What is Explore Brownies?

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We’re making Brownies available to more tamariki around New Zealand! We’ve created a safe, fun, engaging digital Brownies option for tamariki who are unable to attend normal Unit meetings, but would still like to do the exciting activities that GirlGuiding members do.

Explore Brownies is a programme specifically designed for 7 to 9 1/2 year olds. In Explore Brownies, tamariki work independently with parental supervision to lead their own learning at their own pace. Tamariki receive 1-1 feedback from a Leader so it is an ideal programme for stimulating inquisitive young minds and growing independent learners. Explore Brownies can also be accessed at any time so makes for great school holiday learning and entertainment.

Explore Brownies is an extremely flexible programme designed to fit in with the busy lives of modern families. Explore Brownies can be enjoyed at anytime from anywhere with an internet connection. This makes it an ideal option for tamariki who may live far away from a Brownie Unit or who have other commitments on the local Unit night. Explore Brownies is great for tamariki who may not be able to commit to the same time every week or who move between houses. Explore Brownies are also invited to events within the wider Guiding community.

Tamariki will take part in age-appropriate activities developed in accordance with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Educational Method. Activities include:

  • Taking on experiments in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths).
  • Learning to care for the environment.
  • Learning how to be safe outdoors.
  • Exploring the community and looking after it.
  • Growing and caring for plants.
  • Trying new outdoor activities and challenging themselves.
  • Learning how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
  • Learning about all aspects of diversity.
  • Trying orienteering or geocaching.
  • Experiencing new activities on wheels.

Why should we join GirlGuiding?

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Tamariki who are involved with GirlGuiding develop confidence and learn many new skills. Tamariki are outdoors as much as possible, and they are encouraged to help in their community, learn about other cultures, and work on their motor skills. We believe that we are the only organisation in New Zealand offering such positive and confidence-building activities to tamariki, and we’d love to be able to make a positive impact for your tamariki. You can find out more about GirlGuiding New Zealand here.

How does the subscription work?

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Explore Brownies runs on a subscription model. The subscription period and price is stated on the registration form. With over 150 Brownie activities available, tamariki can choose their own adventure.

Your credit card will be charged each time the subscription renews. You can cancel your re-subscription at any time by logging into your Explore account profile. Please note that cancelling a subscription will prevent subscription renewal but you will continue to have access to your Explore account for the rest of your subscription period. Any badges earnt during a subscription period are sent out after re-subscription date, even if the subscription has been cancelled.

What about screen time?

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Explore Brownies is designed to get tamariki more active and interested in their wider worlds. The online activities are typically a prompt for tamariki to do something in the ‘real world’. We aim for tamariki to spend only a small portion of their time using the online component, and the vast majority of their time doing activities off-screen.

How do we get started?

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Welcome to Explore Brownies – we are so happy that you have joined us and know that your tamariki will have a lot of fun and learn some great things!

Explore Brownies is designed to be a girl-led programme, but we encourage parents to supervise and enjoy sharing the experience with your tamariki. Some activities require adult involvement for safety and developmental reasons, others your Explore Brownie will be able to achieve independently.

We recommend using the Google Chrome browser to view the Explore Brownies website. If you are having problems playing an activity, we suggest you check which internet browser you are using and switch to Google Chrome.

Brownie Leader

Once you enrol in a digital Unit, you will get an email from your Explore Brownie Leader (to the email address you used to register) with their contact email address in it. Your Explore Brownie Leader is one of our wonderful volunteers who has been trained in GirlGuiding NZ practices as well as the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts Educational Method. They will be able to help guide you towards badge completion and help you on their Guiding journey.

You are welcome to send specific questions about your programme through to your Explore Brownie Leader. Please forward any more general questions to the Explore Brownies staff team, explore@ggnz.org.nz

Your Explore Brownie Leader will communicate with you via your registered email once a week. We suggest reading the weekly emails together so that you can share the achievements.

