A new pathway to adventure
A new set of badges is coming soon to help your unit experience adventure
Giving girls a chance to do adventurous activities is a great way to broaden their horizons. And it gives them amazing experiences they might not have outside of guiding.
We’ve created a set of beautiful new adventure badges so you can reward girls when they try out new things – on land, at height, in the snow, doing sport and on and in the water. We’ve always done lots of adventure in Girlguiding, and we want to shout about it more. These new badges are all about celebrating the adventures that are already happening, and inspiring more units to give adventure a try.
We knew they needed to appeal to girls and volunteers alike and represent lots of different ways our members choose to have adventures. So how did we get there? We went behind the scenes to find out how these badges were created, step by step.
1. Discussion
‘We decided to make these badges off the back of feedback from leaders and girls that they wanted more adventure as part of their Girlguiding experience,’ says Megan, adventure programme manager. ‘From this we then went out to consult and found that lots of adventure was happening in units. But we wanted to pull it all under one umbrella that we could shout about and inspire others to do as a part of their Girlguiding journey.’
2. Research
In September 2021, we spoke with Girlguiding members to understand their thoughts on adventure in guiding. We learnt that most members felt there wasn’t enough adventure and that a big barrier to this was cost.
Then, in summer 2022, we spoke with girls and leaders to decide a framework for adventure badges that girls wanted, which was also easy for leaders to deliver. This is when we decided on the 5 different themes:
Snow
All activities where you have to get a bit chilly. These are the adventurous activities you can do on snow or ice. Your unit could go on a frosty walk or try ice skating and experience some wintry magic. Or go ice climbing using ice-axes to climb up or across ice formations like frozen waterfalls.
Water
All activities where you have to get a bit wet. These are the adventurous activities you can do on or in water. Girls could paddle in open water or explore a lake in a pedalo. Or snorkel in lakes, rivers and the sea, experience high adrenaline white-water rafting or go wild swimming.
Land
All activities where you get to explore the land around you, either above or underground. This could be taking your unit into the local community, perhaps visiting a local fire station or police station. Or it could be adventuring into the wilderness and exploring extreme countryside.
Height
You can go up a few feet or soar into the sky - these are all the activities where you leave the ground. It could be as simple as taking your unit to an adventure playground and encouraging girls to go on the monkey bars, or as thrilling as parachuting out of a plane.
Sport
All the sports activities. Anything that involves some equipment, a game and some rules. Try mini golf with your unit or take your girls axe throwing!
We know that adventurous activity isn’t accessible for every unit and volunteers have a lot on their plates, which is why these badges aren’t part of the programme. If your unit’s already doing adventure, or thinking about doing more adventure, you can now reward girls with a badge. More than anything, adventure is a mindset.
You don’t have to climb a mountain, and there are different options under each theme to choose from. Adventure is all about going outside of your comfort zone and trying something new, like ice skating or grass sledging.
3. Design
Sarah is a design lead at Girlguiding. She says: ‘When the girl experience team briefed us to design this range of 20 badges, we knew it would be a great opportunity to showcase and promote the new brand.
‘It was great fun, but quite a challenge too! As well as establishing an illustration style that would work across the sections, another important consideration was the positioning of our newly updated trefoil, which has to stay in a fixed position.’
Sarah adds: ‘Whilst I was working on them, I kept thinking of our new brand purpose, “we help all girls know they can do anything”, which kept me focused on embodying this feeling of excitement and adventure. ‘
4. Production and delivery
Once Sarah designed the badges, our online shop team work to make the illustrations into a woven badge. Sarah checks with the team that all the colours and designs will work and then merchandise planner Sam sends it to one of our trusted suppliers.
‘We always arrange for samples to be made before full production of the order, just to check quality and make sure that details are represented from the original artworks,’ says Sam. ‘A digital drawing is always going to look different to a woven badge, but as long as it’s a really good representation we’ll accept the sample.
‘We’ll usually wait for stock to arrive with us and be on the shelf before we start to sell. The badges aren’t available to buy yet, but you can fill in your email address on our online shop to be notified when they’re in stock. Customers order and the badges are picked and packed in our warehouse and despatched directly to them. Or perhaps customers use their local volunteer shop who will order them on their behalf for pick up!’
’I hope that with these badges, our members who’ve already tried adventurous activities can celebrate and acknowledge the adventures they’ve had. I hope they also inspire others to do more adventure,’ says Megan.
‘My ultimate dream is that all girls achieve at least one adventure badge during their guiding journey, and with it experience all the benefits of adventure. That could be personal growth, development of skills, fostering a sense of community, and supporting mental and physical health. And of course, having a fun and memorable experience that girls and leaders cherish!’
And what are the team's favourite adventure badges?
’I love them all, but I think my favourite is the Brownies height badge. I feel it really captures a sense of adventure.’ – Megan
’I don’t really have one favourite, although I do have a soft spot for the snow range!’ – Sarah
’I just love how cohesive the range is across all the sections. They are a fabulous range of badges with brilliant designs.’ - Sam
Inspired to help your unit start earning adventure badges this summer and beyond? There's lots you can do:
Learn more about how to get the badges
Pick an adventurous activity to do with your unit
As well as the badges, look out for more stories and information coming throughout the year to help everyone go on an adventure.
Spread the word! Use the social media buttons below to share this article with your guiding friends