Daisy Flower Garden Journey: Session 1

For more resources on the Daisy Flower Garden Journey check out previous sessions....

Session One

Session Two 

Session Three

Session Four 

Session Five and Take Action Project 

Garden Party

An Introduction into the Daisy Flower Garden Journey

We recently started our adventure with the Daisy Flower Garden Journey. Its part of the national Girl Scouts program for daisy scouts. I was really excited to start this journey as I love gardening and thought the spring time would be a perfect introduction. Since we are already several months into the program and have earned several of our petal badges and nearly mastered the Girl Scout law and promise, I didn't follow the leadership guide exactly as planned. If you are just starting out with first time daisies, the leadership guide would be a great start as it introduces the promise and law.

When I first started my planning for this journey I read through the "How to Guide" first and then the girl's book "Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden". Each chapter of the girls book is to align with a session or meeting and concluding the journey at session 6. Don't be afraid to alter this depending upon your goals for the troop. If you need to extend this out that is perfectly fine. 

Before the first meeting

Preparation is very important for the first meeting. There are many supplies you may need to purchase. I wanted the girls to have a field journal throughout this journey to record everything and have something to look back on as a keepsake. This required me to print and copy pages from the Girl book (GB) and paste them into each journal a head of time. Read on to the Field Journal section on how to pre-assemble.

Materials

• Leadership How To Guide (LG)
• "Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden" book (GB)
• Potting soil
• seeds ( basil and assorted flowers)
• garden shovel
• garden gloves
• small gardening pots (one for each girl) I found these from the Dollar Store in sets of 2.
• tray or storage container to carry the pots
• Seed starter kit (like this one)
• composition notebooks (one for each girl) Purchased from the Dollar Store.
• rubber cement
• crayons or other coloring utensils
• photocopies for each girl of ... GB pg. 8,9,10,12   Optional pgs. 11,13

Here is how I broke down the first session.

Start-up activity: 

As the girls arrived, they completed page 9 (from GB) in their field journals. Make sure all the girls complete this page as you will be sharing during the group discussion.

Flower Garden Field Journal

Prior to the meeting put together the field journals by pasting in the photocopies of the pages from the girl book (GB pgs. 8, 9, 10 ,12) with rubber cement. I like using rubber cement because it doesn't crinkle the pages and dries fast. I used a new page for each photocopy. I just glued to the front of each notebook page, not the back. 

*Note: I started with Page 9 first and then followed with the girls bios. (ex. 9, 8, 10, 12)

I explained to the girls that I would be keeping these journals between sessions. This ensures that each girl has a notebook for every meeting and if I need to do any preparation between meetings I have them available.

GB pg. 9

GB pg. 10

Opening:

• Form a Daisy Circle and practice the Girl Scout Promise and Law. 
• Have each girl share what they wrote and colored from the start-up activity (GB pg. 9). 
• Explain what the Garden Journey is and what the girls can expect for the first session and the rest of the Journey. I took this time to explain about the Take Action Project.

Introduce Daisy Journey Girls

Introduce the girl characters by reading the short bios of each one. As you read through each one have the girls color the page in their Field Journal (pages 8, 10, 12). After you read each one, do a recap. Ask questions like "where are they from" and "what do they like to do".

Garden Story Time

Read the first chapter of the Garden story (GB pg. 17). Recap the story at the end and follow up with some questions about the story. You can also reference the questions from the LG on page 41.

Mini Garden Planting

You can start by having the girls decorate their own pot or use a permanent marker and write their names on the bottom of the pots. Start an assembly line by filling the pots with dirt about 3/4 of the way to the top. We used basil as it's pretty easy to maintain and doesn't require replanting. Have the girls plant their own seeds and lightly cover with some soil. 

Next, have a small watering can for the girls to water their seedlings. Have a long container or tray for the girls to place their pots in when they are finished. This will help in transporting the flower pots to each meeting. I explained to the girls that I would be keeping the basil pots for the journey and bring them to each meeting. The girls will be allowed to take home their basil pots at the completion of the journey. This ensures that each pot is brought to each meeting and no girl is left out.

