BROWNIE BADGES

Girl Guides of Canada 

Brownie Badges are from this book:

Brownies Can Do It! The Brownie Program Book GGC 2004

BROWNIE BADGES

 *Please note there are no interest badges for Key to Brownies*

MEMORIES:

• Make a time capsule using a box or container of your favourite memories.    Decorate your time capsule.  Label each item you include with the date the event occurred.
• Buy or make an autograph book.  Ask all your Brownie friends to sign it.

MY SPACE:

• Draw a picture of your room as it is now.  Draw another picture of your "dream" room.
• How can you arrange your room so it's more organized?  Think of three ideas.

 PEN PALS: 

• Choose a country that has Brownies and where you'd like to have a pen pal.  Find out what Brownies are called in that country and what their uniform is like.  
• Make a Brownie doll from that country, by drawing a picture and cutting it out.

MY HERO:

• Think about what makes someone a hero.  
• Who is your real life HERO?  Why is this person a hero to you?  
• Read a story about a hero.  Share it with your circle.

 SPECIAL THOUGHTS:

• Keep a word or picture journal for two weeks.  Write or draw what happens and how you feel about it.
• Draw a picture of one event from your journal.  Share it with your unit.
• Write a poem or draw a picture about your family, friends, a special event, something you love to do, or a special place.

 

 GIRLFRIENDS THROUGH TIME:

• Draw a picture of what your grandmother and mother wore when they were your age.
• Ask your grandmother and mother what they liked to do when they were your age.
• Read a story about another time.  Tell your circle about your story.  Explain how things are different today from when the story took place.

 COOL COLLECTING:

•  Collect some things you enjoy, such as photographs, leaves, or postcards.  Organize them into an album or storage box.
•  Share your collection with your Brownie unit.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create your own badge to show what makes you special.

ALL ABOUT CANADA:

• Paint a maple leaf or a beaver on a white t-shirt.  Why are they symbols of Canada?
• Collect a set of Canadian coins.  What are the symbols on each coin?  Why do you think these symbols were chosen?
• Create a collage with your provincial flower, tree, mineral, bird, and flag.
• What other animals or plants do you think would make good Canadian symbols? Explain why.

ABORIGINAL PEOPLE IN CANADA:

• Find out about the Aboriginal People who live or used to live near your home.
• Learn an Aboriginal game, song, folk tale, dance, or ceremony.
• Trace or copy an Aboriginal symbol.  Explain its history.
• Use an Aboriginal invention, such as a toboggan, or snowshoes.
• Play an Aboriginal game, such as lacrosse.

MODERN CANADIAN INVENTIONS:

• Find four modern things invented by Canadians.  Who invented each one?  When?
• Choose one invention and tell why it's important.  Draw a picture of it or make a model of it out of clay.

FAMILY HERITAGE:

• Interview an older relative about life when she was young.  What games did she play?  What was school like for her?  What chores did she have at home?  If she was a Brownie, what activities did she do?  How different is your life today from hers when she was your age?
• Locate the places your parents or grandparents came from on a map.  Why did your family move from that place?  When did they come to where they are living now?
• Share a special family treasure, such as a photo, a piece of jewellery, or a quilt.  Why is it special?  Tell its story.
• Prepare a food that's part of your family's heritage and background.  Share it with your Brownie friends.

YOUR DAY:

• The day you were born is important to your family.  How do you celebrate your birthday?  Tell your unit about it.
• Ask how other girls in your unit celebrate their birthdays.
• Learn how someone in another country celebrates a birthday.
• Create an "I'm special" poster, poem, dance, or song.  Include the things you like to do with your family and friends.

SPECIAL DAYS:

•  Make a symbol of a celebration from a culture other than your own.  It can be a Jewish menorah, a First Nations dream catcher, a Christmas tree, a Chinese dragon, a Halloween jack-o-lantern, or something else.  What does the symbol mean?  Tell its meaning.
• Interview someone from a country other than Canada.  Ask about that person's life.  Share a food from that person's country.
• What is your favourite celebration?  Why?  Share a story about it.
• Invent a new celebration.  Link it to a natural occurrence, such as the beginning of spring or a group event, such as starting a new grade at school.  Talk about what foods, activities, crafts, decorations, and other things you'd have at your celebration.  Celebrate it with your unit.

