Fall 2016 Revisions to Bear Adventures

On December 5, 2016, National BSA sent an email to all local Cub Scout units with information about updates to the 2015 Cub Adventure curriculum due to feedback received from a task force study that showed rank advancement had declined and scout retention had gone down after implementation of the new program. If you'd like to read the document, which includes the background information and changes for all ranks from Tiger through Arrow of Light, click here. These new requirements are to be implemented immediately, so this affects all of us den leaders right now.

As I scanned the Bear requirements, I saw that many had just a little snipped out to make them quicker to accomplish, so that will be nice. I was also surprised to see that Baloo the Builder is now a required adventure, swapping places with Grin and Bear It, which is an elective. It will be interesting to see how this plays out this next year!

I wanted the new requirements in my handbook to make them easy to refer to since my book is now outdated, so I created a small "cheat sheet" for Bears with all of the updates. (Sorry, other ranks, I'm just all about the Bears.) See below for the printable. I printed these so that the first and second columns on each page are actually the two sides of one 8.5x11" half page. I laminated the three double-sided pages and punched them for spiral binding. I took out the coil from my handbook and inserted these new pages after the front cover, then I threaded the coil back through everything. Now I can see the requirements at a glance anytime! I also plan on handing these out to parents so they can staple the updated requirements in their sons' books if they want.

Please let me know if I need to correct anything or if you have technical difficulties printing this out. Good luck, Bear leaders! I think you'll like these changes!