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!
Wow! We've finally made it to the end of our Daisy Flower Garden Journey! We've had so much fun along the way and be sure to check out our previous sessions here:
Session Five and Take Action Project
Visit a community garden or plant nursery
Plant a community garden
And now for the GARDEN Party and our year end Court of Awards ceremony!
I made these cute little "cups of dirt" with gummy works to keep with the gardening theme. I took dollar store silk flowers and hot glued them onto the green spoons to make them look like floral stems! The cups of dirt are chocolate pudding and crumbled Oreo cookies.
This was the first time we had a Court of Awards. In the past the badges were presented to the girls at the end of the meeting but I had saved the last couple badges for this event. I knew I wanted to keep it simple and quick and make sure the girls had some time to partay and play!
The ceremony was held outside in my backyard. It was a beautiful day, despite the wind. Luckily, I have a large 2 tiered deck that was perfect for a ceremony stage! I knew THAT deck would come in handy when we bought the house less than 2 years ago.
Both the co-leader and I got up and said a few things about the year and the girls. I explained the Journey that they had been working on and what each part of the award meant and how the girls demonstrated this. Then we called each girl up and pinned her with the daisy corsage and handed her a certificate for completing the year.
These were pretty easy to make and the girls really adorned them! If you're doing an awards ceremony it's super fun to dress up the package a bit to make the event all the more special.
Materials:
I used dollar store white daisies. I made sure to clip with garden cutters the back of the flower to make sure it was as flat as possible. You can hot glue your ribbon and to the back of the flower and then a bar pin to the back of the daisy. Staple the badges to the ribbons. White puffy paint was used for the girls name. This ceremony was also to reward girls for their fantastic Cookie Sales (which you can see there are a few goal achiever patches).
Originally, the Daisy Flower Garden award was presented in each girl's flower pot that they had planted in the very first session. It was a super windy day and the pots kept blowing over so we had to stick these in the large planters I had on my deck.
After the ceremony the girls showed off their decorations (they each got to decorate one of the flower friends and we strung them up with some string) and enjoyed the cups of dirt. We played some music and the girls had a fun time playing in our new playhouse! With it being our first Court of Awards and me being 9 months pregnant, it was kept relatively simple but the girls really enjoyed it and had tons of fun and got to finally take home their plants!
Session Five and Take Action Project
We are on our way through the flower garden journey! The girls were super excited to plant their seedlings last meeting and even more excited to see the little sprouts this week. This is session 2 of our journey through the daisy flower garden. Use this as a blue print or guide and alter as you see best fits your daisy troop!
Materials needed:
Prepare the bee pins
I hot glued the pom poms together prior to the meeting. I tried to use regular glue at first and it didn't stick together very well. I didn't want the girls to be using the hot glue gun, which is why I prepared them ahead of time. For the bee body, I used three yellow pom poms.
Prepare the garden journals
I rubber cemented the photocopies of pages 13 and 26 from the GB into the garden journals for each girl.
Start-up activity
Set out the garden journals and crayons on a table. As the girls arrive, have them complete page 13 from the GB that you previously glued into the garden journal.
Opening
Recap and Read Chapter 2
Recap chapter 1 from the GB so the girls remember where you left off in the story. Read chapter 2. When you get to the part of the story where the girls find the buried box have your daisy scouts color page 26 from the GB in their garden journals. Follow up at the end of chapter 2 with questions to ensure they comprehend the story.
Bee pins
The girls loved making this little swap. Not that they had to swap them but it is a great idea for a swap. Prior to the meeting it will be helpful if you hot glue the yellow pom poms together as regular glue doesn't hold well.
How to...
1)
Have the daisy scout wrap the black pipe cleaner around the pre-glued yellow bee body (pom poms) and the safety pin. If you wrap both the body and the pin together there is no need to glue the bee to the pin later
2)
Tie the yellow mesh tulle strip around the bee body to give a wing effect.
3)
Use regular glue to glue on the googly eyes.
There you go! Simple as that!
The girls can pin these to their vests as a remembrance of the helpful honey bee introduced in chapter 2!
Honeycomb Stamping
This is a fun little activity that the girls can do right in their garden journals. I used bubble wrap and an ink pad. You can cut the bubble wrap in the shape of a honeycomb. This is a great opportunity to explain the importance of bees in a garden. Some points I made sure to hit on are...
The girls can even draw a bee of their own on this page if they have some time or you can give them bee stickers.
Mini Garden Care
Have each girl water their mini garden. Make sure you explain how we are being responsible for the plants by watering and caring for them.
In their garden journals, have the girls draw a picture of how their gardens plants are doing. You can do this on a new blank page. Make sure they record the date of their findings! Each meeting the girls can record how big their plants are getting so they can look back on the progress from the previous meeting.
We finished off the meeting with a closing ceremony and friendship circle and squeeze! If you would like to see what we did for the first session visit my post:
Daisy Flower Garden Journey: Session 1!
Don't forget to follow along for more Flower Garden Journey sessions!
Session Five and Take Action Project
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
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:
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!