Parent Portal

You will also be sent a link to register on our Parent Portal which is an important site where you can track badge progress, check on event invitations and stay up-to-date with GirlGuiding updates. You should receive a link to the Parent Portal within 24 hours of registering for Explore Brownies. If you haven’t please check your spam folder (and mark us as a safe sender!) or contact us on explore@ggnz.org.nz. If you’re having trouble setting up your Parent Portal login, please see these instructions.

If any of your contact details change please update them in the Parent Portal.

Uniform

We will post a sash out to you for badges to be sewn on to.

Once you set up your Parent Portal account, your daughter will be invited to optional Guiding events. Each event is different but some events they may be required to wear a Brownie t-shirt, e.g. ANZAC Day Service.

You don’t need to purchase a uniform although many of our tamariki like to wear one while they are doing their Explore Brownie activities. Uniforms and other Guiding items can be purchased via XCM.

What about internet safety?

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The internet has become an everyday part of life, and tamariki are growing up with it, using it to learn and play more than any generation before them has done. It’s a wonderful resource but we need to make sure that we are safe online; the online safety of your tamariki is of vital importance to us.

Our site is:

  • Secure, with SSL encryption
  • Specifically designed for Brownies
  • Monitored by GirlGuiding NZ

We have made sure that your tamariki will be safe on our site – within the activities there are no external links for them to click on and no advertising pop-ups.

All of our Leaders have been interviewed, police vetted and offered training for dealing with tamariki. These helpful tips will help ensure a safe environment for your tamariki;

  1. Stay on the Explore Brownies website; do not go to any other website

We recommend your tamariki uses the Explore Brownies programme in a family space rather than by themselves in their room. This will allow you to monitor what they are doing.

It’s important to emphasise that your tamariki should stay on the Explore Brownies website rather than clicking on anything else, such as apps that may be on the device.

  1. Get help if you get stuck or are unsure about anything

It’s always better for tamariki to get help rather than trying to fix something themselves. If they don’t know what to do, they need to be able to get an adult to help them.

Netsafe, New Zealand’s online safety organisation, has developed good resources around content risks. They have a Safety Button available for free download that can be clicked on if a child sees something distressing online. Clicking on the button causes the screen to be covered with an underwater scene and a message encouraging the child to get an adult.

These links contain useful information for parents about helping children with the internet:

What do the activity pictures mean?

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On the left hand side of the activity image is a coloured strip and icon to represent the badge the activity is part of; it is a good idea for you become familiar with these. The different badge icons and colours are:

Below are the icons used on the left hand side of the activity image.

               Needs parent help

         Travel is involved

         Uses sharps like scissors or a knife

         Uses a printed template

         Heating or cooking is involved

 

Badges

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Badges are used to track your progress through the programme and can be proudly displayed on their sash.

You will have received this document when you signed up for Explore Brownies, it is there to guide you through the programme. If you have any questions on what activities you should do next, talk to your Explore Brownie Leader.

How can we earn a badge?

Each badge requires tamariki to complete a set amount of activities from a variety of subject areas. Your Explore Brownie Leader will help lead you towards completing badges.

The requirements for earning each badge and your progress toward earning them can be seen by logging into the Parent Portal  here. On the dark blue menu, click on the Badges option. The badges your tamariki has started are partly coloured in. The ones they have earned are fully coloured in.

Clicking on a badge will show a list of the activities your Explore Brownie could do to finish earning this badge.

When will my badges arrive?

Earnt badges are sent out when the subscription renews.

What do I do with the badges?

Once you have paid for your first subscription (after your free trial has ended) to Explore Brownies, you will get sent a blue sash. This is worn over the right shoulder and pinned together at the bottom to make it the right size.

All badges can be proudly sewn on to the Brownie sash as a record of all of the achievements made. Typically, badges are laid out in this order:

Once your Explore Brownie has finished and moves up to the next section theywill receive a new sash.

Why didn’t we receive a badge?

If you haven’t received a badge, first, please check if you have earned the badge. You can check this by logging into the Parent Portal here.