COMMUNITY COUNTS:

• Help a neighbour with a chore.
• Take flowers or a card to someone at a senior's centre and visit with them for a while.
• Help out at a food bank, community garden or other community service.
• Choose another way that you would like to serve your community and do that.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create your own special interest badge about your community.

COOKIES, YUM!

• Find out how to be a safe cookie seller.
• Learn how much each box costs, how to keep records, and how to make change.

WOOD WORKS:

• Learn the safety rules for using woodworking tools and what protective equipment is needed.  What tools do you need to use with adult supervision?
• With adult help, use two woodworking tools, one of which you've never used.
• Build a mobile, a wood chime, a birdhouse, a birdfeeder, a kite, or a treasure box.

MONEY TALK:

• Think of something you'd like to buy, such as a book, a piece of clothing, or a gift.  How much will it cost?  When do you want to buy it?
• Make a plan for how you will obtain the money you need.
• Why do people keep money in banks or credit unions?  Open a bank account.  Save for something special.

PET PALS:

• Talk about basic skills for caring for a pet.
• Talk about why a pet needs to be active and healthy.
• Visit your local humane society, animal shelter, or animal hospital.
• Bring pictures of your pet to a meeting, and tell stories about your pet.  If you don't have a pet, find a story about a pet in a book and share it.

BE A CHEF:

• Plan a simple meal for your family.  Include one item that is heated or cooked.
• Make a list of ingredients.  Use a cookbook.  Go shopping with an adult.
• Follow safe food handling practices, such as washing hands, caring for work surfaces, and storing food properly.
• Learn the names and uses of kitchen utensils.  Use your stove or microwave, with adult help.
• Prepare the meal.  Help clean up.

LISTEN TO THIS:

• Discuss what being a good audience means.  How should a good audience behave?
• Do a skit, in which some people are performers and others are the audience.  Act out both good and bad audience skills.
• Attend a local play or recital and display good audience manners.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create your own interest badge about something you can do.

 SWIM! SKATE!

• Plan a skating or swimming party.
• Learn a new skill in swimming or skating.

SMILE GIRL:

• Talk to a health professional about good dental habits and health.
• Make a collage of smile pictures.  Use magazine photos or photos of people you know.
• Keep a daily chart for one week, showing how you kept your smile healthy by brushing and flossing.

GO FOR IT!

• Take your pulse before a physical activity and after.  How different is it?  How does a physical activity help you stay healthy and strong?
• Play an active team game, such as baseball or soccer.
• Name three pieces of playground equipment you can use that are safe and fun and that keep you moving.

 FOOD POWER:

• What is junk food?  Eliminate it from your diet for a week.
• Visit a local supermarket.  How do they handle food to keep it safe and clean?
• Name three fruits or vegetables you've never eaten.  Try one.
• Donate healthy food to a food bank.

WHEELS:

• Why must people wear a helmet and other safety equipment when on a bike, scooter or roller blades?
• Show the proper way to wear a helmet.
• Make sure your wheels and brakes are in good working condition on your bike, scooter or roller blades.
• Explain how to maintain and store your bike, scooter or roller blades.
• Learn the road signs.  Play a road sign game.
• In a safe area, such as a playground, show how you can start, stop and move smoothly.  Show your hand signals and shoulder checking. 

WINTER IS GREAT!:

• Build a snow figure or fort.
• Go downhill or cross-country skiing, skating, sledding or snowshoeing.
• Know how to use, maintain, store, wear and carry equipment safely for any winter sport you try.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create a special interest badge about an active lifestyle.

 

COMMUNICATION IS WHERE IT'S @:

• Think about how you communicate with people near and far.
• Learn American Sign Language for "Make New Friends".
• Create a secret language.  Use it to communicate.
• Think of an animal and describe it to someone without saying what it is.  Ask them to draw a picture of the animal from your description.
• Write a message backwards to a friend using a mirror.
• Write a message on a friend's back with your finger.  Ask them to guess what you wrote.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS "IT":

• Talk about how information technology improves your life and how it helps you have fun.
• What is the Internet?  Name four ways you can use it.
• Name three Web sites you like.  Share the information with your unit.
• Learn and use the Internet safety rules.

SSSS stands for SOUND, SURROUND, SOOTHE, and STIMULATE:

• Talk about how we use sound when we work or play.
• Identify six sounds in your home.
• Build a "Brownie phone" and call a friend.  (Tie a length of tubing between two Styrofoam cups or a length of string between two clean empty cans.)
• Make a musical instrument out of everyday materials.
• Learn a campfire song and play it for your unit with your instrument.

