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Choosing your next merit badge

How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp.

For youth, families · Scouts BSA · 6 min read

Start with you

The best merit badge to start is the one you'll still be excited about three weeks from now. That usually means something connected to what you already love, something you've always wanted to try, or something that helps with a goal you have. A Scout who loves drawing might fly through Art or Animation. A Scout who wants a first job might pick Personal Management or Entrepreneurship. A Scout who has never held a fishing rod might pick Fishing for exactly that reason.

Ask yourself

  • What do I do in my free time when nobody's telling me what to do?
  • What's something I've always wanted to try but never had a reason to?
  • What job or hobby do I wonder about when I see adults doing it?
  • Do I want a badge I can mostly do at home, or one that gets me outside and moving?
  • Which friends in my troop want to work on something, and would it be more fun together?
  • How much time do I really have this season with school, sports, and family?

Browse by interest to see badges grouped by what they're about: animals, outdoors, water, building, science, tech, art, music and media, helping people, health, money and business, sports, history and government, leadership, food, and vehicles.

Balance Eagle-required and just because it's cool

If Eagle is a goal, 13 of your 21 badges come from the Eagle-required list, and Star and Life ask for some of them along the way. It's smart to keep one Eagle-required badge going most of the time. But the other 8 can be anything, and those are often the ones Scouts remember most. A good rhythm is one required badge and one for fun, side by side.

Eagle-required badges (some are either/or choices)

Start the long ones early

A few badges have requirements that take months no matter how fast you work: Personal Fitness has a 12-week program, Personal Management a 13-week budget, Family Life 90 days of chores, and Camping 20 nights. Start the clock on one of these while you work on shorter badges.

A few just-for-fun badges to spark ideas

Using summer camp and merit badge events well

Summer camp is one of the best places to earn badges, especially ones that need a lake, a range, a climbing wall, or trained staff, like Swimming, Lifesaving, Kayaking, or Rifle Shooting. Many councils also hold one-day merit badge events at a school or college. These work best when you show up prepared.

  1. Pick 3 or 4 badges, not 6

    Camp days fill up fast with swimming, meals, and campfires. A few badges you finish beat a stack of partials.

  2. Read the requirements before you go

    Look for prerequisites, which are requirements you need to finish at home first, like a log, a home-cooked meal, or attending a public meeting. Bring proof with you.

  3. Mix one challenge with one for fun

    Pair a hard Eagle-required badge with something you're simply curious about, so your week has some easy wins.

  4. Bring your partials home

    If you don't finish a badge, get your record signed for what you did. Give it to your Scoutmaster so a local counselor can help with the rest.

One thing to remember at big events: you still have to do each requirement yourself. Sitting in a room while someone else explains is not the same as earning it, and a good counselor will make sure everyone actually does the work.

How many at once?

Most Scouts do best with two or three badges going at a time. More than that and none of them move. If you have a badge you started months ago and haven't touched, decide this week: finish it, or set it aside on purpose. Either is fine. Leaving it to nag at you isn't.

Talk about it together

  • Which badge would help with something our family already does, like cooking, gardening, or fixing things?
  • Is there a relative or family friend whose job matches a badge, who could tell us more about it?
  • What's coming up in the next few months, like a trip or a camp, that could help with a badge?

What to do next

  1. Write down three badges that sound fun and one Eagle-required badge you haven't started.
  2. Read the requirements for each one in the Hitch Guide and cross off any that don't fit right now.
  3. Bring your top pick to your Scoutmaster and ask for a counselor. Then follow Earning a merit badge, step by step.

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