Badge Insert or VTK?

 

The basic steps for Girl Scout badges are freely available on Badge Explorer, but those short steps don't really tell you much about what GSUSA has in mind for the badge.  To dig more deeply, you have to go to VTK (Volunteer Toolkit) or you have to buy the badge inserts from GSUSA.  The bones of today's program came out when my college sophomore was a kindergarten Daisy.  However, a lot of parts have been added since then.  While there are a lot of copies of the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting and the badge inserts from it floating around, there are also a lot of badges and Journeys which have come out since then and are not part of the binder (unless the previous owner downloaded them and added them).  40/64 Brownie Awards are new since the GGGS came out.  That leads to the question:  "Do I buy the badge insert or do I just use VTK?  Is there a difference?"  This post will try to answer that question by looking at and comparing the badge insert for Brownie Art and Design with VTK.  You can read this post about VTK's plans. 

Who Is It Written For?

VTK is written for troop leaders.  It gives opening and closing activities for meetings and provides scripts that go over the points GSUSA wants to make.  Some of the materials on VTK say that you may reproduce them for use in Girl Scouts; others do not say that you can't, and appear to be designed to be reproduced and used at meetings.  

The badge inserts are aimed at the individual girl.  The copyright notice specifically says it may not be copied, reproduced, stored or transmitted.  If you try printing them, you are going to find they use a LOT of colored ink. 

Looking at the Five Steps

Explore Art and Design

Both VTK and the badge insert have the girls either visit a place where art is made, have a guest speaker or look around the room for examples of art and design. Both also use this step to review a list of vocabulary words.  The list is the same in both formats though the VTK list uses a lot less color.  There are two different vocabulary lists for this badge, both in VTK and in the badge insert. While VTK tells you to begin the meeting by having the girls draw a picture and describes talking to the girls in opening circle, the badge insert just focuses on the badge. What are leader talking points in VTK are things covered in the text of the badge insert.  

 Experiment with the Elements

In VTK, this step begins with a game of Simon Says that explores colors, lines and textures.  Then the girls do an art project focusing on either colors, lines or textures, and try to show texture in their work.  For explore color, the suggested project is painting with tempera paint, and the leader talks about mixing primary colors to get secondary colors.  Other suggested projects are painting a color wheel, painting a seasonal picture or taking a photo and editing the colors.  

For those focusing on line, VTK suggests a blind contour drawing, drawing a continuous line on a paper and then coloring in the shapes it makes or building a doodle bot.  

Homemade puffy paint is one project for suggested for those focusing on texture.  Also listed are sculpting textures on a clay slab, making a collage with different textured materials and using a kid-friendly graphics program to design clothing or an object made of different materials.  

The badge insert has a page on line, color and texture and shows things like mixing colors.  The activity selections do not offer any suggested activities, only that they should create art with either line, color or texture.  

Learn about Composition 

If you follow the VTK plans, this is the last part done at the first meeting.  You discuss symmetry, negative space and positive space. 3-D figures and patterns are also discussed.  Then the girls do a project that uses 3 or more shapes or forms, or they do one that highlights the use of space or one that uses patterns, symmetry or both. Suggested activities are Tangrams (patterns provided on VTK), creating a sculpture, making a mobile, making  a cubist painting or making a building out of cardboard.  

The badge insert has a lot of text talking about composition.  Then the first option is to "Make Something With Shapes and Forms".  Options are a 2-D drawing or photo, or a 3-D project like a sculpture.  For "Explore Space", the options are to create art with shadows, such as drawing something with a big shadow or photographing light and shadows.  For "Using Symmetry and Patterns" the badge insert suggests a patterned t-shirt or a symmetrical sculpture.  

Make Art About a Subject

The first activity for the second meeting, per VTK is to "Make Art About a Subject".  There is a discussion about the definitions of portrait, landscape, still life and abstract art.  Then, one choice is for the girls create a portrait.  Suggestions are a portrait of a maker, a model of your subject out of clay, a pastel portrait of a pet, a collage portrait, or taking portrait photos.  The next choice is  "Create Art About the World", and suggested activities are a quilt pattern (instructions given), painting in the park, photographing a city street, arranging a still life or creating a clay diorama of something in nature.  For the last choice,  "Create Art From Inspiration", VTK has the troop discussing representational and abstract art and then for suggested projects it gives creating art about a favorite song, painting a mural with others about the feelings of friendship, photographing everyday life, using a computer to design a poster about a favorite sport, or sculpting a favorite part of nature.  

For "Create a Portrait", the badge insert suggests a realistic portrait of a dog or an abstract sculpture of a friend.  A landscape photo, a drawing of things on a table and a watercolor picture of a city skyline are the suggestions for "Create Art About Your World".  For "Create Art from Inspiration" the badge insert suggests painting, drawing, sculpting with clay, making digital art or filming a video.  The badge insert then has a page showing a girl working a potter's wheel and another doing digital art.  

Share Your Artwork

The VTK plans call for the Brownies to either host a show of their artwork, wrap a piece up as a gift or create some way to display it like a frame or pedestal or a digital presentation.  The same choices are offered in the badge insert. 

Extras

VTK has lots of extras that the badge insert does not.  There is an overview of the entire badge, overviews of each meeting, and plans for each meeting.  There is a materials list that is pretty useless with this badge as the activities are innumerable, but for badges with a tighter range of activities on the plans, it could be helpful.  There are two different project ideas, with directions.  The plans include opening activities for meetings.  Finally there are materials for families about the Maker badges.  

Conclusion

The badge inserts are more girl-friendly, and are easier to refer to quickly.  VTK has more suggestions and more materials.  As a leader, it think it is a matter of personal preference.  If you want more guidance, VTK is the way to go. 

This badge is more about teaching girls about art than it is about teaching them to do art.  The badge insert, if you have one for each girl (remember, the copyright notice says no copying) or can put it up on the screen, allows girls to read much of the information the leader talks through using the VTK scripts.  

For use by an individual girl, the badge insert is clearly superior.  

Which do you prefer to use when planning your meetings?  I'll admit, I'm a VTK person.