Earning Brownie Try It Patches
Brownie Troop and Girl Scout Leader's Guide to Earning Try Its
The Brownie Girl Scouts book of try-its is an amazing resource for planning Girl Scout meetings. With a wide variety of activities, the Brownie try it guide is a surefire way to keep girls active and involved throughout the year.
Brownie Try It Patches
A Brownie try it is a triangular shaped patch that is adhered to the lower part of the front of each girl’s brownie vest or sash. Try its are earned awards, and can be worked on at meetings, on troop field trips, or even independently at home or on weekends. A Brownie troop can earn try its together or individually, in smaller groups or with other troops, and even at council wide events or Girl Scout camp.
Girl Scout Leaders
Girl Scout leaders are trained to follow the Girl Scout mission statement which allows girls increasing levels of leadership and opportunities to plan their own experience and make group decisions. Because of this, many Brownie troops have a planning meeting in the beginning of the year to decide which try its they’ll be working on in the coming months.
Depending on the ages of the scouts, leaders can hold a raised-hands vote or a round-table discussion to give girls the final decision. The idea of making a group decision with 6-year-olds can be intimidating. Many leaders find that it’s worth the hassle, though, to have activities planned that all the girls have agreed upon.
Brownie Try It Activities
Each Brownie try it lists 6-10 optional activities that girls can participate in to earn the patch. It isn’t necessary for each girl to participate in each activity. A Brownie Girl Scout is supposed to complete 4 of the try it activities in order to have earned the patch.
With a small girl scout troop, a brownie leader can present the activities to the entire group in succession at the meeting. With a larger brownie troop, however, it might be wiser to set up each activity at a separate table, like a learning center, and have the girls rotate to each table during the meeting time. One nice thing about this approach is that the girls can choose which activities to participate in, and as long as they’ve visited 4 centers, they will have earned the try it.
Awarding Brownie Try Its
Some Girl Scout leaders order the try its before the meeting, and award them to girls at the end of the meeting. Other Brownie troops hold a special “court of awards” ceremony in the middle of the school year and then again at the end of the year to award try-its and other badges, pins and patches.
As the girls get older and are more capable of assuming leadership roles, decisions like this will rest with the girls. An advantage to awarding patches nightly is that the girls’ Brownie vests fill up quickly, in direct relation to their participation. An advantage to quarterly or annual awards is that the Girl Scout leaders don’t have to send in orders as often and they will know exactly how many patches to order.
One solution leaders have found is to present the patches earned at the following meeting. This method has been known to increase meeting attendance.
The Brownie Vest
Try its are to be sewn or ironed onto the front of the Brownie vest, toward the bottom. It doesn’t matter which way they are adhered. Since they are triangular, some parents like to put them into rows, others like to use the hexagon pattern. The main requirement is that they are on the front, and toward the bottom.
A Brownie uniform is official, much like a military uniform, and each piece of insignia has an official place that it belongs. If you’re in doubt, the website for the Girl Scouts of America has a patch sewing guide and there is also a guide in the Brownie Girl Scout handbook, as well as in each year’s Girl Scout catalog.
Girl Scout Camp
Since the Brownie troop leader might not be at Girl Scout camp, or have any written information about the activities completed there, be sure to get a list of the try its earned at camp so that the patches can be ordered. Some Girl Scout camp programs will proactively order the Girl Scout patches and have them available at the time of the camp.
Try Its
When in doubt, consult the Brownie Girl Scout book of try its. All of the activities are listed there, and can be adjusted to suit the needs and abilities of the brownies in the troop. Activity requirements, sewing instructions, checklists and instructions are available. Every meeting can be planned using the activities in the try its book and the enthusiasm of the girls as a guide.
