Girl Guiding

Brownies can come to Perivale Wood during the winter and carry out various activities to complete their winter paw print. They could go for a walk around the wood looking for signs of winter and perhaps looking for footprints in the mud. While on the walk they could collect natural materials to make into a table decoration. At the end of the session they could toast marshmallows around a campfire. If they were lucky enough to come on a day when it has snowed, the Brownies could make snow angels and snow sculptures and have a snowball throwing competition.

This session would be based in the wild flower meadow at Perivale Wood. The Brownies would explore the invertebrates in the long grass with sweep nets and pooters, trying to identify what they have found. They will then make a butterfly nectar feeder and watch to see if it attracts any butterflies. While they are watching their nectar feeder they can make a grass tweeter.

Brownies can explore the outdoor homes found within Perivale Wood. They can look for slow worms under corrugated sheets and see whether they can find the entrance to a foxes den. Within the wood they can look for bird boxes and investigate the minibeast area where we have a bug hotel, stag beetle habitat and giant wormery!

Brownies can take part in a bird themed session at Perivale Wood to earn their Birds paw print. This session is best done in nesting season. The brownies can walk through the wood looking at the bird boxes and signs of nesting. They can then put natural nesting material around the reserve for the birds to use. They can observe some nests from the previous year to see what materials the birds use to build their nests. The Brownies can spend 5 minutes looking for birds with binoculars and then attempt to build their own birds nest in one of the trees. They can also look for feathers and will learn to identify common birds found in the Perivale Wood.

Perivale Wood is the perfect location for Brownies to complete their In the Woods paw print. We can organise a session based on any of the activity ideas suggested on the Growing up Wild website. For example, we could have a tree themed session. The Brownies could take part in the Treezilla (http://treezilla.org/) survey. This involves identifying a tree and making some observations such as circumference and calculating its height to put onto a national database. They could them make some bark rubbing art and if the season is right they could collect a seed from their tree to plant. When sturdy enough the Brownies could come back to the wood to plant their sapling. Brownies are always welcome to join our Rangers club at Perivale Wood. This is our children’s nature club held once a month on the second Saturday of the month from 2-4pm.

For example, in October the theme is fungi and Brownies are welcome to come and join our fungi hunt through Perivale Wood.

Spring is a beautiful time to visit Perivale Wood as the reserve is transformed with the blooming of thousands of bluebells in April. Brownies can go on a spring scavenger hunt looking for signs of spring such as tadpoles, blossom, bursting buds and spring flowers. They can put out some natural nesting material to help the nesting birds and could even have a go at building their own nest.

Autumn is a magical time in Perivale Wood. The leaves are turning, the squirrels are collecting acorns and hazelnuts for the winter and the fungi are coming up everywhere. Brownies can take part in a fungi hunt through the wood and hunt for acorns and hazelnuts. They can plant the seeds either in pots to take away or within the wood. The session can end with a campfire and toasting marshmallows and possibly a quick game of hide and seek!

Playing with mud is always fun and Brownies can take part in mud themed activities at Perivale Wood. For example, they could look for worms and other creatures that live in the mud and then use the mud to either build a bird’s nest or to create a natural sculpture using mud as a base. Alternatively, Brownies could go on a muddy treasure hunt through the wood!

There are many different activities that Brownies could do at Perivale Wood to earn their Insects and Minibeasts paw prints. We have our own minibeast area with bug hotel, stag beetle habitat and giant wormery. They can investigate the minibeasts that live in this area and learn to identify them. Alternatively, they could take part in the UK Ladybird survey by catching ladybirds with sweep nets and identifying them. And they could take part in the Big Butterfly Count in the meadow. In addition, Brownies could focus on pond life and take part in the OPAL pond dipping survey to find out how healthy the ponds at Perivale Wood are.