Girl Guides of Canada: The Girl Experience
Are you an artist? Or an expert do-it-yourselfer? Do you love camping? Want to learn more about first aid? Are you into science? Or using your voice to push for change? As a Girl Guide, you can explore all that and more.
We call our program “Girls First” because it’s built to put you (the girl!) in charge of your own Guiding experience.
What do girls do in the program?
Our program has eight areas, and each one is split into three themes. There are tons of topics to choose from in each theme, and the program is constantly growing and changing to give you more of what you want
Every activity you do in the program is created just for you, based on your age. Our program experts work with girls and get lots of feedback to make sure you get the fun and adventure you want out of Guiding, whether you’re a five-year-old Spark, or a 17-year-old Ranger.
How do girls do the program?
As a Girl Guide, you’ll get together with other girls your own age regularly throughout the school year as part of a group called a unit. In everything you do, you’ll have support from inspirational women volunteers – your Guiders.
How you choose to spend your time together is totally up to you! There are plenty of ideas to choose from on our Girls First program platform – from active games to creative crafts, outdoor adventures, experiments, and more! And you can add your own field trips, events and experiences to make your meetings your own.
How do girls earn badges?
Badges help you celebrate your achievements as a Girl Guide. You decide which badges you want to go after and which activities you’ll do to earn them – and your Guiders will be there to support you every step of the way.
You can earn as many as 32 badges at each branch level! And, if you’re a Ember or a Guide, you’ll also have a whole other set of badges to explore. You can find guidelines for how to earn badges in each branch on the program platform.
For more on what girls do in the program, and to see some awesome badges, click on a program area below!
What do activities look like?
Girls have the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics under each of the eight program areas. After they’ve identified their interests, they can start getting hands-on in experiments, games, arts and crafts, leadership exercises and more. Here is an example of what activities can look like - in this Spotlight video, we are bringing girls closer to civil engineering through LEGO and mechatronics through building robots.