Wolf Scout Nova Awards

Congratulations on finishing your first year as a scout leader! Yay to making Tiger Cub Scout rank. As you dive into the Wolf Scout year, focus first on making rank before adding in Nova Awards. The required adventures always come first. If you haven’t made ranks yet, be sure to check out our campout plan. Using this campout plan helps scouts to make Wolf rank with just a little work outside of one campout experience, plus you don’t even have to spend the night.

Once you have made rank, it can be fun to add in some Nova Awards for your scouts. Begin with our Cub Scout Wolf Meetings post to learn structuring your meetings to finish up making Wolf Scout rank and adding in Nova Awards to these meetings. These are a great way to extend the scouting journey and add additional rewards to their uniforms. Our scouts love the hands-on learning that the Nova Awards offer and the field trips are some of their favorite scouting memories.

What are Nova Awards?

Nova Awards are a wonderful way to add some additional STEM to scouts. STEM is science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These nova awards are a way to excite and encourage the scouts to explore the different STEM areas. The majority of Nova Awards are a 5 step plan with one of the steps being an adventure from the Cub Scout handbook. The SuperNova Award is a deeper dive into the different STEM areas. See the Boy Scouts of America for the specific requirements for each award. Read more on the organization of Cub Scout Nova Awards.

How to Plan for a year of Nova?

The trick with planning for Nova Awards is to think about what you wish to accomplish. Each Nova and SuperNova pairs with some of the Cub Scout electives from the handbook. Some of the Nova Awards have multiple electives you can choose from, while some only have one elective. All the Nova Awards have not elective options too! But with a little planning, you can pair each Nova and SuperNova Award you want to complete with an elective in order to best utilize your scouts’ time. But don’t fret, you can always use option A or B instead of an elective too.

You can complete 11 different Nova Awards and 1 SuperNova Award per level. That’s a lot! You can also complete just 1 Nova Award or even zero. There is no set requirement, so no reason to plan for all 11 in the same year. However, it is suggested to complete 1 Nova Award per area before completing a second Nova Award in that area. So complete 1 science, 1 technology, 1 engineering, and 1 math before completing a second science Nova Award.

The SuperNova Award suggests completing 2 Nova Awards but it is not a requirement. We loved completing one Nova award in each of the STEM areas before tackling the SuperNova Award in scouting, but this definitely isn’t a requirement.

A Word About SuperNova Award

We started by looking at the Cub Scout electives that pair with the SuperNova Award. Then we determined which Nova Awards we could complete with the electives left. From our table, we decided that the SuperNova Award was best completed during Bear and Webelos year instead of Wolf year. The electives needed to complete the SuperNova in Wolf year are the only elective for two of the Nova Awards. However, you could easily complete the SuperNova award and skip 1-2-3-Go! and Cubs Can Code Nova Awards, earning the other award in the STEM category.

While in Bear year, the electives needed to complete the SuperNova are never the only elective paired with a Nova Award, there is always another choice. However, there is nothing wrong with completing the SuperNova during the Wolf year, just means that if you want to complete Cubs Can Code or 1-2-3 Go!, you’ll need to use the Option A or Option B method.

Our Nova Awards and Elective Pairs

For each type of Nova there are at least 2 different Nova Awards that can be earned. Science currently has 5 different Nova Awards, while Technology, Engineering, and Math each have 2 different Nova Awards to pick from. Each Nova Award is paired with at least 1 cub scout elective but some are paired with multiple electives from which to choose. Our Cub Scouts Nova Awards table below shows each of the Cub Scout electives that pair with each Nova Award by rank. This is an amazing tool to assist you with your planning.

SUPERNOVA – Code of the Wolf and Call of the Wild

Both 1-2-3 Go! (Math) and Cubs Can Code (Technology) pair with only Code of the Wolf, so if you choose to go for the SuperNova Award, you will need to use Option A or Option B of these if you want to earn them, or use the SuperNova Option A or B.

Here is a general plan that uses a different elective for each Nova Award with the exception of the 1-2-3 Go!, Cubs Can Code, and the SuperNova Award which all pair with only Code of the Wolf. So if you plan to complete these 3 Nova Awards, please check out the Option A and Option B choices to see which ones best fit your den.

SCIENCE NOVA AWARDS

There are 5 science Nova Awards. Each pairs nicely with a specific award, but most have 3 different Cub Scout Wolf elective adventures that you could choose form. Only Uncovering the Past Nova Award only pairs with one Wolf Scout adventure. Down and Dirty and Nova Wild both pair with Digging in the Past and Grow Something, so you can easily swap these two electives to either Nova Award.

Science Everywhere pairs with Germs Alive

For this Nova Award, you will need to guide your Wolf Scouts through the scientific method. If you pair with Germs Alive, it can be great to investigate something to do with Germs. You could easily pair this with the sneeze demonstration, but try to capture a real sneeze, or the mucus demonstration. This would also work nicely with growing a mold culture. To complete the Germs Alive elective, you will need to complete at least 2 of these, so why not pair the Nova Award in.

