Your Turn to Talk: Brownie Maker Badges

I recently surveyed the members of Girl Scout leader Facebook groups about this year's new Maker badges.  Since I get really annoyed when I finish a survey and do not think, because of the wording of the questions, or the types of questions asked, that my opinion was really heard, I always finish my surveys with a "say what you want" question.  Here is what people had to say about the Brownie Maker badges.  I also picked up some comments that were made on Facebook in response to my posts asking people to take the Brownie survey.

Survey Results: Brownie Journeys and TAPs

 This is one in a series of posts about a survey I did of members of a number of Facebook groups for Girl Scout leaders.  The other posts published to date are:

• Survey Results: Badges
• Comments re GSUSA Programming
• Daisy Journeys and TAPs
• Survey Results:  Journeys and TAPs
• Survey Results:  What I Ordered, What I Got
• Your Turn to Talk About Badges
• Your Turn to Talk About Take Action Projects

While I have other posts summarizing the data as a whole, this post is looking at what they said about Brownie Journeys and TAPs--Take Action Projects.  

New Badge Review: Brownie Numbers in Nature

Not long ago I reviewed the new Shapes in Nature badges for Brownies and Juniors, and I was impressed.  The activities seemed fun and the badges touched on important concepts. Unfortunately I'm not as impressed with the rest of the series. Today I'm taking a look at the VTK plans for the Brownie Numbers in Nature badge.  

What Girl Scout Leaders Think of the Brownie Program?

 This is the second post in a series that involves surveying members of Girl Scout Facebook groups about their opinons of the current program. You can read about the Daisy program here.  

Who Replied?

With any survey, knowing who responded is important.  My gut feeling, based on replies to other surveys I've done and responses to posts on those Facebook groups was that people who responded tended to be more experienced than most leaders, and probably had a bigger committment to the program than most leaders.  

Budding Entrepreneur vs Inventor

One complaint I have about recent GSUSA programming is that it seems to be much of the same. The Think Like a Programmer Journey, Robotics progressive badges and Coding for Good progressive badges all focus on algorithmic thinking and simple programming concepts like looping. You could run a troop focused on programming and fill eighteen meetings following VTK plans. I realize few if any troops would do that, but especially as the activities repeat (move something through a maze) I have to wonder if that's what GSUSA thinks troops want.

One of the new badges this year for Brownies was Budding Entrepreneur. While I've never done the Inventor badge, I've looked at it a few times, and when I looked at Budding Entrepreneur I thought they looked similar, so I decided to do this post as a comparison. 

Outdoor Art, Part 2

 When I asked the girls what they wanted to do this year, "anything with art" was a typical answer.  I have Brownies and Juniors and one art badge for both levels was Outdoor Art, so that's what we started.  You can read about our first meeting here. 

This week we did two projects.  I counted them both toward requirement 5 for the Juniors--Design with nature, and for the Brownies, the wind chimes met requirement 3 and the luminaries, requirement 5.  The Juniors still have to do requirement 1, and one of my moms who is a photographer is going to be my artist expert at our next meeting, which will be Juniors only.  She's  going to cover outdoor art, talking about outdoor photography and she's going to cover cameras as part of Digital Photographer, which will be our next Junior badge.  

The girls had a ball with our projects tonight and I was really happy with the way they looked when we finished.  We got a little knot tying practice and, as one girl noted, what we did with buttons was a lot like sewing.

New Badge Review: Automobile Manufacturing for Brownies

 This year GSUSA released a new set of "progressive" badges dealing with the design and manufacturing of automobiles.  While in some ways badges in a progressive badge series are meant to build on each other, in general, I have not found that to mean that girls cannot do the second badge in a series before the first.  What I have found is that the badge inserts for the progressive badges give background information on the topics rather than suggested activities.  The real plans for the badge are in VTK and they are presented as unified lesson plans, not as choices of activities.
  Today I am taking a look at the third badge in the new Automotive group, Automobile Manufacturing, and I'm looking at the Brownie plan.

Requirements:

According to Badge Explorer, with this badge girls will: Experience the importance of having a plan and discover how manufacturers build lots of vehicles that are safe and well made!

