While we may be in the weeks before Halloween and Girl Scout Founder's Day, it isn't too early to think about thinking about and planning your November meetings. Image created by the author on Canva With Thanksgiving only a month away, this is a good time to think about having a Girl Scout Friendsgiving meeting with your troop. You can these earn up to three Daisy petals while during this meeting Green Daisy Petal-Use Resources Wisely Rose Daisy Petal-Make the World a Better Place Yellow Daisy Petal-Friendly and Helpful Because every Council has different Covid safety rules about where your can meet and the activities you can do, you might have to tweak some of the ideas here. Hosting a Girl Scout Friendsgiving If you are planning to serve food, you will have to consider the following: Does it need to be individually packaged? Do girls in your troop have dietary restrictions due to allergies or religious beliefs? What will you be serving? Bite sized items or a complete meal? Whatever you decide to do food-wise, a SignUp Genius is my favorite way to get help, stay organized, and keep everyone in the loop. You can also ask for paper goods and beverages as well on your sign up. Girl Scout Friendsgiving Crafts for Daisies Image created by the author on Canva Earn the Green Daisy Petal In order to earn the Green Daisy petal, Use Resources Wisely, you can do a toilet paper tube turkey craft. There are many ways to create one. Here are some images and sites for you to use. Earn the Rose Daisy Petal During your meeting, girls can make Thanksgiving cards to be distributed to a senior citizen facility. Earn the Yellow Daisy Petal If you are able to serve Thanksgiving fare, ask families to bring a traditional favorite food that is on their holiday table. Girls can help their parent prepare the dish (helpful) and then share it with the troop (friendly). The girls can also have a chance to speak and explain a bit about the dish that is being served. Another way for your troop to earn the yellow Daisy petal is to make an edible cornicopia. Get enough supplies for them to make two-one to eat and one to share with someone in their family. The girls can help clean up, which is helpful, and another way to earn the yellow petal. What are you doing with your Daisy troop this November?
For troops on a budget who want to earn badges, there are several retail establishments that will provide free Girl Scout field trips for your girls.
Discover heartwarming friendship quotes and 5 fun games to strengthen your bond with your girlfriends. Perfect for making lasting memories together!
Is your high school Girl Scout interested in animal causes? Check out these past Gold Award projects for inspiration. Pet Dehydration Project. A Girl Scout Ambassador worked with a park ranger and …
A place for leaders to find ideas to use at your events and meetings. Ideas for Girl Scouts, or other organization inspiring girls to be leaders of tomorrow.
This Girl Scout Bridging ceremony guide 2024 will help leaders plan this important scouting milestone.
There are nearly 1.7 million active Girl Scouts operating in more than 90 countries across the globe, with over 50 million alumnae. That’s not just a lot of Girl Scouts—it’s a plethora of would-be drug dealers doling out deliciousness in the form of Thin Mints, Trefoils, Samos, and Tagalongs. Of course, the Girl Scouts are […]
If you’re leading a brand new batch of Daisies, these 8 activities will help them channel all that boundless excitement into the world of Girl Scouting.
Looking for go-to meeting ideas for your October troop meetings? Planning your Scout activities is easy. This month is ripe for ideas! Halloween Fun Baby’s First Halloween Costumes: a NICU Service …
*This post contains affiliate links. Updated October 2019 Are you a brand new Daisy Girl Scout leader getting ready for her very firs...
Are you looking for a fun meeting for your Brownie troop this October? Here is how they can earn the Girl Scout Brownie Senses badge using a Halloween theme.
A place for leaders to find ideas to use at your events and meetings. Ideas for Girl Scouts, or other organization inspiring girls to be leaders of tomorrow.
These great ideas for scout crafts for your troop are all quick and easy. They are great for scouts or any group of kids that need craft ideas!
Whether you fell into being a Leader, or have been dreaming about it for years, check out these tips from someone who just finished her first year.
