Meaning of Patrol Emblems

[ScoutMomof5]

Hi everyone,

I just recently started working with webelos. I understand that webelos wearing the tan shirt may choose to wear a patrol emblem like Boy Scouts do. We would like the boys to agree on an emblem but was wondering.... Is there a list somewhere that explains the meanings behind each emblem? Or are the boys just choosing what's "COOL"?

[Stosh]

The red/black patches of days gone by were pretty cool and indicated in silouette what the animal was. One could add silver fox or red fox to it and let the imagination of the boy take hold. However, now that they color the patches it is a bit more difficult to explain why beavers and foxes are blue, but maybe the boys are all color blind.

 

Let the boys pick what they want, it's a battle that no adult should have to fight over and is a great way to get all the boys working on the same page. Pick a patch, get a yell, make a flag, do it all up to promote den/patrol unity and espirit-de-corps. Once the boys take ownership in the process it will be good for the boys to when they are the Blue Beavers and everyone else is Den 1 and Den 5.

 

As far as the list of meanings? The boys all have them in their imagination.

 

Stosh

[jmwalston]

The history and evolution of the patrol badge can be found at the following link:

 

http://www.gilwell.com/collecting/

[PACK15NISSAN]

My Webelos den just became a patrol, they are the Wolverines. It doesn't have any prolific deep meaning, but it is what they wanted. We are working on the citizen badge and to show them some rights (like voting) I let each boy nominate a patrol name (some didn't) and then we voted for the one they wanted. It was a chance to tie everything together and teach them that this is there patrol not mine and within reason they get to make the decisions.

 

To add a little extra fun and "coolness" to the whole thing, I gave each boy a sheet with 6, 2" circles on it and am letting them design what they want our patch to look like. Next week we will vote on which one we want to be our design. I have a friend who works for a company that makes a lot of patches for the boy scouts and she is going to get it made for us. In the end it is cheaper than buying them from scout supply and the boys have a custom patch that they designed. I think it is really helping them understand that they are a team and they work together and make choices, giving them some independance and since of pride.

 

Personally, I can't wait to see what they pick as their patch.

[FScouter]

Its a small thing, but still worth noting that Boy Scouts run in a patrol, Cub Scouts run in a den. A Webelos den may call themselves the Badger Den wear a Boy Scout badger patrol emblem but theyre still a den, fka Den 4.