I also had a separate seed starter going for the flower seedlings. I explained to the girls this was in preparation for their take action project where they will plant a community garden with the flowers they start today. Several meetings previously the girls had voted on what they wanted to plant and agreed upon flowers. I wanted to make sure this was still an option for them.

You can use a seed starter like this one.. Seed starter kit (like this one )

Daisy Game, Garden-Style

Refer to page 44 in the LB. Have the girls get in a circle and talk about the different critters you find in your community and garden. Explain that the girls will be the critters that live in a garden. This game takes about 5-10 minutes and is a great way to conclude the meeting and get the wiggles out!

Closing Ceremony and Friendship Squeeze

Found on page 45 of LB.

I hope this helps you in your planning and encourages you to think outside of the box. Don't be afraid to do something different from the program to best suit your troop and the needs of your girls! Don't forget to check back for more updates and ideas for the remaining sessions of the Daisy Flower Garden Journey!

Girl Scout Daisy Meeting: Sunny Petal Friendly and Helpful Badge

Here are the three activities our troop did to earn their Sunny Petal. Our meetings last an hour and with the traditional meeting set up (Opening, Business, Activity time, and Closing) you can easily fit these activities in.

Activity 1:

Read the Sunny story

and follow up with discussion questions found in the GS book.

You can also have the girls act out the story for more engagement.

Activity 2: Friendly Greetings!

Use flash cards with different greetings from all over the world. Teach each greeting to the girls and have them repeat back and guess which country or location.

Greetings that we used

Hello

Namaste

Jambo

Bon Jour

Hola

Ni Hao

Guten tag

Activity 3: Pine cone bird feeder project

Give each girl a pine cone and have then create their own bird feeders with peanut butter and bird seed!

*for those with peanut allergies have them use honey instead.

Supplies:

One pine cone for each girl

One spoon for each girl

One piece of yarn or heavy duty string for each girl about a foot long

Plate

Plastic baggies for the girls to take their project home

First, tie the string on to each pine cone. If you don't do this first, there will be a big ol mess later.

Use the spoon to coat each pine cone with a decent amount of peanut butter. Make sure to get between the crevices.

In a separate dish, roll the peanut butter coated pine cone in the bird seed. Be generous with the amount of bird seed you use. Set it aside to harden or place it right in the take home baggie.

Other ideas..

Volunteer at a retirement home or animal shelter.

Meet with another troop and do an activity so the girls have the opportunity to meet with girls they haven't met before and show their friendly side.

Kaper Charts!

This is a great opportunity to introduce kaper charts and have the girls take ownership and help out with each meeting.

Overall, the girls really LOVED the bird feeder activity. I have found with my rowdy troop of 12 girls, the more hands on activities the better!

Happy planning troop leaders!

Girl Scout Daisy Planning: Money Counts Leaf and a Hair Clip Craft!

Since they're in school enough hours out of the day, the last thing I wanted is a Math lesson. I wanted to make sure this was a fun meeting and the girls were engaged. Financial literacy is very important and an essential part of Girl Scouts and the Cookie Product sale.

You can find large cardboard cut outs of all the coins and dollar bills at the Dollar store. I would go through a brief explanation of each and pair it up with the real coin or dollar. The large cut outs help for better viewing but girls also like to see and feel the real thing. I also set aside a bag of 100 pennies and showed the girls what a dollar can equal in pennies. This helps them visualize and compare. You can do this with the other coins or dollars, too. For example, hold up 4 quarters and compare it to a dollar bill. We also talked about how much our cookie boxes cost and what the troop profit was from each box.

Once we explained the different kinds of money and compared and contrasted, we talked about the difference between what costs money and what doesn't. We had each girl come up with one way they can have fun with or without money.

Here are some examples....

Costs money:

Going to the movies

Going to a theme park

Free:

Playing a board game at home with your family

Playing with a friend in your yard

Going to the park

Renting a book from the library.

