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In the fall of 2023, GSUSA came out with three new badges for Daises, Brownies and Juniors, all of which involved "making". Craft and Tinker is one of those badges.
Requirements
According to Badge Explorer, to earn this badge, girls
Discover how to be a problem solver by making or crafting solutions. Explore making
- Learn the basics
- Figure out the function
- Discover form and fit
- Tinker with your craft
Opening Activity No. 1
The VTK plans have the girls making SWAPS as the opening activity at the first meeting. The SWAP is supposed to remind the girl of Girl Scouts. During the opening circle, girls show off their SWAPS and explain them.
Explore Making
The three choices for this are "Learn From a Maker", "Get Inventive" and "Search for Crafts and Inventions"
Learn From a Maker
This step starts with a discussion of the vocabulary words: craft, tinker, materials, tools, and maker. Also, the leader is asked to gather a collection of old crafts and modern inventions with the same purpose, such as a paper and phone calendar, or a vitage shirt and a graphic tee. The girls are to match the similar ones and the leader points out that we look at the past and tinker with things they had to come up with new ideas. The Brownies also brainstorm various crafts they've seen and talk about the problem the craft solves, the materials used and the tools needed. They also discuss how technology has changed crafting and tinkering--modern tools and use of internet for materials or ideas are what is mentioned.
After the discussion, the guest speaker, a Maker, talks about her crafting.
Get Inventive
This discussion starts the same way as "Learn From a Maker", but ends with girls sharing the examples of machines and technology they see or know about. For each one the leader asks what problem it solves and how people in the past solved that problem. She also asks the Brownies what they could invent to solve that problem. Finally each Brownie is asked to pick one machine to tinker with and draw a sketch of how she would improve the machine to solve a problem. If there is time, craft supplies can be used to create a model of their ideas.
Search for Crafts and Inventions
After the same initial discussion as in the other two choices, girls look around their environment for examples of crafted objects or inventions. Then there is a discussion of the problem solved by the object, who uses it, and how it is made. This is pretty much the same as one of the activities in the Daisy badge.
Figure Out the Function
For Step 2, girls focus on materials, measurement or tools.
Focus on Materials
This choice starts with a discussion using the words measure, tools, and materials. The leader then shows the girls how to measure with a ruler and the girls measure objects in the room. Next, there is a definition of the term upcycle, which means to tinker with old or discarded materials to make something new, and how upcycling helps save the planet. The leader then shows the girls something she made with upcycled materials and reviews what the materials were originally used for, what they are now used for and what other things you could make with the materials. Finally, the girls create something with the provided upcycled materials. There are no suggested projects.
Focus on Measurement
This choice begins with the same discussion as Focus on Materials does. However, after doing the exercise with the ruler, there is a discussion of the tools provided by the leader, particularly different measuring tools like a protractor or tape measure. Then the leader asks the girls to brainstorm what they might use if they didn't have these measuring tools, and then use the alternate tools (paperclips, string etc.) to measure things. Finally, the Brownies make a craft that requires measuring and use either a formal or informal measuring tool. Suggested projects are a salad and dressing (measure ingredients with both measuring cups and other containers), yarn pom-poms improvising units of measure for the yarn or paper pinwheels using a ruler and an improvised unit of measure.
Focus on Tools
Like the other choices, you begin this step with a discussion, this time focusing on tools. One of the tools is a ruler and the girls do the measurement exercise. Then the leader shows the girls the tools and materials used to make the chosen craft and the girls determine which is a tool and which is a material. The girls brainstorm what they could use if they did not have the tools--what could they use in place of scissors or a paintbrush? Finally the girls do the craft chosen.
Suggested crafts are to pound nails into wood following an outlined shape, comparing the use of sanding blocks and sand paper to make small wooden magnets with smooth edges or a leatherwork project using an awl, a hole punch or a hammer and nails to make holes.
