Brownies work to earn ‘try it’ badge with inventor’s workshop
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
ROCKINGHAM — It had all the makings of a television game show.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
A member of Girl Scout Troop 213, Rockingham, works through the supply table to stock up on the necessary items to create her team’s invention.
Five groups of three-person teams. A list of available materials. A challenge to create or build something new. And a deadline in which to do it.
That’s the situation that faced 15 members of Girl Scouts of the NC Coastal Pines on Saturday morning at Discovery Place KIDS in downtown Rockingham. Working under the direction of Lauren VunCannon — “Miss Lauren” to the kids — the girls, ages 7 to 9, brainstormed ideas about what they could create to earn their inventor’s “try it” badge.
One team decided to make a pair of shoes. Another? A house. Still another? A present.
The creations might not have been perfect, but the whole idea was to give it a shot and expose the kids to something they might not have considered before — an opportunity to create something, anything, out of a list of supplies they hadn’t known about beforehand.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Before getting started, VunCannon led the group in defining what an inventor is. Each team then compiled a list of five possible creations. Then came the hard part.
“Decide on one,” VunCannon guided. “Sometimes this is the hardest, ’cause there are so many good ideas.”
Nine of the 15 girls were members of Troop 213, of Rockingham. Others were from other areas of Richmond County and the 41-county council.
The kids worked independently for the most part, but asked for the help of a grown-up when the purple duct tape was too difficult to tear or the cardboard was just too tough for the cardboard cutter to get through.
They were, though, on their own when it came to the design.
“There’s no wrong way to make it,” said Troop Leader Brooke Norton to one group.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
“Keep your foot in there, we’ll decorate,” said one teammate to another as they worked to complete the creation of a pair of shoes.
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