*another idea is to cut out pictures of things that cost money and things that don't. Use a large poster board and draw a line down the middle. Have one side represent things that cost money and the other side represent free. Have the girls glue the pictures to the right section.

*If the girls are doing a personal scrapbook you can use the above idea in a smaller version and they can glue the pictures right into their scrapbooks.

Now starts the fun!!!

We had a guest speaker,

Designs by Denise

, come and speak with the girls. She is an entrepreneur and has her own handmade hair bow business. Guest speakers are great because the girls have a natural interest in something unfamiliar.

She talked about what an entrepreneur is and why keeping track of her money was so important. She discussed profit and how much materials cost. She had a display of the bows she had made and explained where and how she sells them.

This was a great introduction to ownership and business skills for the girls as we are upon the Cookie Product season.

The girls were very engaged as it was a new face and they could relate to the pretty hair bows. Our speaker lead us into our final activity. I like to close each meeting with some kind of fun craft!

Activity: The girls made their own hair clips!

Materials:

for 10 girls

3 Ashland daisy flowers from Michael's in blue

(each flower will give you 4 large flower pieces)

3 Ashland daisy flowers in white

10 hair clips

felt

Gem for the center about 1 inch

*use a coupon and look for sales on the florals. I got mine for 50% off!

(I believe the whole thing came out to $1.40 per girl)

I first cut the felt pieces ahead of time. I separated everything into each individual flower clip bag so the girls had all their materials in one place.

Cut a 1 inch circle out of felt for the backing of the flower.

Cut a 1 inch long by 1/4 inch wide piece of felt to glue on the inside of the clip so the girls hair doesn't get caught.

You can let the girls choose the order of the two different color flowers. This allows them to make it their own. Although, it does look best with the blue behind the white :).

We used a hot glue gun. BE CAREFUL with this and only let adults handle the glue guns.

Glue a couple of dots on the center of the bottom (blue) flower. Have the girl place the top (white) flower on top and line it up. 

Glue a couple of dots on the center of the top (white) flower and let the girls place the gem in the center on the top.

Glue the circle felt on the back of the flower 

Glue the other piece of felt on the inside of the top part of the clip. (adults)

Glue the flower on to the clip. (adults should do this)

They were so excited to do this and it was a great round up of the entire meeting. As we were assembling the hair clips we talked about the materials and the individual cost of each. I held up the equivalent in our cardboard money so the girls could see.

They really loooooved this idea and I even saw the girls wearing their clips to school the next day!! Probably their favorite craft so far and we were able to tie in something fun with the Money Counts badge!

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Investitures Ceremony - Girl Scout Daisy

It seems like Girl Scouts is the only thing I can write about these days. I've been so busy this session with my overwhelming classes, the holidays, photography projects, and girl scouts. This is my very last week of classes and them I'm all done with school and I can't tell you how excited I am!

This past week we had our Investitures Ceremony for the Daisy troop. This would be meeting 4 for the girls and it gave them an opportunity to get a feel for the structure of the meetings and to better understand the Girl Scout Promise and Law.

Planning Ahead

Send out cute invitations to the parents at the prior meeting so they know that this is special. The girls will get excited about it too! Here is a download for the one I quickly created: 

Investiture Invites

I first created an outline ( basically a script) of how the ceremony would go. You can download a copy of the script we used here: 

Investiture Ceremony

Then a prepared all the materials.

Materials Needed:

Felt board ( I pasted a large piece of felt on to a meeting board purchased at the dollar store)

11 sheets of felt in the colors of the daisy flower (Blue for the center and 10 different colors for the petals... See below for the different colors)

Scissors to cut the felt.

Printed out scripts

Membership pins

Certificates (optional) I was not able to create one for this event:(

The Ceremony Script

We started with the girls walking in single file. We have 10 girls so each girl was given one of the 10 petals on the daisy flower.

Here is how the ceremony went....

---

Intro:

(The girls walk in single file and lined up.)

Leader 1: Where are the girls who want to be daisy girl scouts?

Daisies:Here we are!

