Badges are a brand new feature introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. In previous games, the only time you ever got prizes and rewards for doing things around town were when you won first place in the fishing and bug-catching contests run by Chip and Nat. But now, not only do you get something in return for fishing and bug-catching, but you also get badges for donating to the museum, popping ballons with your slingshot, getting medals on the island, planting flowers and trees, pulling weeds, shopping, and overall playing the game for at least 50 hours (which shouldn't be a problem with all of the new features in AC:NL).
For every badge, there are 3 levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. When you recieve a badge, you will always get the bronze one first. Then, you will get the silver, and then of course the gold. So this basically means that the number of badges in the game tripples!



Bug-Catching
Bronze: Catch 500 insects
Silver: Catch 2,000 insects
Gold: Catch 5,000 insects

Fishing
Bronze: Catch 500 fish
Silver: Catch 2,000 fish
Gold: Catch 5,000 fish

Diving
Bronze: Catch 100 sea creatures
Silver: Catch 200 sea creatures
Gold: Catch 1,000 sea creatures

Donating Bugs
Bronze: Donate 50% of all bugs to the museum
Silver: Donate 80% of all bugs to the museum
Gold: Donate all bugs to the museum

Donating Fish
Bronze: Donate 50% of all fish to the museum
Silver: Donate 80% of all fish to the museum
Gold: Donate all fish to the museum

Donating Sea Creatures
Bronze: Donate 50% of all sea creatures to the museum
Silver: Donate 80% of all sea creatures to the museum
Gold: Donate all sea creatures to the museum

Slingshot
Bronze: Pop 30 balloons
Silver: Pop 100 balloons
Gold: Pop 200 balloons

Island Medals
Bronze: Collect 300 medals on the island
Silver: Collect 1,500 medals on the island
Gold: Collect 5,000 medals on the island

Planting
Bronze: Plant 100 flowers / trees
Silver: Plant 250 flowers / trees
Gold: Plant 500 flowers / trees

Pulling Weeds
Bronze: Pull 500 weeds
Silver: Pull 2,000 weeds
Gold: Pull 5,000 weeds

Saving Money
Bronze: Deposit 1 million bells into the ABD
Silver: Deposit 10 million bells into the ABD
Gold: Deposit 100 million bells into the ABD

Stock Market
Bronze: Make 500,000 bells off of turnips
Silver: Make 3 million bells off of turnips
Gold: Make 10 million bells off of turnips

Shopping
Bronze: Spend 500,000 bells (not including catalog orders)
Silver: Spend 2 million bells (not including catalog orders)
Gold: Spend 5 million bells (not including catalog orders)

Furniture Customizing
Bronze: Remake 30 pieces of furniture at R. Parker's
Silver: Remake 100 pieces of furniture at R. Parker's
Gold: Remake 200 pieces of furniture at R. Parker's

Catalog
Bronze: Fill 20% of the catalog
Silver: Fill 50% of the catalog
Gold: Fill 80% of the catalog

Happy Room Acedemy
Bronze: Get 50,000 HRA Points
Silver: Get 100,000 HRA Points
Gold: Get 150,000 HRA Points

Music
Bronze: Listen to K.K. Slider play 20 different songs
Silver: Listen to K.K. Slider play 50 different songs
Gold: Listen to K.K. Slider play 100 different songs

Villagers
Bronze: Fufill 50 wishes of the villagers'
Silver: Fufill 100 wishes of the villagers'
Gold: Fufill 300 wishes of the villagers'

Writing Letters
Bronze: Write letters to the villagers 50 times
Silver: Write letters to the villagers 100 times
Gold: Write letters to the villagers 200 times

StreetPass
Bronze: Connect to 100 people via StreetPass
Silver: Connect to 300 people via StreetPass
Gold: Connect to 1,000 people via StreetPass

Visiting Towns
Bronze: Visit other towns 100 times
Silver: Visit other towns 250 times
Gold: Visit other towns 500 times

Inviting Friends
Bronze: Have people visit your town 50 times
Silver: Have people visit your town 200 times
Gold: Have people visit your town 500 times

Dream Mansion
Bronze: Go to the Dream Mansion 50 times
Silver: Go to the Dream Mansion 200 times
Gold: Go to the Dream Mansion 500 times

Total Play Time
Bronze: Play AC:NL for at least 50 hours
Silver: Play AC:NL for at least 200 hours
Gold: Play AC:NL for at least 500 hours