The Wolf Trail

The Wolf Trail

To earn the Wolf rank a Cub Scout must complete the following requirements.

  1. Complete each of the following Wolf required adventures with your den or family:

    1. Call of the Wild

    2. Council Fire

    3. Duty to God Footsteps

    4. Howling at the Moon

    5. Paws on the Path

    6. Running With the Pack

  2. Complete one Wolf elective adventure of your den or family’s choosing.

  3. With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the pamphletHow to Protect Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide, and earn the Cyber Chip award for your age

Den Leader Materials

Note: If your family does not have Internet access at home AND you do not have ready Internet access at school or another public place or via a mobile device, the Cyber Chip portion of this requirement may be waived by your parent or guardian.

If the Cub Scout has not previously earned the Bobcat Badge, it must be earned before the scout hits the Trail toward his Wolf Badge.

After the Cub Scout has completed an adventure, he is awarded the adventure's belt loop at the next Pack meeting.

Required Wolf Adventures

Call of the Wild

  1. While a Wolf Scout, attend a pack or family campout. If your chartered organization does not permit Cub Scout camping, you may substitute a family campout or a daylong outdoor activity with your den or pack.

  2. Show how to tie an overhand knot and a square knot.

  3. While on a den or family outing, identify four different types of animals. Explain how you identified them.

  4. With your family or den, make a list of possible weather changes that might happen on your campout according to the time of year you are camping. Tell how you will be prepared for each one.

  5. Show or demonstrate what to do:

    1. When a stranger approaches you, your family, or your belongings.

    2. In case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or flood.

    3. To keep from spreading your germs.

  6. On the campout, participate with your family or den in a campfire show. Prepare a skit or song, and then present it at the campfire for everyone else

  7. Do the following:

    1. Recite the Outdoor Code with your leader.

    2. Recite the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids with your leader. Talk about how these principles support the Outdoor Code.

    3. After your campout, list the ways you demonstrated being careful with fire.

Council Fire

  1. Participate in a flag ceremony, and learn how to properly care for and fold a flag.

  2. Work with your den to develop a den duty chart, and perform these tasks for one month.

  3. Do the following:

    1. Learn about the changes in your community, and create a project to show your den how the community has changed.

    2. Select one issue in your community, and present to your den your ideas for a solution to the problem.

  4. Do the following:

    1. Attend the pack committee leaders’ meeting. Present ideas to the pack committee regarding your service project.

    2. Work together on a community service project.

  5. Talk to a military veteran, law enforcement officer, member of the fire department, or someone else who works for the community. Talk about his or her service to the community. After you have visited with the individual, write a short thank you note.

  6. Do the following:

    1. Learn about the three R’s of recycling: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Discover a way to do each of these at home, at school, or in your community.

    2. Make your own recycling center, or contribute to an existing one.

    3. Create a den project from recyclables for a pack meeting.

Duty to God Footsteps

  1. Complete requirements 1 and 2.Do both of these:

    1. Visit a religious monument or site where people might show reverence.

    2. Create a visual display of your visit with your den or your family, and show how it made you feel reverent or helped you better understand your duty to God.

  2. Complete 2a and at least two of requirements 2b–2d.

    1. Give two ideas on how you can practice your duty to God. Choose one, and do it for a week.

    2. Read a story about people or groups of people who came to America to enjoy religious freedom.

    3. Learn and sing a song that could be sung in reverence before or after meals or one that gives encouragement, reminds you of how to show reverence, or demonstrates your duty to God.

    4. Offer a prayer, meditation, or reflection with your family, den, or pack.

Howling at the Moon

  1. Show you can communicate in at least two different ways.

  2. Work with your den to create an original skit.

  3. Work together with your den to plan, prepare, and rehearse a campfire program to present to your families at a den meeting.

