My daughter moved up to Brownies last year and with that move has come the need to cajole her into doing some badges. Left to her own devices she’ll happily breeze through the three years running about and nothing else! This year she has seen quite a few of her older Brownie chums move up to Guides, so she has had to take on some of the responsibility herself in showing the newer recruits what to do. So we have started to make some efforts on a few of the simpler badges, to get her going!
First up we’ve done some wildlife watching and which has involved some birdwatching for the RSPB Garden Birdwatch, some bug hunting in the garden and keeping a diary of what she spotted. To finish I found her a set of instructions on how to build her own bird feeder. This one uses lolly sticks and string, all essential components in a kids craft stash!
She didn’t do too badly with it, although I think the birds were quite rough with it (either that or the wind was particularly strong) as it only lasted a few weeks.
Having successfully completed one badge, she moved quite swiftly on to a number of sporty and artistic ones and has had her swimming, agility, sports, artist and craft badges signed off too. She was also rewarded with being made a sixer!
The school council ran a talent show just before the Easter break and completely out of the blue, Alice wanted to enter, singing with her friend. She asked if I would help her make some props and costumes. Of course, they chose to sing something very simple and child-friendly – “The Yellow Submarine”. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to get everything ready for the school show, but they decided to do it for their Entertainer badge at Brownies instead.
So for what seems like forever, I’ve been adding finishing touches to this huge monstrosity! Hubby cut out the main submarine while the girls did the main painting and drew the faces for the portholes. It’s massive and almost fills one wall of our little house. It looks quite good though, if I do say so myself, although I don’t think I want to take up a career in prop-design, just yet.
Now it’s fingers crossed that they get the rest of their show planned and rehearsed in time before the end of the term. I can’t wait to get rid of this out of my living room!
Happy crafting
x
