Welcome to the Pack 42 Arrow of Light (AOL) Den Resource Page!
The Arrow of Light Badge of Rank is designed for fifth-grade youth ready to take their first steps into the exciting world of Cub Scouting. As an Arrow of Light Cub, Scouts will explore fun, hands-on activities with the support of their adult partners, learning valuable skills while building confidence and teamwork.
The program includes six required Arrow of Light Adventures and a variety of electives, allowing Scouts to dive into topics like outdoor skills, community involvement, and creativity. The Arrow of Light Handbook serves as a guide for both Scouts and their families, offering clear instructions and activity ideas to complete each adventure.
By earning the Arrow of Light Badge, young Scouts not only achieve an important milestone in their Cub Scouting journey but also create unforgettable memories with their den and family. Join Orlando Cub Scout Pack 42 and discover the fun of the AOL rank today!
2024 Arrow of Light Den Handbook for Cubs
Get ready for an exciting adventure with the new Arrow of Light Cub Scout Handbook! Perfect for Fifth-Grade Scouts, this fun and interactive guide is packed with engaging activities and fun learning opportunities. Whether you’re just starting your Cub Scouting journey or looking for new ways to explore, this handbook has everything you need to make the most of the Arrow of Light Adventures. Download it today and start creating unforgettable memories with Orlando Cub Scout Pack 42!
Video - All About the AOL Den (Arrow of Light)
Check out this exciting intro video from our friends in Scouting! Discover how the Arrow of Light Den program brings fun, learning, and adventure to fifth-grade age Scouts. Don’t miss it—start your Cub Scouting journey today with Orlando Pack 42!
Arrow of Light Den Leader Resources
Required Adventures for Advancement
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1. Demonstrate the patrol method by choosing a patrol name and electing a patrol leader. Discuss the benefits of using the patrol method.
2. Get to know the members of your patrol.
3. Recite the Scout Oath and Law from memory with your patrol.
4. Learn about the Scout Oath and Identify three points in the Scout Law
5. With your Patrol, create a Patrol Code of Conduct.
6. Demonstrate the Scout Sign, Salute and Handshake, which is different slightly from Cub Scouts.
7. Learn about the Scout Slogan and Motto
8. With your patrol or adult partner, visit a Scouts BSA Troop, or several, and consider which you’d like to join.
9. With your Adult Partner, go over the Youth Protection requirements.
OPTIONAL
Create a patrol flag.
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1. Discuss with your parent, guardian, den leader, or other caring adult about your family’s faith traditions or one of your choosing. Choose a view or value in that tradition that is related to the Scout Law. Discuss how you demonstrate this value.
2. Meet with a representative of a faith based organization in your local community who provides a service that assists people in crisis regardless of faith. Identify who they help and how.
3. Discuss with your family or patrol what “Duty to God” and what this means to you and how you practice it.
OPTIONAL
1. Under the direction of your parent, guardian, or religious or spiritual leader, do an act of service for someone in your family, neighborhood, or community. Talk about your service with your family. Tell your family how it related to doing your duty to God.
2. With your parent, guardian, or religious or spiritual leader, discuss and make a plan to do two things you think will help you better do your duty to God. Do these things for a month.
3. Discuss with your family how the Scout Oath and Scout Law relate to your beliefs about duty to God.
4. For at least a month, pray or reverently meditate each day as taught by your family or faith community.
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1. Learn about the Scout Basic Essentials.
2. Determine what you will bring on an overnight campout, including a tent and sleeping gear, and how you will carry your gear.
3. Review the four points of the BSA SAFE Checklist and how you will apply them on the campout.
4. Locate the camp and campsite on a map.
5. With your patrol or Scouts BSA Troop, plan and participate in a campout.
6. On arrival at the campout, with your den and den leader or family, determine where to set up your tent, kitchen, eating area and firepit. Demonstrate knowledge of what makes a good tent site and what makes a bad one. Help the patrol set up the communal area before setting up your own tent. Set up your tent without help from an adult.
7. Explain how to keep food safe and the kitchen area sanitary at the campsite. Demonstrate this knowledge during the campout.
8. After the campout, discuss with your patrol what went well and what you would do differently. Explain how you followed the Outdoor Code and Leave no Trace principles.
OPTIONAL
1. Once your tents are set up, discuss with your den and den leader or family what actions you should take in the case of the following extreme weather events:
Severe rainstorm causing flooding
Severe thunderstorm with lightning or tornadoes
Fire, earthquake, or other disaster that will require evacuation. Discuss what you have done to minimize as much danger as possible.
2. Show how to tie a bowline. Explain when this knot should be used and why. Teach it to another Scout who is not a Webelos Scout.
3. Recite the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids from memory. Talk about how you can demonstrate them while you are working on your Arrow of Light. After one outing, list the things you did to follow the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace.
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1. Watch the Protect Yourself videos for your rank.
2. Explain what you should do if you encounter someone who needs first aid.
3. Demonstrate what to do for first aid in the cases of the following:
Serious bleeding
Heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest
Stopped breathing
Stroke
Poisoning
4. Show how to help a choking victim.
5. Show how to treat for shock.
6. Show how to treat 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
Fainting
7. Put together a personal first aid kit. Demonstrate the proper use of each item in your first aid kit.
OPTIONAL
1. Show how to do CPR
2., Create and practice an emergency readiness plan for your home or den meeting place.