  4. Practice and perform your role for a pack campfire program.

Paws on the Path

  1. Show you are prepared to hike safely by putting together the Cub Scout Six Essentials to take along on your hike.

  2. Tell what the buddy system is and why we always use it in Cub Scouts.

  3. Describe what you should do if you get separated from your group while hiking.

  4. Choose the appropriate clothing to wear on your hike based on the expected weather.

  5. Before hiking, recite the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids with your leader. After hiking, discuss how you showed respect for wildlife.

  6. Go on a 1-mile hike with your den or family. Watch and record two interesting things that you’ve never seen before.

  7. Name two birds, two bugs, and two animals that live in your area. Explain how you identified them.

  8. Draw a map of an area near where you live using common map symbols. Show which direction is north on your map.

Running With the Pack

  1. Play catch with someone in your den or family who is standing 10 steps away from you. Play until you can throw and catch successfully at this distance. Take a step back, and see if you can improve your throwing and catching ability.

  2. Practice balancing as you walk forward, backward, and sideways.

  3. Practice flexibility and balance by doing a front roll, a back roll, and a frog stand.

  4. Play a sport or game with your den or family, and show good sportsmanship.

  5. Do at least two of the following: frog leap, inchworm walk, kangaroo hop, or crab walk.

  6. Demonstrate what it means to eat a balanced diet by helping to plan a healthy menu for a meal for your family. Make a shopping list of the food used to prepare the meal.

Elective Wolf Adventures

Adventures in Coins

  1. Identify different parts of a coin.

  2. Find the mint mark on a coin; identify what mint facility it was made in and what year it was made.

  3. Play a coin game.

  4. Choose a coin that interests you, and make a coin rubbing. List information next to the coin detailing the pictures on it, the year it was made, and the mint where it was made.

  5. Play a game or create a game board with your den or family where you can practice adding and subtracting coins.

  6. Create a balance scale.

  7. Do a coin-weight investigation.

Air of the Wolf

  1. Do the following investigations:

    1. Conduct an investigation about the weight of air.

    2. Conduct an investigation about air temperature.

    3. Conduct at least one of the following investigations to see how air affects different objects:

      1. Make a paper airplane and fly it five times. Make a change to its shape to help it fly farther. Try it at least five times.

      2. Make a balloon-powered sled or a balloon-powered boat. Test your sled or boat with larger and smaller balloons.

      3. Bounce a basketball that doesn’t have enough air in it. Then bounce it when it has the right amount of air in it. Do each one 10 times. Describe how the ball bounces differently when the amount of air changes.

      4. Roll a tire or ball that doesn’t have enough air in it, and then roll it again with the right amount of air. Describe differences in how they move.

  2. Do the following:

    1. With other members of your den, go outside and record the sounds you hear. Identify which of these sounds is the result of moving air.

    2. Create a musical wind instrument, and play it as part of a den band.

    3. With an adult, conduct an investigation on how speed can affect sound.

  3. Do the following:

    1. Explain the rules for safely flying kites.

    2. Make a kite using household materials.

  4. With your family, den, or pack, participate in a kite derby, space derby, or raingutter regatta. Explain how air helps the vehicle move.

Code of the Wolf

  1. Do two of the following:

    1. With the members of your den or family, make a game with simple materials that requires math to keep score.

    2. Play a game of “Go Fish for 10s.”

    3. Do five activities at home, at school, or in your den that use mathematics, and then explain to your den how you used everyday math.

    4. Make a rekenrek with two rows, and show Akela how you would represent the numbers 4, 6, 9, and 14.

    5. Make a rain gauge or some other measuring device, and use it.

  2. Do one of the following:

    1. With other members of your den or family, identify three different types of shapes thatyou see in nature.

    2. With other members of your den or family, identify two shapes you can see in the construction of bridges.

    3. Select a single shape or figure. Observe the world around you for at least a week, and write down where you see this shape or figure and how it is used.

