The Stick Badge became a bit of a phenomenon when it was first broadcast in 2017. Because of this, it has been considerably more straightforward to find actual Hey Duggee activities directly related to this badge than with many others. As always, I wanted to include a wide range of activities and crafts in my guide for this badge. So get ready to collect some sticks and rave by the campfire. There are lots of options for each item on the checklist so pick the ones that work for you.
Have a Campfire
The Stick Badge begins with the Squirrels collecting sticks for a bonfire, without much success. Preparing for and lighting a bonfire is enjoyable for families when it is done safely. Here are my top tips for staying safe and having fun:
- Prepare the fire somewhere it can’t spread and where embers won’t catch anything else alight. Don’t worry about making it too big. The bigger it is, the more chance of it getting out of control and adding more sticks as you go along is part of the fun.
- Never use liquid accelerants to light the fire. Use solid firelighters instead.
- Supervise children at ALL times and make sure you talk to them about the danger.
- Make sure no one is wearing anything flammable and tuck all loose clothing in.
- Have a bucket of water on hand for emergencies and make sure the fire is fully extinguished when you’ve finished.
Suppose you are planning a Guy Fawkes Night party with fireworks and sparklers. In that case, I highly recommend looking up safety tips for those.
An alternative is to have a completely risk-free fake fire. I created the fire in the picture above by tieing sticks together and putting some red ribbon underneath. There were some battery-powered flashing lights in there too, but you couldn’t really see them in the day time. The kids were more than happy to play along, pretending to toast their marshmallows on the fake fire.
The Toucan Box Blog for creating has a really simple suggestion for campfire art. If you’re interested in signing up for a Toucan Box full of kids crafts and activities, then use code LIONA-IF2U to get your first box half price (and I will get a half-price box too). Click here to visit Toucan Box.
Stick Bakes
Baking with Tots has a recipe for one of my favourite and one of the simplest seasonal cupcake decorations. Bonfire Buns are simple buns with a topping created from coloured icing and chocolate fingers for sticks.
I made an alternative version using orange matchmakers to complement my chocolate orange cupcakes. They turned out well, but I could improve them with some yellow food colouring to make the icing less pink and more fire. I did these myself but they are definitely a bake the kids could have helped with.
There are lots of ways to make and bake Stick. Below are a few I found, some are child-friendly, others are bakes for grown-ups only:
- Another really easy “bake” I spotted was this one from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots. The recipe is designed to accompany Julia Donaldson’s Stick Man (more on that below) but could easily be made into Stick from Hey Duggee with the addition of two more legs.
- These homemade stick biscuits from the Hey Duggee website look really cool but are one of the trickier ways to make edible Sticks.
Stick Games and Activities
Sticks are surprisingly versatile as a crafting material. Collecting the right kind of twig for the project is a skill and an entertaining activity itself. Pinterest is full of ideas for kids stick projects, many of which you can do in your own garden or local park.
Stick from The Stick Badge is actually a stick insect. We came up with a straightforward way to create a stick insect with a stick from the garden, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. This was a great way to reinforce some learning we had previously done on insects and camouflage.
Winnie-the-Pooh’s 50 Things to do Before You’re 5 ¾ is a list of outdoor activities for children. It. would not be a comprehensive list if it didn’t include Poohsticks, and this would not be a complete blog post about sticks if I didn’t include it too. This classic childhood game requires a twig and a bridge over a river.
July 2020’s Mud and Bloom box came with a cool stick activity that my 5-year-old loved. The craft in this kit was to collect sticks to make a raft. It’s a good chance for your Squirrels to practise the things they learned in the Stick Badge by challenging them to select suitable sticks. String, material, clay and paints for the sails are included.
Mud and Bloom boxes are expensive, but they come with high-quality materials for four or five activities. The packages are designed for kids aged 3+, but they require lots of parental help. Even if you don’t want to or cannot buy the boxes, they can serve as an excellent source of inspiration for seasonably appropriate outdoor crafts. Here are a couple more examples of things to do with sticks from Mud and Bloom:
- December 2019’s stick activity is making twig star decorations.
- August 2020’s stick activity is a twig picture frame.
Read Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson has become a classic children’s book. The story is the sad tale of a Stickman. He is taken away from his family by a series of unfortunate circumstances but eventually finds his way back through kindness. However, during his adventures, the story explores the many different ways that sticks can be used for play. Stick uses in the book include Poohsticks, a mast for a flag, a sword for a knight, a pen, a bow, a bat, a boomerang and an arm for a snowman.
More Hey Duggee Resources
- The Hey Duggee Sticky Sticker Activity Book is full of activities based around the Stick Badge. However, it is probably the weakest of all the available sticker books.
- This versatile Hey Duggee toy includes Stick and Duggee’s sunglasses from this episode. It comes with accessories from The Voice Badge, Pizza Badge and more.
- This set of Hey Duggee figurines comes with Stick and Duggee in his Stick Badge rave outfit.
- The Hey Duggee website also has a free pattern for a felt Stick if you are feeling creative.