5 badges your Scouts can work towards over Summer

Summer has quickly arrived and everyone’s already excited for what’s to come. But give it two weeks and your Scouts are bound to be bored already.

Why not give them something to work towards, and provide them with tasks that will contribute to them earning some new badges?

There are so many badges that require just a few tasks to complete, or if one of your Scouts wants to dedicate a chunk of their time to carrying out tasks and research needed to complete a badge, now is the perfect time to do so!

Writer Activity Badge

If someone in the Scout Group is a budding author, poet or novelist, this badge is perfect for them to keep themselves entertained over the Summer and gives them a clear goal to work towards!

Consisting of various writing activities, this badge requires four tasks from the provided list to be completed such as; compose a poem of eight lines, create a short story of around 600 words after discussing with an appropriate adult, keep a diary on a subject for a certain length of time already discussed with an adult, interview a local celebrity and many other options.

Find out more about this badge here.

Naturalist Activity Badge

Encourage your Scouts to get outdoors this Summer whilst working towards their naturalist activity badge. This requires at least one day spent at an outdoor location such as woodland, seashore, small pond or wetland, amongst others, to investigate the wildlife and plants found there.

They then must complete the rest of the tasks that can be found here.

Make sure they also know how to stay safe or take an appropriate adult along with them.

Lifesaver Activity Badge

Perfect for if your Scout Group is based near the sea or a swimming pool, your Scout simply needs to demonstrate that they can carry out a rescue using the following methods; shout, reach, throwing a buoyant aid, throwing a rope and wade.

The Scout would also need to complete either the Rookie Lifeguard Gold Level 1 award or the Survive and Save Silver Medallion award from the Royal Lifesaving Society UK.

The third step requires the Scout to demonstrate, if possible, what they would do if a person or pet fell through ice.

Find out more about the Lifesaver Activity Badge here.

Martial Arts Activity Badge

If your Scouts take part in martial arts such as judo, ju-jitsu, karate, taekwondo and any others that are included, they can work towards this activity badge by regularly taking part for at least six months and can demonstrate how they’ve improved by at least one level over this period. They must then take part in a competition or demonstration and talk about their performance with an instructor.

Find out more about this badge here.

Fundraising Activity Badge

Encourage your Scouts to use their Summer to help others by working towards their fundraising goals for either The Scout Association, nationally or for your local Group, or another UK registered charity.

They must then have a short reason to tell donors about the chosen cause, set a target and date to raise at least around £100, and write a short report about their fundraising challenge with three top tips that could help other fundraisers.

We’ve written a whole blog with tips for online fundraising.

Read more about this badge here.

Why not spend your own Summer working towards the goal of launching a new website ready for the next term to document the efforts and activities of the Group?

Find out more about Scout Group websites here