Ideas for Brownie Girl Scout Meetings

Brownie Girl Scouts, typically in grades two and three, love working in groups, do best when you keep them active and need lots of praise and encouragement -- characteristics that play a large part in the Girl Scouts of the United States of America handbooks, badges and journeys. Use the ample GSUSA resources, input from the girls themselves and a little imagination for meetings where girls are actively engaged.

For the "It's Your World -- Change It!" Journey, use the Brownie Quest program guide with activities such as a scavenger hunt for pairs of girls to find parts of the Girl Scout Law hidden around the room and make posters about healthy eating. Supplement those ideas by having the girls make collages with magazine pictures highlighting themselves and their families and sharing them with one another or by visiting a pet shelter and letting the girls help shelter workers measure out animal food.

Projects involving water -- loving it, saving it and teaching others about it -- form the basis of the "It's Your Planet -- Love It!" activities. The GSUSA "Wonders of Water" handbook presents ideas such as visiting a local reservoir or making posters demonstrating water-saving ideas. Other ideas that make water interesting include having a meeting at a swimming pool, playing with water balloons, making healthy drinks with water and using ice cubes with edible flowers frozen inside.

Brownie Girl Scout badges include suggested activities, but you can substitute similar projects that allow girls to discover new things, connect with others and take action. For the hiker badge, the girls might conduct a trail cleanup as they hike or make a hike information fact sheet at a troop meeting for other troops to use. For the dancer badge, invite a dance teacher in to teach salsa and have the girls perform at an awards ceremony.

A meeting filled with games, from around the world and from past generations, helps Brownie Girl Scouts expand their worldview. Help the girls tape hopscotch patterns on the floor of your meeting place with masking tape or draw them with chalk outdoors, and teach the girls games from Italy, the Netherlands and Albania. Or, play hand games from the past, such as complex hand jive routines, slapping games or thumb wrestling.