Junior Mountaineer Membership Dues

Looking to give your child a nostalgic 90’s-style summer? Look no further!

The Junior Mountaineers Club is a screen-free summer merit badge program designed to give kids the kind of childhood summers we used to have. This program was created out of a passion for helping both parents and kids. We want to give parents another tool in their tool belt to help children unplug from computers, televisions, phones, iPads, and video games — and rediscover the magic of childhood. And we want to give kids a taste of the kind of summers we remember: long days outside, adventures with friends, creative projects, scraped knees, mailbox surprises, and the freedom to explore.

The entire program is SCREEN FREE.

Your child will not need a phone, computer, app, or tablet to complete merit badges or communicate with Club Headquarters. Everything is done through old-fashioned snail mail.

Remember mailing away for prizes as a kid and waiting for something exciting to arrive in the mailbox? There is something wonderfully magical about using a postcard, a postage stamp (both included in the workbook), and a little bit of patience (not included) to receive stickers and patches back in the mail.

Our hope is that when your child goes outside each day to check the mailbox for their club mail… they decide to stay outside and play, explore, build forts, ride bikes, catch bugs, run through the sprinklers, and earn a few merit badges.

The summer merit badge workbook includes over 150 merit badges designed to encourage kids to:
• read books
• try new things
• draw and craft
• make messes in the kitchen
• spend time outdoors
• move their bodies
• build healthy habits
• go on adventures
• be creative
• design and build
• set goals
• be brave
• conquer mountains

Merit badges are organized into the following categories:
• Arts & Crafts
• Health & Fitness
• Home & Hygge
• Kitchen
• Nature
• Mischief
• Reading
• Self-Reliance
• Service
• Spiritual

After paying membership dues, your Junior Mountaineer will receive a summer merit badge workbook in the mail. (These mail out on June 1st!)

Inside the workbook they will find:
• instructions for the club and club rules written for kids to understand
• a list of 150+ summer merit badges to complete
• pre-stamped postcards to mail to Club Headquarters

As your child earns merit badges throughout the summer, they can mail postcards to Club Headquarters to request special limited-edition stickers and patches that will be mailed back to them throughout the season.

The official summer session ends on Labor Day, but we will honor any postcard postmarked before the end of 2026 calendar year.

The goal is for your Junior Mountaineer to participate as independently as possible. Sometimes they will need a ride to a library or a grocery store, help in the kitchen, or assistance with arts and crafts to earn merit badges, etc. but we hope they take ownership and experience the excitement of figuring things out on their own as they use workbook. The workbook will instruct them to ask for help when needed and to clean up after themselves. We encourage parents to make a big deal out of the stickers, patches, and special titles their children earn throughout the summer. Celebrate them. Display them. Cheer them on.

Childhood summers are fleeting. We hope this club helps make them unforgettable.

Recommended for ages 7–12. Children should be able to read and understand the workbook independently in order to fully enjoy the program.