Gingerbread Houses

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Carissa

At their last meeting, the 2nd Sparks and 47th Brownies had a blast decorating gingerbread houses. It was a great way to get the holiday season kickstarted with some Guiding friends.

The large cookie pieces were tricky to maneuver, so the delicious treats actually needed a surprising amount of engineering skill! Frosting is a sticky glue, to be sure, and while the girls did make a pretty spectacular mess, they all ended up pretty proud of their creations.

Stay tuned this month as we’re likely to see updates from other units getting up to some holiday fun with awesome outings and special meetings.

Sparks and Brownies and Fish (oh my)

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Carissa

The 54th Brownies and 27th Guiding (Sparks & Brownies) units recently had a fun-filled, fish-filled sleepover in the local Steveston and Richmond communities. The visited the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, ate fish and chips at a local restaurant, and then returned to Richmond Guide House for a fun sleepover with fish-themed crafts and activities.

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Did you know the Gulf of Georgia Cannery offers tours specifically catered to Girl Guide programming? The excellent staff at the cannery have developed a program for girls to explore their local cultural and natural heritage through stories, activities, and a guided tour. The cannery was built in 1894 and it is fascinating to learn about the history of the fishing industry, the people who worked there, and the ways that this effected the local communities.

The group then took a lovely stroll through historic Steveston, ending up at the Sockeye City Grill for a delicious meal of fish and chips. The staff was impressed by how well mannered this large group of Sparks and Brownies was, and the girls and leaders all thoroughly enjoyed their meals.

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After supper the group enjoyed a ride on local public transit, riding the bus to Richmond Guide House, one of our favourite local spots for Guiding sleepovers. There the group did a variety of fun activities including a bright colourful fish-themed craft before finally getting some sleep.

It was a fish-tastic time. And a great oppor-tuna-ty to learn all about fish and the local community.

Physics & Astronomy Sleepover

Posted on November 9, 2019 by Carissa

The 2nd Sparks and 47th Brownies recently had an awesome science-themed sleepover with activities facilitated by volunteers from the UBC Department of Physics and Astronomy.

They learned about light and electricity and fulfilled a part of the Experiment and Create program area!

One highlight was the experiment using special spectrum glasses. The foil in the spectrum glasses breaks the light into its different visible electromagnetic waves creating a continuous rainbow of colours when they look at their flashlight or any light source around them.

The girls got to talk about what electricity is and then each Spark and Brownie built a flash light using a breadboard, a switch, an LED light, wires, and a battery. Each girl got to take home their LED flashlight at spectrum glasses.

The girls really enjoyed the activity and had a great time with the UBC volunteers. After the volunteers left, girls watched a movies and got some sleep. It was a great night!

Sparks & Brownies 4Cats Unicorn Outing

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Carissa

Earlier this year the 2nd Sparks and 47th Brownies (our two Saturday units!) teamed up for a fun day of art at the local 4Cats Studio. Appealing to their joy in all things magical, the girls got the chance to design and create their very own unicorn mug!

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The 4Cats staff was fantastic at helping the girls through the process. This involved drawing their own unicorns, working with clay, and painting their creations.

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Step-by-step instructions helped the group figure out what to do. Though these girls are young, they are great listeners. They worked hard on their mugs.

4cats working

Finally, after creating the mug and painting it with the special glaze paint for clay, the mugs got left behind at the studio for them to be baked and glazed. A couple of weeks later, girls got their finished products. They were pretty proud of what they created.

Before

After!

4Cats is fun for girls of all ages. A few weeks ago we posted about the 10th Pathfinders visiting a 4Cats studio. Since then, we received this great photo of their final product — how adorable are these?!?

Whether it’s a unicorn mug or a panda planter, 4Cats is always a good time.

Brownies to the Theatre

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Carissa

Recently the 54th Brownies took a trip to the theatre! They went to the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage in Vancouver to see an Arts Club production of Matilda the Musical!

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This trip was special because it represented some of the hard work these girls did selling Girl Guide Cookies this year. The unit was able to heavily subsidize tickets to the professional theatre show by using cookie money. Way to go, girls!

Everyone really enjoyed the showing, saying it was an excellent production. The girls were also very well behaved… unlike the kids in one of the show’s catchiest songs:

We are revolting children
Living in revolting times.
We sing revolting songs
Using revolting rhymes.
We’ll be revolting children
‘Til our revolting’s done,
It is 2-L-8-4-U
WE ARE REVOLTING!

These Brownies are anything but revolting — even if they may have gone home singing this song! They had a wonderful trip to the theatre.