*This post contains affiliate links. Updated August 2019 Daisy Girl Scout leaders certainly have their hands full if they are starting a new troop. Here is a meeting outline for the first half of the year. Remember to be flexible and have fun! Congratulations on becoming a Daisy Girl Scout leader! You have done what many are unwilling to do...step up to the plate and give a group of young girls an opportunity to be a Girl Scout.. Even if you were a Girl Scout as a child, being a leader is a totally different experience, as well as a big responsibility. Besides being concerned with the pre-troop meeting paperwork, you have to plan what the girls are going to do each and every time you get together. The following is a guideline for creating your Daisy Girl Scout meetings, based on meeting twice a week from September to December. Feel free to adapt it to your schedule, as you may find some activities are better suited for your troop to do later in the year. Photo from Pixabay First Meeting Prep Work and Supplies For your craft, you will need to run off this Daisy petal worksheet on cardstock. Have blue tissue paper cut into squares for the promise center and bowls to place them in. The girls will use crayons to color the petals and crumple and glue the tissue paper to the center. Your First Daisy Girl Scout Meeting-September Your first meeting with your Daisy Scouts should involve a "getting to know you" or "ice breaker" activity. It is a good idea to have the parents stay and see how their girls are doing and how a meeting is run. You can also have a short parent meeting while the girls are crafting to discuss the year and to answer any questions.After saying the Pledge of Alligence, the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout law (which the girls will repeat after you), have the girls sit in a circle and introduce yourself and your co-leader. Pass around an object (a silk flower daisy from the Dollar Store would be a fun idea) and have the girls tell their names, their school, and one special thing about them. Girls at this age will want to tell stories...gently remind them to keep it to one thing and then pass the daisy to the next girl. Next, it is time for the craft. First Meeting Prep Work and Supplies For your craft, you will need to run off this Daisy petal worksheet on cardstock. Have blue tissue paper cut into squares for the promise center and bowls to place them in. The girls will use crayons to color the petals and crumple and glue the tissue paper to the center. Make sure you only have crayons that represent the Daisy petals for the girls to use so no mistakes are made. The order they color them in does not matter. Have the girls color first, then glue the blue center so you avoid gluey arms. Take a picture of each girl with her Daisy as a keepsake of her first Daisy meeting.Close with the Girl Scout friendship squeeze and song and take a deep breath! You did it! The Girl Scout Friendship Song This is how you end your meetings. The girls stand together in a circle with hands crossed. The leader gives the girl on her right a gentle squeeze. It is passed around the circle and when it comes back to her, you sing this song.These girls sing it beautifully, and even add the final two lines! Your Second Daisy Girl Scout Meeting-Earn the Blue Promise Center Available on Amazon Before you can earn any of the Daisy Girl Scout petals, you will need to earn the blue promise center first . After all, the petals are centered on the Girl Scout Promise, and they need to be ironed around something. There are many children's books, like Robert Munsch's pictured here, that can help you teach this concept.After reading the story, you can make promise chart. At DKTK's website, you can make a customized chore chart for your meeting.. Ask the girls what they can promise to do at home to help out. Tell them that they have to return the chart to the next meeting and see if they kept their promises. The Daisy Girl Scout Song At each meeting, make a song part of your agenda. Here is an adorable song sung to the tune "I'm a Little Teapot". Start Your Scrapbook! When my troop were Daisies, my co-leader started taking pictures at each meeting. This morphed into our perpetual Girl Scout scrapbook. Now we are Juniors, and the girls love to look back at their Daisy and Brownie years! My daughter's scrapbook has years of memories in it. Now she is a Cadette and it is fun to look back and see how all the girls have grown up! Your Third Daisy Girl Scout Meeting-Earn the Violet Daisy Petal Fostering friendship among your girls is essential to having a successful troop. As the leader, you are volunteering a lot of personal time, and you want the meetings to be something that both the girls and you look forward to attending. Nipping girl drama and cliques from the beginning and being firm about how the girls treat each other will lead to less drama and more harmonious meetings.Earning the violet daisy petal, be a sister to every Girl Scout, fosters this concept. An activity I created and did with my Daisy Girl Scout troop was to make a Daisy chain of friendship. The only materials you need are markers, strips of copy paper, and one stapler per volunteer. It is a very easy and budget friendly petal for your troop to earn. Handy Links for Leaders How to Earn the Rose Daisy Petal Activities to earn the Rose Daisy Petal, Make the World a Better Place. Daisy Girl Scout Activities: Spring is Around the Corner-Time to Plan an Outdoor Field Trip! Planning a field trip to earn a Daisy petal. How to Celebrate Girl Scout Founder's Day and Earn the Orange Daisy Petal Girl Scouts have many reasons to celebrate during the month of October Founder's Day is one of them! Here is how to earn a Daisy petal and learn about Juliette Gordon Low. Earn the Violet Daisy Petal Be A Sister to Every Girl Scout Learn how to earn the Violet Daisy Girl Scout petal! Add a Girl Scout SWAP to Your Meeting! Girl Scout Swaps are tiny crafts that Girl Scouts exchange with one another. For Daisies, they should be simple and easy to assemble. There are many Girl Scout SWAP kits that you can buy for very little money. Daisy Scouts cannot have a very complicated craft. If the degree of difficulty is too great, it will frustrate the girls as they try to make it. No need for tears while you are doing a fun Girl Scout tradition! Your Fourth Daisy Girl Scout Meeting Celebrate Girl Scout Founder's Day! Juliette Gordon Low By Edward Hughes (1832-1908), painter. (Daderot (I took this photograph)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons On October 31, 1860, Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA, was born. Scouts of all levels celebrate her birthday at a meeting during the month of October. "Daisy", her nickname, came from a world of wealth, so she could do anything she wanted. When she began the Girl Scouts, she included everyone, no matter their financial status, color, or religion. In fact, three of the original Girl Scout leaders were Jewish, and this was in the South in 1912. In my article Girl Scout Founder's Day-Activities for All Levels of Scouts, I wrote detailed plans on how Daisy Girl Scouts can celebrate.You can also double up and earn the orange Daisy petal and celebrate Girl Scout Founder's Day. You can accomplish two things in one meeting! Use paint, Sharpies and/or jewels to decorate your pots. Available on Amazon in a 12 pack. This is a simple craft. Buy blue and white paint and a few black Sharpie pens. Girls can write their name in Sharpie on the rim and then paint a picture. While waiting their turn, girls can work on a coloring sheet or another small birthday project you have planned for them, like decorating cupcakes you made for this occasion. Your Fifth and Sixth Daisy Meetings Go on a Field Trip and Earn the Magenta Daisy Petal Photo from pixabay.com Going on a field trip is fun. To earn the magenta Daisy petal, Respect Authority, visit a firehouse or a police station. These trips are free and a great way for these community helpers to interact with your girls. Contact your Service Unit to learn how to fill out the forms and get the needed permission to take a trip. You need to give a minimum of two weeks notice, more is even better. For your sixth meeting, the girls can write thank you cards. This can be tied into "giving thanks" and the Thanksgiving holiday which is right around the corner. Read a book about The holiday and do a fun Thanksgiving craft to finish up the meeting. Field Trip Tips Plan your field trip at least four weeks in advance. Get your trip approval number and the required number of volunteers to accompany your troop. All paperwork should be handed in to you one week prior to the trip. As I tell my girls, "No slip, no trip!" Thanksgiving Crafts Once November comes around, the holiday season is in full swing. Along with your usual festivities, you have added planning Daisy meetings to your personal agenda. You can make meeting planning easier by doing a craft with a ready made craft kit. These can then be donated to a senior center when they are completed. This is an easy service project and is just one to incorporate any of the Daisy petals that inspire kindness and making the world better.These easy to make Thanksgiving crafts are perfect for Daisy Girl Scouts and easy for you, their leader! Your Seventh Daisy Girl Scout Meeting-Do a Community Service Project and Earn the Rose Daisy Petal As you enter the month of December, people tend to be in a jollier mood, as the winter holidays are arriving. Chanukah and Christmas are a time for celebrating, but not everyone is able to due to difficult financial circumstances. These are the items the girls placed in a decorated gift bag along with a card they made. A washcloth, socks, soap and candy were what we included. Photo by Hannah Gold. Before your meeting, find a local charity that needs some help and see what your girls can do to help make the world a better place and earn the rose Daisy petal. My troop made gifts and cards and donated snack foods to a group of homeless men who travel to different churches and synagogues in our area until they are back on their feet. It is a wonderful interfaith project that we participate in almost every year. Girl Scout Law Song Children can remember a lot from a song. Many adults can sing the Preamble to the Constitution because of School House Rock! Your Eighth Daisy Girl Scout Meeting Make Gifts and Have a Party For your final Daisy meeting before the winter break, the girls will be super excited. To keep with the holiday theme, have them make gifts for someone in their family. Be sensitive to what holidays the girls in your troop celebrate. Making ornaments is not appropriate for those who do not celebrate Christmas. What can you make? Any kind of kid friendly craft will work. Some ideas are: Scratch Off Frame Kit from Amazon These eight ideas for Daisy Girl Scout meetings should get your first few months off to a great start. One Final Tip-Shop the Sales The week after Christmas is one of the best times to shop for craft materials for your Girl Scout troop. Holiday items are normally 50% off for a few days after Christmas, then right before New year's they go way down to 75%. Red items can be for Valentine's Day, green for spring projects. Snowmen and snowflakes can be used for winter crafts.
Checklists below include badges released as of July 2024! If you'd like checklists for the retired 2001 set of badges, please scroll...
Are you looking for a fun meeting for your Brownie troop this October? Here is how they can earn the Girl Scout Brownie Senses badge using a Halloween theme.
A place for leaders to find ideas to use at your events and meetings. Ideas for Girl Scouts, or other organization inspiring girls to be leaders of tomorrow.
Learn all about bugs and with cute coloring pages …
Looking for a fun camp craft for kids? Learn how to make a sit upon with duct tape! This colorful duct tape sit upon is perfect for sitting on around the fire.
Celebrating Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday in October was a great way for our Brownie troop to earn their Girl Scout Way badge and help Daisies meet their bridging requirements.
Teaching your preschooler about shapes? Try this fun, hands-on geometry activity by building shapes with playdoh!
Here is an easy plan for Your First Girl Scout Brownie meeting of the year.
A place for leaders to find ideas to use at your events and meetings. Ideas for Girl Scouts, or other organization inspiring girls to be leaders of tomorrow.
This 2021 Girl Scout bridging guide for all levels will help leaders plan , with ease, this important scouting milestone.
I get commissions for purchases made through links on this post. As a new leader one of the first things you probably heard was who started the Girl Scout organization. Her name was Juliette Gordon Low. Over the years as a leader I always tried to teach my girls more and more fun, interesting and important facts about her. Of course always trying to be fun and exciting. I want to share 25 ideas that I think your girls will love. Bookmark this page for reference, and share with other leaders. “Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting can be the magic thread which links the girls of the world together.” — Juliette Gordon Low Learn more about her life and celebrate Founders Day on October 31 Juliette Gordon Low Games I have…Who Has…Juliette Gordon Low Card Game This is an easy-to-play game that is a great way to learn about Juliette Gordon Low. Girls will match up the answers on their cards with questions on other girls cards. Get printable now 3 Games to Explore the Life of Juliette Gordon Low Activity Booklet This activity booklet has 3 very fun games all focused on exploring the life of Juliette Gordon Low. Get printable now Juliette Gordon Low Bundle Party Pack with 6 games Activity Booklet This activity booklet has 6 very fun Juliette Gordon Low party style games. Download and print to have fun with your troop. Get printable now 5 great party games to celebrate Juliettes birthday This comes from another blogger called Using Resources Wisely, you should follow and check out these 5 ideas. View Ideas Juliette Low Scoot Activity Booklet Looking for a fun and interactive way to teach your girls about the life and achievements of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts? Look no further than the Juliette Low Scoot Game! This game is a unique twist on the classic
Looking to earn the Junior Staying Fit badge? Check out these 6 fun activities that promote fitness and healthy habits. From active games to nutritious cooking, these activities will keep girls engaged while helping them develop a lifelong commitment to staying fit. Start earning your badge today and embrace a healthy lifestyle!
We have the best girl scout cookie recipe that is healthy too! If you love the girl scout samoas you need to try our no bake samoa girl scout copycat recipe. Gluten free and easy to make!
Inside: Over 20 ideas for earning the Honest and Fair Petal. Crafts, Activities, Printables, Books and Sample Meetings.
Looking to earn the Junior Social Butterfly Badge? Check out these 5 fun and interactive activities that will help your girls become social butterflies and practice good manners in any situation. From activity booklets to board games and setting the table properly, these ideas are sure to engage and educate your troop. Get ready to have a blast while earning this badge!
We all love patches. They are eclectic, you can collect them and they can make a bold statement about your personality and what you believe in. Historically patches were for repairing things that were broken or symbolising ranks and achievements. Today they are used for all sorts of expression and fashion statements. H
Looking for some inspiration for Girl Guide and Girl Scout SWAPS? Check out these 27+ easy and adorable SWAPS ideas and projects that kids can craft!
*This post contains affiliate links. Updated April 2023 There is nothing as relaxing as walking through a beautiful garden or sitting down on a chair and relaxing as you sip a cold drink and admire the beauty around you. Gardening is a wonderful hobby and it can not only beautify your surroundings, but also relieve your stress levels. Getting down and dirty with your hands in the soil and planting in the fresh air…time seems to fly by. The Junior Girl Scout Gardening badge is one that the girls can do to help beautify an area that is important to them. If you meet at a school or a house of worship, you can ask them if they will let you plant a garden. When my troop was younger, the school actually had a Gardening Club, and that would have been perfect if this badge was available when they were Juniors. Photo created on Canva You will also want to collect seed catalogues for Step 2. A field trip to a nursery can also help you complete most, if not all, of the requirements for this badge. Step 1 Visit a Garden If the place where you meet has a garden or pretty landscaping, take a tour and have the girls observe how the flowers are planted and spaces, how color is used, and how height is factored in. Step 2 Explore Garden Design and Step 3 Learn How to Choose Garden Plants After a place has been selected to garden, then have the girls create their visions. Give them pencil and paper to plan, and look in the catalogue for what will grow in your area. Tropical plants will not do well in the Northwest and plants that need shade will not do well in an open field that gets direct sunlight all day long. Then they can cut out pictures and paste them in the appropriate spots. Step 4 Experiment With Seeds For this step, you will need: Egg Cartons Potting Soil Seeds Garden Trowels Newspaper Cup for water Pencil for poking holes Set of Kids Gardening Trowels Available on Amazon Lay out the newspaper so clean up is easy. Follow the guidelines in the Junior Girl Scout Guide Book to complete this step. You can also find many kinds of seed planting charts for kids online. Image created on Canva Step 5 Grow Your Own Garden The easiest way to complete this step is to plant a garden for someone or some organization. It is a great way to get outdoors with your troop!
If you've had the summer off and your troop will be meeting in a few weeks, here is an easy meeting plan for your first Girl Scout Junior meeting of the year.
Back in January of 2015, I created my first Friday Freebie post. After 9.5 years of posting all things free for Girl Scout leaders, the list has grown to over
If you’re starting a new troop, this is a very exciting time for you! Even if your Girl Scout troop won’t start meeting until the fall, there are so many things to plan in advance to make sure everything goes smoothly, and your troop enjoys their time together. One part you really don’t want to get wrong as a new leader is first impressions. The perfect icebreaker activities can help your girls start off the troop year on the right foot with each other and with you. Don’t stress over what to start with! I have a compilation of some of my favorite easy icebreaker activities you can use as a new troop leader to help larger groups or smaller groups get to know each other! Here are some of the very important entrepreneurial skills your girls will learn in your troop: Introduce a Friend If your new batch of students doesn’t already know each other, this can be an amazing way to help them start to make connections right off the bat during in person meetings. You can make cards with a list of different questions on them, like: What is your favorite TV show? If you were a flavor of ice cream, what would you be and why? What is your favorite hobby outside of school? Do you have any pets? What is your favorite subject in school? You can put these questions on a word document with enough space for your troop members to write the answer to each question underneath them, and print them out with two cards per sheet of paper. Cut them in half, and hand them out to your girls with pens or pencils. This is the point where you can pair girls together. You can make the choice how to pair them, I’ve had positive outcomes from pairing new girls with people they’ve never talked to before. Encourage them to go through the list of questions with each other and write down the answers, and find common ground with each other. After everyone has had a chance to get through the questions, they will take turns introducing their new friends in front of their peers by walking through their favorite responses that the other person gave. This activity not only ensures that your students will listen to each other’s answers, it will help them build their confidence. Two Truths and a Lie Most people are familiar with Two Truths and a Lie, and for good reason– it’s a lot of fun! Two Truths and a Lie is a popular game that you can play with your new troop so you all can get to know each other, and also share some giggles! If you don’t know how to play the game, this is how it goes. Each person in the room comes up with two things that are true about themselves or their life, and one thing that isn’t true. Each person in the room takes their turn sharing their two truths and a lie, and everyone guesses which one is the lie, and then you reveal the answer and move on to the next scout. If you want to spice this game up, you can also have the girls write their two truths and a lie on index cards, shuffle them up, then read the two truths and a lie and have the girls guess whose card it is, and then guess the lie! This can also be good if your scouts are nervous to “present” their two truths and a lie upon first meeting each other. Scout Charades If you want a scouting-related icebreaker, you can customize the classic game of charades to be related to Girl Scout topics. You can have them act out terms like: Hiking Sewing Ziplining Horseback riding And more! At the end of the activity, you can explain how your girls can expect to experience all these different activities throughout the year. This has been a huge hit with my troop. This can be modified to be more like Pictionary or Taboo if you like, and you can set your own time limits. Any guessing game is an easy, fun way to teach your scouts about what they can expect from being part of your troop. If you want to go crazy, you can have the whole group act out their terms at the same time just to be silly! Helping your scouts get out of their comfort zone can launch them into building relationships, and fun games like these are an easy way to do it. Verbal Interests Inventory If you really want to get down to business, you can weave learning about each other into your planning for the year. You can print out resources that have lists of things your girls can try out during Girl Scouts, and have an open discussion about what your girls already have experience with, what they’re interested in trying, and what they’re not interested in doing. This activity is a great way to help your scouts learn what all is available to them, and give them a feeling of control over their experience. Giving them opportunities to bond over shared interests is always a good idea! If you’re interested in learning some more unique icebreaker activities, you can check out our previous post about good icebreakers older scouts will love! I hope these resources help you feel equipped and ready to approach your new troop with confidence.
It is important to start your scouting year on the right foot, especially as your girls get older. Here is how I led my troop's very first Girl Scout Junior meeting.
If you are looking to combine a Thanksgiving themed meeting with earning a badge, here are ready made resources to host a Girl Scout Friendsgiving.
Growing up as a Girlscout never truly goes away as you get older. In reality, being a Girlscout actually helps you to do a lot more in life than you did.
What are your favorite ideas for earning Daisy Girl Scout Petals? I led my daughter’s Daisy Troop the past two years, with lots of help from a co-leader and some other parents, and we had a g…
