Badges

Girl Scouts USA completely changed their badge program between 1980 and 1987. It replaced the original Proficiency Badges.

Because there were only 4 levels of types of Badges, they did not call all the badges, “badges”.

• If you were a Daisy, you earned Petals.
• If you were a Brownie, you earned Try-Its.
• If you were a Junior, you earned Badges.
• If you were an older Girl Scout, you earned IPs (Interest Projects).

Two Sets – Depends on Border Color

The original program rolled out between 1980 and 1987 worked with the 1977 Worlds to Explore program GSUSA created. All badges had a different color border to show which “World” it belong to.

In 2000, GSUSA took away Worlds to Explore, and changed all the borders of badges to a single color per level. They kept most of the same Brownie Try-Its and Junior badges with updated requirements to earn. The IPs (Interest Projects) got a revised book in 2004 to make way for the new Ambassador level in 2008.

Worlds to Explore

It started in 1980 with a new Girl Scout Badges and Signs book. The 5 “Worlds to Explore” program they released in 1977 was used to create an equal number of new badges for each of the 5 worlds. Badges could be identified on which “World” it belonged to by the color of the border. The Girl Scout Badges and Signs book kept a record of all badge requirements. The Badges and Signs book in 1990 and the Badges and Signs book in 1994 had a few revisions in the requirements, but the badges themselves did not change even when requirements or name changes occurred. The Junior Girl Scout Handbook in 1986 and Junior Girl Scout Handbook of 1994 also held a few badge requirements at the back of the book.

In 1986 they released Brownie Try-Its, the first official badges Brownies could earn since the start of the Brownie Program in 1926. These also kept to the “Worlds to Explore” program with different colored borders for each world. Only a handful were released in the new Brownie Girl Scout Handbook of 1986, but many more were released in More Brownie Girl Scout Try-Its in 1989.

Cadettes and Seniors received a new badge program called Interest Projects in 1987 with a revision made for the Interest Projects in 1997.

The Daisy Program was started in 1984 with a Leader’s Guide, but did not have any badges. The Leader’s Guide revision in 1993 also had no badges. They did have a Who is a Daisy Girl Scout? book for the girls with and Activity Scrapbook.

2000 Revision

The 1980 program went through one major revision during the 3 decades it was used. GSUSA phased out the Worlds to Explore program.

Junior badges now only had a green border and got a new Junior Handbook and Junior Badgebook in 2001.

Brownie badges now only had a brown border and got a new Brownie Girl Scout Handbook and a Try-Its For Brownie Girl Scouts book in 2000.

Daisies got a new Daisy Girl Scout Activity Book and The Guide For Daisy Girl Scout Leaders in 2000, and introduced the new Petal patches for that level.

Cadettes and Seniors received an update to their 1997 Interest Projects book, and the title was changed to Girls 11-17 in 2004. This made way for the Ambassador level to be introduced in 2008, but they were still kept to the Interest Project badges.

2011 GSUSA Program

This program stayed in place until the 2011 Program was started. The 2011 GSUSA Program did another complete redesign of all badges except the Daisy Petals and Leaves, and gave the Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors their own set of badges.

Links last checked in November of 2021.