In an effort to keep our year girl led, it was no surprise that this was the first choice when the girls had the option to pick a badge. We had so much fun with this and it's definitely a two meeting badge. There is so much to do that it was impossible to fit it all in an one hour meeting.
Meeting 1: Steps 1-3....
Get Inspired:
The girls used their Girls Guide to Girl Scouting books and viewed the different types of paintings as given in the Painting badge requirements. I really wanted to turn this step into a field trip but we just didn't have the time with the holiday season around the corner but I would highly recommend scouting your area for local small art galleries. When I did my search I found several in our town!
Paint The Real World
The girls had the opportunity to choose between two different painting options (dandelion or footprints in the sand). We actually incorporated step 4 in our paintings without even knowing it by using our feet!
I found bulk canvases on sale at Michael's craft store. You can also find some affordable ones here.
Paint A Mood
We used the suggestion in the Girls Guide and painted our moods with puffy paint! This was so cool and the girls had fun mixing their own puffy paint!
Puffy Paint Recipe:
- 1 part shaving cream
- 1 part glue
- a few drops of food coloring
- (Optional) mix in some flour to add thickness.
Meeting 2: Steps 4-5
Paint Without Brushes
Since the holidays were right around the corner and we were feeling festive we used the stamping method to create wrapping paper out of old paper grocery bags. If you have any daisies in your troop this step will go right along with the clover petal and using resources wisely by recycling paper bags into wrapping paper. We also decorated brown paper gift bags!
Use cookie cutters, cut up sponges, and make your own stamps! It doesn't just have to be for the holidays, you can make birthday wrapping paper for Juliette Gordon Low's birthday, too!
Paint a Mural
Keep this one girl led. Let them decided what mural they want to paint as a troop. Have them draw it our first. We used a poster board. If they are having trouble, guide them with some suggestions. Maybe they can paint a large picture of an animal and each take a part (daisies 3 cheers for animals). Maybe they want to paint a scene with each girl in the troop in it. The options are endless but give them time to think about it.