Personal Achievement Badges for Scouters
Personal Achievement badges (PABs) are optional badges that youth can choose to pursue during their time in a Section. Each Section has 16 different PABs available, covering a wide variety of topics from fitness to science to the environment. Youth can choose to work on any badge at any time, and will plan different adventures related to the badge. These adventures must offer some degree of challenge and should result in the youth learning or trying something new while working on the badge.
As a Scouter, your role is to encourage youth as they work on their badges, support them as they plan their adventures and help congratulate them on a job well done when they have earned their badge!
Personal Achievement badges are designed to allow Scouting youth to acquire skills and knowledge in areas that are of particular interest to them and have that development recognized as part of their growth through Scouting.
- Youth may choose to start working on a badge at home, or you may want to talk about the PABs as a group. If youth are interested in working on a badge, they should select a badge to work on and start planning.
- Once the youth has selected a badge, they should work with a badge mentor to develop their plan. Their mentor could be a more senior youth, a parent, or you—their Scouter.
- Help the youth plan their adventures (three for Beavers, four for Cubs and five for Scouts), based on the topic of their badge. We’ve suggested some age-appropriate adventures to kick-start their thinking, but they are welcome to choose their own!
- When planning adventures, help youth to plan by asking questions like:
- What supplies will you need?
- What help will you need?
- How can you make sure that you are staying safe?
- What will you learn?
- As a Scouter, you should approve a youth’s plan before they start. If they have chosen adventures that may be too difficult or too simple, you can provide feedback and help them to create a concrete plan.
- Encourage youth to take photos of or draw their adventures as they do them.
- After each adventure, the youth should review what they have done. This can be done with their parent at home, or with their mentor during a meeting. To help them review, you can ask questions like:
- What did you learn?
- What would you do differently next time?
- What was the most exciting part of your adventure?
- What parts of your adventure will you share with your Section (Colony, Pack or Troop)?
- Once a youth has finished their adventures, they should go back to their Section and review what they have done with the Section or with a small group. Present their badge in front of the Section, or just to the individual if they prefer.
There are no set requirements for the Personal Achievement badges. Multiple youth in the Section may be working on the same badge, but with very different outcomes. A lifelong skier working on their Winter Fitness PAB might be challenging themselves to try snowboarding, make it down a black diamond and teach someone else how to fit skis. A first-time skier might be learning how to put on skis, learning how to get on and off a chairlift and attempting a green circle run. Requirements should suit the youth and their skill level – PABs are not one size fits all!
Personal Achievement Badges for Beaver Scouts
Personal Achievement Badges for Cub Scouts
Personal Achievement Badges for Scouts
Personal Achievement Badges for Parents
Personal Achievement badges are designed to help youth acquire skills and knowledge in areas that are of interest to them and have that development recognized as part of their growth through Scouting.
- Help your child to pick a badge to work on. With 16 badges in each Section, there are many topics your child could choose. Help them pick a topic that they are already passionate about, or something new they are curious about!
- Once your child has selected a badge, have them work with a badge mentor to develop their plan. The mentor could be a more senior youth, their Scouter, or you.
- Help your youth to plan their adventures (three for Beavers, four for Cubs and five for Scouts), based on the topic of their badge. We’ve suggested some age-appropriate adventures to kick-start their thinking, but feel free to have your child choose their own!
- When planning adventures, help your child by asking questions like:
- What supplies will you need?
- What help will you need?
- How can you make sure that you are staying safe?
- What will you learn from?
- Have your child share their plan with their Scouter for approval and feedback – if you’re not sure about what to pick, they may be able to help your child to plan some appropriate adventures!
- Have fun with the adventures. Take photos or encourage your child to draw pictures of what they have done.
- After each adventure, your child should review what they have done. Ask questions like:
- What did you learn?
- What would you do differently next time?
- What was the most exciting part of your adventure?
- What parts of your adventure will you share with your Section (Colony, Pack or Troop)?
- Once your child has finished their adventures, they should share what they have done with their Scouter. If they wish, they should also share a bit about their adventures with the rest of their Section.
There are no set requirements for the badges. Instead, each badge has an objective that is supported by a few guidelines, and then ideas for possible badge adventures from which your child may choose. Your child is also encouraged to use his or her own ideas. Most importantly, completing the adventures for the badge must be exciting, fun and challenging for your child.
PABs – How to know if an adventure (activity) is age appropriate
- Does it require lots of adult support?
- Activities may require some level of adult supervision or support, but the youth should be able to do the activity on their own for the most part with minimal help. If the activity requires an adult to do most of the work, it is probably not age appropriate.
- Does it offer some degree of challenge or the chance to learn something new?
- While adventures don’t need to be difficult, they are meant to offer some challenge to youth, whether it’s learning something new, trying something for the first time, or improving on something they already know. Adventures should encourage youth to learn something new, or to try something they haven’t done before.
- Is it a short term project (or a series of short term projects?)
- Adventures should not take a full year of work – some might take a full year to complete, depending on the circumstance (e.g. planting bulbs in the fall and waiting for them to grow in the spring), but should not be a full year of work. If the adventure is too big and is becoming a long-term project, it might be better to use this adventure as a Top Section Award project.
Personal Achievement Badges for Beaver Scouts
