Daisy Girl Scout: 3 Cheers for Animals Session 3 and Purple Petal!

Hey Troop Leaders!

Here is the third session for the 3 Cheers for Animals Daisy Journey! This session was actually a combination of two different dates. One was an offsite Yoga class that the girls got to participate in and one was a regular meeting session but both can be easily combined into one session!

Yoga party!

We visited a local yoga studio that specifically had a program for Girl Scout Daisies and Brownies. There are a lot of opportunities in your community, specifically yoga studios, which offer programs you just have to search their website.

Our specific yogi instructor was certified to teach yoga to children. The girls even asked the tough questions about what the sign hanging on the wall meant and in true Girl Scout fashion she answered beautifully!

"Yoga is not a religion, it's a practice and a way of life. Yoga is all inclusive and can be practiced by anyone. All paths lead to yoga = union of the souls to God."

The girls started off learning breathing exercises and how this can be helpful in handling difficult feelings. The conversation then turned to the importance of respecting our bodies by making sure we take care of ourselves through nutrition, exercise, and healthy habits (brushing our teeth and hair, picking up after ourselves, respecting others). 

Next, the girls learned the basic sun salutation and the different yoga poses!

Craft time!

Our troop loves crafts so when the instructor brought out the wooden beads the girls were so thrilled to have a take home keepsake to remember the day! This simple sweet and easy to assemble craft can be made with pipe cleaners and wooden beads from a craft store or even left over pony beads your troop has.

I AM painting

Some of you may have already seen this on Pinterest but Brave girls offers free printables for this wonderful activity!!

The purpose of this activity was to celebrate each girl's unique self and differences and how it's awesome to be different! The girls created their own self-portraits and used words to describe themselves.

To prepare for this activity I did ask each girl to think of what represents them and think of words they could use. I also provided them with some words for those that didn't bring their own. Identifying that they were all different also taught them the importance of respecting themselves and others, which affirmed their previous chat about the purple daisy petal.

The Scouts earned their Gloria (Purple) petal for respect myself and others! This also completed the Birdbath Award! The next session the girls prepare for their animal care fair and earn the Red Robin Award.

Looking for other ideas? 

• Balance meal menu
• Etiquette and manners tea party
• create an anti-bully poster or lead an anti-bully campaign
• Have an older Girl Scout come in to speak and talk about self care.

If you missed the first two sessions you can find them here: 

Session 1

Session 2

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Daisy Journey: 3 Cheers for Animals session 2

Welcome back!

Last week I shared with you the fantastic start to the girls favorite Daisy Journey, 3 Cheers for Animals. We started off with a bang by visiting a local riding club and learning all about horse safety, care, and even a wonderful riding lesson. I found that the girls were much more engaged with the Journey programs with hands on experiences and outings so I continued those good vibes (and basically threw out the leader guide to this journey) with a visit to our local animal shelter.

Tip: Lots of shelters will offer tours that are tailored to the Girl Scout programs. Just look up the nearest shelters and look for a "Education" or "visit us" section. 

Double tip!: If you have a multi level troop, this journey works well with the pet badge for Brownies.

The shelter we visited was a nice bridge from learning about animal care to self care (requirements for the Birdbath Award). The spokesperson had a short presentation/conversation with the girls about our needs vs animals needs. They were very similar{wink}.

Happy.  Healthy. Safe.

She broke them down into three categories and had the girls list the ways they themselves feel happy, healthy, and safe. Once the lists were complete she explain how the animal's needs were similar such as, "animals need to feel safe and secure. They need to feel like they have a family and a home just like you do."

"You all mentioned that you need healthy foods, water, well check ups to be healthy. Well animals need that too so they visit the vet and get their vaccinations."

The girls also learned how they needed to practice safety around animals so both can feel secure. We learned about approaching pets in the park, what not to do with pets and warning signs to back off. The girls really absorbed what they learned and then came the fun part! We got to tour the facilities and see what actually goes into running the animal shelter.

Not only did the girls learn more about animal care and why shelter pets need love, it was an introduction to the second part of this journey which is learning to care for themselves.

After we had left the shelter, the girls have continued to ask about going back. They were very touched and moved by the stories of how the animals had come to the shelter. I won't go into too much into detail now about the RED ROBIN PROJECT but the girls did donate a large portion of their cookie proceeds towards buying wish list items for the shelter. Look at the picture below to see what an amazing contribution they made!

Stay tuned for next week's Session 3 of the 3 Cheers for Animals journey! We are having a yoga and painting party to finalize their Birdbath Award!

Bonus: There will be some FREE PRINTABLES! Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss it!

3 Cheers for Animals Journey Series!

Who's ready for another Daisy Journey Series!!! This month we'll be venturing our way through the 3 Cheers for Animals Daisy Journey! I think fall is the perfect time to start this journey. We started our adventure with a visit to a local horse academy, followed by a visit to an animal shelter, and ended with a Yoga session that taught us about how we can take care of and respect our bodies! In between these super fun adventures we weaved in our regular Girl Scout meetings to take the time to discuss and share what we have learned and how we can use our Red Robin Project to make the world a better place!!

Our first session was kicked off with the horse riding and care lesson. If you are looking for a affordable riding club in the Chicago area, I would be happy to suggest a place. This riding club was small but so very wonderful!

Safety First!

Their program was specifically tailored to the Girl Scouts. Our session started off by learning about the safety rules of horses...

• Don't stand behind a horse
• Don't stand directly in front/under their face. Why, because of the way the horses eyes are set they can't see you in this position.
• Don't use loud noises like shouting (it startles them)
• Don't feed horses from your hands (they might mistake your hand as food)

Animal Care

Then our group split into two smaller groups and we got a lesson on horse care. The girls learned the different brushes you use to clean the horse and how to brush them. They realized fast that there is a lot of care in these large animals and it's not all fun and games. Brushing a horse takes some arm strength! 

Animals need care, I need care, I can do both!

After the brushing the beautiful creatures, the girls got a quality horseback riding lesson. They learned how to get on a horse properly, how to hold the reigns, how to direct and steer the horse and even got them in a trotting lesson! I was impressed with the quality of instruction!

Animal Nutrition

Lastly, the girls got a lesson in horse nutrition. They made horse treats (with honey, oats and some other stuff) and baked them up in the oven. While we were waiting for them to cook, we got to see real horse teeth and learned about how horses need dentists, too. Did you know horse teeth don't stop growing? I didn't either! Horses also can't eat regular potatoes but they can eat sweet potatoes! 

When they were finished they got to feed the horses from a bowl because we learned you don't feed from your hand or you risk getting chomped on.

It was such a great experience and the girls also got a fun patch (provided by the riding club)! The cost was $35 per girl which I think was so reasonable for the 2 hour program. We used our cookie money proceeds to fund this trip and it was money well spent. The girls keep asking to go back!

She preferred to eat the snack over feeding the horse.. lol She must have been really hungry!

Alternatives a riding lesson:

• Visit a farm
• Zoo trip (petting zoo would be perfect)
• Animal Shelter or hospital
• Bring in a small pet (guinea pig or hamster)

Girl Scout Postcard activity and free template!

I recently created this postcard for our Girl Scout activity to go along with the 3 Cheers for Animals Daisy journey and Zinni's story!

The girls can draw a picture on either side and write a little note if they wish! This is a great idea to also use around the holidays or Valentines day if the girls want to send out love bug notes or holiday wishes. This would be fun to send to the troops overseas as well!

Download free postcard template here!