3. Visit with a first responder or health care professional.
4. Watch the YouTube Video – First Responder
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1. Plan a balanced meal that you would eat when camping. Prepare that meal using the gear you would use while on a campout.
2. Examine what it is to be physically fit and how you incorporate this into your life. Track the number of times you are active over a 14 day period. Share with your patrol what you have learned, and if you are living up to the promise of the Scout Oath to be physically fit.
3. Be active for 30 minutes with your patrol that includes both stretching and moving.
4. Review your BSA Annual Health and Medical Record with your Adult Partner.
OPTIONAL
1. Be active for 15 minutes doing personal exercises that boost your heart rate, use your muscles and work on flexibility.
2. Do a relaxing activity for 10 minutes.
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1. Identify a community service project that your patrol or Pack could accomplish. Use the BSA SAFE Checklist and develop a plan to conduct the project safely.
2. Participate in a service project for a minimum of two hours.
OPTIONAL
Building a Better World (Retired)
Complete the following requirements.
1. Explain the history of the United States flag. Show how to properly display the flag in public, and help lead a flag ceremony. (Raising the flag, lowering the flag, procession at a meeting.)
2. Learn about and describe your rights and duties as a citizen, and explain what it means to be loyal to your country.
3. Discuss in your Webelos den the term “rule of law,” and talk about how it applies to you in your everyday life.
4. Meet with a government or community leader, and learn about his or her role in your community. Discuss with the leader an important issue facing your community.
5. Show that you are an active leader by planning an activity for your den without your den leader’s help. Ask your den leader for approval first.
6. Do at least one of these:
A. Learn about Scouting in another part of the world.
With the help of your parent, guardian, or den leader, pick one country where Scouting exists, and research its Scouting program.
B. Set up an exhibit at a pack meeting to share information about the World Friendship Fund.
C. Under the supervision of your parent, guardian, or den leader, connect with a Scout in another country during an event such as Jamboree on the Air or Jamboree-on-the-Internet or by other means.
D. Learn about energy use in your community and in other parts of the world.
E. Identify one energy problem in your community, and find out what has caused it.
YouTube Video – Building a Better World REQ 1
YouTube Video – Building a Better World REQ 2 4
YouTube Video – Building a Better World REQ 5 6
Elective Adventures
Webelos and Arrow of Light share electives. Electives completed in 4th grade cannot be duplicated in 5th grade. Choose different electives for each.
WEBELOS
Adventures in Science
Aquanaut
Art Explosion
Aware and Care
Build It
Catch the Big One
Castaway
Champions for Nature
Chef’s Knife
Earth Rocks!
Engineer
Fix It
Game Design
Into the Wild
Into the Woods
Let’s Camp
Math on the Trail
Modular Design
Moviemaking
Paddle Onward
Pedal Away
Project Family
Race Time
Summertime Fun
Sports
Tech on the Trail
Yo-yo
Scouting Adventure (retired but good)
(The following activities are the same as required for the first Scouts BSA rank, Scout Rank)
1. Prepare yourself to join a troop by completing at least a-c below:
a. Repeat from memory the Scout Oath, Scout Law, Scout motto, and Scout slogan. In your own words, explain their meanings to your den leader, parent, or guardian.
b. Explain what Scout spirit is. Describe for your den leader, parent, or guardian some ways you have shown Scout spirit by conducting yourself according to the Scout Oath, Scout Law, Scout motto, and Scout slogan.
c. Give the Scout sign, salute, and handshake. Explain when to use each.
d. Describe the First Class Scout badge, and tell what each part stands for. Explain the significance of the First Class Scout badge.
e. Repeat from memory the Pledge of Allegiance. In your own words, explain its meaning
2. Visit a troop meeting with your parent or guardian and, if possible, with your den members and leaders. After the meeting, do the following:
a. Describe how the Scouts in the troop provide its leadership.
b. Describe the four steps of Scout advancement.
c. Describe ranks in Scouting and how they are earned.
d. Describe what merit badges are and how they are earned.
3. Practice the patrol method in your den by doing the following:
a. Explain the patrol method. Describe the types of patrols that might be part of a troop.
b. Hold an election to choose the patrol leader.
c. Develop a patrol name and emblem (if your den does not already have one), as well as a patrol flag and yell. Explain how a patrol name, emblem, flag, and yell create patrol spirit.
d. As a patrol, make plans to participate in a troop’s campout or other outdoor activity.
4. With your den leader, parent, or guardian, participate in a troop’s campout or other outdoor activity. Use the patrol method while on the outing.
5. Do the following:
a. Show how to tie a square knot, two half hitches, and a taut-line hitch. Explain how each knot is used.
b. Show the proper care of a rope by learning how to whip and fuse the ends of different kinds of rope.
6. Demonstrate your knowledge of the pocketknife safety rules and the pocketknife pledge. If you have not already done so, earn your Whittling Chip card.