GREEN Stars and Badges

There are 6 Stars in the Cub Program:

Black Star
Natural World

Green Star
The Outdoors

Tawny Star
Creative Expression

Red Star
Health and Fitness

Blue Star
Home and Community

Purple Star
Canada and the World

Green Star: The Outdoors


Green Star Activities will help you get started in learning the basic outdoor skills. If you're interested in how to camp and take care of yourself in the outdoors, try starting with these activities.
Green Star

Camping Badge
Cooking Badge
Fishing Badge
Hiking Badge
Trailcraft Badge
Watercraft Badge
Winter Cubbing Badge

Canadian Camper Award
Canadian Heritage Trails Award

Green Star

To earn the Green Star, choose and do any five of the A requirements and any three of the B requirements:

    A. Requirements
        1. Estimate 3 distances and measuring things by using your body, such as the length of your foot, your pace or the top of your thumb.
        2. Tie and show practical use for any five knots, such as reef, sheet bend, taut-line, bowline, fisherman's knot, round turn and two half hitches, clove hitch
        3. Make a Cub First Aid/Survival kit
        4. Make or put together a camp gadget for outdoor use
        5. Know what to do if lost
        6. Recognize or describe the signs for different types of weather
        7. Lay, light and safely put out a fire in the outdoors
        8. Show how to use a road or topographical map
        9. Tell or demonstrate how to dress for different weather conditions to reduce the risk of hypothermia and reduce your exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays
        10. Know and explain some rules for protecting nature while on an outing
    B. Requirements
        1. Take part in 3 pack hikes
        2. Help prepare and cook a hot meal on a family, six or pack outing
        3. Tell or show how the sun, moon and North Star can help you find directions
        4. Make or follow a trail of not more then 300 meters using clues, trail signs, a map, compass directions or any combination of these
        5. Draw a simple sketch map of a campsite or your Cub meeting place using compass and paces
        6. Without harming nature, put up and take down an emergency shelter of your own design
Return to top
 

Activity Badges

Camping Badge

    1. Do one of the following:
        a. Complete 4 days of family camping (they don't need to be all together);
        b. Take part in 2 Cub camps
    2. Make a list of some safety and hygiene rules for camping and discuss these with your leader
    3. Make a list of personal camping gear needed for sleeping, eating, clothing and first aid at an overnight camp. Discuss this list with your leader
    4. Describe what to do if lost
    5. In any season, do any 5 of the following:
        a. Put up and take down a simple shelter or tent
        b. Cook a simple meal over an open fire or portable stove
        c. Show how to use a compass
        d. Help in doing 2 different camp chores or duties
        e. Show how to properly dispose of camp garbage or waste while camping
        f. Show how to purify drinking water at camp
        g. Using appropriate knots, erect a pole or line on which to hang your gear
        h. Show how to keep food safe from insects and animals
        i. Show how to safely handle a pocket knife or camp saw
    6. Be aware of and explain no-trace camping
Return to top

Cooking Badge

With the help of an adult, describe some safety rules for cooking on a stove, microwave, or around an open fire. Then do any 5 of the following:

    1. Make some hot oatmeal
    2. Cook a hotdog or hamburger
    3. Use a tinfoil cup or orange half and bake a muffin in it.
    4. Wrap a potato in tinfoil and bake it in a fire
    5. Boil water and cook some pasta of your choice
    6. Make pancakes or French toast
    7. Make biscuit or bannock dough and cook it on a stick or in a cup
    8. Cook a baked apple, banana, or a tinfoil dessert of your choice
    9. Make a campfire treat, such as SMOR's or popcorn
    10. Cook a meal of your choice at camp
    11. Make a shish-ka-bob of meat and vegetables and cook over a fire
    12. Cook an egg
Return to top

Fishing Badge

    1. Describe some safety rules for being in or around water; and know how to prevent and treat injuries caused by fish hooks and fish knives
    2. Show how to put together and toe an angling outfit, a handline outfit, or an ice fishing outfit
    3. Name and identify some major sport fish in your area
    4. Describe the most suitable way to catch one sport fish of your choice
    5. Describe the rules and regulations for fishing in your area, how to unhook and release a fish without harming it, and the benefits of using barbless hooks
    6. Do either (a) or (b):
        a. Do either: With help (except for the actual landing), catch 3 separate species of local fish. Name them correctly and describe what family they belong to and their place in fishing (game fish, minnow, coarse, etc)
        b. Discuss water pollution in your area - how it can effect fishing and what can be done to reduce or eliminate pollution
Return to top

