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Bear Electives

Requirements Changes - 1998

The following Electives were revised in the
1998 edition of the Bear Cub Scout Book.

(Revisions to requirements are shown in bold underlined type.
Deletions are shown struck through in red italics, like this text.

  1. WEATHER
    This elective is also part of the World Conservation Award.
    1. Learn how to read a thermometer. Put a thermometer outdoors and read it at the same time every day for 2 weeks. Keep a record of each day's temperature and a description of the weather each day (fair skies, rain, fog, snow, etc.).
    2. Build a weather vane. Record wind direction for 2 weeks every day at the same hour for 2 weeks.  Keep a record of the weather for each day.
  1. RADIO
    1. Build a crystal or diode radio. Check with your local craft or hobby shop or in the Boys' Life ads the nearest Scout shop that carries a crystal radio kit.  It is all right to use a kit.
  1. BOATS
    1. Help your dad or any other an adult rig and sail a real boat.
    2. Help your dad or any other an adult repair a real boat or canoe.
    3. Know the flag signals for storm warnings   warning flag signals.
  1. AIRCRAFT
    1. Make a list of What are some of the things a helicopter can do that other kinds of airplanes can't. Make a list.  Draw or cut out a picture of a helicopter and label the parts.
  1. ART
    1. Do an original art project and show it at a pack meeting. Every project you do counts as one requirement 
      Here are some Some ideas for art projects are:
      Mobile or wire sculpture, Silhouette, Acrylic painting, Watercolor painting, Collage, Mosaic, Clay sculpture, Silk screen picture.
  1. PHOTOGRAPHY
    1. Take five pictures of the same subject in different kinds of light.
      1. Subject in direct sun with direct light.
      2. Subject in direct sun with side light.
      3. Subject in direct sun with back light.
      4. On a sunny day, Subject in shade on a sunny day. .
      5. Subject on a cloudy day.
    2. Take Make a picture in your house.
      1. With available light.
      2. Using a flash attachment or photoflood (bright light).
  1. NATURE CRAFTS
    This elective is also part of the World Conservation Award.
    1. Build a waterscope and identify five types of water life.
      mount, and label 10 kinds of insects.
    2. Collect eight kinds of plant seeds and label them.
    3. Build and use a bird caller
      Make a spider web print; mount and display it.
  1. MAGIC
    1. With your den, put on a magic show for your pack someone else.
  1. LANDSCAPING
    1. With an adult, help Help your parents take care of your lawn or help take care of the lawn of a public building, school, or church. Seed bare spots. Get rid of weeds. Pick up litter. Agree ahead of time on what you will do.
    2. Make a sketch of a landscape plan for the area right around your house or apartment building home. Talk it over with a parent your parents or den leader. Show what which trees, shrubs and flowers you could plant to make the area look better.
    3. Take part in a project with your family, den, or pack to make your neighborhood or community more beautiful. These might be having a cleanup parties party, painting, cleaning and painting trash barrels, and removing ragweed. (Each time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)
  1. WATER AND SOIL CONSERVATION
    This elective is also part of the World Conservation Award.
    1. Dig a hole or find an excavation project and describe the different layers of soil you see and feel. (Do not enter an excavation area alone or without permission.)
    2. Explore three kinds of earth by conducting a soil experiment.
      Take three cans the same size and punch four holes in the bottom of each with a hammer and nail.  Put clay in the first can, soil in the second can, and sand in the third can.  Fill all three cans one-half full of soil.  Pour one-half can of water into each can, one at a time.  Write down the time it takes the water to run through (until dripping stops) each kind of earth.   (The three kinds of earth are not good for growing things alone, but when mixed together they make very good soil.)
    3. Visit a burned-out forest or prairie area, or a slide area, with your den or your family. Talk to a member of the U.S. Forest Service soil and water conservation officer or forest ranger about how the area will be planted and cared for, to grow again so that it will grow to be the way it was before the accident fire or slide
    4. Some people like to use live Christmas trees.   After Christmas, plant the tree in your yard, or at school, your Boy Scout council service center, or a park.  Find out all the things you need to know about how to take care of a live Christmas tree in your home.
    5. What is erosion? Find out the kinds of grasses, trees, or ground cover you should plant in your area to help limit erosion. (Renumbered from (e) only)
    6. As a den, visit a lake, stream, river, or ocean (whichever is nearest where you live). Plan and do a den project to help clean up this important source of water. Name four kinds of water pollution. (Renumbered from (f) only)
  1. FARM ANIMALS
    1. Name and describe six kinds breeds of farm animals and tell their common uses.
    2. Read a book about a farm animals and tell your den about it.
  1. SWIMMING
    1. Jump feetfirst into water over your head, swim 25 feet on the surface, stop, turn sharply, turn around, and swim back.
    2. Swim on your back, using a resting stroke, the elementary backstroke, for 30 feet.
    3. Rest by floating on your back, using as little motion as possible for at least one minute.  Also show the "drown-proof" method of floating face down for 4 minutes. ("Drown-proof" floating or bobbing [jellyfish float] uses a minimum of arm and leg movement to lift the head for breathing.
    4. Tell what is meant by the buddy plan system. Know and the basic rules of safe swimming and simple rescue.
    5. Do a racing dive from edge of pool and swim 60 feet, using a racing stroke. (You may need to make a turn.)
  1. SPORTS
    1. In archery, know the safety rules. Know how to shoot correctly. Put six arrows into a 4-foot target at a distance of 15 yards feet. Make an arrow holder.
    2. In skiing, know the Skier's Safety and Courtesy Code. Demonstrate walking and kick turn, climbing with a sidestep side step or herringbone, a snowplow stop, a stem turn, four linked snowplow or stem turns, and straight running in a downhill position or a cross-country position, and show how to recover from a fall.
    3. In ice skating, know the safety rules. From a standing start, skate forward 150 feet; and come to a complete stop within 20 feet. Skate around a corner clockwise and counterclockwise without coasting.  Show a turn from forward to backward. Skate backward 50 feet.
    4. In track, show how to make a sprint start. Run the 50-yard dash in 10 seconds or less. Show how to do the standing long jump, the running long jump, or high jump. Be sure to have Land in a soft landing area.
    5. In roller skating (with conventional or in-line skates), know the safety rules. From a standing start, skate forward 150 feet; and come to a complete stop within 20 feet. Skate around a corner clockwise and counterclockwise without coasting and show a turn from forward to backward. Skate backward 50 feet.  Wear the proper protective clothing.
  1. SALES
    1. Take part in a council- or pack-sponsored, money-earning sales program. Keep track of the sales you make yourself. When the sale program is over, add up the sales you have sold made.
    2. Help with a garage sale or rummage sale. This can be with your family or a neighbor, or it can be a church, school, or pack event.
  1. COLLECTING THINGS
    1. Mount and display a collection of patches, emblems, coins, or other items to show at a pack meeting. This can be any kind of collection. Every time you show a different kind of collection, it counts as one requirement.
    2. Start your own library. Keep your own books and pamphlets in order by subject. List the title, author, and subject of each on an index card and keep the cards in a file box, or use a computer program to store the information..
  1. MAPS
    1. Make a map showing the way route from your home to your school or den meeting place.
  1. NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE
    1. American Indians once lived all over what is now the United States. Find the name of the tribe who that lived nearest where you live now. What is was this tribe best known for?
    2. Make a model of an Indian early Native American house.

Page updated on: August 28, 2022

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