40 Fun Facts About Cub Scouts

Which motto do Cub Scouts say, a phrase Robert Baden-Powell first gave his youngest members in 1916?

Do Your Best has been the Cub motto since the first handbook of 1916, which told Cubs it meant trying with both hands, not just one. American Cub Scouts kept it when their promise changed in 2015.

Which Rudyard Kipling classic inspired Cub Scouting, lending it the words den and pack and a bear named Baloo?

The Jungle Book gave Robert Baden-Powell the theme for his junior section in 1916, and Kipling, a friend, agreed to the borrowing. Leaders in many countries still take the names of its animal characters.

What is the only thing that powers a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car as it races down the track?

Gravity does all the work, because the cars have no motors and simply roll down a sloping track. Builders chase speed by cutting friction and adding weight right up to the limit.

Which two colors are the official colors of Cub Scouting and give each pack's yearly banquet its name?

Blue and gold are Cub Scouting's colors: blue stands for loyalty and trust, gold for warmth, cheer and good character. Families gather for the banquet to celebrate the year's awards.

The two raised fingers of the Cub Scout sign are said to look like which animal's ears?

Wolf ears, pricked up and ready to listen, are what the two fingers show. The fingers also stand for the Scout Oath and the Scout Law, which Cub Scouts recite with the sign held high.

Lion, the youngest rank in Cub Scouting, is for children in which year of school?

Kindergarten is where Cub Scouting now starts: Lion became a full part of the program in 2018 after a two-year pilot. The name revived a rank that had been dropped back in 1967.

How do Cub Scouts move their model sailboats along the water-filled channel in a Raingutter Regatta?

By blowing on them, either directly or through a drinking straw, and never touching the boat. The course is a real ten-foot rain gutter filled to the top with water.

What is the highest rank in Cub Scouting, earned in fifth grade before a Cub Scout joins a troop?

Arrow of Light tops the Cub Scout trail, and its badge is one of the few that can still be worn on the uniform of an older Scout. Adults who earned it as children wear an embroidered knot version.

Which Cub Scout rank for first graders began in 1982 as a separate program with an orange T-shirt?

Tiger began as Tiger Cubs, a program for seven-year-olds that sat beside the pack rather than inside it. Its dens only became a full part of the pack in 2001.

In Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories, which gave Cub Scouting its theme, what kind of animal is Bagheera?

Panther, and a black one: Bagheera is Mowgli's friend, protector and mentor in the stories. Cub packs in many countries give his name to one of their assistant leaders.

In Scouting America, what title goes to the adult who runs a pack's monthly meeting as master of ceremonies?

Cubmaster is the title, and since 1976 the job has been open to women as well as men. A Scoutmaster does the same work for a troop of older Scouts.

In Cub Scouting, which name from Rudyard Kipling's stories is given to any leader a Cub Scout follows?

Akela can be a den leader, a parent or anyone older who guides a Cub Scout, which is why handbooks have carried a signature line for Akela. In the stories Akela leads the pack that adopts Mowgli.

In a Pinewood Derby kit, which everyday hardware items do Cub Scouts use as the car's four axles?

Nails came in the very first kits in 1953, when each Cub got four of them with four plastic wheels in a brown paper bag. A finished car must use every piece in the kit.

Which of these belongs to the Cub Scout Six Essentials, the gear list for every hike and campout?

Whistle is the one Cub Scout essential that the ten-item list for older Scouts leaves out. The other five are a first-aid kit, water bottle, flashlight, trail food and sun protection.

What title does an older Scout hold when helping an adult leader run a Cub Scout den's meetings?

Den chief is the post, and in the earliest American dens a den chief ran everything with no adult in charge. Today the chief assists a grown-up den leader.

Since 2024, which Adventure, once a rank of its own, has been the first required one in every Cub Scout rank?

Bobcat used to be a badge earned just once, on joining; now every grade has its own version that gets harder as Cub Scouts grow. It first appeared in 1938, spelled as two words.

Cub Scouts learn the twelve points of the Scout Law; which point comes last, right after clean?

Reverent closes the list, and Cub Scouts have recited all twelve points only since 2015. Before that they had a shorter code of their own.

From 1936 until 1967, what title did the Boy Scouts of America give the women who led Cub Scout dens?

Den mother began as an optional role and only became a registered position in 1948. In 1967 it was renamed den leader and opened to men as well.

In which month, the anniversary of Scouting's 1910 US founding, do most Cub Scout packs hold their annual banquet?

February is banquet season because the Boy Scouts of America was founded on February 8, 1910. Packs mark it with food, skits, slideshows and the year's awards.

On which part of the uniform do Cub Scouts from Lion to Bear wear the adventure loops they earn?

Belt it is: each loop slides onto the Cub Scout belt as soon as an adventure is finished, with no waiting for a ceremony. Fourth and fifth graders earn pins instead.