Leader 1: You have agreed that you are ready to make your promise and receive your pin as Daisy Girl Scouts. Let’s make that promise together.

(Everyone holds up the Girl Scout salute)

All:On my honor, I will try

To serve God and my country

To help people at all times

And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

Leader 2:The Girl Scout promise is a pledge that tells us how to live our lives. The center of the flower represents the Girl Scout Promise. The Daisy Girls Scouts earn 10 learning Petals. Each of the Petals is a different color and represents a part of the Girl Scout Law.

All: I will do my best to be

(Each girl will get a petal to add to the board. Whisper in their ear for assistance)

Girl 1: Honest and Fair

Girl 2: Friendly and Helpful

Girl 3: Considerate and caring

Girl 4: Courageous and Strong and

Girl 5: Responsible for what I say and do,

Girl 6: And to respect myself and others

Girl 7: Respect Authority,

Girl 8: Use Resources Wisely,

Girl 9: Make the world a better place and

Girl 10: Be a sister to every Girl Scout.

Call each girl by their name up to receive their pin and welcome them into the troop with a Girl Scout Handshake. 

Leader 2: “Name of girl” as a Daisy Girl Scout would you step forward.

Leader 1: Here is your daisy Girl Scout pin. (Pin on Daisy Insignia Tab)

(Followed by the handshake.)

Leader 1:Girl Scout Daisies are named after the founder of Girl Scouting in the

United States, Juliette Gordon Low, whose nickname was Daisy. She brought Girl Scouting to the United States from England. As parents, you are very necessary to the growth and development of our Girl Scout Daisies . We need to know your expectations for how "high" our Daisies will grow and ways that you can help us to reach that growth. We would appreciate your suggestions and participation throughout their journey.

Now we will do our closing. Would you please join us in a friendship circle.

Girls move back into larger circle--admitting parents as part of the group.

(Friendship Squeeze)

---

This script was adapted from a video I found on YouTube. It was extremely helpful and you can add or change up where you see fit. There are plenty of videos and examples.

There are so many ways you can go about the Investiture ceremony. Just make sure to have fun with it and know what your girls can handle. I have a large group of girls that are rowdy so I wanted to keep this ceremony short and sweet. The whole thing took about 10 minutes. I arranged for an entire hour. The first 30 minutes the girls did a practice run so they had an idea of how it would go.

I hope this is helpful in your planning and don't forget to check back for more Girl Scout Daisy planning ideas!!

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Girl Scouts meeting: Lupe Petal "Honest and Fair"

Our very first Girl Scout Daisy Meeting was this past week! Being the introvert that I am, reading out loud was a challenge for me. I think I'm hiding my social anxiety pretty well:) The first meeting we dived right in to start tackling the Daisy Petal Badges. I am saving the Promise center for the Investitures ceremony that will be done in the 4th meeting.

Like Girl Scout fashion, I divided the sections up into pre-meeting, Opening, business, Activity and Closing.

Pre-meeting activity

(I would really recommend not skipping over this one. I didn't think I needed it but it really helped the girls focus while everyone arrived)

A petal coloring sheet (coloring sheet can be found on the second to last page here: here)

Opening

Introductions: Since it was our first meeting, I wanted all the girls to get to know one another. We sat in the Daisy circle and went around and said our name and one thing we like.

For example: My name is Katie and I like to garden.

We practiced the Girl Scout Promise with the repeat after me technique. We also showed them the three finger salute.

Business

We asked the girls to get out their blue Daisy folders (this was provided at the parent meeting) to see if there was any thing they needed to hand in, such as troop dues, forms, ect.

Activity

Read Story

We read the Lupe story from our Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting book. I read the story out loud and the girls that had their guides followed along. Once we were finished with the story I asked the girls how they liked it and provided a brief recap. Then I used the questions from the end of the book to discuss what they learned.

Truth or Lie Game:

We played a game to tie into the story. We used Happy and Sad face signs. Each leader got one and we stood across the room from one another. I listed examples of honest or not, and fair or not. The girls had to decide if they thought the example was being honest and fair or not. This got the girls moving and they looked excited. Our meetings are held after dinner so this was a great opportunity to get the silly's out before bed time.

