For leaders with 4th and 5th grade Juniors and have completed the requried Journey, here are Girl Scout Bronze Award ideas for your troop to do.
Updated February 2021
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Time flies by quickly. It seems like yesterday that your troop were adorable kindergarten Daisy Girl Scouts who could barely remember half of the Girl Scout Promise. You blinked your eyes and they are now fourth and fifth grade Junior Girl Scouts, ready to earn their Bronze Award. When girls are Daisies and Brownies, they need a lot of guidance in all of their activities, whether it is a community service project or earning a badge or patch. As their leader, you plan just about everything for them and require extra helpers at your meetings to make sure everything runs smoothly.
As Junior Girl Scouts, the activities need to be more girl led, as one of the key missions of the Girl Scouts of the USA is to create the leaders of tomorrow. Earning the Bronze Award is one of the first steps the girls will take in becoming strong, independent women of the future.
Leaders need to be involved in the planning at this level and keep the girls on course so that they finish the tasks they need to get the first of the three major Girl Scout Awards.
What Are the Requirements for the Bronze Award?
There are requirements that need to be met before your troop can receive their award.
First, the girls in your troop must be registered Junior Girl Scouts in either fourth or fifth grade, as this award is just for them. Younger girls are not eligible and older girls have the Gold and Silver Awards to earn as they progress through the ranks of the Girl Scouts.
Second, the girls must complete one of the Girl Scout Journeys:
It’s Your World-Change It! Agent of Change
It’s Your Planet-Love It! Get Moving
It’s Your Story-Tell It! Amuse
Once these requirements have been met, then the girls can begin to brainstorm ideas for their project. While they can work together as a team, girls can also work on the Bronze Award independently. They just need to keep track of their project and the time they spent with their leader.
Leader Guides for Junior Girl Scout Journeys
When the Journeys program made its debut in 2008, it was met with a lot of resistance. Besides being age inappropriate and too similar to schoolwork, there were no leadership guides to use a resource. Girl Scout leaders at every level were left to figure out how to make this new program work and still keep their girls interested. It is a challenge that many leaders are still facing today.
The following Girl Scout Leader books for the Journeys program will give guidance and help plan your troop’s activities.
Junior aMUSE Journey – Leaders Book 
How to Guide Girl Scout Juniors Through: Get Moving!
How to Guide Girl Scout Juniors on Agent of Change (It’s Your World – Change It! A Leadership Journey)
Ideas on How to Earn the Bronze Award
Here are some articles that help show you how other troops earned the Bronze Award.
- Talent Show, Part One A guest post on my Girl Scout Blog shares how her Junior troop created a talent show to earn their Bronze Award.
- Talent Show, Part Two Here is the second part of how Junior troop 3763 earned the Bronze Award.
- Girl Scout Moms Forum The women on the Girl Scout Moms forum at babycenter.com share some ideas on how to earn the Bronze Award.
- Bring on the Bronze This document is from 2004, but it can still assist you with your planning.
- More Ideas for the Bronze Award At the Disney forums, Girl Scout leaders discuss ideas on how their troops earned their awards.
- How My Troop Earned the Bronze Award This was final post from my January to April postings on how my troop earned the award.
More Bronze Award ideas can be found in this updated April 2018 blog post.
Videos Showcasing Girl Scout Bronze Award Ideas
Watch These to Get Some Inspiration!
Many girls are very proud of the work they do to achieve their Bronze Award-and they should be! Here are some YouTube videos that show what various Junior troops across the country have done to earn theirs. You may be inspired by what you see!
- Bronze Award Bench Project This troop created a magnificent video about how they created their bench project.
- A Troop Shares What They Do The girls made a video as their Bronze Award project, highlighting what they did throughout the year.
- Riding 4 Girls This troop did a bike ride for their Bronze Award.
- Don’t Text and Drive This is an adorable video about not texting and driving.
- Food Drive Bronze Award This is a step-by-step guide on how these girls did their Bronze Award
What is your troop doing to earn the Bronze Award this year?
