VTK Has Changed--For the Better

Last year I wrote a post talking about VTK, using the Brownie First Aid badge as an example.  I found plenty of problems with it, but liked the badge activities that I found more practical than some in the badge inserts.  While I could see that scripts could be helpful for new leaders, I found the plans overly wordy and I found it difficult to correlate some of the activities with the badge requirements.

I've been planning meetings for this year and I have gotten the feeling that VTK has changed some, and tonight when I looked at the Brownie First Aid Badge I realized that there had been significant changes to at least this badge plan, and my feeling is, to others as well.  

I wrote extensively about the Snacks Badge last year, including a post comparing the badge insert with VTK. I found that the VTK plans were more focused on teaching nutrition than on teaching cooking, and in fact, had the girls doing very little cooking and seemed to me to carry activities that were more likely to result in trash than in snacks.  I just looked at it, and it too has undergone a significant revision.  

It seems that for Brownie plans now, the standard plan is two meetings per badge.  Meetings begin with snack time and then move to an opening circle where troop business is conducted and the leader introduces the topics/activities of the day.  The plans including three choices for each requirement and for the first meeting, the leader chooses the activities for the first two requirements.  At the end of the first meeting, the girls choose the activities for the next meeting--three requirements.  

While talking points are provided, they are in the form of bullet points, not a complete script. 

Snacks Badge

For example, for the Snacks badge, the meeting begins with girls eating a healthy snack as the arrive.  After the opening ceremony they move to "Find Out About Different Snacks". One choice is to use computers to look up nutritional information on various snacks and see what those components do for you. Another is to look up a fruit or vegetable, find out where is comes from and how it is good for you, and do a report on it.  The third choice is to go on a scavenger hunt for snacks, and then to read the labels and look up unfamiliar ingredients.  

These activities correlate with the badge insert; they dropped the relay race where girls take a snack, run with it and then deposit it in the healthy or unhealthy bin. 

For the second requirement, girls make either no-bake energy bars, sweet and salty nuts or a lunchtime snack--something that doesn't have to be heated or kept cool.  The leader talking points do mention that recipes are directions and need to be followed carefully.  The only provided recipe was for Sweet and Salty Nuts.  

At the end of the meeting, girls pick out what they are going to make at the next meeting.

The second meeting also begins with snacks as the girls come in--obviously the plans are a template and whoever worked on this one didn't think to change the drill.

The resources for the second meeting include a recipe for guacamole, make your own cola, broccoli cheese toaster pastries and honey mustard yogurt dip. 

The first choice of recipes is a funny face from vegetables, a savory snack from a different country or a restaurant snack.  The dips are used for the veggies so those who pick that activity also make dips. The pizza rolls mentioned in the old VTK plans are no longer here. 

The next choice is a holiday dessert, cookies or a snack in disguise --the broccoli cheese toaster pastries. Again, these match the badge insert.  The fruit kabobs make with pre-cut fruit are gone. 

The final choice is either a smoothie, a milk shake or a party punch--and a recipe is given that uses make your own cola, which involves cooking cloves and sugar on the stove for quite some time.  This is presented as the girls making the drinks, as opposed to the old VTK plan where the leader made the drinks and added things like kale. 

First Aid

Like the Snacks Badge, the new First Aid plan more closely tracks the badge insert.  The activities I couldn't match with a requirement are gone, and the plan for the first meeting has the girls picking what they want to do for the second. The meeting plans no longer have activities that do not seem to track the badge requirements--like drawing a picture of your dream hospital.  

My Comments

I've heard that the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting is being discontinued.  They've been around long enough that there are a lot of used copies floating around, and despite the name, they never caught on as books for the girls.  The new VTK plans basically turn the inserts into meeting plans.  

One big mantra you hear on Girl Scout Facebook groups is to "adapt" badges to meet the needs of your troop.  While I always read the badge inserts to mean that you were supposed to pick one of their three choices of activities, many other leaders have said that the five things listed on the front were the requirements and that the activities were just suggestions.  When the VTK plans included so many activities not in the badge inserts, it gave credence to that idea.  Now it appears those other activities are gone.

One thing I liked better about the prior VTK plans is that the activities for the "learn about" first requirement of the badges generally seemed more fun and less school-like than the badge insert activities.  They used less guest speakers and field trips.  They seemed to understand that most troops wanted activities they could do in their meeting room with basic supplies as opposed to having to get speakers for every badge. 

Addendum (8/30/20)

I got a message from someone who appears to be a council employee.  She said that the plan was to not reprint the current binders.  They have a large stock of C/S/A binders so those will be available for some time.  When the current stock of D/B/J binders sell out, the plan is to create soft cover handbooks with the non-badge information that is in the current binders.  The current badge inserts will be available for sale in either paper copies or via download.  They  plan to update the Memory Books every two years, with inserts available for new badges during the "off" years.  Girls will be encouraged to buy a handbook and a memory book.  They can use generic binders to hold the badge inserts.