Daisy Scout: Respect Authority

Does anyone feel like this is not the most amusing petal to the girls? LOL 

The best way I can recommend having your girls complete this badge is through a field trip. There are so many places in your community that girls don't always get to see so take this chance and get out with the girls. I'm not even going to suggest meeting activities because they will just stare at you like some boring teacher. You know the stare I'm talking about....

Our girls love visiting new places and this was the perfect opportunity to show them something they might not have seen before. 

For this petal we did two different trips. Before we adventured, we had a brief discussion on what authority was and why it was important. We talked about how laws keep everyone safe and we referenced back to our Girl Scout Law. We also used this opportunity to create rules for our troop that the girls agreed to follow. By creating their own rules and standards we kept the activity girl led!

Field trip ideas

• Police Station
• City Hall
• Court House
• Fire Station

When visiting, it's always kind to bring a little something for your tour guides. The police station and Firefighters love fresh baked cookies!! Make sure to deliver a thank you note as you are leaving or have the girls send one the meeting following the visit. Gratitude is the ultimate form of respect!

If you are not able to take a field trip, this petal is pretty easy to complete in a meeting. Here are some fun activities to liven up the meeting...

• Have the girl makes puppets of different authority figures. Have them create puppet skits where they can act out ways to respect authority.
• Create a set of troop rules that is posted at every meeting. Have each girl add something to the rules. 
• Play a game. This one is similar to Simon says except you can pick an authority figure. Bonus points for dress up! You know Firehouse subs has those free plastic fire people hats! Have the girls rotate being the caller.

Don't forget to follow up along on Facebook and Instagram!! Be sure to check out our fun patch programs in the shop!

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)

Daisy Girl Scouts: End of the Year Certificates!

Hey there troop leaders!

It's that time to wrap up the year! Last week I created these certificates that I wanted to share with you all. I'm planning the court of Awards and Bridging ceremony this week and we are going on vacation next week so this is a short and sweet post.

Here they are!

All files can be downloaded via our new Facebook community! Here is the link to submit your request: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MightyGirlsRock/

Making Choices Financial Literacy Leaf Badge

This past week, in preparation for our cookie season, we focused on the Making Choices leaf for our Girl Scout daisies.

We had a three station set up (small groups and station rotation works best for our large troop)

Station 1: Cookie booth pricing guides and practice with monopoly money.

Each of the girls had an opportunity to fill in the cookie pricing guide together. They used monopoly money to help them count and determine the prices. After the meeting I laminated the pricing guides for the girls to use at the cookie booths. Our cookie booths last year were very busy and it was soooo time consuming to have the daisy scouts calculate each purchase. By doing this ahead of time each girl got to practice her financial literacy and save us some time during cookie booth sales!

Once they finished their sheets they got to pretend shop and practice their money skills with the monopoly money. They loved this idea!

Here is the link to down:--->>>Download here <<<---

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Station 2: Wants VS. Needs activity

The second station consisted of a wants vs. needs sorting activity. An adult volunteer first discussed the differences between the two and each girl had an opportunity to sort the pictures. After each girl had a turn my co -lead assisted in a discussion about wants and needs for our cookie goal. The girls voted to spend their cookie proceeds on wishlist items for a local animal shelter that we had recently visited for our 3 Cheers for Animals Journey. My co lead had the girls list out the items that the animal shelter might need and then think of items that might be a want for the animals. Once we have reached our cookie goal (which I know we will!), the girls can decided if they want to buy "need"ed items or "want"ed items (or both) for the animal shelter by referencing this list.

Free wants and needs pictures here--->>>Download printable here <<<---

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Station 3: Cookie Booth brainstorm sesh

We started planning our cookie booth design and decorations in this station. I talked with the girls a little about marketing. It was really cute because of their age. Imagine their faces when you ask "have you every heard of the term marketing?" LOL Here is how I explained the idea....

• 2 Different books: I used two different books to explain the impact of good marketing. One book was missing it's cover so it was completely white and the second book was decorated with illustrations and fun colors. I asked the girls if they were in a bookstore which book would they be more likely to pick up. Most of the girls picked the pink illustrated book. I asked them why they picked this one.... ex. "It's pink!" or "I like the picture!" I explained how the way the book looked impacted their decision and how this is marketing.

• 2 Different cookie booths: Using this concept I asked if they saw two different cookie booths (one with just a table and some boxes and another with decorations and color) which booth would they buy their cookies from. They all said the fun decorated one! Rolling with that concept I talked about they way a product is presented can impact our customers decision to buy. 

