Exploration Merit Badge

The nine requirements, with the plan-prepare-go chain drawn as the single undertaking the badge states it to be, and the six ungated requirements drawn where they can actually start.

10 steps (26 parts inside them). 7 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Exploration Merit Badge

No questions answered

This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 3 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.

Which of this applies to you

You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 3 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.

Answer the questions

The steps

Stage 1 of 7

2 steps

1. General knowledge: what exploration actually is Requirement

Two parts, both discussed. The badge opens by drawing a line between exploration and everything that merely looks like it.
2 parts
- 1(a). Define exploration, and say what it is not
- 1(b). How the approach changes with the place
6. Expedition planning: the eight steps everything else runs on Often forgotten Requirement

Discussed with your counselor, each step explained AND justified. These same eight items are what requirement 7 prepares against, what 7(c) checks against, and what requirement 8 is conducted against.

Do not treat this as a discussion to be got through. These eight steps are what requirement 7 prepares against, what requirement 7(c) checks against, and what requirement 8 is conducted against. The same list, used four times. Careless work here has to be redone under pressure later.
8 parts

Stage 2 of 7

2 steps

2. The history of exploration, through one field Task

Discussed with your counselor. Pick a field with a history of exploration (aerospace, oil, paleontology, oceanography), and use it to show why exploration mattered to that field's development.
7. Prepare a real expedition Often forgotten Requirement

To an area you have not explored before, near or far. Needs your parent or guardian's permission and your counselor's approval, and all three parts below.

Usually comes after 6. Expedition planning: the eight steps everything else runs on.

This needs three things arranged before it can start: your parent or guardian's permission, your counselor's approval, and a qualified adult to supervise the preparations. The last is the one that catches people out, because it is not automatically your counselor.
3 parts
- 7(a). Find a qualified adult to prepare under Often forgotten A trained expedition leader, an expedition planner, or another qualified adult experienced in exploration: the requirement suggests a school science teacher, a museum representative or a qualified instructor. Start looking early: this is a different person from the one who supervises the expedition itself in requirement 8(a), and it may be a different person from your counselor.
- 7(b). Prepare against requirement 6's steps Usually comes after 7(a). Find a qualified adult to prepare under.
- 7(c). Pre-expedition check, and the SAFE Checklist Often forgotten The Scouting America SAFE Checklist is walked through WITH your counselor, and every foreseeable hazard has to be addressed before you go. This is the last gate before the expedition.

Stage 3 of 7

2 steps

3. Why it is important to explore Requirement

Explained to your counselor, then three things discussed. All three, not a choice.
3 parts
8. Go on the expedition Requirement

All three parts. This is the requirement the previous two exist to make possible.

Usually comes after 7. Prepare a real expedition.
3 parts
- 8(a). Undertake it, personally Supervision here is your counselor, or a qualified person your counselor has approved, which is a separate approval from the one in requirement 7(a). It must also be an area you have not previously explored, which rules out the campsite your troop always uses.
- 8(b). Outdoor ethics, what you actually did Usually comes after 8(a). Undertake it, personally.
- 8(c). The report: at least one page, at most three Often forgotten Usually comes after 8(a). Undertake it, personally.

Stage 4 of 7

1 step

4. Real-life exploration, one of three Requirement

And they do not end alike: two are shared with your counselor AND your unit, the third with your counselor alone.
3 parts
- 4(a). A living explorer, and one of their expeditions Optional May not apply
- 4(b). A real scientific expedition, and what it found Optional May not apply
- 4(c). Exploration indoors, in a laboratory Optional May not apply

Stage 5 of 7

1 step

5. Visit an organisation or a research site, in person or online Requirement

ONE of two, and both explicitly allow an internet visit instead of a journey. Needs your parent or guardian's permission and your counselor's approval either way.
2 parts
- 5(a). An organisation that sponsors exploration Optional May not apply
- 5(b). A lab, an observatory or a research facility Optional May not apply

Stage 6 of 7

1 step

9. Careers, or a hobby Requirement

ONE of two, and gated by nothing on this badge.
2 parts
- 9(a). Research a career Optional May not apply
- 9(b). Research it as a hobby instead Optional May not apply

Stage 7 of 7

1 step

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 8. Go on the expedition and 9. Careers, or a hobby.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.