The Badge Archive

Vehicle Parts

Fulfills Step 2 of GSUSA Brownie Automotive Design badge requirements.

Info needed for Badge Requirement: Design criteria are the things a product or vehicle needs to do to work well. They help guide how something is made. For example, a food truck must hold food safely, serve customers quickly, and move from place to place. These goals (like being fast, safe, or easy to use) are design features. Designers use them to make sure their ideas solve real problems.

Every vehicle has parts on the outside (called exterior) and parts on the inside (called interior). Exterior parts (like wheels, doors, headlights, and mirrors) help the vehicle move safely and protect the people inside. Interior parts (like seats, steering wheel, dashboard, and engine) help the vehicle work and keep passengers comfortable.

Items Needed:

  • Large blank vehicle outline on chart paper or poster board
    (Use the “Vehicle Diagram” in Brownie Vehicle Parts to draw a larger blank version of the exterior vehicle body on a sheet of chart paper or a white board)
  • Brownie Vehicle Parts by GSUSA
  • Tape for attaching images to the outline
  • Photos of specialized vehicles (ambulances, fire trucks, food trucks, etc.)

Instructions (Estimated Total Time: 15 minutes)

  1. Part 1: Explore Vehicle Parts (6–7 minutes)
    • Show scouts the large blank vehicle outline. Explain that every vehicle has exterior parts (outside) and interior parts (inside).
    • Scouts look at photos of exterior parts (wheels, doors, headlights, etc.), guess what they do, and attach them to the outline.
    • Repeat the process with interior parts (dashboard, engine, seats, etc.), discussing their function and where they belong inside the vehicle.
    • Talk about how different parts help the vehicle move, protect passengers, or store cargo.
  2. Part 2: Safety Features (3–4 minutes)
    • Scouts identify parts that help keep people safe, such as seatbelts, airbags, and headlights.
    • Discuss why wearing a seatbelt is important and how safety features protect passengers.
  3. Part 3: Specialized Vehicles (4–5 minutes)
    • Show one or two examples of real-world vehicles for good (like an ambulance or food truck).
    • Scouts identify special features that help each vehicle do its job (e.g., sirens on an ambulance, ladders on a fire truck).
    • Explain that designers create vehicles based on design criteria, or the features needed for a vehicle’s purpose.
Tia Kennard