Announcing The Great Indoors Staged Activity Badge

Drum roll, please! We’re excited to announce the launch of The Great Indoors Staged Activity Badge, a badge to recognise young people (both Scouts and non-Scouts) taking part in our activities at home.

So what is it? It’s a badge with nine requirements that cover the key parts of our programme. The requirements are all specific to developing skills for life safely while under COVID-19 related restrictions.

For current volunteers, this is intended to make your life easier, giving you a potential way to structure an online programme or simply to encourage families to do on their own. We’ve created a collection of activities for each requirement and although many are specific to the situation we all find ourselves in, they also contribute to lots of the requirements in our existing badges and awards.

This is the first time we’ve offered a badge for non-members, and is part of our effort to give families things to do at home during the crisis as well as an introduction to Scouts. You’ll know that young people’s learning has been severely disrupted, and this badge will help to recognise their achievements in these challenging times. Families can buy the badge directly from Scout Stores and we’re also encouraging them to sign up to The Great Indoors emails , so they can get requirement-related activities each week.

We’ve seen some amazing badges being created locally in response to the suspension of face-to-face meetings. If they’re going well, then don’t feel you have to promote The Great Indoors Staged Activity Badge. However, do keep in mind that no badge should make light of COVID-19, as this would be deeply inappropriate. Also, any badge produced locally must be clearly identified as a local badge (featuring your Group, District or County name) and have the permission of the relevant local commissioner (for more information, please take a look at Chapter 14 of POR).

We hope this new initiative helps you as volunteers, and families across the country. If you haven’t produced a badge yet this could be a great option to give structure to programmes during this crisis.

We will be telling all members next week once we have developed the digital experience, but for now, here's a sneak peek at the badge design. 

Thank you for your support in these turbulent times. We’ve been bowled over by your commitment and dedication, helping deliver Scouts at home. You’re showing the world what we can do together, giving our young people the chance to gain even more skills for life.