Examples for activities

You can choose an activity for each section of the programme. Remember: design your personal programme just the way you like it!

Not sure where to start? Read our tips and have a look at our activity examples.

Tips for choosing activities

You decide: It is your decision which activity you want to do in your free time; maybe it’s something you’ve already been doing or something you’ve been interested in for a long time. The most important thing is that you choose something that you enjoy – and that you may not have thought of yourself before.

Preparation: You should study your dream activity and find out more about it. As soon as you have discussed your choice with your Award Leader, you can look for a reviewer and set a clear, smart goal for your activity.

Cost: Some activities that you would like to do may cost something. Maybe your school has a grant to cover such expenses. Many activities are free or cheap, e.g. clubs at your school, activities offered by a youth center near you, sports in a club or courses at the adult education center. You can also get a grant from the National Association for a specific activity. Write to us and tell us what you would like to do, and we will explain how you can apply. Dream big! Your application does not depend on your school grades.

Where can I do my activity: Find out whether your activity is offered at your school, in a club or in a youth center. Part of the challenge of doing your Duke is finding and organizing it all.

Insurance and Safety: Make sure you have insurance in case you do anything outside of school.

Expeditions

Each expedition revolves around a specific topic that you choose as a group. Here are some suggestions:

  • Hike (or bike) in a specific landscape in the footsteps of a poet
  • Explore ice age traces in the Uckermark
  • Investigate the effects of tourism on flora and fauna in the Black Forest
  • Observe and document the living conditions of young people in rural areas
  • Get to know and identify tree species in the area
  • Investigate the characteristics of agriculture in a particular area
  • Investigate the water quality of a river in its course
  • Examine and comment on routes
  • Investigate the viticulture along the Moselle Cycle Path
  • Carry out a physically challenging mountain bike tour in the Allgäu and document the strain
  • Examine cycle paths in a specific area for the correspondence between map information and reality
  • Examine the Mecklenburg Lake District on sailing dinghies
  • Find, evaluate and describe good bivouacs in a certain area
  • Observe certain animals
  • Gather ideas for a poem that the group will write later
Residential Project - only on the Gold level

Here are some suggestions for a potential gold project:

  • Support the leaders as volunteer in a holiday camp
  • Take part in a nature conservation project as a volunteer
  • Do a language stay abroad
  • Reconstruct or renovate something in the countryside
  • Help with the grape harvest
  • Take a cooking class abroad
  • Participate in a project to save certain animals
  • Attend a youth conference