Firstly, for my Queens Guide Community Action module, I am looking to investigate the hazards of litter found on beaches and in the seas and the danger it can bring to wildlife and environments. I'm looking to get involved with a beach litter picking team which will be a huge step into investigating the different types of litter found.
Also, one day a week I am fortunate enough to carry out an internship for Eco Designer Oliver Heath - researching and writing for his blog articles. We were chatting yesterday and I was telling him a few things about this blog, about what I'm doing for my Queens Guide etc and its led on to this. Olivers influence has changed the way my brain works. Maybe using some of the waste collected during the litter picking (when I get round to it) I could take it back to the Guides (clean of course!) to help them to understand the harm it causes, get them involved in Upcycling (similar to recycling) the waste and creating something beautiful out of it... So firstly do any of you out there carry out any activities with your groups that can help them to understand Upcycling and create new things from old unwanted items, if so what are these activities?
Secondly, how prepared do you think the girls in your unit are for running a home, coping with simple DIY chores, repairing broken items, know how to hang a picture frame and other such tasks?
A great way to teach the girls new skills would be to pick up some second hand furniture and let them loose with it. You can easily collect some furniture at great prices from charity shops, furniture recycling centres and so on. Teaching them how to use simple tools to repair broken items, to bring a second lease of life to an old unwanted piece of furniture.
I personally think things like this could be a great little project among units perhaps starting at Guides age + but what do you all think? Do you think it could work and would help the girls to be independent? Please leave your comments on this article and to help my survey it would be great if you could let me know where you are in the world?
Many thanks
xx
We are doing the WAGGGS Climate Change and Food Security badge with our Brownies. As part of that we had a recycled fashion show. We collected old clothes and fabric along with bin bags and newspapers. The girls had a huge amount of fun creating outfits and showing them off on the catwalk at the end of the night. They now know that instead of throwing old clothes out when they are no longer wanted, they can try and reuse or refashion them, or donate them to charity!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your project, it sounds very interesting! I love the idea of making new things out of old objects, I learnt how to weave things out of plastic bags the other week!
Gemma
(Meanwood Brownies, Leeds)
Hi Gemma,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great!! Really good fun and all while learning essential information. Glad the girls had fun and its brilliant to start teaching them about the environment at a young age!
Thank you very much, I look forward to collecting all the information and seeing how the results look.
xx