Scouts aren’t exactly stumbling over themselves to take Personal Management, Emergency Preparedness, or Citizenship in the Community/Nation/World.
But with a little advance planning and creativity, you can bring seemingly dull merit badges to life.
Start by studying every requirement for ways to turn lectures or pen-and-paper exercises into something hands-on.
Then consider these tips from our friends on Facebook and Twitter:
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Any first aid class is more exciting with fake vampire blood. Stock up now. It makes an important lesson more realistic.0
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I have fun when I do merit badges as a veteran of nearly 1000, I watch the eyes of the. Boys and change it up when I see fatigue set in. Get them on their feet, and be excited about what you share, not teach but share your passion. I have had groups as large as 70 and team teach, get them working with each other. Of course it helps to have the local air museum available with a lot of excited volunteers. Cooking is another, when we are done the boys are very capable their reward is great food after all they deserve it!0
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Genealogy – I use Harry Potter as my example for the simple family tree and events timeline. The boys aren’t expecting to see that and love it.0
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@scouting We always try to have a dull merit badge associated with something fun related. The best is to go somewhere or doing something. -
Cit in the world- I like to set my teaching space with lots of items from different parts of the world, bring food from different parts of the world, play games, invite guests, and always strive to present the material in a manner that is appealing and memorable to the scouts.0
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I taught Citizenship in the world and to teach my scouts the countries of the world we showed them the animaniacs video.0
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Well, for starters, YOU have to be excited about the subject and by that I mean a little over the top excited. We shouldn’t be a merit badge counselor unless we’re truly interested in the subject, but sometimes (due to poor presentation or communication skills), we don’t show our enthusiasm well. Let yourself go, put yourself out there and and get downright giddy about your topic and that energy will infect the boys.0
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Bryan, you have to check out the Zombie Edition of the Emergency Preparedness merit badge! More than 75 Scouters have downloaded it so far! http://www.facebook.com/scoutrevolution0
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I’m also planning to teach the Personal Management merit badge using lessons learned from Video Games!0
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@Mat: I teach Personal Management at summer camp, and I find that relating it to something the kids are interested in is a fantastic way of getting them interested and engaged in discussion. However, you have to be careful to keep the conversation tightly reigned, otherwise it’s very easy for them to get off-topic, and once they’ve started to wander, it’s easier to herd cats than to get them back on track.0
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Pulp and Paper (I teach it for Scout College) – I use an online Jeopardy game to cover alot of the material. (Actually, Jeopardy can be used for alot of “boring” subjects…)0
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Personal Management was a lot more fun with 2-liter rockets. Planning, budgeting, and project development all led to a zone-wide rocket launching competition. I was amazed (and entertained) at the creativity. For the record: balloons didn’t work, but using soda instead of water created more pressure.0
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What do you think?
What are your tried-and-true tips for making any merit badge more fun? Share your comments below.
Photo from Flickr. Some rights reserved by Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious
I totally agree with the heading. ALL merit badge councilors should be as excited to help these scouts as the scout is to earn the badge.
I agree Bryan. Seems Scouting counselors would benefit from Interpreter Training, much like National/State Park Volunteers go through. Or, encourage/recommend reading a few books by Tilden or Sam Ham. That would help get the points across much better!
I totally agree with the heading. ALL merit badge councilors should be as excited to help these scouts as the scout is to earn the badge.
As a councilor my creed is ” To Earn It You Gotta Learn It”. I don’t pass them off to make them happy. I pass them off when they have fulfilled the requirements. If I can add to their knowledge so much the better but I do not make them do additional requirements. Using vampire blood is excellent since that gives realism to a first-aid situation. No where is a simulated bloody situation required. I hope as councilors were pump up the expectations so the scout can excell.
The most important tool you can engage is the Scout’s own imagination. Get them to push themselves.
I love teaching the Citizenship ones! For the Cit. of the World I set up the room like the UN. I give Scouts who check in a large tag with the name of the Country they chose. I have a huge display of items from around the world. I give each a passport and as we complete an item it is stamped in their book. I have games using chop sticks, I have them guess what the items I brought are used for.. its a BLAST
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