In-Person Meeting: Outdoor Art

We had our first in-person meeting in over six months last night.  It was so good to see the girls!  In person is much more fun than Zoom, at least for the leader (and I'm pretty sure for the girls too).  We met outside, under a patio next to the youth building at my church (we are usually inside the building).  I put four girls at a banquet or  picnic table.

STEM Career Exploration for Brownies: New Badge Review

 This year GSUSA came out with STEM Career Exploration badges for Brownies, Juniors and Cadettes.  I reviewed the Junior version here. Today I'm taking a look at the VTK plans for Brownies.  I have not seen the insert for the Girls Guide, if you have, I'd love it if you would leave a comment telling us if it has other ideas.

According to Badge Explorer:  Find out how all the things you love—like camping, baking, and walking your dog—can become a job that changes the world.

Then, create a plan to turn your dreams into a reality!

1. Explore your interests

2. Discover the possibilities

3. Learn about the day-to-day

4. Brainstorm your next steps

5. Share your goals

When you've earned this badge, you'll know how to use STEM to help others.

New Badge Review: Brownie Automotive Engineering

Right now, I'd say there are two classifications of GSUSA badges--regular badges and "progressive" badges.  The regular badges cover a gamut of topics and are characterized by the format of the materials offered by GSUSA.  For each of the five requirements, the badge insert and VTK offer a choice of three different activities per requirement.  (If you are not aware, VTK changed a lot of its meeting plans during the summer of 2020) The progressive badges deal with STEM topics and the badge inserts are background information on the subject.  The plans in VTK are unified lesson plans where the leader talking points turn something like drawing a quilt block into a coding activity.

This year a new set of progressive badges was released. They are K-5 Automotive Engineering Badges.  The first in the set for Brownies is Automotive Design and it involves designing a work vehicle and then sculpting it out of plastic clay.   The second in the set is Automotive Engineering and it involves designing an emergency vehicle and building it out of junk/craft supplies. The third is Automotive Manufacturing and it involves making vehicles out of craft supplies assembly-line style. This post is about the second badge, Automotive Engineering.

My Virtual Meetings

I have a troop of 16 girls--6 Daisies and 10 Brownies.  Generally I have very good attendance--usually no more than 2 or 3 girls absent per meeting.  This is our third weekend under a "stay at home" order and we've missed one meeting so far and will miss another this week.  We will also miss one more this month.  Our camping trip was cancelled and who knows when or if we'll have a summer cookie event.  On the plus side, our cookies were gone before this all got going, so we didn't have that to worry about.

I'm used to going places and doing things, not sitting at home all the time.  In some ways I like working at my kitchen table--though I admit it would be hard to do if I had small kids.  Since all I have is a teenager who does her own virtual schoolwork, I don't have a problem getting my work done.  The commute is great and I love the dress code.  On the other hand, even though (or maybe because?) I'm an introvert, I miss the people.  I have my own office and like it that way, but it is nice to say hi to people as I head to the restroom or kitchen or to get something in another part of the office.  Here, it is me and my computers.

Painting!

My current troop is the third group of girls I've lead through Brownies with the current program.  I can say, without a doubt, at as far as badges earned at meetings, the two favorites with all the troops have been Snacks and Painting.  Our last two meetings have been devoted to the painting badge, and we will need one more more meeting to finish it.

Requirements

According to Badge Explorer, the requirements for the Painting badge are:

Get inspired
Paint the real world
Paint a mood
Paint without brushes
Paint a mural

Get Inspired

I went to the library and grabbed a big stack of books showcasing artwork.  I thumbed through them first to make sure that nude paintings were not a major part of what was shown.  When I did my pre-meeting Facebook message to parents I told them that I had thumbed through the books I would be showing the girls, but that I had not checked every page.  I told them the girls would be looking through the books for paintings they liked, and that if one found and made a big deal over a naked male, my response was going to be "yes, boys and men look different than girls and women.  Is that your favorite painting in the book?"

I told the parents that if they had a problem with this activity, that the books would be picked up by 7:15, they should just be late. As it turned out, no one found, or at least mentioned finding such a picture.   We showed off the pictures the girls found and each got to say why she liked the picture she found.

This is the same activity I used the last time I did this badge. The time before, I sent it home for homework.  I sent out a link to a website with paintings, and asked the parents to email me with the name of the painting their daughter liked.

