Beaver Scouts (The Scout Association)

Beaver Scouts
Beaver Scout section logo
Owner	The Scout Association
Age range	6–8
Country	United Kingdom
Membership	122,645 children (2014)
Next Cub Scouts

Beaver Scouts, often shortened to Beavers, is the youngest section of Scouting operated by The Scout Association in the United Kingdom. The core age range for Beaver Scouts is six to eight years, though exceptions can be granted. Individual sections of Beaver Scouts, known as a Colony, are run by the local Scout Group.

After reaching the age of eight, a Beaver Scout will then move on to Cub Scouts.

Since the creation of Scouting in 1907, many younger brothers wanted to join in with their older siblings. This led to the creation of Wolf Cubs (now known as Cub Scouts) in 1916 but there was still pressure from the younger brothers to become involved.

The first Pre-Cub scheme was set up in Northern Ireland by the 1st Dromore Group in 1963 and was called The Little Brothers. As the scheme expanded throughout the rest of the province, it was given the official name of 'Beavers' in 1966, this name having been considered by Robert Baden-Powell when creating Wolf Cubs. The following years saw the development of the uniform, age-range and general organisation before the section was renamed Beaver Scouts in 1974.

Beaver Scouts were trialled in Scotland after the Wellbeloved Report supported pre-Cub organisations. In October 1982 Beavers were introduced throughout the rest of the United Kingdom before officially becoming part of The Scout Association and the World Scout Organisation on 1 April 1986. Since then, Beaver Scouting has been a major part of the Scout Programme in the United Kingdom, and has a large participation rate across most of the country. Most Scout Groups have at least one Colony, and can have as many as three or four.

As Scouts were previously known as 'Boy Scouts', many still assume that all sections within Scouting are still primarily just for boys, but girls have been welcomed into all sections since 1991. The total number of Beaver Scouts in the UK Scout Association was 122,645 in 2014, up from 118,182 in 2013. The number of girls in the section in 2014 was 18,472.