Ask me how much I love those zoom meetings?
NOT!
Unfortunately, this is inevitable for the time being. Personally, our family is not comfortable with gathers outside of our social group. I set out with the goal to be as inclusive as possible when I sat down to brainstorm ways to make online meetings work. I didn’t want this to feel like school and for the younger grades, online meetings are challenging to keep their attention for an hour.
Now more than ever girls need Girl Scouts. Now more than ever we need to be there to support girls and reevaluate what it is they need and how we can deliver. So I came up with 4 essential things that need to happen for this online option to be successful.
Girl Led
Virtual meetings need to be engaging. Activities need to be age-level appropriate. Younger girls need easier games and older girls need something more challenging. How do we engage them? By letting them have a say in the planning of the meetings. Do a poll to see which activities the girls are interested in.
Interactive and Hands-on
We need to find ways to get high level participation from all of the girls. If they are participating they are engaged in the activities and they are growing! Inclusion is important! Hands-on learning is especially important for younger girls who might get distracted. Providing activity kits prior to the meeting and working on crafts or projects together will keep them engaged and give them an incentive to stick with the program. In the last virtual meeting, we worked on the brownie potter badge. I provided clay and ceramic banks with paint prior to the meeting. We worked on pinch pots together and sculptures. The girls LOVED it and they all stayed on till the end.
Character Building and Service Led
Girls feel empowered when they are doing good deeds for others. Keep encouraging this!! The world needs more kindness. Have them focus on the needs of others and incorporate a service project theme for each month. Examples: collecting items for a shelter or food pantry, make tie blankets for the homeless, or set a day where each girl will take a walk around the block and collect garbage.
Sisterhood
The girls need their sisters! Empower them to be there for one another and encourage them to share their successes and their concerns! Create an atmosphere where they truly feel at home and supported. Girls support other girls!!
Get them to return in the fall!
For me, the challenge this fall will be getting the girls to register for the new year. To encourage the girls to register in the fall and get excited for Girl Scouts, I’m creating a Girl Scout Membership box! In the box, I will include tools for them to participate in our virtual meetings and an outline of our service project themes each month. This will only be for members of my troop who are registered. I’ll show you more details on what is included in a separate post but I’m really pumped about this idea!!!