You will also need to visit a place where science is being done. The options provided by the Boy Scouts of America include a zoo, aquarium, water treatment plant, science museum, observatory, fish hatchery, or weather station. This is a broad list and it isn’t inclusive. You really can go anywhere where your scouts can see science. A great field trip to pair with these two electives could include a trip to your local health department or a vaccine, medication, or medical company.

Down and Dirty pairs with Digging in the Past or Grow Something

The Down and Dirty Nova Award investigates the wonders of Earth Science. You can investigate volcanoes, rocks, weather, or animal habitats. If you choose to pair this with Digging in the Past, you could easily add in a study rocks and fossils or animal habitats. If you decide to try Grow Something, you would probably want to focus more on animal habitats.

Down and Dirty requires you to visit a place where Earth Science is being done. The Cub Scouts recommends places including a cave, quarry, geology museum or university department, meteorology station, weather station, or volcano observatory or station. The Nova Award Digging in the Past doesn’t require any type of field trip. However, finding a place to view fossils or a dinosaur museum may be fun for this adventure. Grow Something requires a field trip to a local botanical or community garden, so just pair that with the Nova Award field trip requirement.

Nova Wild pairs with Digging in the Past or Grow Something

The Nova Wild Award is probably the longest one to earn. There are actually 6 parts for this Nova Award. The extra part asks the scouts to act like a naturalist and complete 2 different investigations. Life you pair this well, it’s really not that much extra, but may take a little longer than other Nova Awards.

Digging in the Past Wolf Scout Elective

If you pair Nova Wild with Digging in the Past, try to make this Nova more about the past and dinosaurs. As you explore wildlife, you could easily look at different types of dinosaurs and then relate this to your local wildlife. When acting like a naturalist, you will need to focus on more local wildlife or plant species. You can try to find more ancient species but we don’t suggest spending too much time on that. Let your scouts research what interests them.

Then plan a visit to a state or national park where dinosaurs once roamed or even a zoo with a dinosaur exhibit. You will want to avoid museums because you need to observe wildlife. If you happen to live by a park with fossils, that would be a great option too.

Grow Something Wolf Scout Elective

If you choose to pair this Nova Award with Grow Something, you might have an easier time overlapping requirements however, you will most likely need to take 2 different field trips. You can investigate wildlife and the food chain by starting with the seed you plant for Grow Something. This would pair well if you choose an invasive species for when you act like a naturalist. Then you could pair this with your Cub Scout Conservation Award and maybe help rid a local park or Boy Scout Campgrounds of an invasive species.

Another easy option would be to visit an ecosystem which might be able to be found in a local botanical garden. If the botanic garden is part of a state park, zoo, wetland ecosystem, or nature preserve, you could also count this as your field trip for the Nova Award. Otherwise you will need an additional field trip.

Out of this World pairs with Motor Away

These two are a more difficult pair, but the first part of Motor Away focus on airplane creation and Out of this World focuses on space. So this would be your best tie in. You can easily tie the field trip into the star party as part of Out of this World. Just plan to attend an observatory or astronomy club. Then while you wait for dark, your scouts could design paper airplanes to test out.

During your star party, you could complete the other den parts of the Out of this World Nova Award. Be sure to bring along an app or star wheel to locate the different constellations. If this is a good time to view different planets, you could add in a discussion on revolution, orbit, and rotation as well as 3 different planets. If an eclipse is coming up, you could learn more about solar and lunar eclipses and try to view one. However, if planets and eclipses aren’t as readily available for viewing, you could pair the Out of this World Mars Rover design with the Motor Away model car creation.

Uncovering the Past pairs with Collections and Hobbies

This Nova Award explores archaeology, which can pair nicely with collections. This is a 6 part Nova Award similar to Nova Wild, but seems a little less overwhelming. When your scouts bring in their collection or even are brainstorming their collection, be sure to discuss artifacts, ecofacts, and physical remains.

Most of your scouts collections will fall into the artifact category, but you may have a few who bring in ecofacts. If you happen to have a fossil finder, you might even get some physical remains. Then your scouts could use their collects to create their artifact layers. This is much preferable for us than digging through trash, but that is the second option.

To complete the Uncovering the Past Nova Award, you will need to visit a place with items that have been excavated. For example, you could try your local historical society or a museum. If you happen to have a dig site nearby, that would be great too.

TECHNOLOGY NOVA AWARDS

There are only 2 Technology Nova Awards. While Tech Talk has 2 options, we already paired Motor Away with the Science Nova Award Out of this World. If you are thinking of skipping Out of this World, then you could also pair Motor Away with Tech Talk. However, Cubs can Code only pairs with Code of the Wolf.