Examples we used:

Truth or Lie

• You forgot your homework and tell the teacher your dog ate it
• You girls are 10 years old
• Lupe told her friends about the cheese
• You tell your parents that you cleaned your room but you didn't
• You accidentally spilled juice on the carpet and you tell your parents right away
• The boy had cried wolf when there was no wolf

Fair or Unfair

• You take turns on the playground
• You're with your friends and someone passes out cookies. Your friend next to you doesn't get a cookie because there is not enough
• Cinderella couldn't go to the ball like her stepsisters because they were jealous
• Treating all of our friends the same
• Waiting your turn in line

Snack Time:

We had two apples and I asked the girls how can we make sure everyone gets a piece. I used an apple slicer to divide the pieces evenly. Once the girls were finished we cleaned up and I explained that Girl Scouts leave places just the way they found them.

Closing

Make New Friends but Keep The Old Song

I brought my phone and doc to play the make new friends song. We have a single Cadette in our group so she taught the girls the song and then we played it on my phone.

Friendship circle and Squeeze

We held hands in the circle and did the friendship squeeze. I started the squeeze and it went around in the circle. Once it came back to me I said "Goodbye Sister Girl Scouts" and the girls said it back. The squeeze was the close of our meeting.

After

I made sure that each girl got a certificate for the Petal Badge they earned as well as a next meeting reminder sheet. If you have the Badges at this point in time you can hand those to the girls as well.

I used a free printable for the Badge certificates I found here: 

Lupe Petal Award

I hope this gives you some ideas on your meeting planning!

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Girls Scouts Daisy First Parent Meeting

This seemed to be a daunting task for a newbie troop leader like me. I am completely out of my element as a leader so organization is something I am obsessed over. I have a little bit of OCD when it comes to planning.

What do you want to include in the parent packet?

Each girl/parent got a blue folder with their name on it. This folder is used as a parent communicator that the Daisy will bring to every meeting. The folder will be sent home each meeting with a wrap up of what was done at the meeting and updates and information on the next meeting.

Below is what I included in the folder for the parent packet...

• Parent letter (including troop expectations, rules, meeting schedule)
• Parent Helper sign up form
• Uniform handout (explains the items needed for uniform for the parents to purchase, unless you will purchase the entire troops)
• Forms
• Girl Membership Registration Form
• Adult Membership Registration Form
• Medical History form (both girl and adult volunteers)
• Permission slips

Girl activity

I wanted the girls to have something to direct their attention to while I discussed the business with the parents. For this I had my co-leader take the girls aside to decorate their own daisy flower that we would put on the Troop meeting board.

Business

I wanted to keep the meeting fairly short and to the point.

I went over...

• Parent letter (for a copy of my parent letter visit my updated post ---> here )
• Troop Leader contact information
• Meeting information
• Day and time of the week
• Location
• What they do at the meetings
• Uniforms and Handbook
• What badges to purchase before hand
• Council ID
• American flag 
• Troop Numerals
• Insignia tab
• Troop Dues
• What does troop dues cover
• Due date
• Importance of volunteers
• Positions open
• Share site
• Shutterfly offers an amazing share site to keep the parents up to date on meetings. I would strongly recommend checking it out!

• Forms ( I handed out the forms for the parents to complete at the meeting.) 
• Goals for this year 
• 2 meetings / month
• 1 field trip or event / month
• Earn a badge every meeting
• Start on a Daisy Journey in the Spring

For my troop, I decided to include the Membership Pin and Badges the girls will earn through out the year in their membership dues.

It's important to decide how you want your troop to operate for the year and have some sort of outline. I really wanted to incorporate outside activities not just regular meetings twice a month so I welcomed suggestions of ideas for meetings other than at the school. This also got the parents involved.

The meeting ended on a wonderful note with all the Moms excited and I could see they were also bursting with ideas. I hope this helps you plan out your first meeting!