FOLLOW BIG BEAR'S ARROW POINT TRAIL !
Now that your boy is a Bear Cub Scout he can still have lots of fun with his Bear Book! Baloo has electives for him too. Tons of 'em! Electives are not like achievements. A boy can pick any requirement he likes from the electives and do it. When he has completed 10 elective requirements he has earned his first arrow point, a gold one. After earning a Gold Arrow Point, he may complete 10 more requirements to earn a Silver Arrow Point. A Bear Cub Scout may wear as many Silver Arrow Points as he can earn under your Bear badge.

When working on the achievements to earn his Bear badge, you may have seen some requirements you wanted to try but didn't. Now you can review the Achievements section of your Bear Book with your boy and use any requirement he did not count toward his Bear badge. These achievement requirements now follow the same rules as the elective requirements. Each one is a separate project. You can mix requirements from electives and unused achievements in any manner to get the ten you need for each arrow point.

A Bear Cub Scout may earn arrow points from the Big Bear Cub Scout Book until he becomes a Webelos Scout.

Remember this important rule: If a boy completed an achievement requirement to earn his Bear badge, he cannot use it again to earn arrow points. But there are lots more.

THE BEAR ELECTIVES

As you and your boy peruse the following list of electives for your Bear Cubs, remember that you can go back to the uncompleted requirements in the Bear Achievements section of the "Big Bear book" and work on those towards Arrow Points.

