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Let's Camp

Cub Scouts · Adventure, Elective

Printable worksheet (PDF)

Let's Camp is your chance to plan a campout and show what you can do. You'll pitch your own tent, tie a bowline, learn fire safety, and take care of the outdoors. It's a big step toward camping like an older Scout.

Why it's worth it

This is camping like the older Scouts do it. You'll help plan the trip, choose a good tent spot, set up your own tent, tie a bowline, and learn how a safe campfire works. Each skill is one you'll use on troop campouts for years, and showing up already knowing them feels great.

Start this week

  1. Set up your tent in the yard or living room this week, timing yourself.
  2. Practice the bowline around your waist with a piece of rope until you can tie it without looking.
  3. Say the Outdoor Code and one Leave No Trace for Kids principle each night before bed.

Stay safe

  • Build and light fires only where allowed, with an adult supervising, and keep water close.
  • Know your weather plan before you go, and move to shelter when you hear thunder.

Requirements · 9

Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).

  1. Requirement 1

    Plan and go on a campout with your den, pack, or family

    Tip: Help your den or family pick a campground, a date, and a packing list.

    For example: Help plan by picking the campground with your adult, making a packing list, and planning one meal. Write down who's going and when you'll leave and come home.

  2. Requirement 2

    When you get to the campground, decide where to put up a tent

    Tip: Look for flat ground away from dead branches and low spots where rain could pool.

    For example: A good tent spot is flat, has no rocks or roots, isn't in a low spot where rain could pool, and has no dead branches overhead. Lie down on it before you set up.

  3. Requirement 3

    Put up your tent with no adult help

    Tip: Practice pitching your tent in the backyard first so it's easy at camp.

  4. Requirement 4

    Name a weather hazard that could happen in your area and decide what you'll do if it happens during the campout

    Tip: Ask an adult what weather could happen where you're camping, like storms, and make a plan.

    For example: If thunderstorms are possible, your plan might be: watch the sky, and when you hear thunder, leave the open field and go to a building or car with your adult until 30 minutes after the last thunder.

  5. Requirement 5

    Tie a bowline; explain when and why to use it

    Tip: Practice the bowline with a rope at home. It makes a loop that won't slip, like for a rescue line.

    For example: A bowline makes a loop that won't slip or tighten. Use it to tie a rope around a tree for a clothesline, to tie up a boat, or for a rescue loop around someone's waist.

  6. Requirement 6

    Know the fire safety rules and use them to find a safe spot for a campfire

    Tip: Learn the fire safety rules and pick a spot in a fire ring away from tents and trees.

  7. Requirement 7

    Build a teepee fire lay with tinder, kindling, and fuel wood. If allowed and there's no local fire ban, light it safely with an adult supervising, let it burn safely, then put it out leaving little impact on the site

    Tip: Build a small teepee fire lay. Light it only with an adult and keep water nearby to put it out.

    For example: Build a small teepee fire lay: a pile of tinder in the middle, small sticks leaning around it like a tent, then a few larger sticks. Keep water and a shovel close, and drown, stir, and feel the ashes until they're cold.

  8. Requirement 8

    Recite from memory the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids

    Tip: Say the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace principles in the car or at bedtime until you know them.

  9. Requirement 9

    After the campout, tell your den or family the ways you followed the Outdoor Code and the Leave No Trace Principles for Kids

    Tip: After camp, share one way you left your campsite better than you found it.

Places to visit

Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.

  • A Scouts BSA troop campout

    Older Scouts can show you how they set up tents, tie knots, and run a campfire safely.

    How: Have your den leader ask a troop if your den can visit for an afternoon or join a family-friendly overnight.

Talk about it together

  • What was the hardest part of setting up your tent alone?
  • How did you choose your tent spot, and how did it work out overnight?
  • Which Leave No Trace principle did you use the most?
  • What would you pack differently next time?
  • What camping skill do you want to learn next?

Helpful reads

For leaders & parents

  • Hold a backyard tent setup practice before the real campout.
  • Check fire rules for your campground and always keep fire activities under close adult supervision.

People & places that can help

Pairs well with

Counts toward

More Webelos adventures

Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.