Friendship Badge

(Discover Character)
By Troop #112, Waxhaw, North Carolina

Preschool: Do three requirements including the two starred *

Level 1: Do four requirements including the two starred *

Level 2: Do five requirements including the two starred *

Level 3: Do six requirements including the two starred *

Level 4: Do seven requirements including the two starred *

Level 5: Do nine requirements including the two starred *

____1.* List qualities of a good friend such as honesty, understanding, loyalty, etc. Discuss these with a family member or group leader, then ask them if they can think of more to add to the list.

_____2.* Explore ways to resolve conflicts without arguments and come up with ideas on how to compromise. Write these ideas down, and discuss these with a family member or your group.

Optional Requirements:

_____3. Learn about and celebrate Friendship Day with your friends. The United States Congress, in 1935, proclaimed the first Sunday of August as National Friendship Day. What countries now celebrate this annual holiday? Who is the United Nations ambassador?

_____4. Make a “friendship code” poster with your friends or troop. Come up with things such as “hug a willing friend” and “I will let my friend choose what to play.” Put the poster in a visible place.

_____5. Make a new friend. Find out their first name and one thing about them. (Level 2 find out two things, Level 3 find out three things, Level 4 find out four things, and Level 5 find out five things.)

_____6. Take funny pictures of each other and make up captions to go with them. (Levels 3 – 5 print this picture out and give it to your friend or send it in an email)

_____7. Make your friend a mixed CD of all the songs that define your friendship (or ones that you just happen to mutually like!).

_____8. Watch a friend’s pet while they are away or babysit their children.

_____9. Set up a play date with your friend and plan to do something they enjoy. Suggestions: meet at the zoo, museum, science center, picnic or hike, bowling or skating, sit and play cards or do a whole puzzle for the afternoon, sew on a quilt, etc.

_____10. Make a special friendship book for your best friends. Include photos, quotes and poetry telling your friends how special they are.

_____11. Teach your friend how to do something they don’t know how to do.

_____12. Learn how to do something new with your friend.

_____13. Plan a special event with your best friend or friendship group. Ideas might be a surprise party, congratulations party, birthday party, get well gathering, dinner party, trip to the beach, etc.
_____14. Make up or memorize a song about friendship.

_____15. Earn a Character badge that might be needed for a good friendship, such as Kindness or Patience. How does this character trait improve a friendship?

_____16. Cheer up a friend by writing a letter telling her what she means to you.

_____17. Draw a picture of what friendship means to you.

_____18. Anonymously do something for your friend.

_____19. Make up or memorize a poem or song about friendship.

_____20. Weave a friendship bracelet or something similar and exchange with your friend(s).

_____21. Find a pen pal and make a long distance friend. Exchange letters for at least three months.

_____22. Make a “Friend Book.” Get a binder and fill it with binder paper (You can also use a notebook). On the first page number every other line from 1-10. On each of the other pages write something on the top such as address, phone number, favorite color, favorite animal, favorite ice cream, etc. Then find 10 friends to participate. On the first page each person chooses a number and writes their name on that line. Then on each consecutive page they write their answers to the question at the top on their numbered line. When the book is complete you will have compiled information about all of your friends’ favorite things.

_____23. Look for examples of friendship behaviors in magazines or make pictures of them. Use the pictures to create a collage. Include slogans or mottos about friendships in your collage.

_____24. Think about how a movie or TV shows dealt with friendship. What did someone in the show do that made him or her a good friend or a bad friend? Write a short paragraph about it.

_____25. Ask family members to tell you about a time when a friendship of theirs changed or ended because their friend moved, became part of a different group, went to a new school, or some other reason. How did they feel? How did they deal with it?

_____26. Ask your family members to describe a special friendship they currently have. What makes the friendship special and what is their advice to you regarding friendship?

_____27. Plan the following activity with a group of friends: Everyone writes their name on a sheet of paper, and then passes it to the right. This person writes one thing they like about the person listed. Then, continue passing the papers around until each person gets their own back, full of nice things about them.

_____28. Make awards for your friends with categories such as “best listener,” “funniest sense of humor,” “most helpful,” etc. Find a way to present the awards; perhaps exchange with a group of friends at a sleep over, or other get together.

_____29. Host a Bingo game with your troop using the following words represented by pictures. You can modify an existing Bingo set or make your own. This particular example is set so each person has all of the pictures below on their card:

Dependable (planets and stars are dependable)
Compliments (butterfly – tickles like a compliment)
FREE SPACE (ice cream cone – free treat)
Disagree lovingly (hearts – learn how to disagree without hurting feelings)
Trustworthy (soccer ball – trusting your teammate to pass the ball or score)
Faithful (frog – both start with “F”)
Honest (rocket ship)
Forgive (balloon – offense floats away, never to return)
Solve Problems (monkey – he swings by and helps)
Play (guitar – you can play a guitar)
Listen (cow – stays in one place for some time grazing “listening”)
Understand (goldfish – with a great big smile, he understands)
Caring (flowers – always say you care)
Cheer (party hat and confetti – represent cheer)
Respect (skateboard – different choices should be respected)
Share (piece of cake – represents sharing)

DO NOT write the words on the cards so as to be able to see how many everyone can remember when the game is over (when we did this with our troop almost every single one was remembered!).

As you call out the picture name and then follow it with the friendship word, describe how that picture represents the word and ask everyone to give an example of how to be that way or what to say to your friend. For example: You start out announcing, “balloon”. As everyone is finding their balloon, you tell them that it represents forgiveness, and how we should take whatever our friend did or said that hurt our feelings or made us mad and put them in the balloon, forgiving and forgetting that offense. At the end of the game you would ask, “What does the balloon represent?”