Looking for a creative Eagle Scout Project idea? That can be challenging, but you have come to the right place for some awesome suggestions! Having a creative Eagle Scout Project idea is important because it will be easier to recruit volunteers if your project is both fun and meaningful.
First off, choose something that YOU feel passionate about. This is going to be a big part of your life for the next few weeks or months.
It’s always cool to do something totally unique. But more than 2 million Scouts have completed Eagle Scout Projects already, which means the chances of coming up with something totally new aren’t too likely. So don’t even worry about that!
You can come up with a creative Eagle Scout Project idea by building on the experience of others. In fact, here’s what the Eagle Scout Project Workbook has to say about it:
Your project doesn’t have to be original, but it could be. It might be a construction, conservation, or remodeling project, or it could be the presentation of an event with a worthwhile purpose. Conversations with your unit leader, teachers, your religious leader, or the leaders of various community organizations can also uncover ideas. In any case, be sure the project presents a challenge that requires leadership, but also something that you can do with unskilled helpers, and within a reasonable period of time.
Tips from the Eagle Scout Project Workbook
Starting off on the right foot can help you finish your project and get you standing in the Eagle circle with that awesome Eagle badge on your uniform pocket! Here are a few tips:
- Pay special attention to the restrictions section on page 4 of the Eagle Scout Project Workbook, which details the types of projects that won’t be accepted, such as fundraisers, projects that only benefit the Boy Scouts, or routine labor.
- Get approval for your Project Proposal (see pages 7 to 10 of the workbook) in the early stages of your planning. This will keep you from doing too much work on a project that may ultimately be rejected.
- Page 12 of the Eagle Scout Project workbook has this reminder: “Do not begin any work on your project, raise any money, or obtain any materials until your project proposal has been approved.
Eagle Scout Project Idea List
Below are 20 creative Eagle Scout Project ideas to help you fulfill Requirement #5 to “plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project” that won’t put you or your volunteers to sleep!
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #1: Take Photos of Gravestones
Taking photos of gravestones is the perfect Eagle Scout project to show your leadership skills and help other people! Your service will bless families that are looking for their ancestors right now, as well as generations to come who may be looking long after those gravestones are gone.
Gathering Names Before It’s Too Late
If headstones could talk, they would have a lot of stories to tell. But they can’t, so BillionGraves is the next best thing. As gravestones deteriorate, those stories are quickly fading away. We need to capture them before it’s too late.
BillionGraves is the world’s largest GPS-linked cemetery data resource.
Take Photos of Gravestones with Your Smartphone
The BillionGraves app is free and easy to use. Download the free BillionGraves’ app to your smartphone and then use it to take photos of gravestones. It’s as easy as taking pictures of each grave as you walk along!
As the photos are taken, each one is automatically tagged with a GPS location and a pin appears on a map marking the location of the gravestone.
Beginners can take about 250 photos per hour and those with more experience can take up to 500 per hour, depending on the condition of the headstones.
Helping Families Around the World
When you are finished taking photos, it’s easy to upload them with one click of a button to BillionGraves’ database.
After the images of the headstones have been taken, the names and dates are transcribed by other volunteers. The data is then made readily available for free on BillionGraves.com for millions of families around the globe for generations to come.
Then, even if a loved one’s gravestone is damaged or worn by time, the invaluable information recorded at their final resting place will still be available for genealogical research to honor our ancestors and loved ones.
Get a Beneficiary Signature
Your beneficiary could be any of the following:
– Cemetery Sexton or Manager
– City council member or employee in charge of the cemetery
– BillionGraves
If you would like BillionGraves to be your beneficiary send an email to Volunteer@BillionGraves.com with your signature approval page (Proposal Page E) and we will be happy to help you.
Does BillionGraves qualify as an Eagle Project?
Absolutely! On page 4 of the Eagle workbook, it says, “Some aspect of a business operation provided as a community service may also be considered—for example, a park open to the public that happens to be owned by a business, but primarily benefits the community.”
While BillionGraves isn’t a park, it is a free service to the community that benefits thousands of people researching their family history. BillionGraves also allows cemetery sextons to focus on caring for the cemetery instead of helping people find graves.
