Retired Girl Scout badges are a fun way to teach skills to your troop. Here are four reasons why your troop can earn them, regardless of what level you lead.
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Updated August 2024
The past 11 months have been one of ingenuity for Girl Scout leaders. In a short span of time, we went from meeting in person, going on trips, and camping to meeting virtually. Even leaders who could meet in person has strict guidelines as to where they could meet and how many girls and adults could be at the meeting.
It has been challenging for leaders to rewrite the badge requirements to accommodate virtual meetings. Many are not written in a way that is adaptable, as they require guest speakers or trips. In the time of Covid, it was time for leaders to get creative and try to earn the “spirit” of the badges.
This is where the old badge books come in handy. It expands the skill set of your troop and can also be adaptable for virtual and socially distant meetings. Here are four reasons your troop needs to earn retired Girl Scout badges.
Important Question-Can You Wear Retired Girl Scout Badges on Your Uniform?
The short answer is yes, you can wear retired Girl Scout badges on a uniform. Once an official badge, always an official badge.
Earning Retired Girl Scout Badges Offers More Choices
Try It handbook Available on Amazon and Available on eBay
If you compare the old badge books to the new ones, there are notable differences. The biggest one is the amount of choices. When my troop started the Junior level, badges were being discontinued as the program was changing. The first thing I did was ask the girls what they wanted to earn and then purchased those badges.
There are are 117 badges in the old Junior Badge Book versus the 40 there are now. The newest badges at each level are almost all STEM related, which in the old program, would have been one section of the book. Many badges are cookie related, which would be a single badge in the old program.
For a glimpse at the Junior old badges, check out the online Vintage Girl Scout Museum.
For Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts, the Interest Project (IP) badge program offered 103 choices! (The Ambassador program was introduced in 2008). That pales in comparison to today’s badge list.
The Old Badge Program Had More Choices Within Each Badge
Today’s Girl Scout badges have required steps. Within each step, there are only three choices. In the old badge program, there were required activities to earn each badge, and each one had many, many choices. This made it easier for a leader to plan badges because she could find things that worked for her troop.
The Old Badge Books Teach More Skills
There are valuable skills that the present Girl Scout program offers girls. Of course, STEM is front and center, as the world has changed dramatically since the last badge book was published.
That being said, the old programs offered more life skill choices. You can never teach enough of these to kids!
There are also more outdoor skills, which is so vital to scouting. There are far more outdoor skil badges in the past than there are now.
Junior Badge Book Available on Amazon
Earning Retired Girl Scout Badges Teaches History
Life for kids today is far different than my Wonder Years 1970’s childhood and my 1980’s teen years. The way we live, interact and communicate has changed.
IP Book Available on Amazon
If you ask your girls to purchase an old badge book like I did, going through it is like a trip back in time. You can see how some badges have evolved. For example, Camera Shots, a photography badge, would need new steps to update it. Food Power could be updated with all the different kinds of diets, like vegan and vegetarian. Healthy Relationships can talk about cyberbullying, something that did not exist when the book was published.
Exploring the old badge books with your girls and selecting retired Girl Scout badges to earn is a very worthwhile activity. In my next blog post, I will share the latest ways to find retired Girl Scout badges so that you have an easier time finding them at a reasonable cost.