NUMBER MAGIC:

• Discuss why math is important.  Name five ways we use math in everyday life.
• Discuss how people did math before there were calculators and computers.
• Play a math game.
• Use math to figure out how to sew a piece of clothing or make a craft or a model.
• Count the girls in your Brownie unit.  How many girls have black, brown, blonde, or red hair?  How many have green, blue, grey or brown eyes?

EXPLORING SPACE:

• Read a story about Roberta Bondar or another female astronaut.
• Find out what the International Space Station and the Canadarm are.
• Imagine you could go anywhere in space, where would you go?  Why?
• Act out a space story.
• Discuss the difference between planetarium and observatory.
• Play a game about space.

MAKING THINGS GO:

• Discuss the following topics:  What are batteries?  How do cars run?  What makes a plane fly?  How do we light our homes?
• Research what people used for light, heat and transportation before electricity?  Draw the way a house would have looked before the invention of electricity.
• Build something that needs a battery to make it light up.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Make your own special interest badge on a STEM topic. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

TERRIFIC TRASH:

• Make something for your home out of recycled material, such as a vase out of a bottle.  Decorate it.  Use it.
• Find two things that you can recycle and reuse in your home.

WEATHER TRACKER:

• Track the weather for a day.  How much does the weather change during the day?
• Make a chart and track the weather for a week.  How much did the weather change each day?
• Make a "weather watcher" tool, such as a rain gauge.  Use a clean jar.  Leave it outside for a week and mark off how much rain fills the jar.  Try it another week and compare results.  

GROW YOUR GARDEN:

• Identify three gardening tools and learn how to use them.
• Make your own "rain forest" or terrarium out of recycled containers.  Plant seeds and watch your rain forest grow.
• Grow a plant, such as a tulip from a bulb.

BIRD WATCHER:

• Make a bird feeder out of natural or recycled materials.
• Track how many birds come to your feeder in an hour.  What kind of birds come?  Use a bird book to help you identify them.
• Learn the name of your provincial bird.  Have you seen it?  Where?  What does it eat?  What kind of nest does it build?
• Visit a park or nature reserve.  Use field glasses and record how many different kinds of birds you see.

SAVING OUR PLANTS AND ANIMALS:

• Pick an animal that is endangered and do a skit about it.
• Visit a zoo or animal reserve.  How do these places protect animals and plants?  Did you see any endangered plants or animals?

HELP OUR PLANET:

• Track your activities for a week and see how often you walk, drive, take public transportation or ride a bike.  The next week, try to walk or ride your bike more than you use fuel-consuming means of transportation.  Compare how you did both weeks.
• Create a "walking bus".  Meet with your friends and have a parent walk you all to school.
• Name three renewable or alternative sources of energy, such as solar energy.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE:

• Track how much water you drink in a day.
• Track how much water your family uses for cooking in a day.
• Do a water experiment.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create your own special interest badge about the Living World.

HAPPY HIKING:

• Plan two hikes of approximately two kilometers each in a park, green space or along an historic trail with an adult.
• Plan where you will go and what you will need to take.
• Put together a "Be Prepared" kit.  Take it with you.
• Know how to take care of your feet.  How do you keep them dry?  What do you do if they get wet?
• Lay a hiking trail for others to follow, making sure it is environmentally-friendly. 

GOING CAMPING:

• Visit a camping supply store.  Look at different types of tents and sleeping bags.
• Prepare a list of items you should take to camp.
• Pack your belongings.
• If you're sleeping in a tent, demonstrate how to keep your belongings dry.

WHICH WAY?:

• Learn the eight compass points and play a game using a compass.
• Learn how to identify directions in daylight without a compass, by pointing the little hand of your watch towards the sun so 12 o'clock faces south.
• Walk in your neighbourhood, using your compass.  Draw a map and note landmarks.

BE AWARE:

• Learn how to set up and light a campfire with an adult.
• Know how oxygen, heat and fuel are used to create a fire.
• Know how many minutes it takes to boil water to make it safe for drinking.
• Help build a simple shelter using poles and a tarp.  You can invite some Pathfinders or Guides to help.

WINTER OUTSIDE:

• Learn how to dress properly for winter camping.
• Learn how to prevent and deal with: frostbite, skin on cold metal, falling through ice, hypothermia.
• Plan and take part in a special outdoor winter activity for a group.
• Prepare special winter meals and snacks to keep you warm.

