New Brownies and Guides badges revealed

New Brownies and Guides badges revealed

If your child is part of the guiding movement, no doubt you’re aware of the process involved with gaining badges to proudly display every time they learn a new skill. You’ll soon have a whole host of new badges to aim for as members reshape the movement in a £3m update that offers 100 new badges and 700 activities.

Gone are the traditional hostess, craft and home skills badges and in their place come badges for vlogging, mindfulness, upcycling and craftivism, seen as more relevant to today’s young women. More than 50,000 members of the Guiding movement have spent the last 18 months helping to shape the new programme, which has cost £3m and includes 100 new badges and 700 new activities that will replace what went before.

Speaking to the Guardian, Chief Guide, Amanda Medler, said: “This is a hugely exciting time for everyone involved in girlguiding. The new badges and activities will mean that every girl has the opportunity for adventure, fun and to gain vital skills. From archaeology to zero waste, there’s something for every girl and I can’t wait to try the new badges and activities with my guides.”

For those not sure what the Guiding movement is, the Guides formed when a group of girls stormed a Scout rally at Crystal Palace in 1909, demanding Robert Baden-Powell start a sister organisation immediately. The movement really kicked off a few years later during the first world war, where the skills learned came in handy to young women who wanted to be part of the war effort. The skills and badges that were introduced helped young women learn life skills with badges for knitting, ironing, semaphore, pest control and axe-wielding being popular in the 1950s. Since then, the charity has tried to move with the times and has filled many column inches adapting its uniform, its promise and now its activities in order to remain attractive to new members.

Though numbers have halved from peak membership of 800,000 in 1980, they have remained stable in the past few years despite competition from the Scout Association, which first admitted older girls in 1976 and opened up to all ages in 2007. The Scout Association has 475,000 youth members of which 107,000 are female, compared with 400,000 girl guiding youth members. Girl guiding includes rainbows (five-seven), brownies (seven-10), guides (10-14) and rangers (14-18). The new programme of activities has been developed around six themes: skills for my future; have adventures; be well; know myself; express myself and take action. Girls can choose to work towards badges including entrepreneur, inventing, navigator, animation, self-care and human rights. Other activities include DIY holding your own election, creating fruit smoothies and speaking out.

The new programme is being phased in over the next year and will be fully rolled out by September 2019.

Some of the new badges include; Mindfulness, where guides will have to use three of your senses to heighten your awareness of what you are experiencing at that moment – one minute for each sense.  Do the heartbeat exercise, where you get your heart pumping through exercise then lie still to listen to the beat and think of 10 things you are grateful for in your life. Speaking Out, where guides are encouraged to pick an issue to speak out on and look out for any friends who might be being bullied. Zero Waste, where guides are to collect up their rubbish for a week and either take pictures or weigh it to be more aware of how much they are throwing away, they can also keep a diary of food that is thrown away to work out ways of reducing waste, as well as coming up with new ways to save water.

Is your child part of the guiding or scouting movement? How do you feel about these changes? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook!

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