Technically, BillionGraves itself is not the project. The Eagle project should focus on documenting a cemetery and preserving the historical data on gravestones. BillionGraves is a tool used to facilitate the project, store the information, and make it freely available to everyone. Ultimately, the local council or district is responsible for approving an Eagle Scout project.
How do I get started?
- Download the Eagle Service Project Workbook by clicking HERE.
- Find a cemetery to document. Contact us at Volunteer@BillionGraves.com if you need help with this step.
- Fill out the Contact Information, Project Description, and Benefit information in your workbook.
- Get your Unit Leader, Unit Committee, Beneficiary, and Council or District approval signatures (Proposal Page E).
- Plan and Organize your project.
- Carry out your project.
- Write up your Service Project Report.
- Get your Unit Leader and Beneficiary approval signatures (Project Report Page C).
- Schedule your Board of Review with the Council or District leader.
Check out this BillionGraves blog post for more details: Eagle Scout Cemetery Documentation Project in 12 Easy Steps
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #2: Build a Book Box
Build a book box for your community! The idea behind a book box is simple, anyone can take a book from its shelves or leave their old reads behind.
With one little library in a box, you will help improve literacy, encourage children to learn to read, fight off boredom for the elderly, and light up someone’s face with a smile every day.
A book is a world. Every page of a book is a city. Each line is a street. Every word is a home. – Rejean Ducharme
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #3: Plant a Butterfly and Bee Garden
Plant a butterfly and bee garden at a mental health center! This is a creative Eagle Scout project idea with a double whammy! You’ll help both the butterfly and bee populations as well as those who need encouragement to see the beauty in life.
Best Flowers for Butterflies and Bees
- Purple coneflower
- Black-eyed Susans
- Milkweed
- Anise Hyssop
- Coreopsis
- Trumpet Vine
- Honeysuckle
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #4: Help with National and State-Owned Lands
Partner with the National Parks Service, state parks, or the National Forest Department to select a project in your area. Examples include:
- Build bridges or trails like the one pictured above
- Clear forested areas for campsites
- Post signs to identify plant specimens
- Build benches
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #5: Build a Tiny House
Build a tiny house for a homeless Veteran. You’ll help get them off the streets. After all, they helped keep the streets – and the nation – safe for you.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #6: Construct a Blessing Box
This is similar to the book box in Creative Eagle Scout Project idea #2, but this box is for pantry items. Community donors fill the box with food and hygiene items and others take them as needed.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #7: Collect Used Scout Uniforms
Scouting for uniforms could help the next generation of kids be able to participate in the same fun you’ve grown up with!
Ask your friends and neighbors if they have any old Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Brownie, or Girl Scout uniforms that they could donate. Then run them through your washing machine, iron, patch, and mend until they are fit for the next Pinewood Derby or Girl Scout cookie drive.
It will be important to emphasize in your Eagle Scout project proposal that this service is to help the children in your community, not the Boy Scouts itself since that is prohibited.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #8: Hang a Swinging Ropes Course
Construct a swinging ropes course for a youth rehab center!
This creative Eagle Scout Project idea will be as much fun for you as for the youth it is constructed to serve. But you will either have to live in the right area for this to work – or travel to find a suitable spot.
Be sure to be extra safety-minded while you are playing Tarzan and helping others to do the same!
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #9: Paint a Playground
Paint colorful squares for a game of hopscotch on a school playground. Or paint a cheerful map of your country or state on the cement. You could even roll on lines for a basketball court, four-square games, tic-tac-toe, or a giant chess board.
Local students will be grateful for your service for years to come!
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #10: Construct Food Pantry Shelves
Construct shelves for a community food pantry. They will appreciate being able to stock their donations in an organized fashion for recipients.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #11: Create a Dog Park
Work with your local recreation department to prepare the land, trails, and signs for a dog park. You could add benches, dog waste bag stations, or dog training equipment.
Can’t you just picture those happy pups leaping through the hoops, getting a splash pad shower, or chasing a toy at the park you created?
