Girlguiding believes in the value of learning by doing
This is put into practice through a method with five interlinking elements, known as the five essentials of guiding:
- working together in small groups
- encouraging self-government and decision making
- a balanced and varied programme
- caring for the individual
- sharing a commitment to a common standard
We start our meetings by singing a Brownie song and saying the Brownie promise and law together and end with a farewell song. We also have pow-wows (discussions) when the girls are asked for suggestions on what they would like to do, suggest names for new helpers or ideas for an adventure etc.
Brownie programme
Girlguiding have designed a Brownie programme which is structured around six core themes, which together provide fun and stretching experiences that make up the package of skills . Within the six activity themes, there are a wide range of topics to choose from, which are different in each section – so although the overall themes will be the same, the subjects covered will not. Here at 1st Waddington (RAF) Brownies we aim to complete one skills builder badge and associated unit meeting activities (UMAs) each term plus complete UMAs from different themes so our programme remains varied.
Brownies can achieve 3 awards (bronze, silver and gold) which are earned by completing 2 or more theme awards. Skills builders and UMAs are completed in the meeting place but Brownies do need to complete the interest badges at home (though we will aim to include an interest badge into our Brownie holiday plans.
Any Brownies wishing to work towards any of the awards should speak to Daffodil so we can help them work towards this goal. More information on each aspect of the Brownie programme can be found here.
Old Brownie (Adventure) programme
Our current Brownie programme was launched in summer 2018 and the old Brownie adventure programme was phased out over a 12-month period. Here at 1st Waddington (RAF) Brownies, we finished our work on the adventure programme in May 2019. Although the adventure book is no longer an official part of the Brownie programme, we think its a smashing resource with 154 pages filled with lots of activities, crafts, quizzes plus lots of valuable information about Brownies. Therefore, we still continue to give out these books (for free) and use them as time fillers between programme activities and for the girls to work through at the very start of every meeting when we split into smaller groups to do our gardening and Tweenie sessions.