Brownies Connect!

This year the girls decided that they wanted to complete the "Pen Pals" interest badge. With the help of a local Girl Guiding Facebook group we were able to find a Brownies group in Essex UK, the 1st Wickford Brownie Unit. 

We talked with the girls about the differences between Girl Guides in the UK vs. Canada. We looked at the differences in Uniforms, Guiding Levels and Activities.

In their fairy circle groups the girls came up with some questions they wanted to ask the girls in the UK Group. They each individually filled out an "All About Me" sheet. We asked that the girls in our pen pals unit filled out these sheets too so we could learn more about each girl.

After the girls finished their letters we did a few quick crafts. The Pen Pals badge asks the girls to colour a picture of the uniforms of girls in another country. We looked at the UK Brownies yellow and brown uniform. The girls coloured these in and added them to their memory books. 

In addition to our letters we wanted to send our pen pals a small gift. The girls created Canadian flag hat crafts for our Pen Pals. Each girl made 2 hat crafts, one to give and one to keep. That way if any of our girls meet their pen pals they will have the hat craft in common. 

We had such a fun time writing to our pen pals and can't wait to see what they send us! Have you ever give Pen Pals a try?

Sparks - Uniquely Me!

This fall my Sparks group is working toward their Being Me Keeper. So far we’ve talked a lot about being kind and how to be a good friend. We’ve paired up with a Rainbows unit in the UK and are learning about other countries and the customs other people have.

This week we wanted to look at what makes us special and unique. In order to explore this idea the girls made memory boxes and our Brownie helper Rebecca read the Sparks a story about being themselves. Rebecca is working on her "Helping Sparks" Interest Badge. She decided to read the girls the story The Princess and the Pony. The Sparks loved it!

After the story the girls decorated wooden boxes and we took photos of each girl to put on the front. Inside the girls have started to collect special treasures that we hope to bring in later in the year to share with the group.

One very special thing we did before this project was to discuss nice words we could use to describe ourselves. Along with the craft supplies we had the girls add positive trait word stickers to their memory boxes. We hope that they feel empowered and proud when they open their memory boxes and read all of the kind words that describe them!

Brownies Give Back - Birthday Boxes!

I am always on the look out for a good service project. I find that in today’s busy society the act of doing good deeds for others and giving back to your community can get lost. I know that many of our girls do something like 4-5 extra activities a week. It’s nice to have the girls take a step back and reflect on how fortunate they are and maybe look for ways they can help out people who may be less fortunate.

Service projects are great but with Brownies it can sometimes be a challenge to find something that really fits their skill level. Food and clothing drives are simple enough to do but often families are already being asked by schools to bring these items in. More complicated projects like knitting IZZY dolls or sewing pillowcase dresses are just too complicated for Brownies. They have the passion to do good but sometimes need something a bit more at their skill level.

I was telling my guider friend Cathy about my dilemma and she suggested that we make birthday boxes. This is the best service project I’ve ever seen for Brownie aged girls. Essentially they are a box with everything you need to throw a birthday party. They would include cake mix, icing, decorations, party favours, etc.  We explained to the girls that if you’re a family that is struggling to put food on the table that a birthday party is an extravaganza that many people would just not be able to afford.

We held this meeting at a local Dollarama. The lovely folks at our local store were really good about having some excited, silly Brownies in the store working on the service project. We asked the girls to ring a small donation ($1-$5) which the unit matched. We split the girls into groups of 3-4 and gave them $30, a clipboard for brainstorming ideas and a guider to help things along.  We told the girls that they had to include a cake mix, icing and cake pan in their Birthday Box. Everything else was up to them.

The girls in my unit LOVED this activity. They first worked together to brainstorm what they wanted to purchase and then scoured the store to find the best deals. We talked a lot about stretching their dollars (for example buying party favours that have 5 toys in a pack vs 1 in a pack) and how we can’t buy everything with $30, they had to make choices.

Overall the girls did very well. They all chose themes for their boxes and enjoyed not only picking out the items but checking out at the cash register and paying for everything. When we finished at the Dollarama we walked over to the grocery store to drop off the birthday boxes in the food bank collection bin. The smiles on their faces said it all, they were so proud of themselves!

The girls still talk about making birthday boxes and have already asked when we could go back and make some more. For this outing we awarded our first year girls with the Key to My Community – Special Interest Badge. The second year girls were awarded their Community Counts badge as they had already done one service project the year before with us.

Brownie Enrolment!

Brownie Enrolment is always a special celebration. The girls have a lot to prepare and do before enrolment. They need to be put in a fairy circle, establish leaders and routines. They have to learn their promise, motto, law, hand sign. We really try to get the girls to know that this is a very important and respected ceremony. The parents come, there is a reception afterwards. The girls are always super excited.