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #12: Establish Community Gardening Space
If you live in an urban area this could be a perfect project for you! Contact your city managers to see if they have land that they would like to have developed into a community gardening space.
As individuals, families, and groups come together to plant fruit, vegetables, and flowers, you’ll see strangers becoming friends. They’ll swap gardening tips and produce. It will improve mental health, reduce crime, and beautify the community.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #13: Plan a Nursing Home Concert
Plan a music concert for the elderly at a nursing home or assisted living center. Invite a group of instrumental and vocal performers to join you.
The musicians don’t need to be professionals – the residents of these homes will just love clapping along to whatever talent is shared. Older folks may even break into song with you, especially if the music is something they remember from their youth.
After the show, spend time visiting with the residents in their own rooms. Take them a gift of flowers or written notes.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #14: Build an Eagle Aviary
Luna is missing an eye. Liberty has a broken wing, so she now runs like a drunk chicken. Captain has been shot. These are bald eagles that have been injured in the wild and are now deemed non-releasable. They need a safe home.
In most circumstances, possessing an eagle is against the law. They are protected under the Eagle Protection Act, established in 1940. However, concessions are made for members of federally recognized Native American tribes. Natives are allowed to keep eagles so that they can use their molted feathers for religious ceremonies.
But they need cages – big ones – with water and perches. Here’s where you come in. Contact a Native tribe and offer to build one. An Eagle Scout Project for eagles. How impressive is that?
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #15: Sports Camp
Are you athletic? Plan an Eagle Scout Project to lead a sports camp for youth who could not otherwise afford to attend and you will change lives.
Consider the possibilities – swimming, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, or lacrosse. Enlist your troop and other volunteers to help teach.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #16: Collect Clothes and Shoes
Many homeless men and women have been out of the workforce for some time. When they start to turn their lives around and want to look for employment they need to dress the part for job interviews.
Here’s where you come in with this creative Eagle Scout project idea – collect dress shoes, suits, ties, and other business attire to start a clothing bank at a homeless shelter. Yesterday’s fashions hanging in some people’s closets could become the means for someone else to find work.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #17: Set up a Playground
Creative Eagle Scout Project idea #17 could change the childhood experiences of an entire neighborhood! Build a playground for underprivileged children.
Imagine a child who has few toys watching a swing set or slide being built right on their street by your Scout troop and volunteers. For years to come, you will be able to drive past your Eagle Scout Project and see children laughing, smiling, and playing thanks to your efforts.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #18: Build a Greenhouse
Grab a hammer and nails, some donated old windows and lumber to build a greenhouse at a domestic shelter. Then residents will be able to grow some of their own food, as well as enjoy the therapeutic effects of digging in the dirt.
If you have a green thumb yourself, include starting some seedlings as a part of your Eagle Scout Project.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #19: Help Out at a Horse Therapy Center
Here’s a creative Eagle Scout project idea for horse lovers. Plan your event at a horse therapy center and you could improve the quality of life for people with special needs or disabilities.
Build a feeding trough, construct fences and gates, or clean saddles and stalls. Or you could organize a horse showmanship event with your volunteers acting as horse leaders and side-walkers.
Creative Eagle Scout Project Idea #20: Repair Damage at a Cemetery
These final creative Eagle Scout Project ideas bring us full circle – back to the cemetery again.
Many cemeteries have entrance gates or walls that are tumbling down. Sometimes this is due to erosion and weathering. Other times, the foundations are being undermined by woodchucks or squirrels. Cemetery caretakers could use your help to repair the damage. And in the process, you could learn the useful trade of masonry.
Another great Eagle Scout Project idea is to clean gravestones. Many are illegible because they are covered in lichen, moss, or mold. Click HERE to learn more about how to restore gravestones SAFELY. And click HERE to get the products that will help you do it!
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Only 7% of Boy Scouts earn their Eagle Scout award, so the fact that you are planning an Eagle project really says something about you! Whatever project you choose, we wish you success.
And remember, if you would like help planning a BillionGraves Eagle Scout Project to photograph gravestones just send us an email at Volunteer@BillionGraves.com and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Soar Like an Eagle!
Cathy Wallace and The BillionGraves Team
