What do Brownies do?

Brownies have fun! Their meetings are full of challenges, games and activities, usually ones that the Brownies have suggested themselves.

What to know?

• Brownies belong to a Pack and work in small groups called Sixes. This gives each girl a group of ready-made friends to take care of her. It also makes her feel that she belongs to something special.
• Brownies meet regularly and there are often opportunities for Brownies to take part in special activities and events throughout the year.
• Any girl over the age of seven who wishes to can become a Brownie.
• The Brownie Promise is:
  I promise that I will do my best:
  To love my God,
  To serve the Queen and my country,
  To help other people
  and
  To keep the Brownie Guide Law.
• The Brownie Guide Law is: A Brownie Guide thinks of others before herself and does a good turn every day.
• Each Brownie chooses what she wants to wear from a range of items - it is up to each girl to decide which items she likes. This choice allows Brownies to be themselves but also makes them feel part of the Pack.

Life of a Brownie

The first four to six weeks

During her first four to six meetings (depending on your unit and the girl), the new Brownie:

• Finds out more about Brownies.
• Joins a Six and is given her Six badge.
• Gets her Brownie clothes (if she hasn’t already).
• Is given her unit name tape.
• May be given a County or Country badge (both optional).
• Learns and begins to understand her Promise and Law.
• Hears or reads the Brownie story (see Becoming a Brownie pages 12-17).
• Prepares for her Promise Celebration.

Her time as a Brownie

Throughout her time as a Brownie she enjoys a balanced and varied programme by covering the three Brownie Adventure areas and using the Brownie Adventure books.

There are two Brownie Adventure books. Brownie Adventure is aimed at the seven-to-eight year old and is designed to last about two years. When a Brownie is about nine years old, she is ready to try new and different activities and should move on to Brownies Adventure On.

Interest badges are valuable incentives for many Brownies to stretch their abilities and develop skills and knowledge.

During her last six months

• Towards the end of her time in Brownies an older girl is ready to spread her wings. Brownies Go For It! gives her a chance to be more independent in a safe environment. It is designed like a Guide section Go For It! with the theme being moving on from Brownies. The activities encourage her to find out about Guides as well as develop skills in areas such as team work and decision-making.
• When a girl is ready to move on from Brownies, a special meeting (perhaps a party) can celebrate her ‘life as a Brownie’.

Programme

Adventure areas

The Brownie Adventure is divided into three areas:

• you
• community
• world.

You

A Brownie develops her:

• Understanding and awareness of herself.
• Relationships with family and friends.
• Skills and achievements.
• Confidence and personality.
• Beliefs, morals and values.
• Self-esteem and self-worth.

Community

A Brownie develops her:

• Understanding and awareness of the communities in which she lives and participates.
• Level of practical action in those communities.
• Knowledge of how she can contribute to her communities.
• Understanding and awareness of her relationships with people in her communities.
• Enthusiasm to use her skills to contribute to her communities and to improve relationships.

World

A Brownie develops her:

• Understanding and awareness of the world in which she lives.
• Knowledge and interest in the world.
• Knowledge and understanding of World Guiding.
• Enthusiasm to use her skills locally for the benefit of the wider world.
• Understanding of how she can improve her world.

Exciting opportunities

What exciting opportunities should a girl experience as a Brownie? As each Brownie progresses through her Brownie Adventure, she should experience:

• Activities, challenges or events outside her normal meeting place and further afield.
• Her wider guiding family.
• Activities or events with Brownies from other units or girls from other sections.
• Fun and friendship.
• A balanced range of activities, for example, fitness, arts, international and so on.
• Residential opportunities such as Brownie sleepovers, camps and holidays.
• Interest badges, tackling these on her own and with others.
• Opportunities for her personal development.
• If possible, the chance to be a Brownie Buddy, Second or Sixer.
• Recognition of achievement with instant rewards.