There was a great Far Side clip showing Einstein’s realization that time is actually equal to  money. I wish I could have found it for this class.
I’ve posted a zipped file with all the training material that I produced for this class. The worksheet (.xls file) I did to help the kids understand investing options was particularly [...]

This was a good program to introduce the scouts to how things worked locally and what it means to be a good citizen. I started the event with a slide presentation from our Historical Society. I really wanted them to get a sense of our town’s long history, an appreciation of the hard work and vision [...]

Two suggestions on this if you are in the northeast. In the “off-season” you can go to an indoor climbing gym such as Carabiner’s in New Bedford, MA (pictured), RI Rock Gym in Lincoln, RI, or Boulder Morty’s in Nashua, NH. They provide a MB course to complete this badge as well an the opportunity to [...]

Wilderness Survival Merit Badge Supplement 
Here are three good survival scenarios to use with your kids. Not part of the badge requirements but can be used as a warm-up or post-badge activity. If you are cabin camping some night and want an interesting group activity, pull these out.
survival1.doc
survival2.doc
survival3.doc
 
 

One of the best scouting activities in our area is Orienteering. One of the best local spots for anything scout related is Nobscot Scout Reservation (in Sudbury, MA). Below is a note to our kids on what to expect. I thought it might be useful if you need anything like this. We have also taken the scouts here and introduced them to [...]

 
We camp a fair amount and do a lot of activities. Even without thinking about it, we cover a lot of the MB material just in the natural course of having fun and talking about outdoor related subjects. All good stuff and often I wished I started the bluecards to give the kids credit. I’ve done a few [...]

       
Probably best suited for the older kids. After teaching this a few times, I remain convinced the kids get it and just want to learn more and more. They do need it spoon feed to them so it is easy to understand and it must include experiments so it is not a lecture. It is a [...]

 
Pioneering in many places is not like it used to be. You can’t just go and cut down trees anymore. Furthermore, the risks and liabilities are threatening, as is the cost for all the rope needed. Nevertheless, there is a time and place for this great scout activity.
There are a few free scout books floating [...]

 
Last year we did this whitewater rafting trip out in western MA. They actually organize a full Whitewater MB class, but we wanted the kids to have an introductory run first before getting into the whole MB requirement process. It was on class III rapids which I thought were pretty mild (albeit, it was a [...]

 
Here’s something that looks pretty interesting - earning the geology merit badge (and mammal study) while exploring a cave. They seem to have a nice program designed. Could do all year, not just a summer activity. Lincoln Caverns is somewhat in the area of Gettysburg (center, bottom of PA), so if you are traveling there from [...]

 
 
 
This website is dedicated to helping scouts answer the questions properly -
http://my.execpc.com/~culp/space/space.html