I recently had a major proud parent moment.
As a child, I absolutely loved watching Blue Peter. I will never forget the best make of all by Anthea Turner, Thunderbirds’ Tracey Island. I must admit, I wasn’t a fan of Thunderbirds but even I found it awesome watching this creation unfold on TV. We talked about it in school, watched other people fall over themselves trying to get hold of the instructions. It was HUGE!
As a parent, watching my 6-year-old daughter watch Blue Peter is a real joy and reminds me of my childhood. After all, it is the longest-running children’s tv show on TV and inspires young viewers to go the extra effort to make things better.
She mentioned a while back about wanting to do something to get a Blue Peter Green Badge so I looked online to see what she would need to do for a Green Blue Peter badge.
As an environmentalist, I make an effort to adapt my habits with the environment in mind and it turns out she’s been watching me and picked up a few habits. This badge centres around an environmental theme
She asked again if she could apply for one so I looked online to see the requirements.
The Pledges
Named Climate Heroes, there were three pledges she needed to do for at least a month; Power, Plastic and Plants.
Power – this one was to encourage children to save power; my daughter would always turn her nightlight off at the wall in the morning.
Plastic – reducing one piece of plastic from your lunch box. She has school dinners and takes a piece of fruit for a snack everyday.
Plant – planting something in the garden. As we are moving, I purposely haven’t planted anything this year as it could get damaged during the move so we sent in pictures of us litter picking (she asks to go litter picking!)
I filled in the online application, attached pictures and waited.
It was about four weeks later and this turned up in the post.
I can’t tell you who was more excited; me or my daughter. A major proud parent moment that I told anyone who would listen!
I think deep down inside, I had always wanted a Blue Peter badge but I was never encouraged to apply for one and watching her earn one for herself, I felt like she had achieved a dream of mine, as well as her own.
I strongly believe the key to slowing down climate change is education and one of the best places to start is with young people. After all, they are inheriting the planet from us.
What other badges are there?
Apart from celebrating your little one’s outstanding achievements, the other benefit of having a Blue Peter badge is that they get free entry to various venues around the country.
There are other badges our little ones can apply for: the Blue badge, the Book badge, The Silver badge, Purple Fan Club badge, Music badge, Sports badge, Orange Badge, and the Gold Badge. What do you need to do to become one of many blue badge holders? Keep reading
Blue Badge – The Blue badge is the most iconic badge in the UK! We can’t be entirely sure how many have been awarded since launching in 1963, but we reckon the number is in the millions. All you need to do is send in an interesting letter or artwork, a poem, story, suggestion for the show. Just use your imagination. These will sometimes appear on the big badge wall on the show.
The new Book Badge – To apply for a Book Badge encourage your little to write in about a book they read; what they thought about it, their favourite characters, and maybe include a picture too. You can grab an application form from their website.
The Silver badge – This very special badge is all about showing kindness to someone else, it could be a sick family member or someone in the community.
The Purple Fan Club badges – This is for anyone who is a fan of the show, you can grab your purple badge form and apply for a badge
The Music badge – To get this badge, you need to tell Blue Peter about your love of music; if you play a musical instrument, how long you’ve played it for, and why you love it. Or even if you’ve just started to play a new instrument.
The Sports Badge – Try a new sport for the first time, tell us about your experience and answer our sporty questions. Then send a photo, video or some artwork showing us how you got involved with your new sport and apply for your awesome new sport badge.
The Orange Badge – The orange badge is given to competition winners. if you’d like a change to get an Orange badge, check out the competition page.
The Gold badge – this is a very special badge indeed. Gold Blue Peter badges is Blue Peter’s highest award and are awarded in exceptional circumstances; for unique bravery, courage or saving someone’s life.
In October 2023, Prince William, Prince of Wales, was awarded a Green Badge in recognition of his work on The Earthshot Prize. This was to celebrate Blue Peter’s 65th Birthday
Unlike when I was a child, we can now catch any missed episodes on BBC iPlayer and keep an eye out for a Blue Peter Competition and watch their favourite Blue Peter presenters. A few of their recent and former presenters have been Matt Baker, Abby Cook, Lindsey Russell, Henry, Radzi Chinyanganya and Joel Mawhinney
If you’re looking to start reducing your household waste, check out my free download
Updated November 2023