Sustainable Special Interest Badges & CSA

Sustainable Teams, Sustainable Scouting from Home programme can go towards your special interest badges too! This is the perfect time to practice or learn those skills you don’t normally have time for. The skills, physical, environment and social badges can be completed with these activity sheets to contribute towards your Chief Scout Award. Here are some examples of how you can use the new activity sheets to earn your badges!

Skills: This can be any new personal skill e.g. technical, mechanical, music, drama, arts & crafts

Try out ‘Learn or Improve another language’, ‘Learn how to sew’ (from people category) or ‘Make -don’t buy kitchen sponge’ (from planet category) on Better World here

Adventure: In normal scouting this should be an adventure journey that includes something completely new i.e. a new location, new method of travel, etc. However with the natural restrictions of Scouting from Home why not take this opportunity to use Zoom to connect with other scouts elsewhere or Beavers and Cubs could go on an ‘adventure’ within their 5km

Try out ‘Get out and appreciate nature’ (see people category) or ‘Twin your Scout group’ (see partnership category) here

Physical: This can include any physical pursuit, activity or sport

Try out the ‘Mindfulness’ (see people category) activity sheet. You can do any form of physical activity that gives you your own ‘headspace’ -walking, HITT workouts or yoga- the choice is yours! You could even set yourself a daily walking challenge and try out the ‘Check a Walking Route’ activity sheet (see prosperity category) while you’re at it here

Community: Being involved in your community. This could be a service type project and you should create a plan that outlines what you will do and who will benefit. Sustainable scouting from home gives you lots of opportunities to research communities you may not have thought to engage with before, before COVID or might be groups you need your support now more than before.

Try out the ‘Diversity in your Community’ activity sheet (see prosperity category) to research groups you could contact to do a service for or charities you could work with in providing their services. Use the ‘Share the SDGs’ activity sheet (see partnership category) to share for who and why the SDGs were created – could you reach our to any communities in your locality or around Ireland who you could feature in your video too?

Environment: This can be any project that improves the environment in any way.

Try out ‘Make fat balls for feeding birds’ or ‘Make a Bug Hotel’ (see planet category) here among many more for actions that are good for the environment. What did you notice after the activities? Are there any positive or negative changes?

Remember! Special Interest Badges should:

• Challenge you to learn new skills or develop existing ones
• Help to increase your knowledge of the particular area
• Contain a practical element which will benefit others.