  1. SPACE
    1. Identify two constellations and the North Star.
    2. Make a pinhole planetarium and show three constellations.
    3. Visit a planetarium.
    4. Build a model of a rocket or space satellite.
    5. Read and talk about at least one man-made satellite and one natural one.
    6. Find a picture of another planet in our solar system. Explain how it is different from Earth.
  2. WEATHER
    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 the weather for each day's temperature and a description of the weather each day (fair skies, rain, fog, snow, etc.). (Revised for 1998)
    2. Build a weather vane, record wind direction for 2 weeks at the same hour. Keep a record of the weather for each day.
    3. Make a rain gauge.
    4. Find out what a barometer is and how it works. Tell your den about it. Tell what relative humidity means.
    5. Learn to identify three different kinds of clouds. Estimate their height.
    6. Watch the weather forecast on TV every day for 2 weeks. Describe three different symbols used on weather maps. Keep a record of how many times the weather forecast is correct.
  3. RADIO
    1. Build a crystal or diode radio. Check with your local craft or hobby shop or the nearest Scout shop that carries a crystal radio kit. It is all right to use a kit.
    2. Make and operate a battery powered radio following the directions with the kit.
  4. ELECTRICITY
    1. Wire a buzzer or doorbell.
    2. Make an electric buzzer game.
    3. Make a simple bar or horseshoe electromagnet.
    4. Use a simple electric motor.
    5. Make a crane with an electromagnetic lift.
  5. BOATS
    1. Help an adult rig and sail a real boat.
    2. Help an adult repair a real boat or canoe.
    3. Know the flag signals for storm warnings.
    4. Help an adult repair a boat dock.
    5. Know the rules of boat safety.
    6. With an adult, demonstrate forward strokes, turns, and backstrokes. Row a boat around a 100-yard course involving two turns.
  6. AIRCRAFT
    1. Identify five different kinds of aircraft in flight, if possible, or from models or photos.
    2. Ride in an airplane (commercial or private).
    3. Explain how a hot air balloon works.
    4. Build and fly a model airplane. (You can use a kit. Every time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)
    5. Sketch and label an airplane showing the direction of forces acting on it (lift, drag, and load).
    6. 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.
    7. Build and display a scale airplane model. You may use a kit or build it from plans.
  7. THINGS THAT GO
    1. Make a scooter or a Cubmobile. Know the safety rules.
    2. Make a windmill.
    3. Make a waterwheel.
    4. Make an invention of your own design that goes.
  8. CUB SCOUT BAND
    1. Make and play a homemade musical instrument - cigarbox banjo, washtub bull fiddle, a drum or rhythm set, tambourine. etc.
    2. Learn to play two familiar tunes on an ocarina, a harmonica, or a tonette.
    3. Play in a den band using homemade or regular musical instruments. Play at a pack meeting.
    4. Play two tunes on any recognized band or orchestra instrument.
  9. 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 ideas for art projects:
    2. Mobile or wind sculpture.
    3. Silhouette
    4. Acrylic Painting
    5. Watercolor painting
    6. Collage
    7. Mosaic
    8. Clay sculpture
    9. Silk screen picture
    10. Visit an art museum or picture gallery with your den or family.
  10. MASKS
    1. Make a simple papier-mâchè mask.
    2. Make an animal mask.
    3. Make a clown mask.
  11. PHOTOGRAPHY
  1. Practice holding a camera still in one position. Learn to push the shutter button without moving the camera. Do this without film in the camera until you have learned how. Look through the viewfinder and see what your picture will look like. Make sure that everything you want in your picture is in the frame of your viewfinder.
  2. 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. Subject in shade on a sunny day,.
    5. Subject on a cloudy day.
  3. Put your pictures to use.
    1. Mount a picture on cardboard for display.
    2. Mount on cardboard and give it to a friend.
    3. Make three pictures that show how something happened (tell a story) and write one sentence explanation for each.
  4. Make a picture in your house.
    1. With available light.
    2. Using a flash attachment or photo flood (bright light).
  1. NATURE CRAFTS
    1. Make shadow prints or blueprints of three kinds of leaves.
    2. Make a display of eight different animal tracks with an eraser print.
    3. Collect, press, and label ten kinds of leaves.
    4. Build a water scope, and identify five types of water life. (New for 1998)
    5. Collect eight kinds of plant seeds and label.
    6. Collect, mount, and label 10 kinds of rocks or minerals.
    7. Collect, mount, and label five kinds of shells.
    8. Build and use a bird caller. (New for 1998)
  2. MAGIC
    1. Learn and show three magic tricks.
    2. With your den, put on a magic show for someone else.
    3. Learn and show four puzzles.
    4. Learn and show three rope tricks.
  3. LANDSCAPING
    1. With an adult, help 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 home. Talk it over with a parent or den leader. Show what 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 party, painting, cleaning and painting trash barrels, and removing ragweed. (Each time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)
    4. Build a greenhouse and grow twenty plants from seed. You can use a package of garden seeds, or use beans, pumpkin seeds, or watermelon seeds.
  4. WATER AND SOIL CONSERVATION
    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 3 different kinds of earth by conducting a soil experiment. (New for 1998)
    3. Visit a burned-out forest or prairie area, or a slide area, with your den or your family. Talk to a soil and water conservation officer, or a Forest Ranger about how the area will be planted and cared for, to grow again the way it was before the fire or slide.
    4. What is erosion? Find out the kinds of grass, trees, or ground cover you need to plant to help limit erosion.
    5. As a den, visit a lake, stream, river, or ocean (whichever is nearest where you live). Plan a den project to help clean up this important source of water. Name four kinds of water pollution.
  5. FARM ANIMALS
    1. Take care of a farm animal. Decide with your parent the things you will do and how long you will do them.
    2. Name and describe six kinds of farm animals and tell their common uses.
    3. Read a book about farm animals and tell your den about it.
    4. With your family or den, visit a livestock exhibit at a county or state fair.
  6. REPAIRS
    1. With the help of an adult, fix an electric plug or an electric appliance.
    2. Use glue or epoxy to repair something.
    3. Remove and clean a drain trap.
    4. Refinish or repaint something.
    5. Agree with an adult in your family on some repair job to be done and do it. (Each time you do this differently, it counts as a completed project.)
  7. BACKYARD GYM
    1. Build and use an outdoor gym with at least three items from this list.
      • §         Balance Board
      • §         Trapeze
      • §         Tire Walk
      • §         Tire Swing
      • §         Tetherball
      • §         Climbing Rope
      • §         Running long jump area.
    2. Build three outdoor toss games.
    3. Plan an outdoor game or gym day with your den (this can be part of a pack activity). Put your plans on paper.
    4. Hold an open house for your backyard gym.
  8. SWIMMING
    1. Jump feet first into water over your head, swim 25 feet on the surface, stop, turn sharply, and swim back. (Revised for 1998)
    2. Swim on your back, using a resting stroke, for 30 feet.
    3. Rest by floating on your back, using as little motion as possible for at least one minute.
    4. Tell what is meant by the buddy system. Know the basic rules of safe swimming. (Revised for 1998)
    5. Do a racing dive from edge of pool and swim 60 feet, using a racing stroke. (You might need to make a turn.)
  9. 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. Make an arrow holder.
    2. In skiing, know the Skier's Safety and Courtesy Code. Demonstrate walking and kick turn, climbing with sidestep or herringbone, snowplow stop, 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. Ice skating, know the safety rules. From a standing start, skate forward 150 feet; 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 a soft landing area.)
    5. In roller skating (with conventional on in-line skates), know the safety rules. From a standing start, skate forward 150 feet; 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. (Revised for 1998)
  10. 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 is over, add up the sales you have made. (Revised for 1998)
    2. Help with a garage sale or rummage sale. This can be with your family, a neighbor, or a church, school, or pack event.
  11. COLLECTING THINGS
    1. Start a stamp collection. You can get information about stamp collecting at any U.S. Post Office.
    2. Mount and display a collection of patches, coins, or other things 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.
    3. Start your own library. Keep your own books and pamphlets in order by subject. List the tittle, 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. (Revised for 1998)
  1. MAPS
  1. Look up your state on a U.S. map. What other states touch its borders?
  2. Find your city or town on a map of your state. How far do you live from the state capital?
  3. In which time zone do you live? How many time zones are there in the United States?
  4. Make a map showing the way from your home to your school or den meeting place.
  5. Mark a map showing the way to a place you would like to visit that is at least 50 miles from your home.
  1. NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE
  1. Native Americans lived all over what is now the United States. Find the name of the tribe who lived nearest where you live now. What is this tribe best known for? (Revised for 1998)
  2. Learn, make equipment for, and play two Native American games with members of your den. Be able to tell the rules, who won, and what the score was.
  3. Make a model of an early Native American house.
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