NUMBERS

Here are some ideas for earning the Numbers badge.  Some activities are designed to be done in a patrol or unit, others are designed to be done at home.

Suggestions have been split into ideas for Guides aged under 10 and Guides aged over 10, but feel free to mix and match - as long as it is a challenge for the individual girl!

---

Under 10

With your patrol, sit in a circle and give each girl a number.  Have one girl put a plastic plate in the middle of the circle and start spinning it.  When she starts it spinning she calls out a number and whoever is that number has to catch the plate before it falls on its side.  If the plate is not caught before it falls, that girl gains a point.  The person with the least points wins.

Use the Pirate Song (see Songs section) as the base, and make up a new counting song about Brownies.

Play One Minute with your unit or patrol (see Games section).

Do some cooking using a recipe where you have to adjust the amount of ingredients to make more or less.

Learn a magic trick that uses numbers and try it out on your patrol.  There are some great ideas on this website.

With your unit, play a game of Adding Ladders (see Games section).

Make your own fake money, in whatever value you choose and with whatever decorations you choose.

Learn a new number in the times table that you haven't done at school (eg if you are up to the 4 times table at school, learn the 5 times table by yourself).

Estimate how fast you will be over a certain distance doing each of the following: skipping, running, hopping, running backwards, walking, running on all fours.   Then time yourself and see how close you were.

Play the Chinese Throwing Fists game - there are instructions here.

Know your telephone number, the emergency number and at least one other important telephone number.

See if you can fit 50 natural objects into a film canister.

Over 10

With your unit, play a game of Adding Ladders (see Games section).

Learn morse code and pass messages between people in your patrol using torches.

Play the Chinese Throwing Fists game - there are instructions here.

Discover what numerology is, and explain it to your patrol.  There is some information here.

See if you can fit 50 natural objects into a film canister.

With your patrol, sit in a circle and give each girl a number.  Have one girl put a plastic plate in the middle of the circle and start spinning it.  When she starts it spinning she calls out a number and whoever is that number has to catch the plate before it falls on its side.  If the plate is not caught before it falls, that girl gains a point.  The person with the least points wins.

Learn a magic trick that uses numbers and try it out on your patrol.  There are some great ideas on this website.

Use the Pirate Song (see Songs section) as the base, and make up a new counting song about Guides.

Play One Minute with your unit or patrol (see Games section).

Make your own fake money, in whatever value you choose and with whatever decorations you choose.

Play Buzz with your patrol or unit (see Games section).

Do some cooking using a recipe where you have to adjust the amount of ingredients to make more or less.

Do a scavenger hunt where the aim is to find certain numbers written down (in the hall, in a shop, house numbers).