I never get good pictures of Enrolment because i'm usually the on talking to parents and calling up each girl for their promise, pins and badges. However, THIS YEAR my awesome new co-leader Alison was our photographer! Below are some pictures from our ceremony. We always do a joint enrolment with our Sparks group so the Brownies were able to be a supportive audience for our littlest Girl Guide members.

At our Brownie Enrolment we always try to emulate parts of the "Brownie Story" we have a magic pool (emergency blanket) and a wise old owl. The Brownies come up one at a time and they get twisted and turned around reciting the rhyme. "Twist me and turn me and show me an elf. I look in the water and there see" They fill in the word "Myself!" 

After visiting the Magic Pool the girl will recite her Brownie Promise and show her Brownie hand sign. Then she gets her enrolment certificate, badges and enrolment pin. We like doing it this way so every girl gets her special moment. 

Each of the girls got their badges on a special Owl card. They were made so they didn't lose their badges but doubled as a pretty keepsake. I coloured the cards and laminated them so once the girls took the badges off of them to add to their sashes they would still have a reminder of the night.

To conclude our Enrolment Ceremony the girls did the Grand Howl for their parents. Such a great event. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Brownies - 1st Badge Testing and Exploring our Individuality

After the craziness of camp and getting the girls ready for enrolment it was nice to spend some time working on their Key to Me badge. My second year girls were especially happy to get started on this badge as we had been spending so much time doing our Key to Brownies. Don't get me wrong, they really like having all the answers to Brownie Lore and showing the new girls what to do but I think they were ready to earn some more things for their own sashes.

We decided to pair our first meeting to work on the Key to me with our first badge testing night. Its taken me a few years to work out individual interest badge earning/testing but i think we've finally gotten into a good rhythm. Each time we do badge testing (about once a month) we have some wonderful parent volunteers come in. They help the the girls one by one with their badge testing while the bulk of the group works on Programming. We like this format because it doesn't single out any girls who didn't complete any badge work for that day. If you want to learn more about how we do badge testing click here!

We started off our meeting in our fairy circle groups. These groups have really come together and now feature the circles colour mat, sign, dues treasure chest and the fairy circle flag that the girls made at camp.

Following our group opening we had a discussion about what it means to be Proud. Girls had all sorts of good answers such as:

- It's when i'm doing something i'm good at 
- I'm proud when i did something i couldn't do before, and now i can
- It's when I feel good about myself


















In our unit we really emphasize the idea that we are all a team and that we all belong. In order to explore this idea a little further we brought out a blank puzzle. Our puzzle was made up of 20 pieces. Enough for each girl and leader to design a piece to represent them. We talked about what kinds of things the girls could add to their piece. Many drew their families, hobbies and pets. Others used their favourite colours and favourite toys!

Once we were all done we assembled the puzzle and this masterpiece was born! Unfortunately 2 girls were away sick from our unit this week and Silly Brown Owl left the piece that says "401st Toronto Brownies" at home on her craft table but I think the message rang out clear. We are all unique but we are all part of the same puzzle.

While the puzzle piece making was happening the girls pulled themselves away to do some badge testing. We had a total of 11/16 girls prepare badges to be tested on and had over 25 badges earned in total!

They were so proud of their hard work and were pleased to take home their badges that night. One girl named Antonia did such a nice job on her "Terrific Trash" badge that we asked if she would share with the group. All of the girls listened very carefully and applauded her efforts.

We had some time left at the end of the meeting so we decided to play a few group games. We tried out the game African Drums which is a circle game you play lying down in a circle. Once your group is in place you cross your hand over the people on either side of you and then try to pass around a hand slap on the ground, in order all around the circle. First we tried to pass the beat around, then tried to break our record!

Sparks Enrolment

The Sparks were so excited for their enrolment ceremony. For weeks they've been practicing their opening/closing songs, promise and handshake. They made decorations and practiced and practiced. 

If you've ever been to a Sparks Enrolment before you know they don't last long. With 16 sparks we were done in 10min. Parents took pictures, the girls said their promise, everyone had badges and we enjoyed a potluck of snacks.

It went by so quickly that the following picture is the only one i got of the entire night!

They had a Blast! Can't wait for our next one!

Sparks Enrolment Prep!

The 78th Toronto Sparks are eagerly awaiting their enrolment ceremony. They've learned their songs, made new friends and are now ready to make their Sparks Promise in front of friends and family. 

For our enrolment we are decorating using a Fall colours theme. Guider Alison found these really cool leaves made out of diffusing paper. The sparks coloured the leaves and then spritzed water on them to make the colours blend. We used these to make the path the girls will walk down. 

In addition to the Fall Leaves pathway we decided that we needed to make a unit flag. Working together the girls made the flag adding their own names and sparkly stickers to the Pink fabric. We now happily display the flag at meetings and other special events. 

Finally Guider Alison brainstormed with the girls what kinds of food they'd like to have at their enrolment ceremony. After making a list each girl picked something to bring. Its going to be a great time!