Tech Talk pairs with Finding Your Way

Use the Tech Talk Nova Award to talk about some of the Technology your scouts use when exploring the outdoors. This is a great time to talk about compasses and maps to add in the Finding Your Way. You will need to learn all about technology and how it is used in different fields. This is a great time to get your parents involved as they probably work in some of these fields and will have practical real life examples for your scouts.

Then you will need to plan a field trip. The Cub Scouts recommends visiting places including an amusement park, fire or police station, radio or television station, newspaper office, factory or a store. But you could easily add in a state or national park where your scouts can use their new compass and map skills. Just be sure to alert the ranger that you want him or her to discuss the technology used too.

Cubs Can Code pairs only with Code of the Wolf

If you plan to complete 1-2-3 Go! or the SuperNova Award, you will need to decide where to use this elective. Code of the Wolf is a very popular electives for Wolf Scout Nova Awards. We suggest just picking of the Nova Awards that use this award and then focusing on other awards. But you can always supplement with the other options provided in the award too. The only thing for Cub Scouts is that you cannot use the same elective for multiple Nova Awards.

These two pair really nicely. You can pair Creative conditionals from Cubs can Code with the Code of the Wolf create a math game that uses math to keep score. Then instead of a field trip, ask your scouts to complete one hour of code on the internet. You can use code.org for this requirement. It has so many different coding games for your scouts to try. Just be sure their Cyber Chip is up to date and they have parental permission first.

ENGINEERING NOVA AWARDS

You have 2 different engineering Nova Awards from which to choose. Swing can pair with 2 Wolf Scout electives, but again, we utilized Motor Away the Out of this World Nova Award. Up and Away doesn’t actually pair with a Wolf Scout elective, instead, it pairs with a Cub Scout tradition.

Swing pairs with Paws of Skill

For this Nova Award, your scouts will learn more about levers. Now why would Cub Scouts pair this with a physical fitness elective like Paws of Skill? Because your body, in fact, has different levers. So as you work on your exercises and fitness, be sure to point out the different levers you learn about with Swing. Then you scouts will need to design something that uses levers which can be a lot of fun.

Finally, you will need to plan a field trip. Cub Scouts recommend playgrounds (think seesaws), carpentry shop, construction site, or restaurant kitchen. You could also try an automotive repair shop or look for someone who practices physical therapy or sports medicine. Just kindly provide your contact with your requirement to learn about the levers they use. You might need to even provide them some details too.

Up and Away does not pair with an elective

Instead this Nova works well with a Raingutter Regatta, Pinewood Derby, or Space Derby. For this Nova Award, your scouts participate in their Pack Event. Then you will need to explore terminal velocity. Finally, you need to plan a field trip to an indoor skydiving wind tunnel to participate in a STEM education program or a museum, observatory, or research facility that focuses on aviation.

MATHEMATICS NOVA AWARDS

We again have 2 different Mathematics Nova Awards from which we can choose. Here is the third place that the Wolf Scout Nova Awards (including SuperNova Award) use the Code of the Wolf elective. Fearful Symmetry could also use the Code of the Wolf or Motor Away, but these are paired with other Nova Awards. Just remember, if you plan to complete Cubs Can Code, you will need to decide where to use the Code of the Wolf elective

1-2-3 Go! pairs only with Code of the Wolf

You can pair the Code of the Wolf 5 activities that use math with the 1-2-3 Go! calculating the weight on planets, the height of an object, or the volume of air in the room. Then go ahead and pair the two sections on secret codes from the Wolf elective and the Nova Award. This Nova Award doesn’t actually require a field trip.

Fearful Symmetry pairs with Air of the Wolf

These two are a little tricky to pair together, but as you are conducting your Air of the Wolf investigations, you can definitely discuss symmetry with building paper airplanes, a balloon powered boat, a musical instrument, or a kite. Then pair this with the artwork of a Native American tribe or two. Finally, you will need to visit a place where symmetry is important like an art museum, building or printer.

All the Nova Awards and their Cub Scout Elective Pairs by Rank

See the figure below for all the elective pairs for each elective by rank. This will help you to create your own plan for completing Nova Awards if you would rather use a different option than our plan above. Plus it will give you a sneak peek into the next few ranks.

Good luck with your Wolf year! And remember, do as much as you feel comfortable doing. Don’t fret if one Wolf den does more than your den and definitely never feel obligated to do everything. Anything that you complete above rank is optional and a benefit for your scouts! All den leaders are truly amazing!

Do you have a Wolf Cub Scout Den? We’d love to hear your thoughts on our Nova Award plan. Drop us a comment below and let us know if you found this post helpful. Have other ideas that pair well together, let us know too. We’d appreciate if you would take a moment to subscribe to our newsletter. You will receive more great tips for scouting as well as a freebie from time to time.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.