Girl Guide Cookies on the Mind

Posted on March 20, 2019 by Carissa

Happy Spring Equinox! What’s your favourite part of spring? Ours is classic chocolate and vanilla Girl Guide Cookies, of course! Cookies are now on sale throughout the community. Cookie sales help support excellent girl programming including sleepovers, camps, guest speakers, craft supplies, outdoor adventures, building skills, and international travel.

The girls at the 54th Brownies recently had cookies on their mind, celebrating spring cookies season with a bunch of fun cookie related games and activities. Here you can see them trying to get cookies from their foreheads to their mouths using only their face muscles! It wouldn’t be Brownies without laughter.

Watch out for Girl Guides in your local community and support our fun and friendship by buying a delicious box for only $5.00.

Art Walk and Hike

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Carissa

Last night some Brownies keen to finish their Key to the Community and Happy Hiking badges went on an adventure at local university, SFU.

First the girls walked around campus checking out the awesome public art around campus. It was fun to see the large installments, some of which lend themselves to interactive enjoyment.

Did you know there’s a website where you can find a map of public art in the city of Burnaby? What a cool way to interact with our community! Check it out here: https://gis.burnaby.ca/storymaps/publicart/index.html

After the art walk, the group did a short hike along the Trans-Canada Trail, accessed from pretty much across the road from the SFU bus loop.

The girls really enjoyed the hike, enjoying salmonberries and huckleberries all along the way.

Enjoy your fancy new badges, girls!

Brownie day trip to Galiano Island

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Carissa

One recent Saturday, despite the foreboding skies and strong winds, the 24th and 47th Brownies ventured to a Southern Gulf Island for a field trip with the Galiano Conservancy Association.

With the Edible Forest program, they went on a hike, matching paint chips to things in nature. The sun smiled on them, and they stopped for a snack before being taught how to harvest nettle and two species of fir needles along the way to the Forest Garden.

When the girls had gathered enough foliage, they played some games under the tarp while their tea steeped. They participated in a teaching train activity, teaching each other things they learned about some of the plants in the garden.

Lastly, they planted peas, and one of the Guiders heard that in only a week and a half, they had already sprouted (that’s the photo below, sent from one of our contacts there).

The interpreters were really great. They were super friendly and patient, full of stories and songs, and an obvious love of nature!

It was a 10-hour day for the group, and it was a big day of outdoor fun. Way to go, Brownies!

Spring Cookie Season

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Carissa

Girl Guide Cookies are on sale now in the lower mainland. Burnaby Mountain girls are busy selling them to family and friends, going door-to-door, and out in public at skytrain stations and other blitz locations.

Recently, the girls in the 24th Burnaby Mountain Brownies got geared up for Girl Guide Cookie season by baking their own using the recipe that was used for the very first Girl Guide cookies back in 1927. Each circle had a recipe card. Written into the instructions were important steps like,”wash your hands,” and “put all ingredients away,” so that from start to finish, they were independently working together and cleaning as they went. The leaders were there only for assistance when needed.

The cookies have come a long way since they started. The 1927 cookies were mildly spiced sugar cookies. Most girls seem to like the current chocolate and vanilla (or in the fall, Chocolatey Mint) version a little better. Still, it was a lot of fun to make the originals! In the end, each girl brought home a container of cookies, and even left some behind for the school staff.

Want to try it yourself? Here is the recipe:

Christina Riespman’s 1927 Girl Guide Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 Eggs
2 tablespoons cream
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
3 or more cups flour to make soft dough

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar, Beat in eggs and cream

Combine salt, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom and flour

Sift dry into wet ingredients and mix into dough.

Roll and cut, using a small floured glass or cookie cutter

Sprinkle with sugar, then bake at moderate heat, until done.

Enjoy!

Look for the much more modern Chocolate and Vanilla sandwich cookies out in the community now!

Survival Snowshoeing Brownies

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Carissa

Earlier this month, Burnaby Mountain’s 24th Brownies and 27th Brownies went to Mount Seymour for a day of snowshoeing fun!

They did a Junior Survivor snowshoe tour with park staff on the mountain. It was hard to believe they were tromping on over 2m of snow in such beautiful weather with the most incredible views.

Getting there wasn’t too bad, even in the wintery weather. They simply took the shuttle up there from Rupert station.

The girls didn’t trek terribly far, but they enjoyed a little scavenger hunt and the discussion of which items would be helpful for survival. It was impressive to see how well the girls could run in snowshoes while playing “Hypothermia Tag”.

Although for the most part it wasn’t overly cold up there, the wind was pretty vicious when the girls were shelter-building. They were all glad to be served hot chocolate when they got back to the starting point.

The girls all seemed to have a great time, except for one Brownie who thought it was too cold — gee, I wonder why with all that beautiful snow!

Burnaby Mountain District

Register today at www.girlguides.ca!

Category Archives: Brownies