Picture Telephone is a visual version of the classic telephone game. Our Crew recently played this during the Communication section of the Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews course.
Communications Merit Badge
This clear and concise definition comes from the U.S. Department of Education: “Communication focuses on how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts, cultures, channels, and media. The field of communication promotes the effective and ethical practice of human communication.”
The Communication merit badge is required for the rank of Eagle Scout
BSA has a set of troop programs which can help PLCs plan activities around a theme. This communication program feature offers the opportunity to plan a month’s worth of troop activities which focus on giving and receiving information.
This checkoff list could be used by a scribe to keep track of which Scouts have earned which merit badges or could be used by an individual Scout.
A reader asks about how old a Scout should be to work on a merit badge. The Guide to Advancement provides some answers.
The My Story Mystery Game is a great way to get to know some “history” about a group of individuals. It makes a great icebreaker. It can also serve as an introduction to a discussion about oral history and storytelling.
Tent pitching contests are an inter-patrol activity staple. To make it a blindfolded tent pitching contest, just add blindfolds. If you want, let one team member keep his vision, but he can only participate by giving verbal instructions to the others. This makes a good communications exercise also.
Communications merit badge is one of the Boy Scout merit badges which is required for the rank of Eagle. Unlike many of the Eagle required badges, this one really lends itself to being worked on in a group meeting setting. So this is one that could be the basis for a series of troop meetings.