I'm doing something similar for both of my kids. I've used applique for some blocks, mostly my own designs, and then fabrics with the right theme in other blocks. Here's my son's quilt so far.
I did add 2 boy scout themed blocks. One used paper-pieced animals to represent his differnt years in cub scouts - a bear, a wolf and a tiger. I also included the corner of his cub scout scarf to complete that block. The other one is an appliqued version of the Arrow of Light symbol when he "graduated" cub scouts and moved to boy scouts. His goal is Eagle Scout too, but the quilt is not strictly scouting, so each year's block is something significant that happened that year. This year will be a block of his truck since he'll be getting his driver's license soon.
Other blocks are Toy Story, Star Wars, Legos, motorcycles, Grand Canyon.