Anyone's daughter go to Brownies? What's it like?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Dd(7, almost 8) is a sociable and active thing and I'm keen to start expanding her out of school interests. She swims once a week with a class, and has asked to look at Gymnastics. I wondered whether Brownies would be a good addition to her week?

I've never been myself nor know anyone that has. All I heard is a friend discussing Girl Guides and all the fun outdoorsy stuff they do and it seems GG comes after Brownies.

Has anyone got any info or opinion on Brownies? I don't even know what it costs . And I'm the total opposite of dd and anti social will there be lots of forced parent socialising?

Brownie leader here, no forced socialising at all whether it be parents or girls.
Each unit is different my unit does a mixture of games, crafts, STEM, day trips, visitors, out door stuff, charity activities etc

Last term one week we learnt how to read maps and another we raised money for charity and another we made castles out of cake! This term we are learning yoga, about team building and doing random acts of kindness in the community.

All completely different and is girl led usually so that's why each unit is different.

It will likely be very cheap compared to gymnastics etc as it’s run by volunteers in a church hall or similar. I was a brownie, guide, then leader and thing GG is a fantastic thing for girls to do. Whole range of activities - sports/adventure stuff, crafts, first aid, games etc.

My DD loves brownies. It was an hour a week and they did crafts, games, badges e.g sign language, helping others, guide dogs. I think she loved the social aspect the most. And a couple of bigger events a year e.g picnic

It was about €40 a year to register then weekly sub of €3.

No parent socialising in our unit, just drop and go.

I am a Brownie leader. I think our unit is fairly typical. We meet once a week in term time and it costs £3 a week. We do crafts, games, trips, outdoor activities, sleepovers, residentials, etc. Some of the things cost extra (e.g. trips, sleepovers, camps) but they aren't compulsory. Over the last few years we have taken the girls climbing, canoeing, on night hikes, camping, to PGL, to the panto, etc.

I think the only parent socialising happens outside the hall at pick-up time!

It varies massively, some units have parental involvement, some don't. Some have a massive waiting list, some would love extra girls.

Most are quite outdoorsy and adventurous (and that's why I started our rainbow unit - I've just moved onto brownies).

We did Sensory evening last night (blind sensory trial, animal sounds quiz and chocolate and popcorn tasting.) Next week is drama evening.Then spy (so finger print taking, disguises and codes), then night hike the following week. We also go to the remembrance service and do some community stuff as well.

You can register your daughter here

www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-for-parents/register-your-daughter/

Another Brownie leader popping in
We charge £40 per term for 1 1/2 hours each week. Charge extra only for sleepovers & trips. Every unit is different.

We do a real mix of games, crafts, challenges & generally try to have fun. The summer trip was a weekend at an activity centre for kayaking & raft building. In spring term we're going to London to visit Parliament.

This week there's a national GG campaign about plastics.

This link will help you find potential units near you and enables you to make an enquiry about joining.
www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-for-parents/register-your-daughter/

Another Brownie leader and what they all said ^^^

I would reiterate that all units are different. We are very happy to do trial periods and give the details of other units if we are not quite the right fit.

This is excellent, thank you everyone for taking the time to respond, especially the Brownie volunteers.

It sounds more and more up dds street.

My dd does beavers which is mixed boys
and girls. She loves it. You might want to consider that too.

My daughter did. It was mostly with children she went to school with (we live in a small village). It was mostly doing craft stuff which she loved