Featured Merit Badge

Cooking
 http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-COOK.aspx

The Cooking merit badge introduces principles of cooking that can be used both at home or in the outdoors. Scouts who earn this badge will learn about food safety, nutritional guidelines, meal planning, and methods of food preparation, and will review the variety of culinary (or cooking) careers available.

Family Life
http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-FAML.aspx

The family is the basic unit of society and is important to both individuals and communities. The world is rapidly changing, making today's society much more complex than ever before. As Scouts earn this merit badge, they will realize why it is important to know more about family life and how to strengthen their families.

Gardening
 http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-GARD.aspx
 Humans have been growing plants for thousands of years. Farmers and horticulturists make their living growing food and other plants, while other people grow gardens for pleasure. Becoming a good gardener requires a Scout to understand the science of growing plants, how to prepare the soil, how to select and plant seeds, and how to care for the growing plants.

 Collections
* Stamp and coin collecting are excluded from eligibility for this merit badge.

http://www.scouting.org/Home/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-COLL.aspx
Collecting can be an educational and financially rewarding pastime: A collector must educate himself about a specific subject, be able to tell which items are worth preserving, how to catalog and organize his collection, and how to evaluate the value of items.

 

Aviation
 http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Aviation
 For most of history, people have dreamed of flying, imagining how it would feel to soar through the sky like an eagle or hover in midair like a hummingbird, to float on unseen currents, free of Earth's constant tug, able to travel great distances and to rise above any obstacle. Today, through aviation, we can not only join the birds but also fly farther, faster, and higher than they ever could.

All the information needed to help complete the worksheets are on the webpage/s above, they provide links to where information is found . In addition the Booklet from the Scout Shop or online has all this info as well. http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/literature-media/merit-badge-pamphelts.html

 Aviation Worksheet

Another resource:
http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/boyscouts/advancementandawards/meritbadges/mb-avia.aspx 


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Space Exploration
http://bit.ly/18Pezgk

 Space is mysterious. We explore space for many reasons, not least because we don't know what is out there, it is vast, and humans are full of curiosity. Each time we send explorers into space, we learn something we didn't know before. We discover a little more of what is there.

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Soil and Water Conservation

 http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Soil_and_Water_Conservation

Conservation isn't just the responsibility of soil and plant scientists, hydrologists, wildlife managers, landowners, and the forest or mine owner alone. It is the duty of every person to learn more about the natural resources on which our lives depend so that we can help make sure that these resources are used intelligently and cared for properly.

 

 Soil and Water Conservation is one of the elective merit badges for the World Conservation Award for Boy Scouts, and one of the elective merit badges for the William T. Hornaday awards for Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts.

This is a subject that will affect your life and your children's life too.


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Personal Management

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Personal_Management

Personal management is about mapping a plan for your life that will involve setting short-range and long-range goals and investigating different ways to reach those goals. Education, training, and experience all help make your goals become a reality. To achieve your goals, you will choose the best path and make a commitment to it, while remaining flexible enough to deal with changes and new opportunities.


This badge is Eagle required, and will be a life skill, ie something you will use the rest of your life.
If we live in normal society , we all have to have a home, a car and these are expensive items we have to plan and save for.


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Pioneering:

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Pioneering

Pioneering—the knowledge of ropes, knots, and splices along with the ability to build rustic structures by lashing together poles and spars—is among the oldest of Scouting's skills. Practicing rope use and completing projects with lashings also allow Scouts to connect with past generations, ancestors who used many of these skills as they sailed the open seas and lived in America's forests and prairies.

Probably one of the most fun badges I did as a scout, making engineered solutions to solve a problem using basic materials.  In mid 1970's I participated in jamboree on the air , where scouts communicate with others scouts from around the whole world, with the help of Amateur Radio (HAM) volunteers.

WE built a tower to have our antennae up above local houses , Tower was approximately 40 feet , and it had a center section that could be raised and rotated with the antennae attached- Total height 60ft

Real Life examples:

This is Scaffolding using bamboo in Hong Kong

Close up :