Opening Activity 2
For the second meeting, the leader gathers a variety of tools like screwdrivers, hammers, and wrenches and materials like scrap wood, nails, screws, nuts and bolts. The girls experiment with them as they come in to figure out how they work. The tools are then discussed at the opening ceremony.
Discover Form and Fit
The three choices are to Focus on Fit, Focus on Form or Focus on Function.
Focus on Fit
This step begins with a discussion comparing sun hats to winter hats. The discussion uses the word form meaning shape and fit . Then the girls are shown a collection of hats and are asked to compare their functions, forms and fit.
Next the Brownies are shown the materials they will be using to make the craft. The troop discusses the function of the craft, the features it needs, and who they all fit together. Girls then sketch their version of the craft, labeling the the parts and features as well as noting how they are put together. Finally the girls make and test their craft. Suggested projects are making your own puzzles, making a toy car, or building a frame for a piece of art. They could also design a mosaic or suncatcher.
Focus on Form
The only real difference in this choice and the preceding one is that the discussion about their sketches focuses on the form. Suggested projects are making a pendant necklace out of clay, sewing a pillow, designing a journal or building a toybox.
Focus on Function
Guess what the sketches and discussion focus on if you choose to focus on function? The suggested projects here are a paper basket, a pencil case, a bookshelf or a terrarium.
Tinker With Your Craft
The final step is to Tinker With Your Craft.
Make It Fit a Theme
After discussing that Makers often Tinker with their crafts, changing forms, fit, or materials to fit a particular need, the leader shows the girls promotional material for a local craft fair or maker's mart and they discuss the theming of the event. Next, the Brownies brainstorm ideas for their own imaginary themed event. Next they look at a craft they made for this badge and sketch how they could tinker with it to make it fit the theme of the imaginary event. If desired, the girls can then tinker with their original crafts.
Add a New Feature
After a discussion of tinkering focusing on improving the function of the craft, girls sketch how they would tinker with their original craft. If there is time, they use provided materials to tinker with their craft.
Tailor It For a Gift
After pretty much the same discussion about tinkering, girls choose someone to give one of their crafts to. They then imagine how they could tinker with it to improve it for the recipient and sketch their ideas. Suggestions are changing colors, size or adding something. Again, for more fun, they can actually make the improvements.
With all three options, girls have the opportunity to share their original craft and their tinkering sketch with the group and the leader coaches them to talk about form, fit and function.
Resources
VTK-provided resources include a Craft and Tinker Overview, a Meeting Overview and a Meeting Plan, all of which are easily printable shortened versions of the VTK plans, but I'd have to sit there with a highlighter to figure out how much of the material is duplicative and how much is missing from each iteration. You are also given a basically useless materials list, since the materials you will need will depend on your chosen craft.
On the positive side, there are four different project ideas: Make an instrument, sculpt a coil pot, make a mask and make a paper basket.
There is a vocabulary list with twelve words, with definitions. The Making for Families and Get Making with Girl Scouts handouts that come with all the new badges this year are also here.
My Comments
I get the impression that someone at GSUSA said "how can we turn traditional Girl Scout crafts into a thinking exercise?" and the answer was this badge. Rather than focusing on teaching the girls how to do a craft, this badge focuses on teaching them how to think about the craft. The strength of this approach is that it is adaptable to any craft the leader/girls want to do, so multi-level troops can work in the same projects. I will admit that I wonder how many troops will actually go through the thinking exercises/discussions as opposed to just making a craft or two and calling it good.
In a lot of ways I can see earning this badge as being incidental to learning to do things like sewing or simple woodworking, or even cooking. Projects like making a pillow or a toybox could take a meeting all by themselves.
I can't say that I'm overly impressed with the "tinker" portion of the badge. I get where they are going with the idea that the first idea doesn't have to be the last, and that we can always improve, but when I make something, I don't want improving it to be on the top of everyone's list.
What do you think of this badge?
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