Hiking Badge

    1. Know how to take care of your feet for everyday walking, through washing, toenail clipping, wearing clean, dry socks, and having proper fitting shoes
    2. Know how to treat a blister on the foot, insect bites, hypothermia, overheating, and discuss the importance of getting adequate rest while hiking
    3. Discuss some safety rules for hiking, such as:
        a. staying with the group and using a buddy system;
        b. keeping to the designated trails;
        c. keeping the group together;
        d. having enough drinking water and food;
        e. carrying a first aid kit, whistle and spare clothes
    4. Discuss what to do if lost
    5. Know some rules for protecting nature when hiking
    6. Go on 4 hikes of 1-2 hours long, some of which could be in a conservation area or park, around your camp, around your community, or at night
    7. Prepare a nutritional trail mix to eat and share
Return to top

Trailcraft Badge

    1. In preparing for a trip, know how to do the following:
        a. Tell an adult where you are going and include arrival time, route and any phone numbers;
        b. Wear clothes and shoes suitable for where you will be and the weather;
        c. Make a "footprint" by placing a sheet of tinfoil on a towel and then stepping on it with your shoes on. Mark the foil with your name and leave with an adult so searchers can identify your footprint if needed;
        d. Understand and use the buddy system when on trips;
        e. List some rules for preventing getting lost, such as staying on trails and with your group.
    2. Discuss and demonstrate how to do the following if lost:
        a. Stay calm and slow down to save energy and body heat;
        b. Keep your head and body warm and dry to avoid hypothermia;
        c. Find a friendly place near a clearing and stay put to help searchers find you;
        d. Make a survival shelter or bed to keep off the cold ground and stay dry;
        e. Avoid eating strange berries and drinking unpurified water;
        f. Put out something bright for people to see; Make a pattern of 3 signals;
        g. Look big to airplanes by lying down in a clearing and wearing bright clothing or a coloured garbage bag;
        h. How to be carful around bodies of water;
        i. Yell back at a scary night noises
    3. Make a survival/first aid kit that includes amoung the items a high energy snack, several brightly coloured garbage bags, reflector or hand mirror and a whistle
Return to top

Watercraft Badge

    1. Describe 6 different types of watercraft
    2. Correctly name and point out 6 different parts of a watercraft
    3. Explain and show the correct way to choose and wear a lifejacket or Personal Floatation Device (PFD)
    4. Demonstrate how to safely enter, change places in and exit a boat, showing how to move calmly and keep your weight low and centered. Know how to behave in a boat.
    5. Describe the signs of dangerous weather and water conditions for boating, and what to do when you see them
    6. Demonstrate the following:
        a. Identify 3 examples of good throwing assists;
        b. Be able to throw a throwing assist (without a line) to a person at least 2 meters away
    7. Demonstrate the following:
        a. While wearing your PFD, curl in a ball to form the Heat Escape Lessening Position (HELP) to stay warm in the water;
        b. With a small group who are all wearing PFDs, huddle together to make the HUDDLE position to keep you and others warm in the water
    8. Know the importance of staying with your boat if you fall out or tip over
    9. With a buddy or adult, launch a boat and row, paddle or sail a straight line for 50 meters, turn and come back
Return to top

Winter Cubbing Badge

    1. Describe how to prevent and treat:
        a. Frost-bite;
        b. Skin on cold metal;
        c. Snow blindness;
        d. breaking through ice;
        e. Hypothermia
    2. Show that you are properly dressed for a winter outing or describe how to dress for with weather. Know the importance of staying dry
    3. Recognize and identify in winter conditions 3 common birds and 3 common trees or shrubs
    4. Point out the North Star and 3 night sky features, such as stars, constellations, and planets
    5. Take part in two of the following
        a. A winter camp
        b. A winter hike
        c. 2 winter outdoor meetings
        d. lighting a fire and cooking a simple meal under winter conditions
        e. a hike on snowshoes or skis
        f. an ice fishing trip
Return to top
 

Awards

Canadian Camper Award

    1. Earn the Green Star
    2. Earn the First Aider Badge
    3. Earn the Camping Badge
    4. Participate in at least 3 Cub camps
    5. With a buddy and help from your leader, choose a campsite and complete the following:
        a. Set up a shelter of your own design or a tent. Weather permitting, spend a whole night sleeping in your shelter;
        b. Where permitted, build a fire and boil a cup of water;
        c. Scout the area and discover what you can about the terrain, kinds of plants and habits of local wildlife;
        d. Locate the direction North and predict possible changes in weather
    6. Help show other Cubs how to do a camping skill of your choice
    7. Where possible, visit a Scout troop camp and learn about their camping program
Return to top

Canadian Heritage Trails Award

    1. Earn the Green Star
    2. Earn the Hiking Badge or Watercraft Badge
    3. Locate a trail or waterway and learn its heritage importance
    4. Travel on this route, and list some of the significant natural and heritage features along the way
    5. While travelling on this route, participate in a project that helps restore, clean or preserve the section you are on
Return to top

 

Our sincere thanks, to Akela at the 1st Whitby Wolf Cub group, who clearly learned the motto from Beavers, and freely provided us with all of these well put-together electronic excerpts from the Cub Handbook!