How2Day: Brownie Troop Activities

Arts and crafts are a fun way for Brownies to learn skills and express themselves. craft a card! image by Shirley Hirst from Fotolia.com
The Girl Scouts began in America in 1912. A group of 18 girls in Georgia, led by Juliette Gordon Low, has grown to include more than 3 million girls today, with troops all around the world. Brownies are girl scouts ages 7 and 8, generally in second or third grade. Activities, trips and projects for Brownies are fun and rewarding, because the girls at this age are so eager to learn and explore their world.

A sleepover is an exciting activity for a troop. Girls at this age will be just venturing into the idea of staying the night away from their parents, and the safety of the troop and troop leader will enable newcomers to relax and have fun. Marking the girls' birthdays is a perfect reason to have a sleepover. For a small troop, an individual overnight party can be thrown for each girl. For a large troop, a sleepover every other month to mark the birthdays for those two months would suffice. Watching movies, making popcorn and cookies, and playing games will make the night even more special.

Wreaths are a fun and suitable craft activity for Brownies. Small, personal-sized wreaths can be made by sliding plastic beads onto pipe cleaners and twisting the ends together. A pipe cleaner slid through the coiled end of a safety pin and then decorated with beads and twisted makes a cute wreath pin. For larger wreath projects, Styrofoam wreaths of all sizes can be found at any craft store and decorated with pieces of material, markers, bows or any decoration with a back that can be pushed down into the Styrofoam. Wreaths can be made for Christmas, of course, but also can be themed for autumn or winter.

Helping Brownies find pen pals through the U.S. Pen Pal Network is a fantastic activity that will help shape the girls' futures. Not only are they the ideal age to embrace and enjoy the art of composing, sending and receiving letters -- a wonderful lost art of its own -- but having a pen pal will expand the girls' horizons. The program matches the girls with a pal in another state or country. The girls can learn so much about the world at large by sharing the stories that come from the pen pals at troop meetings. The girls will learn to celebrate all cultures, a true cornerstone of scouting.

Community outreach projects are an important element of scouting. Brownies are the right age to begin to learn about helping others. A fun, rewarding activity that can span two troop meeting days is to get together to make decorations for a nursing home. They can be for an upcoming holiday, or just pictures drawn and colored. On the second day, a field trip to the area nursing home will allow the girls to see the happy faces of the senior residents when they receive their gifts.

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