After reading my first article on the Junior Ranger Party, you know that the concept is to create a fun “Boy Scouting” style birthday party for kids who are currently too young to participate in the real scouting program. Over the course of the birthday party, the guests will work themselves through a series of thematic merit badges, based on the activities that you will lead.
The Merit Badges can be pseudo badges – created on the computer using Avery labels to be stuck onto the kids’ shirts or onto construction paper to be pinned onto the kids’ shirts. You can take this concept one step further and create a fabric sash (similar to the one that Miss America wears!) onto which the badges can be attached.
Merit Badge Crafts & Activities
- Metereology Merit Badge: awarded after the guests complete their rainsticks; This badge could be symbolized by a cloud with lightning or something similar.
- Nature Merit Badge: awarded after guests complete the birdsongs activity. This badge could be symbolized by a bird or a musical note graphic.
- Fishing Merit Badge: create a fun activity that simulates fishing. Use dowel rods for fishing poles, with strings tied to the ends for fishing lines. To the ends of the strings, attach small magnets. Create a “pondful” of construction paper fish and attach a metal paper clip to each fish. Let the kids fish by dangling their poles and magnetic lines over some obstruction (if indoors, use the back of a couch; if outdoors, use a picnic table on its side), and collect as many fish as they can. You can make this activity even more fun by assigning point values to the fish and awarding a fishing derby champion. This badge could be symbolized by a fish
- Campfire Merit Badge: awarded after guests have successfully sung a campfire song or cooked over a campfire or learned to start a fire. Obviously, a lot of adult supervision is needed for this activity. What you can do for an indoor version, is place a small pile of twigs over a uplight that has an amber bulb in it. With a flick of a switch, you can light the fire, the kids will get a big kick out of it, and there will be no risk of burning embers! The Campfire Badge could be symbolized by a campfire graphic or by a campfire fork with a marshmallow or weiner on it.
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© Text by Janice Benoit. [March, 2007]. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright
