Daisy note holders

My mom was a teacher.  My grandma was a teacher.  My mother-in-law was even a teacher.  I feel like I may have missed something when I decided to become a Certified Athletic Trainer.  Regardless, I have found my niche serving as a Girl Scout Leader.  I love preparing lessons and presenting different opportunities through which the girls are able to learn and grow.  While I strongly argue that Girl Scouts is so much more than crafts and singing, the girls in our troop certainly enjoy the crafts they have completed during our meetings.

My mom retired from teaching in 2011, and she no longer needed many of the craft supplies she had accumulated over the years.  She donated these supplies for our troop to use.  We also have an aunt who cleaned out her basement and passed along beads, foam, felt, straws, pipecleaners, pins...you name it, we now have it.  We used these donated supplies to fashion friendship pins, fingerprint flowerpots, Daisy bracelets, and beaded Christmas ornaments.  Often the crafts are tied into a lesson, and the girls earn the respective petal. By using donated supplies, our girls were using their resources wisely and were working toward earning their green petal.

In the boxes of donated craft supplies, I came across a stash of googly eyes.  I knew exactly how to use them!  A few months earlier, I happened to bookmark lion and lamb note holders from the Family Fun website.  I decided to modify the craft for our Kickoff Meeting.  The girls made this adorable Daisy note holder.  

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love to scrapbook.  I save the scraps of cardstock that remain after I have finished a page.  I used the Cricut to cut 1.5" yellow circles and white flowers, using these scraps.  Don't have a Cricut?  No worries.  Use a circle punch or trace around the bottom of a can of tomato paste and cut the circles out by hand (though this is more time consuming, of course).  Many scrapbook stores have die-cuts that can be used for free as long as the paper is purchased from that store.  Cardstock runs around $0.70 for a 12"x12" sheet, though it can often be found on sale at craft stores.  I work on many projects at Scraps Etc and Archiver's in Cincinnati.  At the beginning of our first year together as a troop, I purchased clothespins to use on our kaper chart.  I found a package of 50 wooden clothespins for around $1.  Since we had only used 11 clothespins, we did not have to spend any additional money for this craft.  

The girls decorated their white flower after gluing the yellow center to the flower with a glue stick.  They adhered the googly eyes on before gluing the flower to the pair of clothespins.  The clasp end of the clothespin should be facing the top of the flower in order to hold the note.  Find a spot for this note holder on a bedroom dresser or a kitchen counter to hold reminders for troop meetings and outings.  For example, a note could read,  "bring Girl's Guide to next meeting," or "remember to take extra socks for roller skating."  The girls are then being responsible for what they say and do.  Hmm...that sounds familiar.  (orange petal)  Thanks for reading!

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite!...Our Near Sleepover

I have fond memories of sleepovers with my friends once I reached junior high. I loved lying on the floor in my sleeping bag, watching music videos on MTV and talking with my friends about cute boys. When I was younger, though, I was the kid who often cried and asked to go home when it was time to go to sleep.  I remember Girl Scout Camp being especially stressful for me--not only was I not sleeping in my own bed, but I was bunking in an unfamiliar lodge or platform tent.  Our troop is planning our first overnight lodge camping trip for this fall.  The girls in the troop are in first grade, and most of them have never been to a sleepover.  I thought it might be best to invite the girls to my house for a "Near Sleepover" to practice for our big overnight.

Since this was a Pajama Party, we decided this was a fantastic opportunity to participate in a service project.  Our girls and their families went through closets and drawers to find gently-worn pajamas they could donate.  Our troop collected 71 pairs of pajamas that we delivered to Matthew 25 Ministries.   

Girl Scout Law ribbon flip flops

The girls arrived at my house at 6pm.  They were instructed to wear their pajamas and to bring their sleeping bags.  Special stuffed animals and blankets were welcome, of course.  When the girls arrived, they made a friendship pin that they each got to keep.  I had asked the parents to purchase a pair of flip flops the girls could decorate during our party.  These flip flops were available at many stores for around $2 a pair.  Prior to the event, I bought spools of 1/4" ribbon in each of the Daisy Petal colors, including royal blue for the Promise Center.  I cut four 6" pieces of ribbon in every color for each girl and placed them in a plastic baggie.  The girls tied the ribbons in knots onto the flip flops.  I explained that each color ribbon represents the Daisy petals and corresponding component of the Girl Scout Law. 

We surprised the girls with Strawberry Facials.  I pureed the strawberries and milk before the party.  Moments before we were ready to apply the mask, I added the cornstarch.  The girls wore the mask for about 10 minutes, and we continued our program that focused on the dark purple petal (respect myself and others). 



I read the "One-of-a-Kind Body" chapter out of Joy Wilt's You're One-of-a-Kind to the girls which explained that every person's body is unique and special.  Then I read Zink the Zebra  which is a story about a zebra with spots instead of stripes.  It was written by a young named Kelly Weil who was battling cancer.  "Zink questions why she is treated differently by others just because she looks different on the outside."  I came across a Zink the Zebra Leader Guide that proved to be an amazing resource for this program.  Our girls made Zink Storybooks that can be found on pages 21 and 22 in this guide.

After the lesson, the girls made banana boats.  They filled their bananas with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and marshmallows.  We wrapped them in foil and popped them into a 325-degree oven for about 10 min.  Gooey and delicious!

The girls settled into their sleeping bags around 8pm to watch Dolphin Tale.  This movie tells the story of the relationship between a boy and a dolphin who lost her tail in a crab trap.  It tied in perfectly with our lesson for the evening.  Parents picked up their daughters around 10pm.  All of the girls were asking when they could come back to stay until morning.  The night was certainly a success! 

Girl Scouts is SO Much More than "Crafts and Singing"

I have loved my first two years as a Girl Scout leader because Girl Scouts is so much more to me than crafts, songs, petals, and patches.  In addition to spending scheduled quality time with my daughters twice a month, I get the opportunity to serve some of the young girls in our community.  I am honored that other parents allow their daughters to spend time with us.  I get excited when girls in our troop express that they value helping others and making our world a better place.  I challenge you to embrace your role as a troop leader.  Your meetings can be about so much more than "crafts and singing."  The Girl Scout Law provides guidance for lessons, activities, and projects.  As the girls learn the Law, they will be growing into strong and secure young women.  THAT is what Girl Scouts is all about.

Here is the schedule we followed our first year:

1. First Meeting
2. Founder’s Day
3. Tour Library—Apply for library card  (orange petal)
4. Investiture Ceremony (receive blue center and orange petal)
5. Make gift for the elderly  (spring green and rose petals)
6. Service Unit Christmas Party 
7. Service Unit Skating Party  (red petal)
8. Plan Thinking Day tea party and Review for Cookie Sale
9. Service Unit Bowling Party  (red petal)
10. Tour Police Dept (magenta petal)
11. Thinking Day tea party (receive spring green petal)
12. Recognize Girl Scout Birthday (March 12^th)  discuss Soles for Souls               (rose petal)
13. Tour Fire Dept (receive magenta petal) 
14. "Horseback riding"--pony rides   (receive red petal)
15. Speaker (eye glasses recycling)  (rose petal)
16. Jump Zone with Service Unit
17. shoe and eye glasses collection  (receive rose petal)  
18. End of Year Party:  Paint Pottery
19. Backyard Camping and Hike at Woodland Mound 
20. Tour of Sunrock Farm

Here is the schedule we followed our second year:

1. S’mores Fest!  Camp Butterworth
2. Kickoff Party
3. Game Day (receive light blue petal)
4. Fire Station Tour (for 3 girls who joined our troop this year) (magenta petal)
5. Shaw Farm Halloween Party   
6. Founder’s Day: Investiture Ceremony for New Daisies and Manicure Party (dark purple petal)
7. Roller Skating with SU at Beechmont Rollerarena
8. “Everybody Counts”  (receive dark purple petal)
9. Christmas Ornaments for Nursing Home Residents  (Money Counts Leaf)
10. Deliver Ornaments/Christmas Party (flower pot snowman)
11. Cookie Sale Review     (Talk it Up Leaf)   Decorate  clipboards.
12. “Everybody Counts” (speaker and sign language demonstration)    Make friendship pins.  Make Ice Cream Social invitations.  (dark purple petal)
13. Thinking Day:  GREECE--Snack, Dance, Game, Craft, Outfit, presentation
14. GS Birthday:  Ice Cream Social with Sister Troop (receive violet petal) 
15. Animal Shelter Tour (receive yellow petal)
16. Jump Zone with Service Unit 
17. ZOO  (receive green petal)
18. CocoKey Water Park               
19. “Near Sleepover:"  ZINK THE ZEBRA, ribbon flip flops, PJ collection
20. Bridge to Brownies Ceremony

I do not believe our way is the only way, but it has worked well for us.  I would love to hear what has worked for your troop.  Hopefully you have found inspiration in this post.  Thank you for reading! 

...and Patches

Our Daisies LOVE to earn extra patches.  We don't purchase fun patches for every activity and outing, but many troops do.  (Most fun patches cost $1 each).  At the beginning of the year, I picked up a catalog of fun patches from our Council Shop.  Prior to the girls' arrival at the meeting, I cut out pictures of the patches from the catalog and taped them to a piece of paper.  Each girl was taken aside and asked to pick her favorites.  I kept tally on a separate sheet of paper.  After the vote, I circled the winner.  The girls were excited to see the fun patches they would earn throughout the year.  

We bought blue canvas bags from Hobby Lobby with money the girls earned during cookie sales last year.  The bags were either on sale or purchased with a 40% off coupon for less than $2 each.  I wrote each girls' name and our troop number along the top edge of each bag with white puffy paint.  I was also able to use a coupon to purchase the puffy paint.  (Saving pennies is important when you are working on a budget, especially when you are first starting out with your troop).  I purposely included photos of the bags without our troop number in this post, but the troop number is written to the right of the name.  The girls' parents are responsible for sewing on the patches or adhering them to the bags with fabric glue.  In these pictures, you can see the friendship pins that were given out during our Ice Cream Social (please see my previous post).  

There are many community activities that host Scout Night and offer a patch with attendance (Disney on Ice, for example).  I always pass the information along to the troop; however, a Girl Scout does not often have to attend the event with her troop.  Our family has enjoyed some of the Scout Night events that just didn't work with the schedules of the other families.  I occasionally "quiz" our girls to make sure they remember what they did to earn each patch.  All of the girls in our troop may not have all of the same patches, and I think that is okay.  They all earn the same petals that are displayed on their uniform.  Speaking of the uniform...I have a cute an inexpensive alternative to the official Daisy uniform.  Please stay tuned to learn more...

Happy 100th Birthday, Girl Scouts!

Our girls are nearing the end of their second year as Daisy Girl Scouts.  They are getting excited to bridge to Brownies in late May.  (Check back for a post describing our exciting bridging event).  They completed the two required bridging steps earlier this month.  The first step is to "Pass it On."  The girls in our troop shared their experiences as Daisy Girl Scouts with younger girls who may one day wish to be a Daisy.  The second step is to "Look Ahead."  The girls in our troop arranged time to spend with Brownies who described to us what it is like to participate in Girl Scouts at the next level. 

Our troop hosted an Ice Cream Social earlier this month in order to fulfill these bridging requirements.  We also saw this occasion as the perfect opportunity to celebrate the momentous 100th birthday of Girls Scouts.  The decision was made to invite a couple of Brownies from a sister troop in our elementary school to the Ice Cream Social.  It just so happened that one of the Brownies is a sister of one of the girls in our troop.  She brought two  friends from her Brownie troop to the party.  We then extended the invitation to five younger sisters related to girls in our troop who will be entering Kindergarten and may wish to join a Daisy troop next year.  The girls in our troop made Ice Cream Social invitations using recycled cookie boxes.  (This link provides other cute suggestions for how to use those empty boxes).  We cut out the front and back sides of boxes we had saved from cookie sales last year.  The girls used markers to decorate the invitation and to list the details for our party.  We shuffled the invitations and the girls delivered the invitations to the younger sisters.  This activity counted toward earning their GREEN petal (use resources wisely).  

Parent chaperones were recruited to attend the party.  We have an incredibly supportive and involved group of parents.  All mothers of the younger children offered to stay to lend a helping hand.  We had 6 adults and 18 girls--quite a full house!  

We began our meeting as usual, starting by reciting the Girl Scout Promise and the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then we went around the room, allowing each girl to share her favorite ice cream flavor with the others in the group.  It will never cease to amaze me how kids gravitate toward neon blue ice cream.  As a mother, I cringe on the rare occasion I give my kids free reign at the counter...it never fails they pick Superman or Blue Moon Cookie Dough.  I think back to when I was younger, and I loved the blue bubblegum ice cream.  Gross, but I digress.  After everyone had the chance to share, the Daisy troop performed a "skit."  I passed out an index card to each girl.  The index card stated the color of a petal and listed what our troop had done to earn that petal.  (Stay tuned as future posts will describe these activities in detail).  The younger girls had the chance to ask the Daisies questions before they lined up to make their ice cream sundaes.  The parent chaperones helped each of the younger girls with the vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries.  We ushered the younger girls into another room to eat while the Brownies explained each of the badges on their uniforms to the Daisies.  They also described how much fun they have had camping since our girls have not yet tackled spending the night away from home as a group.  Once all the questions had been answered, the rest of the girls gobbled up the sweet treat.  The Brownies were split up between the tables with the Daisies so the conversation could continue.

Just before the meeting adjourned, we ended with our usual friendship squeeze.  As the girls were leaving, the Brownies and Daisies were handed an Ice Cream Social fun patch that our troop had voted upon in the fall.  The Brownies and the younger sisters all received a friendship pin the Daisies had made during a previous meeting.  The event was a success!  The Daisy troop earned their final petal (VIOLET--be a sister to every Girl Scout) for hosting this party and socializing with other Girl Scouts.  I would love to hear stories about how other troops celebrated the 100th birthday of Girl Scouts.  I do hope you visit this blog again as I will explore how our troop spent the last two years earning their petals and serving their community.