Requirements to Earn 'A Heart for the Homeless' Scout Patch

Many of the activities required to earn the patch are in the "What's It Like to Be Homeless?" curriculum which you can download here: Download Curriculum On-line Now

First-3rd Grades

1. Purchase or borrow from the library either of the books: “Cooper’s Tale” or “Fly Away Home”, and use the discussion questions to explore why and how families become homeless.
2. Complete the activity “My House”.
3. Complete the activity “What Would You Take?
4. Play the “Musical Chairs” game.
5. Identify an organization in your local area that serves the homeless. Choose and complete a service project that helps their clients.

4th -12th Grades

1. Play the “Musical Chairs” game.
2. Using the questions, explore together as a group the reasons why families become homeless and why homelessness is harmful to children.
3. Complete the activity: “Where to you Live?”
4. Complete the activity “Calculate It!”.
5. Divide into groups 4 and have each group develop a skit around one of the scenarios in the Musical Chairs game.
6. Identify an organization in your local area that serves the homeless. Choose and complete a service project that helps their clients.

For middle and high school students, #6 can be expanded to visit a homeless shelter or the offices of an agency that serves to homeless to learn more about this issue in your local community. Students can research and develop their own project that serves the homeless.

Click here to read what Scout leaders have to say about the ‘Heart for the Homeless' patch program.