Paint Without Brushes

I passed out Q-tips and gave each girl white, blue and black paint and told them to paint whatever they wanted, using the Q-tips to make dots.  I let each girl do two paintings, and thought they were really creative in what they decided to do.

In the past, I've done finger painting and stamping.  This was easy and not too much mess.

Paint a Mural

As a leader, I see real value to group projects that make the girls plan and execute something together.  It is a real-world skill that will pay off in school and in work.  That being said, my problem with most group projects that end up making something is deciding who gets custody once we are done.

VTK and the badge inserts present painting the mural as a group project, so when deciding when to do this badge, I look for something to do with the mural.  This year our murals (I had five groups of three girls) will be used to decorate cookie booths.  I had each group sketch their mural on regular paper and then paint it on roll paper.  They are the right size to tape to the front of a table.  Our theme was things we like about Girl Scouts.

In the past I've used the murals for cookie booths and to decorate our booth for the church fair.

Next Meeting

At our next meeting we will paint the real world and paint a mood.  I'll let you know what we do once we've done it.  Thanks for reading.  

Image by bodobe from Pixabay

Coding for Good: Brownie App Development

The third badge in the Coding for Good Series is App Development.  You can review the badge insert here. According to GSUSA, "when I've earned this badge, I'll know about user-centered design and the process computer scientists use to develop apps".  As with the other progressive badges, the badge insert provides information on the subject but no activities.  The plans for earning the badges are on VTK, and they are what will be summarized in this post.

Brownie Adventure Badges

This year GSUSA released two new "High Adventure" badges for Brownies.  Girls can choose either "Trail Adventure" or "Snow or Climbing Adventure".  I don't know why they chose to make two badges rather than three because the requirements for both are so similar.

While I have not seen the badge inserts for these badges, I've been told that the activities in them are the same as the activities in VTK, which makes sense.  The majority of the current badges were developed about ten years ago, before VTK, and I would hope GSUSA listened to feedback on those badges from members in developing the VTK plans, which, as I've noted in other posts, do not always follow the badge inserts.  Since these badges were developed after VTK, it makes little sense to develop one set of activities for the badge insert and yet another for VTK.

So, how do you earn these badges?  Both have the same five steps, and both offer similar choices per step.  Let's look at them:

Brownie Digital Game Design

The second badge in the Brownie Coding for Good series is Digital Game Design.  You can purchase a badge insert that covers all three badges in your council shop or you can buy a pdf download from GSUSA.  However, like the inserts for robotics and for cybersecurity, the Coding for Good insert is mainly background information as opposed to being in the three choices for each of five requirements format.  Instead, the insert refers you to VTK for the activities to earn these badges.

This article is a summary of the VTK plans for Brownie Digital Game design. The idea is to allow you to decide, without reading 30 pages of a script found in two different places, whether your troop wants to do these badges.

The activities in the VTK plans are "unplugged"; they do not require a computer or computer expertise.  However, GSUSA has partnered with Codespark Academy and if you are working on a service unit or council-level program for these badges you can get a code that allows you short term free access.

Brownie Coding for Good Badges: Coding Basics

GSUSA has just released this year's new badges.  For Daisies, Brownies and Juniors, these badges included a new series:  Coding for Good.  Each level gets three badges, which, like the robotics and cybersecurity badges, were designed to be done sequentially.  Also it appears that like the robotics and cybersecurity badges, if you purchase the badge brochure, instead of getting a choice of three activities per requirement, you are given background information to use with the VTK plans.  In other words, your activities choices are to use what is in VTK or to come up with your own activities.

Brownie Cybersecurity Badges

GSUSA recently introduced three cybersecurity badges at each level.  While you can find the requirements on the publicly accessible Badge Explorer, the suggested activities are on Volunteer Tool Kit.  While there is a badge packet for sale that covers all three badges, it contains background information.  It does not provide the choice of three activities per requirement. It is also freely accessible compliments of Girl Scouts Farthest North.  Click here to see it.  

Volunteer Toolkit provides two complete lesson plans for each badge--in other words, if you do it their way, it will take you two meetings per badge.  The plans give you word-for-word scripts to follow as well as any handouts or coloring sheets you will need.  They are great for beginning leaders but many people find them difficult to skim through to pick out the activities so as to decide whether to use them or not.

This post is an attempt to summarize all the Brownie Cybersecurity badges in one easy to follow place.