-ups where a partner holds your ankles to keep your feet on the floor.
- Sit up and touch your elbows to your thighs. This counts as 1 rep.
- Jumping Rope
- Jump as many times as you can without stopping.
- The Webelos handbook recommends a weighted jump rope.
The best way for your Cub to complete this requirement is with their den. This activity will take some time and they’ll need several adults to record their progress. For the last three exercises, Cubs should do as many repetitions as they can and record how many were completed.
3.3) Make an exercise plan that includes at least three physical activities. Carry out your plan for 30 days, and write down your progress each week. (Required)
For the exercise plan, they’ll need to include three different physical activities. Ideally, they’ll want something that includes cardio, weights (doesn’t need to be heavy), and a bodyweight exercise (like push-ups, sit-ups, or chin-ups). I’d recommend picking your favorite (or weakest) exercises from the previous requirement and training those!
They’ll need to do this for 30 days, but that doesn’t mean they need to do it every day. If they create a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule, your Cub will give their body time to recover between workouts. Making this a regular habit, even after the 30 days, will ensure your Cub grows up to be physically strong!
3.4) Try a new sport that you have never tried before.
This is pretty self-explanatory. Your Cub should choose a sport they’ve never played before and try it out. This can be as simple as a pickup game of basketball, touch football, or other games that can be played with minimal equipment. If you know of a nearby team or club they’ve been wanting to try out, this is a perfect opportunity! 🙂
3.5) With your den, prepare a fitness course or series of games that includes jumping, avoiding obstacles, weight lifting, and running. Time yourself going through the course, and try to improve your time over a two week period.
A fitness course for this requirement should contain jumping, avoiding obstacles, weight lifting, and running. This can be relatively simple to set up but will still look very different depending on the setting you and your Cub choose for it. Here are some examples:
- Jumping:
- Hopscotch or hurdles
- Avoiding obstacles:
- Use cones to set up a course and weave
- Weight lifting:
- Have Cubs carry a heavier object to a certain point
- Running:
- End the course with a short dash to the finish
Using this outline, they can create a simple yet fun course for your den or pack! Be sure to time everyone’s race through the course so they can crown a winning Cub at the end.
3.6) With adult guidance, help younger Scouts by leading them in a fitness game or games.
For this requirement, you can take much of the previous requirement’s fitness course and fit it into this model. For this, you’ll be helping your Cub hold this course for younger Scouts to go through. This means you may need to scale up or down some of the elements as you see fit.
Completing The ‘First Responder‘ Webelos Adventure
This is probably the most intense adventure for Webelos. There are a lot of requirements to get through, requiring plenty of practice and learning of first aid! However, with this knowledge, they’ll be very prepared for any injuries or emergencies! Your Webelo will need to complete the first requirement, as well as five others.
- (Required) Explain what first aid is. Tell what you should do after an accident.
- Show what to do for hurry cases of first aid: Serious bleeding, heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest, stopped breathing, stroke, poisoning
- Show how to help a choking victim.
- Show how to treat for shock.
- Demonstrate how to treat at least five of the following:
- Cuts and scratches,
- Burns and scalds,
- Sunburn,
- Blisters on the hand or foot,
- Tick bites,
- Bites and stings of other insects,
- Venomous snakebites,
- Nosebleed,
- Frostbite
- Put together a simple home first-aid kit. Explain what you included and how to use each item correctly.
- Create and practice an emergency readiness plan for your home or den meeting place.
- Visit with a first