  3. Do one of the following

    1. With your den, find something that comes with many small, colored items in one package. Count the number of items of each color in your package. Keep track of each color. Then:

      1. Draw a graph showing the number of items of each color.

      2. Determine what the most common color is.

      3. Compare your results to the other boys’.

      4. Predict how many items of each color you will find in one more package.

      5. Decide if your prediction was close.

    2. With your den or family, measure the height of everyone in the group and see who takes more steps to walk 100 feet.

    3. Have each member in your den shoot a basketball. Count the number of shots it takes to make five baskets. Graph the number of shots it takes for each boy using 5, 6–10, 11– 15, 16–20, or more than 20.

  4. Do one of the following:

    1. Use a secret code using numbers to send a message to one of your den members or your den leader. Have that person send a message back to you. Be sure you both use the same code numbers.

    2. Send a message to another member of your den or your den leader using the pig pen code or another code that changes letters into special shapes.

    3. Practice using a block cipher to decode a message.

Collections and Hobbies

  1. Begin a collection of at least 10 items that all have something in common. Label the items and title your collection.

  2. Share your collection at a den meeting

  3. Visit a show or museum that displays different collections or models.

  4. Create an autograph book and get at least 10 autographs. Start with members of your den.

  5. Pick a famous living person, and write him or her a letter. In your letter, ask the person to send you an autographed photo.

  6. Play a game with your den that involves collecting.

Cubs Who Care

  1. With the members of your den, visit with a person who has a physical disability.

  2. Do four of the following, a through h:

    1. With other members of your den, try using a wheelchair or crutches, and reflect on the process.

    2. Learn about a sport that has been adapted so that people in wheelchairs or with some other physical disability can play, and tell your den about it.

    3. Learn about “invisible” disabilities. Take part in an activity that helps develop an understanding of invisible disabilities.

    4. With your den, try doing three of the following things while wearing gloves or mittens:

      1. Tying your shoes.

      2. Using a fork to pick up food.

      3. Playing a card game.

      4. Playing a video game.

      5. Playing checkers or another board game.

      6. Blowing bubbles.

    5. Paint a picture two different ways: Paint it once the way you usually would paint it and then again by using a blindfold. Discuss with your den the ways the process was different.

    6. Demonstrate a simple sentence or at least four points of the Scout Law using American Sign Language.

    7. Learn about someone famous who has or had a disability, and share that person’s story with your den.

    8. Attend an event where people with disabilities are participants or where accommodations for people with disabilities are made a part of the event.

Digging in the Past

  1. Play a game that demonstrates your knowledge of dinosaurs, such as a dinosaur match game.

  2. Create an imaginary dinosaur. Share with your den its name, what it eats, and where it lives.

  3. Make a fossil cast.

  4. Make a dinosaur dig.

  5. Make edible fossil layers. Explain how this snack is a good model for the formation of fossils.

  6. Be a paleontologist, and dig through the dinosaur digs made by your den. Show and explain the ways a paleontologist works carefully during a dig.

Finding Your Way

  1. Do the following:

    1. Using a map of your city or town, locate where you live.

    2. Draw a map for a friend so he or she can locate your home, a park, a school, or other locations in your neighborhood. Use symbols to show parks, buildings, trees, and water. You can invent your own symbols. Be sure to include a key so your symbols can be identified.

  2. Pick a nutritious snack, and find where it came from. Locate that area on a map.

  3. Do the following:

    1. Identify what a compass rose is and where it is on the map.

    2. Use a compass to identify which direction is north. Show how to determine which way is south, east, and west.

  4. Go on a scavenger hunt using a compass, and locate an object with a compass.

  5. Using a map and compass, go on a hike with your den or family.

Germs Alive!

  1. Wash your hands while singing the “germ song.”

  2. Play Germ Magnet with your den. Wash your hands again afterward.

  3. Conduct the sneeze demonstration.

  4. Conduct the mucus demonstration with your den.

  5. Grow a mold culture. Show what formed at a den or pack meeting.

  6. Make a clean room chart.

Grow Something

  1. Select a seed, and plant it in a small container. Care for it for 30 days. Take a picture or make a drawing of your plant once each week to share with your den.

