2014 is a very special year - it marks 100 Years of Brownies!! In celebration, we decided to earn the UK challenge badge when the 2nd year Brownies visited Guides. As the Guides arrived, they filled in their physical fitness log for the past week. The visiting Brownies were divided into the Guide patrols and we then proceeded with our usual opening followed by an active game.
Our first activity was a participation story about Brigid, a 1914 Rosebud (we used the story from the Irish Girl Guides Challenge pack and changed the location from Ireland to Canada). The rest of our evening was based on challenges. When a group finished a challenge, they were given a piece of Brigid and at the end of the evening the pieces were used to reassemble Brigid (whose pieces were scattered by her journey through time!).
After a discussion about being a good team player, we began our Patrol Challenge. We divided the unit into 4 groups with tree names (early Brownie groups used trees for their Six names) and started the challenge activities.
Challenge 1 - Compass Puzzle
Each team was given a set of pie pieces with compass points on them. The pieces are assembled into a compass on one side of a file folder. When the pieces are all in place, the folder is closed and flipped over. If the pieces are in the right places, when the folder is opened, a picture will be showing.
Challenge 2 - Secret Codes
Each team was given a copy of a phone keypad and two messages to solve. The two messages were: 76732837 273 669 27696437 (ROSEBUDS ARE NOW BROWNIES) and 4843464 7827833 46 3645263 (GUIDING STARTED IN ENGLAND)
Challenge 3 - Scavenger Hunt
Each team was given a list of clues to solve to make a scavenger hunt list:
- An article used for sewing ([pine] needle)
- A page of a book (leaf)
- A dog's call (bark)
- Ice cream sometimes comes in this ([pine] cone)
- Brownies dance around this (toadstool)
- What Hawaiian dancers' skirts are made of (grass)
- A yellow flower with the name of an animal in it (dandelion)
- You can make a pie or jam with these (berries)
- An old fashioned pen (quill)
- The Flintstone's daughter (pebbles)
- Glue does this (stick)
- This can be used to help you drink (straw)
- You find these when you trace your family tree (roots)
- Rivers, libraries and trees sometimes have these (branches)
- Used for making bread, pies, cakes, but is spelled differently (flower)
Our teamwork challenge was to build catapults using popsicle sticks, tape, paper, an elastic band and a plastic spoon. The results were very creative, although some worked better than others.
