Animation Merit Badge
Five requirements. The big one is requirement 3: two animation techniques, chosen with your counselor's approval, each planned with thumbnail sketches or layout drawings, created and shared with your counselor. Around it: what animation is and its history (1), five of the 12 principles (2), a studio tour and animation's future (4), and careers (5).
The plan behind this
Requirement 3 is two animations, and it starts with approval
Choose two animation techniques with your counselor's approval, then do the same three things for each:
| part | technique 1, 3(a) | technique 2, 3(b) |
|---|---|---|
| (1) plan | thumbnail sketches and/or layout drawings, on paper or in an animation software program | thumbnail sketches and/or layout drawings |
| (2) create | the animation | the animation |
| (3) share | with your counselor: how you created it, and what could be improved | the same |
Get the approval before you plan either one. Each animation is planned before it is made, and shared once it is made.
Requirement 2: five of the 12 principles
Choose five of the 12 principles of animation and discuss how each one makes an animation appear more believable: squash and stretch, anticipation, staging, straight ahead action and pose to pose, follow through and overlapping action, slow in and slow out, arcs, secondary action, timing, exaggeration, solid drawing, and appeal.
Requirement 4: animation in the world
4(a) is a tour of an animation studio or a business where animation is used, in person, via video, or via the internet, then sharing what you learned with your counselor. 4(b) is discussing how animation might be used in the future to make your life more enjoyable and productive.
What this page is
The Animation merit badge, drawn so the counselor's approval of the two techniques comes first and each animation runs from plan to creation to sharing. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Animation Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-09-19 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .