Brownie Eco Friend Badge Workbook

For this badge, I recommend getting outside. Try to incorporate nature into your meeting. It may also be beneficial to visit a wildlife center.

Page 1

This part is all about getting the girls to think about all the different ways we can help nature. It's not just picking up trash. Some ideas to get the girls thinking:

Adding:

• Watering and feeding your plants
• Planting trees or flowers
• Bird feeders in the winter
• Water collection

Removing:

• Picking up trash
• Trimming plants to promote new growth
• Removing standing water so bacteria can't grow
• Not leaving our belongings outside

Page 2

Using one of the examples from Page 1, have the girls draw a picture of that task.

Pages 3 and 4

In nature there is both flora and fauna. Flora is living plants and fauna is living animals. There are many different examples of these on Page 3 that the girls can cut out. Next, they paste them on Page 4 under the correct name.

If you want, you can also play an educational video explaining more about different habitats that contain both flora and fauna.

Pages 5 and 6

A crucial part of being a Girl Scout is learning how to safely build, maintain, and put out a campfire. Either work with a camp guide or watch a video to go over fire safety.

Planning a fire:

• Safe location: a fire ring or pan
• Safe weather: make sure it is safe to build a fire. You don't want to build a fire if it's very windy.
• Surroundings: watch for anything overhead or too close to the fire, including clothing and hair
• Make sure someone is always attending the fire
• Bucket of water and a wet poking stick

Starting a fire:

• You need heat, fuel, and oxygen to make a fire
• There are 3 types of fuel:
  • Tinder: small and flammable, like dry twigs and pine needles
  • Kindling: stacks on the tinder; try to keep it smaller than the size of your fingers
  • Firewood: this will burn the longest. It should be the size of your arm and wider than your wrist
• There are many ways to arrange your fuel to start your fire:
  • Lean-to
  • Teepee
  • Log cabin
• Ways to light a fire:
  • Waterproof safety matches
  • A lighter (for adults)
  • Flint and steel
  • Magnesium fire starter

Putting out a campfire:

• Make sure your fire has been completely put out. Let the fire burn down to ash.
• Soak it: pour a lot of water on the fire to make sure there are no glowing embers
• Stir the ashes around with a stick or shovel to make sure the water reaches every spot
• Have an adult touch the remaining embers to make sure they are cold. If not, repeat with more water.

Page 7

Here we'll look at specific things in nature and talk about how we can be kind to them.

• Bird: put out bird feeders or birdhouses, leave bird nests where they are, don't touch baby birds, help hurt birds
• Flowers: plant flowers, don't pick live flowers, feed flowers with water and make sure they get enough sun
• Pond: don't throw trash in the pond, don't disturb the birds or other wildlife living around the pond
• Tree: plant a tree, feed a tree with water, sunshine and fertilizer, don't pull off leaves or flowers, don't carve into a tree or rip off branches
• Ant hill: leave ant hills alone, don't cover up the top of the mound

Page 8

Now that we know a lot about how to be kind to the outdoors, have the girls think about a place they know that needs some extra kindness. Think about what they can do to improve that outdoor space. Then have them put together a plan to fix it up or help it.