BROWNIES
Brownie town
What you’ll need
- Paper
- Colouring pens and pencils
Aim of the activity
The Promise High Street or the Brownie Gold award campground? Build the ultimate Brownie town where everyone is welcome!
Note to leader: Want to understand more about inclusion? Check out the Including all training on our new learning platform.
Step by step
1
How much does your unit have in common? Pick one side of your meeting space to be yes and another to be no. Your leader is going to ask some questions. Move to yes or no to let everyone know your answer. Ready? Go!
- Are you righthanded?
- Do you love sports?
- Are you eight years old?
- Do you have brown hair?
- Can you speak more than one language?
- Do you like to read?
Did you get the same answer for any of the questions? In your unit you’ll have lots in common with other Brownies and there will be lots of little ways you’re different to each other. It’s the same in any group of people. This is called diversity!
2
Get into Sixes and find a space. It’s time to make your very own Brownie town where everyone will feel at home! Grab some paper and colouring pens or pencils. Everyone in your Six needs to draw their house, two favourite places and one place every town needs – each on a different piece of paper. You’ve got five minutes, get drawing!
Top tip
Your places can be anything. What about:
- A place that every town needs (for example, food shops, post office, a park)
- Somewhere fun (for example, swimming pool, cinema, sports centre)
- Somewhere for a special event (for example, a birthday party, festival, ceremony)
Top tip
Not sure what to add to your town? Have a look at these ideas to get you thinking:
- Not everyone celebrates Christmas. What other holidays do people celebrate?
- English is the main language in the UK but there are lots of people who speak other languages. Do you have any friends or family that speak another language?
3
In your Six, start to lay out your town. Mix all your drawings so everyone’s houses and favourite places are together in your Brownie town. Do you have everything you need for your town? Work together for another five minutes to add any places that are missing. Have you got a school and a doctor’s office?
4
Some new Brownies are coming to town! You want to make sure all the new Brownies feel welcome, but you don’t know anything about them. What could you add to your town to make sure that any Brownie in the world would feel welcome?
5
When everyone is finished have a look at all the different Brownie towns. Has any Six made the same town?
Try it this way
When you’re ready, bring all your towns together into one giant Brownie city! Have a careful look at your city. Can you think of any other places or things to add to make it the most welcoming city in the world?
6
The perfect Brownie town isn’t just about cinemas, restaurants, and ice rinks. You need to make sure everyone in your community feels welcome and included. Come up with three rules for your town to make sure everyone can live together happily.
7
Share some of your rules. What can you do every day at Brownies and at school to make sure everyone feels included?
Want to learn more about inclusion? Try our Better together unit meeting activity topic or book a peer educator session on the Girlguiding website.