Duke of Edinburgh Award - Skills

Programme ideas: Skills section

When completing each section of your DofE, you should develop a programme which is specific and relevant to you.

This page gives you a list of programme ideas that you could do or you could use it as a starting point to create a Skills programme of your own. You can find more information at DofE.org/skills and there is a range of exciting opportunities to help you complete this section at DofE.org/finder.

It’s your choice…

a skill helps you get better at something you are really interested in and gives you the confidence and ability to use this skill both now and later in life. Help with planning You can use the programme planner on the website to work with your Leader to plan and agree your activity before you start.

Performing Arts

  • Ballet appreciation
  • Ceremonial drill
  • Circus skills
  • Conjuring & magic
  • Majorettes
  • Puppetry
  • Singing
  • Speech & drama
  • Theatre appreciation
  • Ventriliquism
  • Yoyo extreme

Science & Technology

  • Aerodynamics
  • Anatomy
  • App design
  • Astronomy
  • Biology
  • Botany
  • Chemistry
  • Coding/ programming
  • Ecology
  • Electronics
  • Engineering
  • Entomology
  • IT
  • Marine biology
  • Oceanography
  • Paleontology
  • Physics
  • Rocket making
  • Taxonomy
  • Weather/meteorology
  • Website design
  • Zoology

Care of Animals

  • Agriculture (keeping livestock)
  • Aquarium keeping
  • Beekeeping
  • Caring for reptiles
  • Dog training & handling
  • Horse/donkey/llama/alpaca handling & care
  • Looking after birds (i.e. budgies & canaries)
  • Pet care – health/training/ maintenance
  • Pigeon breeding & racing

Music

  • Church bell ringing
  • Composing
  • DJing
  • Evaluating music & musical performances
  • Improvising melodies
  • Listening to, analysing & describing music
  • Music appreciation
  • Playing a musical instrument
  • Playing in a band
  • Reading & notating music
  • Understanding music in relation to history & culture

Natural World

  • Agriculture
  • Conservation
  • Forestry
  • Gardening
  • Groundsmanship
  • Growing carniverous plants
  • Plant growing
  • Snail farming
  • Vegetable growing

Games and recreation

  • Cards (i.e. bridge)
  • Chess Clay target shooting
  • Coxing
  • Cycle maintenance
  • Darts
  • Dominoes
  • Fishing/fly fishing
  • Flying Gliding
  • Go-karting
  • Historical period re-enacting
  • Kite construction & flying
  • Mah Jongg
  • Marksmanship
  • Model construction & racing
  • Motor sports
  • Power boating
  • Snooker, pool & billiards
  • Sports appreciation
  • Sports leadership
  • Sports officiating
  • Table games
  • War Games

Life Skills

  • Alternative therapies
  • Cookery
  • Democracy in action
  • Digital lifestyle
  • Driving: car maintenance/car road skills
  • Driving: motorcycle maintenance/ road skills
  • Event planning First aid – St John/St Andrew/ BRCS
  • Hair & beauty
  • Learning about the emergency services
  • Learning about the RNLI (Lifeboats)
  • Library & information skills
  • Life skills
  • Massage
  • Money management
  • Navigation
  • Public speaking and debating
  • Skills for employment
  • Young Enterprise

Learning & collecting

  • Aeronautics
  • Aircraft recognition
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronautics
  • Astronomy
  • Bird watching
  • Coastal navigation
  • Coins Collections, studies & surveys
  • Comics
  • Contemporary legends
  • Costume study
  • Criminology
  • Dowsing & divining
  • Fashion
  • Forces insignia
  • Gemstones
  • Genealogy
  • Heraldry
  • History of art
  • Language skills
  • Military history
  • Movie posters
  • Postcards
  • Reading
  • Religious studies
  • Ship recognition
  • Stamp collecting

Media & communication

  • Amateur radio
  • Blogging
  • Communicating with people who are visually impaired
  • Communicating with people who have a hearing impediment
  • Film & video making
  • Journalism
  • Newsletter & magazine production
  • Signalling
  • Vlogging
  • Writing

Creative arts

  • Basket making
  • Boat work
  • Brass rubbing
  • Building catapaults & trebuchets
  • Cake decoration
  • Camping gear making
  • Candle-making
  • Canoe building
  • Canvas work
  • Carnival/festival float construction
  • Ceramics Clay modelling
  • Crocheting
  • Cross stitch
  • DIY
  • Dough craft
  • Drawing
  • Dressmaking
  • Egg decorating
  • Embroidery
  • Enamelling
  • Fabric printing
  • Feng Shui
  • Floral decoration
  • French polishing
  • Furniture restoration
  • Glass blowing
  • Glass painting
  • Interior design
  • Jewellery making
  • Knitting
  • Lace making
  • Leatherwork
  • Lettering & calligraphy
  • Macramé
  • Marquetry
  • Model construction
  • Mosaic
  • Painting & design
  • Patchwork
  • Photography
  • Pottery
  • Quilting
  • Rope work
  • Rug making
  • Snack pimping
  • Soft toy making
  • Tatting
  • Taxidermy
  • Textiles
  • Weaving and spinning
  • Wine/beer making
  • Woodwork