  2. Find out the growing zone for your area, and share the types of plants that will grow best in your zone.

  3. Visit or research a botanical or community garden in your area, and learn about two of the plants that grow there. Share what you have learned with your den.

  4. Make a terrarium.

  5. Do one of the following:

    1. Using a seed tray, grow a garden inside your home. Keep a journal of its progress for 30 days. Share the results with your den.

    2. Grow a sweet potato plant in water. Keep a journal of its growth for two weeks. Share it with your den.

Hometown Heroes

  1. Talk with your family and den about what it means to you to be a hero. Share the name of someone you believe is a hero. Explain what it is that makes that person a hero.

  2. Visit a community agency where you will find many heroes. While there, find out what they do. Share what you learned with your den.

  3. With the help of a family member, interview one of your heroes, and share what you learn with your den. Tell why you think this person is a hero.

  4. As a den or family, honor a serviceman or servicewoman by sending a care package along with a note thanking them for their service.

  5. With your family or den, find out about animals that are trained to help others in your community.

  6. Participate in or create an event that celebrates your hometown hero(es).

Motor Away

  1. Do the following:

    1. Create and fly three different types of paper airplanes. Before launching them, record which one you believe will travel the farthest and what property of the plane leads you to make that prediction.

    2. Make a paper airplane catapult. Before launching a plane, record how far you believe it will travel and explain what information you used to make this prediction. After you make your prediction, launch the plane and measure how far it flies.

  2. Make two different boats and sail them.

  3. Create a car that moves under its own power.

Paws of Skill

  1. Talk with your family and den about what it means to be physically fit. Share ideas of what you can do to stay in shape.

  2. With your den, talk about why it is important to stretch before and after exercising. Demonstrate proper warm-up movements and stretches before and after each activity you do that involves action.

  3. Select at least two physical fitness skills and practice them daily. See if you can improve over a two-week period.

  4. With your family or your den, talk about what it means to be a member of a team. Working together, make a list of team sports, and talk about how the team works together to be successful. Choose one and play for 30 minutes.

  5. With your den, talk about sportsmanship and what it means to be a good sport while playing a game or a sport. Share with your den how you were a good sport or demonstrated good sportsmanship in requirement 4.

  6. Visit a sporting event with your family or your den. Look for ways the team works together. Share your visit with your den.

  7. With your den, develop an obstacle course that involves five different movements. Run the course two times and see if your time improves.

Spirit of the Water

  1. Demonstrate how the water in your community can become polluted.

  2. Explain one way that you can help conserve water in your home.

  3. Explain to your den leader why swimming is good exercise.

  4. Explain the safety rules that you need to follow before participating in swimming or boating.

  5. Show how to do a reaching rescue.

  6. Visit a local pool or public swimming area with your family or Wolf den. With qualified supervision, jump into water that is at least chest-high, and swim 25 feet or more.

Wolf Rank Badge
Call of the Wild Belt Loop
Council Fire Belt Loop
Duty to God Footsteps Belt Loop
Howling at the Moon Belt Loop
Paws on the Path Belt Loop
Running with the Pack Belt Loop
Adventures in Coins Adventure Belt Loop
Air of the Wolf Adventure Belt Loop
Code of the Wolf Adventure Belt Loop
Collections and Hobbies Adventure Belt Loop
Cubs Who Care Adventure Belt Loop
Digging in the Past Adventure Belt Loop
Finding Your Way Adventure Belt Loop
Germs Alive! Adventure Belt Loop
Grow Something Adventure Belt Loop
Hometown Heros Adventure Belt Loop
Motor Away Adventure Belt Loop
Paws of Skill Adventure Belt Loop
Spirit of Water Adventure Belt Loop