If you have earned the badge, the post may be running late. Please allow up to 4 weeks from the date of your subscription renewal for delivery.

If your badge hasn’t arrived, please contact us at explore@ggnz.org.nz with your Explore Brownies name and which badge and we will look into this for you.

I’ve received the wrong badge(s); what do I do?

While we do our best to get your badges out to you, we are humans and do occasionally make a mistake. If you receive the wrong badges, please send an email to explore@ggnz.org.nz including which badge(s) you have received and which badge(s) you were expecting.

We will arrange for the correct badge(s) to be sent to you with a return postage bag for you to return the incorrect badge(s).

WAGGGS Educational Method? STEAM? What does it all mean?!

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The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Educational Method is a unique model of non-formal education to support the development of tamariki in diverse groups. It creates a learning environment where tamariki can take the lead and make choices about what they do. Read more here.

STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths. It is an important educational focus area needed to fill global skill shortages and readytamariki for success in the 21st century. This is especially important for tamariki who are under-represented in STEAM related careers. STEAM learning develops creativity, innovation, problem solving and curiosity.

How does the subscription work?

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Explore Brownies operates on subscription. The subscription period and price is stated on the registration form. With over 200 Brownies activities available, tamariki can choose their own adventure.

Every time your subscription renews, any badges your tamariki has earnt during the subscription will be posted to her (NZ postal addresses only). Please make sure that your postal details are kept up to date on the Parent Portal.

At the end of the subscription it will renew and the credit card you registered with will be charged. If your credit card declines, your subscription will be automatically cancelled. You can choose cancel your subscription at any time by logging into the Profile section of the website and cancelling.

Renewing a cancelled subscription

If you decide to re-join after you have cancelled a subscription and your subscription has finished, log in to your Explore website account, go to the Profile section and choose the programme you would like to resubscribe to, then fill out your credit card details. This will reactivate your account.

When is my sash arriving?

As we offer a free trial, your sash will not be sent to you until you pay for a subscription. If you have not received your sash within 4 weeks of your first subscription payment, please send an email to explore@ggnz.org.nz with your details including:

  • your tamariki name
  • your address
  • your tamariki membership number (if known)
  • date you signed up to Explore Brownies.

I’ve cancelled my subscription but I want to renew it. What do I do?

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Your subscription is active for the subscription period stated when you signed up.

If you’ve cancelled and your subscription has not yet expired, you will need to wait until it expires and then follow the instructions below.

If you’ve cancelled and want to re-subscribe and your subscription has expired:

  1. Log in to your Explore website account.
  2. Open the Profile section.
  3. Select the subscription you would like to re-subscribe to.
  4. Enter your credit card details to reactivate your self-renewing monthly subscription. You will have instant access to the programme from where your tamariki left off.

 

What do you have for older rangatahi?

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Explore Guides, for 9 – 12 1/2 year old rangatahi, launched in October 2021.

Explore Rangers, for 12 1/2 – 17 year old girls, will be launching in the future. In the mean time, older rangatahi may join a local Unit or our Aotearoa distance option.

How do I cancel my subscription?

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To cancel a subscription, please:

1. Login to the Explore Brownies website.

2. Click the Profile button on the top right hand side of the screen.

3. Scroll down the Profile section and select the ‘Click the cancel subscription’ button.

Important: If you decide to re-join after you have cancelled a subscription and your subscription has finished, log in to your Explore website account. Go to the Profile section and choose the programme you would like to resubscribe to, then fill out your credit card details. This will reactivate your account.

What resources do I need?

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While many activities require no special resources, some activities do require resources. These activities have suggestions on what you can use, but you can swap/change the resources with what you already have at home for any activity. For example; if you don’t have any googly eyes you can make your own using cardboard, paper and a marker.

As you and your tamariki can choose which activities to do, you can choose to do ones that don’t require you to buy resources, especially if you live remotely.

We hope you have fun with the activities in Explore Brownies and we can’t wait to see what you do!

These resources are a guideline for what you can expect to see in some of the Explore Brownies activities – PDF.