Bucks County Free Library recently unveiled a new badge in its popular Badge Squad program. The Map Mania badge was unveiled at a Dec. 30 event at the Yardley-Makefield branch. It was designed by Anna Belasco, age 10. Belasco submitted her design as an entry in BCFL’s Summer Quest Badge Design Contest.
Badge Squad children complete activities to earn cloth badges that are organized around themes such as coding, music and science. They can earn badges at home or during special Badge Squad events that take place at the seven BCFL branches, including Bensalem, Langhorne and Levittown. The program is geared toward children ages 5-14 and currently has 29 badges, including Zookeeper, Mad Chef, Plundering Pirates and Time Traveler.
To earn the Map Mania badge, children must complete three-out-of-nine activities encouraging them to “explore, write and create” such as: use a trail map to explore a park; build a map for an imaginary world; and hide treasure as part of a scavenger hunt, then write clues for friends to locate the treasure.
This is the second year BCFL has held a Summer Quest Badge Design Contest. Judges for the 2019 contest were Blair Rush of Covenant Bank and Justin Bursk of Neshaminy School District. At the time of the contest, Belasco was residing in Yardley. She currently lives in Athens, Georgia. The winning design in 2018, origami-themed Folding Master, was designed by Remy Vogelsinger through a submission at the Perkasie Branch.
For younger children, BCFL has a second badge program – Let’s Play School – currently featuring 15 badges with activities geared toward children ages 3-5.
To see all Badge Squad badges, download activity cards, and get a schedule of Badge Squad events, visit buckslib.org/badgesquad