COOKOUT:

• Pick a location for an outdoor meal and snack.
• Plan your menu.  What will you cook and how will you cook it?
• Make a list of ingredients and utensils you will need to cook your meal.
• Prepare and serve your meal.

TEAM TOGETHER:

• Name two camping activities that are better done in a small team with two or three people.  Name two activities that work better with larger teams.
• Tell your group why you think teamwork is important in camping or games and what skills you can learn.
• Play two team-building games.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create your own special interest badge for camping.

HURRAH FOR READING:

• Read a combination of six different books, magazines, articles, or short stories on any of these topics:  science, animals, adventure, fantasy, nature, children in other lands, poetry or Guiding.
• Tell your Brownie unit about your favourite book.  Why did you like it?  Did you learn anything new?
• Draw a poster advertising your favourite book.
• Draw a cover of your own for the book.

ARTIST AT WORK:

• Make up a list of questions to ask an artist.
• Visit a local art studio or store.
• Watch an artist at work.
• Try two different kinds of art.

WRITE ON:

• Write a poem about flowers, trees, or your favourite animal.
• Write a short story about being a Brownie.
• Write an advertisement, jingle, or rap about an upcoming Brownie event.
• E-mail or write a letter to a friend or pen pal in another city, province or country.

SUPER CRAFTS-  Do three of the following:

• Knit, sew, quilt, or sculpt something out of clay and make a gift for family or friends.
• Make an Aboriginal craft.
• Make a craft using recycled materials.
• Make a paper craft, such as origami, strip weaving, wrapping paper, or three-dimensional cards.
• Make a toy out of wood, boxes or cartons and donate it to a children's hospital or shelter.
• Make a kite and fly it.
• Learn calligraphy and make signs and cards.

MY HOBBY:

• Tell your Brownie unit about your hobby.
• Bring in pictures or examples of your hobby and share them with your unit.
• Find out about one hobby you'd like to try and share it with your unit.

I CAN BE:

• Imagine you're a character in your favourite book or television show.  Describe who that would be.
• If you could be an animal, which animal would you be?  Why?  Act out being that animal and have the girls in your unit guess what animal you are.
• Use mime to describe an activity or situation.  Ask your friends to guess what you're acting out.

SHARE YOUR TALENT FOR DANCE:

• Learn how to warm up and cool down before and after dancing.
• Perform a short ballet, jazz, modern or folk dance.
• Learn a new dance.  Teach a dance to a friend.
• Wear a costume when you dance.

SHARE YOUR TALENT FOR MUSIC:

• Learn a Canadian folk song.
• Play or sing two different types of music.
• Make up your own song, play or sing it.
• Make a musical instrument, such as a drum, cymbal, or flute out of recycled material.

PUPPET PLAY:

• Make a puppet out of a sock or paper bag.
• Make a marionette.
• Create a short puppet play about a holiday celebration in a WAGGGS country.
• Make a stage and paint scenery for your play.

ALL ABOUT ART- Do three of the following:

• Interview a local artist.
• Learn your primary and secondary colours.
• Visit an art gallery.
• Draw or paint on fabric or an unusual kind of paper, such as tissue paper.
• Make a whacky sculpture out of wire, pipe cleaners, or wood scraps.
• Draw a cartoon strip to illustrate your favourite book.
• Scan or download photographs into a computer and make a collage.

TELL IT:

• Present a two-minute speech for your unit on a topic of interest to you.
• Retell a story fairy tale, folk tale, fable, or joke to your unit.
• Debate or discuss an issue that is important to you.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create a special interest badge about the arts.

HELPING SPARKS:

• Visit a Spark unit.
• Learn the girls' names.
• Teach them a song or craft.
• Read them a story.

TAKING PART:

• Plant a tree or flowers.
• Help clean up a park or green space.

SAVING WATER:

• Learn about water or water conservation projects in your community.
• Find out how you can help.  Then help out.
• Create a booklet about a local water conservation project.

LEND A HAND AT HOME:

• Help with a spring cleaning or a renovation project.
• Offer to help fix something at home.

NO MORE MESS:

• Look around your room and find something that needs organizing.  Organize it in boxes, on shelves or in closets and drawers.
• If there's something you've outgrown, give it away to a needy group.

SPECIAL INTEREST BADGE:

• Create your own special interest badge about Girl Guides.