Its September and that means Brownies is starting up again. We had our parent meeting last week and we are so excited to get started with 15 eager Brownies.
One of the first things we do in our unit is get the girls comfortable with how to earn an interest badge and how to use a glue gun. They seem like strange skills to spend a whole meeting on - but believe me having the girls fluent in both makes a HUGE difference.
The girls enjoyed colouring in their name and owl for their binder cover. After they had all finished this we went over what was in their binder (Brownie notebook & interest badge slips). As a group we went over what their Brownie notebook was and how we use it in interest badge earning. Some of our second years shared their notebooks from last year showing the girls all of the things they did to earn badges. To say this got the girls excited about badge earning was a big understatement!
Next we moved onto Glue Gun Permits. In our unit if you want to use a glue gun you have to do and pass glue gun training. This includes learning how to safely set up and use the glue gun, how to control the glue and how to glue tiny things without burning yourself. It also covers basic first aid regarding burns. Once they learn these things they are awarded with their Glue Gun Permit and are allowed to use glue guns at Brownies under the supervision of the leaders.
The girls LOVE the glue gun training and getting their permit. They feel so special and grown up once they "pass" the test. Once the girls did their testing they were given their Brownie backpack to decorate. We use these backpacks weekly to bring things back and forth. We also use them at camp for hiking.
To celebrate Canada's 150th Girl Guides of Ontario organized an amazing event that took place at every GGC property across the province. I had never been to the Girl Guide Camp Doe Lake so I was really excited to volunteer at this event. My friend Alison decided to come along as a "Brownie Unit of 1" bringing along her Brownie daughter. 
