Backpack Experiences

The Strong museum offers a variety of exciting backpack experiences perfect for Girl Scout, Cub Scout, and Boy Scout troops wishing to fulfill badge requirements. Backpacks include all materials necessary for leaders to guide scouts through specific badge requirements. The activities are self-guided and take place in the museum exhibits. Badges are not included. Times listed for each backpack experience are the minimum recommended. The backpack reservation includes admission to the museum so scouts and their chaperones may explore the museum before or after their project.

Scout Backpack Experience Pricing

• Scout groups of ten or more are $21 per scout.
• Scout groups less than ten are $23 per scout.
• One free adult chaperone is included for every five paid scouts when booked as a group of ten or more. Additional chaperones, who are not members, pay full general admission. Adult chaperones are not required for scouts 16 and older.
• Scout activity backpacks are $30 each. Each backpack can accommodate 10 scouts.
• If you would like to book a group visit without a backpack, please visit the Group Admissions page.

How to Book a Backpack Experience

1. Choose an experience from the options listed below.
2. Complete and submit the Backpack Reservation Request form.
3. Your reservation and full payment must be made at least two weeks in advance.
4. Reservations are not accepted during school break weeks or on holidays.

Girl Scout Backpack Experiences

Daisy

Lupe’s Story
Practice being honest and fair through role-play! Listen to Lupe’s story and then pretend to be Lupe and her friends. Try on costumes and act out Lupe’s story on the Imagination Destination stage! Practice being Honest and Fair by playing games in the Game Time exhibit and discovering the magic of sharing! 2 hours recommended.

Rosie’s Story
Discover how to make the world a better place through role-play! Listen to Rosie’s story and then pretend to be Rosie and her friends. Try on costumes and act out Rosie’s story in the Tent of a Thousand Tales. Brainstorm ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle at home. Then discover how to make the world a better place throughout the museum! 2 hours recommended.

Board Game Design Challenge
Explore museum exhibits like Game Time! to learn about game design. Once inspired, design a spinner and create your own board game, then teach it to your troop. Minimum 3 hours recommended.

Brownie

Senses 
Earn the Senses badge, one of the skill-building badges associated with the WOW! Wonders of Water journey. Scouts use hearing, sight, smell, and touch to learn about the world around them. Search for tiny objects in dollhouses from the museum’s renowned collections, listen to and identify sounds, follow someone using only the sense of smell, use a magnifying glass to examine taste buds, and more. 2 1/2 hours recommended.

Letterboxer
Earn the Letterboxer badge, one of the skill-building badges associated with the A World of Girls journey. Find out what letterboxing is and practice puzzle-solving skills in museum exhibits. Make a personalized stamp to take home. Troops make a letterbox together and decide where to hide it in their neighborhood. 2 1/2 hours recommended.

Junior

Detective
Earn the Detective badge, one of the skill-building badges associated with the Get Moving! journey. Scouts practice their powers of observation, communicate in code, fingerprint for fun, and explore the Mystery Mansion section of the Reading Adventureland exhibit. 3 hours recommended.

Drawing ***NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE***
Earn the Drawing badge, a Junior Legacy badge. Visit museum exhibits to gather inspiration for art. Experiment with materials, shading, and perspective. Create a portfolio to carry home art pieces. 3 hours recommended.

Cadette

Comic Artist 
Earn the Cadette Legacy’s Comic Artist badge. Delve into the world of comic books by exploring the American Comic Book Heroes exhibit. Participate in a series of creative exercises including story outlining, and discover drawing techniques such as rough sketches, showing motion, and adding speech bubbles to create one-of-a-kind comics. 3 hours recommended.

Book Artist 
Earn the Book Artist badge, one of the skill-building badges associated with the Breathe journey. Learn bookbinding terminology and examine books in the museum’s library.Take an old book apart to discover how it was made. Create journals from craft supplies. 3 hours recommended

Senior

Collage Artist  
Earn the Collage badge, a Senior Legacy badge. Learn about collage artists from other cultures. Try creating a cubomania collage, using color as a theme, making a 3D piece, and crafting a self-portrait collage. 3 hours recommended.

Boy Scout Backpack Experiences

Tiger

Tiger-iffic!
Visit the eGameRevolution and Game Time! exhibits to play a variety of classic and modern individual- and multi-player games. With your den, work together on a problem-solving team challenge, and change the rules of a game you know. 2 hours recommended.

Wolf

Code of the Wolf
Explore the Wegmans Superkids Market exhibit to design a math game. Visit aquarium tanks to search for shapes in nature. Use balls and LEGO bricks in graphing exercises, and send a message using the pig pen code. 2 1/2 hours recommended.

Bear

Roaring Laughter
Visit Reading Adventureland, act out run-on skits, and practice tongue twisters. Make a joke book, write a silly short story, and try to make each other laugh with funny faces and gestures. 2 1/2 hours recommended.

Webelos

Art Explosion
Examine works of art throughout museum exhibits, including paintings, tapestries, photographs, and more. Create self-portraits, origami, air-dried clay projects, and a portfolio box. 3 hours recommended.

Game Design (Webelos Level)
Explore the Game Time! exhibit to learn about game design. Once inspired, create your own board or card game and teach it to your den. 3 hours recommended.

Boy Scouts

Game Design (Boy Scout Level)    
Complete initial Game Design merit badge requirements at the museum. Visit the eGameRevolution and Game Time! exhibits and learn about different game mediums, from board games to electronic games. Review game designer journals, examine artifacts from museum collections, and try your hand at modern and classic games. Learn gaming terminology and analyze favorite games. Receive a game design journal for use in completing the remaining badge requirements at home. 3 hours recommended.