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MERIT BADGE HQ

SFs! Here’s a page with links to all the Merit Badge Challenges, plus all the Merit Badge images if you want to print them out. (They look best printed small, about 1-2 inches across.)

The ORIGINAL Merit Badge Challenge was held during the summer of 2021 and the SUMMER OF SOMETHING CHALLENGE in 2022.

But the challenges can be completed anytime! You can earn one badge or all the badges or any number in between. It’s up to you! You’ll level up with each one!

If you earn all 10 from 2021, you’ve earned the new rank: SUPERFOLDER SUPREME!

If you earn all 10 from 2022, you’ll earn the rank of: COSMIC CHICKEN!

BADGE 1 – STAR WARS NAMES!


BADGE 2 – SILLY WALKS!


BADGE 3 – POP UP PADAWAN!


BADGE 4 – PENNY CATCH!


BADGE 5 – NEW FOOD!


BADGE 6 – HAIKU


BADGE 7 – CARD STACKING


BADGE 8 – CARTOONING


BADGE 9 – PILLOW SPIN


BADGE 10- JEDI MASTER


BADGE 1- 2022 – SPOON FLIPPER


BADGE 2 -2002 – May the Floors be with You


BADGE 3 – 2002 — Eye of the Dianoga!


SOMETHING #4!

This week we’ve got a drawing challenge! In fact it’s the NOSE-TASTIC BADGE!

Drawing Nose Animals is one of my favorite drawing games. It’s this simple: Draw a Nose. Ask someone for the name of an animal. Turn the nose into that animal!

The first step, of course, is to learn the Famous Nose-Imal System. You can tell it’s famous because it has over 3 views on Youtube! Wow! (two of those were me rewatching it.)

Believe it or not I have several MORE NOSE-TASTIC Animal videos on Youtube.

Try a few simple ones, like the dinosaur to get the hang of it.

When you think you’re ready for the challenge, draw a medium-size nose in the middle of your paper. (That’s to give you room to get creative, turn the paper around, etc…)

Now ask someone to name an animal. (It’s important to draw the nose before asking so that you don’t make it too easy for yourself)

Alright! Give it a shot! Maybe several!


SOMETHING #5!

This week we have a paper folding challenge, that isn’t exactly origami. At least not NORMAL origami. This paper just keeps on folding and folding and folding…

It’s called a FLEXAGON and if you fold it you’ll earn the FLEXAGON BADGE!

This week’s SUMMER SOMETHING is extra interesting (to me) because one summer when I was a kid it was MY Summer Something! I was reading a SCI FI novel and there was a weird foldy thing in it. The author included a reference to a magazine article. Luckily that same library that had the SCI FI novel also had back issues of the magazine!

The article was by Martin Gardner and you can read it here: https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/pubs/focus/Gardner_Hexaflexagons12_1956.pdf

And you can save yourself a lot of measuring by printing out a template: https://web.archive.org/web/20170722012738/http://www.puzzles.com/hexaflexagon/img/blank_trihexaflexagon_template.pdf

If that doesn’t make sense to you, you can also try this video.


SOMETHING #6!

LEAF DAY BADGE

This week we have a merit badge challenge that may overlap with regular scout merit badges… You’ll have to go outside, find a leaf and then identify it!

First make sure you don’t get a POISON IVY Leaf! These are usually low to the ground and have three leaves together. Just get a nice, normal tree leaf instead.

Then, use a LEAF KEY to identify it. This one is pretty good: https://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/


SOMETHING #7

THE INFINITY BADGE!

This week we will warp the space-time continuum with a MOEBIUS STRIP!

You’ve got to make one and try it for yourself! Don’t just watch the video! And definitely try the extra challenge he suggests at the end.

By the way, this is a clip from the old Australian TV program, The Curiosity Show.

There is a lot of garbage out there, both on TV and on youtube aimed at kids that just wastes your time. The Curiousity Show is the OPPOSITE! I love it and have watched many many clips!


SOMETHING #8

SPROUT BADGE!

This week’s challenge requires you to challenge someone else to the pen and paper game of SPROUTS.

First you’ll have to learn to play. It’s as easy to play as Tic Tac Toe and, just like TTT, can be played on a scrap of paper, the back of a placemat, in the sand or dirt, etc…

You start with three dots. Players take turns adding a line and a dot until someone wins… by luck or logic, it doesn’t matter.

The rules are here along with some DEEP MATH you don’t need to read right now… https://nrich.maths.org/2413

Learn the rules. Teach someone else. And play a few games.

Remember the rules and the next time someone suggests TIC TAC TOE, challenge them to some Sprouts instead!

BONUS: One of the game’s co-creators was John Conway. Conway’s much more famous game is called LIFE. (Not the board game with the spinner!)

LIFE is fascinating, whether you try gridding out a simple glider on graph paper or using one of the web pages that handles all the calculations for you making LIFE move really, really fast!

This site is a great way to get started. You can just start drawing on the screen, click start and see what happens. Then you can read about what’s going on. https://playgameoflife.com/


#9

The RHYMING BADGE!

Your challenge this week is to write a SONNET.

We won’t worry too much about syllables and rhythms and meter and all that, but you do need to get some rhymes in there!

A Shakespearean Sonnet rhymes like this: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

We’ll make a mini-sonnet that goes like this: ABAB CC

ABAB means the first line rhymes with the third line and the second line rhymes with the fourth. The CC means line 5 and 6 rhyme with each other.

Like this:

A SONNET for the SMURFS

There was a show in 1980,

I saw a time or two.

It had blue men and a blue lady

And an evil wizard, too.

A song of LA LA LA they didst sing shrilly.

Hard to believe it was on TV, really.

Wow, that poem was so beautiful it made Smurfette weep with joy.

Give it a try! Suggested topics are: bad TV shows, good TV shows, Star Wars, Star Trek, Star Search, commercials, squirrels, Cheetos and/or The Two-Headed Chicken!


If you write a good one… or a bad one… SUBMIT it to Webmaster Sam so we can all enjoy it!


BADGE 10! The Wobbly Tower Badge

SFs!!! It’s time for the final challenge of the Summer of Something!

This challenge comes directly from me. To earn this badge you’ll have to build an origami tower!

That may sound hard, but trust me, the pieces of the tower are EASY to make. Check out my brand new EZ Boxes video. It shows you how to make boxes of different sizes and shapes. So you should be able to make a bunch, then stack them with the biggest ones at the bottom working your way up to the smallest box at the top. HOW HIGH CAN YOU GO?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=82LKHw1yw1Y%3Ffeature%3Doembed

To earn your badge you’ve got to stack a minimum of 5 boxes. But you’ll get 100 bonus points for each additional box you can add. SUBMIT a photo of your tallest tower!