All worksheets / Camping
★ Eagle requiredEdition 2026Active Merit Badge
Camping
Official Requirements & Fillable Workbook · 2026 Edition
Camping is the big one — twenty nights under the sky, and a long list of skills to go with them. Most of this badge cannot be done at a table: you plan the trek, pack the pack, pitch the tent, cook the meal, and log the nights as you go. Start the night log early and keep it honest; it is the part Scouts most often wish they had written down at the time.
Key Requirements Covered:
- Camp Safety & Severe Weather
- Leave No Trace & Site Selection
- Camp Kitchen, Cooking & Sanitary Care
- Expedition Planning & Twenty Camping Nights
18Printable Pages
10Requirements
2024Reqs Revised
What is on the worksheet: Camping Requirements
Every requirement for the Camping merit badge, word for word as published, with room to write under each one on the printed worksheet.
1Hazards, Weather, and First Aid
Do the following:
- a Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you may encounter while participating in camping activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
- b Discuss with your counselor why it is important to be aware of weather conditions before and during your camping activities. Tell how you can prepare should the weather turn bad during your campouts.
- c Show that you know first aid for and how to prevent injuries or illnesses that could occur while camping, including hypothermia, frostbite, heat reactions, dehydration, altitude sickness, insect stings, tick bites, snakebite, blisters, and hyperventilation.
2Leave No Trace and the Outdoor Code
Learn the Leave No Trace Seven Principles and the Outdoor Code, and explain what they mean. Write a personal and group plan for implementing these principles on your next outing.
3Planning and Navigating an Overnight Trek
Make a written plan for an overnight trek and show how to get to your camping spot by using a topographical map and one of the following:
4Duty Rosters and Helping Others Prepare
Do the following:
- a Make a duty roster showing how your patrol is organized for an actual overnight campout. List assignments for each member.
- b Help a Scout patrol or a Webelos Scout unit in your area prepare for an actual campout, including creating the duty roster, menu planning, equipment needs, general planning, and setting up camp.
5Clothing, Footwear, and the Basic Essentials
Do the following:
- a Prepare a list of clothing you would need for overnight campouts in both warm and cold weather. Explain the term "layering."
- b Discuss footwear for different kinds of weather and how the right footwear is important for protecting your feet.
- c Explain the proper care and storage of camping equipment (clothing, footwear, bedding).
- d List the Scout Basic Essentials necessary for any campout, and explain why each item is needed.
- e Present yourself to your Scoutmaster with your pack for inspection. Be correctly clothed and equipped for an overnight campout.
6Tents, Sanitation, Packs, and Sleeping Gear
Do the following:
- a Describe the features of four types of tents, when and where they could be used, and how to care for tents. Working with another Scout, pitch a tent.
- b Discuss the importance of camp sanitation and tell why water treatment is essential. Then demonstrate two ways to treat water.
- c Describe the factors to be considered in deciding where to pitch your tent.
- d Tell the difference between internal- and external-frame packs. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- e Discuss the types of sleeping bags and what kind would be suitable for different conditions. Explain the proper care of your sleeping bag and how to keep it dry. Make a comfortable ground bed.
7Packing for the Campout
Prepare for an overnight campout with your patrol by doing the following:
- a Make a checklist of personal and patrol gear that will be needed.
- b Pack your own gear and your share of the patrol equipment and food for proper carrying. Show that your pack is right for quickly getting what is needed first, and that it has been assembled properly for comfort, weight, balance, size, and neatness.
8Stoves, Menus, and Cooking
Do the following:
- a Explain the safety procedures for:
- b Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different types of lightweight cooking stoves.
- c Prepare a camp menu. Explain how the menu would differ from a menu for a backpacking or float trip. Give recipes and make a food list for your patrol. Plan two breakfasts, three lunches, and two suppers. Discuss how to protect your food against bad weather, animals, and contamination.
- d While camping in the outdoors, cook at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner for your patrol from the meals you have planned for requirement 8(c). At least one of those meals must be a trail meal requiring the use of a lightweight stove.
9Camping Experience
Show experience in camping by doing the following:
- a Camp for at least 20 nights at designated Scouting activities or events. One long-term camping experience of up to six consecutive nights may be applied toward this requirement. Two nights may be counted toward the total for each additional long-term camping trip. Each night must be spent either under the sky, in a tent you have pitched yourself (if a tent is provided and already set up, you do not need to pitch your own), in a hammock that is safely strung outdoors, in a lean-to, or other three-sided shelter with an open front. Nights spent in indoor lock-in events, cabin camping, hotel stays, or other covered accommodations do not count toward the 20 nights.
- b On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision.
- c On any of these camping experiences, perform a conservation project approved by the landowner or land managing agency. This can be done alone or with others.
10What Camping Taught You
Discuss how the things you did to earn this badge have taught you about personal health and safety, survival, public health, conservation, and good citizenship. In your discussion, tell how Scout spirit and the Scout Oath and Scout Law apply to camping and outdoor ethics.
Two dates, two different things
Requirements Revision vs. Worksheet Date
Scouting America last revised the Camping requirements in 2024. That is the badge, not this sheet — an older year does not mean the worksheet is out of date.
Verbatim Fidelity & Verification
This worksheet was checked against https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/camping/ in Aug 2026 and reproduces the requirements word for word. Both dates are printed on the sheet, so a copy in a binder can always be placed in time.
Requirement text is © Scouting America, reproduced verbatim. The worksheet layout and design are original to this project.
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