Under which title was Scouting America's youth magazine published from 1911 until its 2021 renaming?

Boys' Life became Scout Life with the January 2021 issue, after girls had joined the programs. It publishes a separate edition for readers of Cub Scout age.

What powered the propeller-driven rockets that Cub Scouts raced along strings in a Space Derby?

Rubber bands, wound a hundred turns or more, spun the propeller on each wooden rocket. Kits became hard to supply, and the national program was retired in 2022.

Which dry powder do Pinewood Derby builders dust on the axles so a Cub Scout's car rolls faster?

Graphite is the usual lubricant, dusted wherever a wheel rubs an axle or the car body and friction can steal speed. Polishing those surfaces is the other half of the trick.

Which Girl Guide section, at first called Rosebuds, was set up as the girls' counterpart to Cubs?

Brownies got the name in 1915, after the girls complained that they disliked being Rosebuds. It comes from an 1870 story by Juliana Horatia Ewing.

Which animal names the Scout section for children too young for Cubs that began in Northern Ireland in 1963?

Beavers began as the Little Brothers and took the new name in 1966, one Robert Baden-Powell had once considered for his Cubs. Canada began testing its own version in 1971.

Webelos Scouts wear a neckerchief in which pattern, mixing Cub Scout colors with those of Scouts BSA?

Plaid sets the fourth graders apart: its threads combine Cub Scouting's two colors with the red and green of Scouts BSA. The rank's name is explained as We'll Be Loyal Scouts.

In which traditional ceremony do Cubs squat in a circle and call out a greeting to their Scout leader?

Grand Howl was devised by Robert Baden-Powell, with Cubs copying young animals greeting their leader at the Council Rock. He also wrote a version for young Girl Guides that imitated an owl.

What do American Cub Scouts call the ring that holds a neckerchief in place, known in Britain as a woggle?

Slide is the American word, and Cub Scouts may wear handmade ones in place of the official metal version. In the US, woggle is kept for the knotted ring earned by adults in Wood Badge training.

Which short code did Cub Scouts retire in 2015, when they began reciting the twelve-point Scout Law instead?

Law of the Pack was retired so every Scouting program would share the same words, after child-development specialists judged the Scout Oath and Law no harder to understand. The Cub Scout Promise went too.

In 1971 the Cub Scout Promise dropped which phrase, replacing it with a pledge to help other people?

To be square once meant to be honest and fair, but by the 1970s a square was someone rigidly conventional, so the line had to go.

Which Scouter joined headquarters in 1916 and helped Robert Baden-Powell devise the badges for Cubs?

Vera Barclay caught Baden-Powell's eye with a magazine article arguing that women could train Cubs, and he made her the section's secretary. She is remembered as its co-founder.

Which saint, said to have tamed a fierce beast at Gubbio, is the patron of Cubs in many European Scout groups?

Francis of Assisi was chosen for his bond with animals, which suits a section built on animal stories. The honor is strongest in countries where Cubs keep their original theme.

Which aircraft maker's Management Club sponsored the first Pinewood Derby, run by employee Don Murphy?

North American Aviation supplied every Cub's bag of parts through its Management Club, which then mailed out thousands of brochures to spread the idea across the country.

The finish line at the first Pinewood Derby in 1953 was rigged from which household items?

Doorbells formed the finish gate, wired so that a bulb lit up to show which lane had won. Parents of the pack built it to go with their two-lane wooden track.

What are the small teams inside a British Cub pack called, the counterpart of an American Cub Scout den?

Sixes take their name from the six Cubs in each team. Each is led by a Cub called the sixer, with a seconder as deputy.

In Scouting America, at least one adult must complete BALOO training before a Cub Scout pack does what?

Camps overnight: BALOO stands for Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation, the course that covers the rules for a pack campout. The initials spell the name of Kipling's bear.

In which US state was the first Pinewood Derby run in 1953, at the Scout House in Manhattan Beach?

California is the answer: despite its name, Manhattan Beach is a coastal city in Los Angeles County. Pack 280C raced there on a 32-foot track.

What does the Scout slogan, the idea behind the Scouting for Food drive, ask of every Scout each day?

A good turn is what the slogan asks for each day, and every year Cub Scouts act on it by leaving bags on doorsteps, then returning to collect canned food for local food banks.

What color was the tight felt cap with yellow piping that Cubs traditionally wore in Britain and beyond?

Green caps marked out Cubs for decades, each with a matching visor and a badge on the front. Many countries have since swapped them for modern headgear or dropped hats entirely.

In the Cub Scout handshake, the first two fingers are extended to rest along which part of the other person?

Wrist is where the two fingers rest, a reminder to help each other keep the Scout Oath and Law. Older Scouts around the world greet each other differently, with the left hand.