• The girls come up with some fun ideas for cookie booth decorations to get our customers excited to buy from us and increase our sales. We talked about themes and they jotted down a list of materials they would need so we can work on the decorations at the next meeting.

It was a very productive meeting filled with lots of decision making and skill building! They really did have so much fun and I could tell they really gained from our activities!

Happy Cookie Season!

How remembers this movie?

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How to Survive Your First Year as a Girl Scout Troop Leader

Hello everyone! It's that time of year to get your troop meeting planning started. I remember just a year ago I was getting in contact with the membership specialist to see if there was a troop my daughter could join when I was encourage to be a troop leader. 

I was completely out of my element being a shy introvert who has a hard time with new social situations. I promise you I'm not stuck up or anything, it's just not something I comfortably do. Anyways, I thought that this might be a good opportunity for personal growth and not just my daughter, so I took the leap to really challenge myself. If you are reading this and thinking you can't be a troop leader because you are too shy or introverted then let me prove you wrong. Just remember you are doing this for your daughter.

Here are some of the things I've learned in my first year as a troop leader that will help any of you newbies out there. If you a seasoned leader please feel free to add any additional advise in the comments!

Plan ahead

When I first started out I dived right into the program. I looked through everything and reviewed the badges and journeys the girls could earn. I got myself the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting and made sure I understood the program. The Girls Guide has all the badges you can earn for that level. From there I did a rough plan of how the first year would go. Since we started off in Kindergarten I knew we had two full years to complete the Daisy program. Your planning might look different if you only have one year within that specific level. You will need to decide how often you want to meet. Our troop has at least 2 meetings a month. Here is an example of a sheet I made to plan out the year.--->>> Download

Keep in mind that you will need to be flexible with this plan as things change throughout the year but it's nice to have a basic layout. I changed this plan around several times but it was always a starting point for me that I could work off of.

Stay organized

Binders. folders. You will need lots. Girl Scouts loves their paperwork so you will need a place to keep all of this and a separate folder for the health forms that are required at each meeting. Don't forget about the finance binder. You will also need a system to keeping the petal badges organize. Here are some ideas to get you started...

• Financial and Forms Binder - keeps your finance tracking sheets, bank information, copies of important forms such as tax exempt letters, blank health history forms, permissions forms, ect.
• Health History Folder- contains all of your members (including adults) health history forms that must be present at each and every meeting and outing.
• Planning Binder - keeps your planning ideas, shopping lists, activity ideas..ect. You can also keep your meeting planning forms in here.
• PR and advertising binder - this is a little something I put together in case any parents have questions or if you are trying to present an idea to an outside organization for maybe fundraising purposes. I also like to keep information about registration and uniform requirements in this binder. This might be something that you can develop over the year as you probably wont be contacting business right away. Also, check with your council to see if they have a media kit you can use.

You will figure out which ideas work best for you and your troop but it's helpful to keep ideas and concepts separate that way you are not searching through a big binder for that one form.

Seek out help

This was a hard thing I had to learned as  I tend to take a lot on my own and generally don't accept too much help. It's probably the introvert in me not wanting to ask for the help even if it's offered. I was lucky to have a great group of parents always reaching out and asking if I need help. Lesson learned that I need to accept more help! Here are a list of roles parents can volunteer to take a load off....

• Troop Cookie Mom-this is an absolute must!
• Finance and treasury- can track your spending in a nice little package at the end of the year, helps organize forms, ect. Also helps with budgeting.
• Field Trips and Events-Organizing field trips can be a hassle.  Have someone else figure out the details. This works for any parties or special occasions too!
• Shopping mom-shops for the best deals on troop meeting supplies. Do you have an extreme couponer in the troop?
• Snack mom-Organizes a snack rotation and makes sure there aren't food allergies!

Scout Trax Tracking system

This puts any excel sheet you have ever seen to shame! It's like the super hero of excel. Download this baby for free and it keeps everything organized from the attendance of your meetings to the badges each girl earned.

Do what you can

• There will be your ups and downs. You will leave a meeting feeling like there was no take-away or disappointed with a dissatisfied parent. At the end of the day remember that you are a volunteer and you are doing the best you can.
• Also remember the age of the girls and keep in mind what your troop can handle. There were times when I set out to do an activity only to realize that the girls were too young or they were simply not engaged enough.
• Each troop has a different dynamic that you will have to get a feel for and see how and what interests the girls the most. That might mean you will need to through aside your leadership planning guides and be more open to other ideas. Pinterest is a big help for this!

Keep Calm and Girl Scout On!

It really is a ton of fun and it's even more beautiful getting to see your daughter grow! Good luck and you got this! Have a great first year!

xoxo, Katie