Gardening, Making Games, and Easter Fun During Girl Scouts

Tonight, we had our April meeting.  It started kind of different because we started with 3 girls.  We've had as few as 5 before, but we've never started a meeting with as few as 3.

One of our Juniors prepared to lead the girls in the Gardening Badge.  She had a PowerPoint with pictures of flowers.  She provided little pots for the girls to decorate with stickers.  We got the Sharpies out too.  (Do you know how often we use those?)  She also provided potting soil and 3 different kinds of flower seeds.  The girls enjoyed getting the dirt and planting the seeds.  We talked about what plants/seeds need to survive as well as their favorite flowers.  We also walked to the edge of my property to look at the neighbor's vegetable garden.

By the time we started getting the soil, 3 more girls arrived.  Those 3 had dance pictures.

One of our Brownies prepared a scavenger hunt to work on the Making Games Badge.  The girls had to find various nature related items.  Funny how it tied to the Gardening Badge, and it wasn't planned that way.

We ended the meeting with foam Easter crafts.  The girls made flowers and rabbit decorations.

December Girl Scout Meeting

Tonight, we had a small group.  We sure did miss all our friends who were sick, in church performances, or having cookies with Santa.  We went Christmas Caroling at two special houses.  The girls did a great job and even inspired a dog to sing too.  They also worked on the Detective Badge, enjoyed hot chocolate and lots of sugar, and created Christmas crafts.

Merry Christmas from our Girl Scout Troop!

Girl Led Girl Scout Meeting

Tonight, our Girl Scout meeting was truly girl led.

One of the Brownies had chosen to lead the other Brownies in the Senses badge.  She brought everything she needed, so I had them work in a separate room.  She did a great job working through the activities.  The girls had a great time!

Our Junior who was going to lead the badge work for her group did not make the meeting, so I had the Cadettes work with the Juniors.  The Juniors chose to work on the Drawing badge.  All the girls chose the parts they wanted to do and began the badge.

All I did was get out Fall/Thanksgiving foam pieces for them to do a craft while we waited for everyone to arrive.  I then went between the two groups monitoring them.  That's it.  Great meeting!

Final Girl Scout Meeting of the Year

Tonight, we will hold our final Girl Scout meeting of the school year.  Traditionally, we have a Bridging and Award Ceremony to end the year, but we are doing it differently this year. 

We have 8 girls who could earn their Bronze Award. Each girl has between 7.5 and 13.5 hours left to complete the project.  We will be talking to the girls about what they can do to finish their project and give them a due date this summer to turn in all evidence.  It will be each girl's responsibility to finish.  We have gotten them this far, and now it is their chance to take responsibility and finish.  We will have a special celebration in late August or early September, when we will hold a Bronze Award, Bridging, Awards, and Investiture Ceremony.

We will also give the girls the opportunity tonight to plan next year.  They will work in GS levels to decide on badges they want to earn and what field trips they want to take.  It is our hope that they will have a great plan by night's end.  This is the next step in building leadership skills and giving our girls ownership of their troop.

Girl Scouts--Volunteering and Painting

Today, our girls had the opportunity to participate in two different activities.

The church, where my co-leader attends and I have been visiting, was volunteering to help build a local house with Habitat for Humanity.  We learned that our girls were not old enough to assist with the building b/c one must be 16, so we asked if there was anything we could do to assist.  There was! We brought and served lunch to all the volunteers today.  We had sandwiches, pickles, chips, cookies, tea, and water.  The girls were able to meet some of the church members as well as learn just a wee bit about Habitat for Humanity.  They also met the family that will be moving into the house.  We were invited back to the dedication this summer. The girls thought it was really neat to see the skeleton of the house before it was move-in ready.  They can't wait to go back to see it all finished.

 

Singing Grace

 

Serving lunch

 

 

Enjoying lunch

We had a little time to spare, so we let the girls play at McDonald's.  They had an indoor play area on this warm, humid day. They got to enjoy an ice cream one too.

We spent the afternoon painting.  A local teacher/painter taught the girls how to paint owls.  They are so cute, and we had a ton of fun!

 

 

Jeweler Badge

Tonight, we had a special guest teach our Girl Scouts how to make bracelets as part of their Jeweler Badge.  The girls learned how to choose one special bead to be the focal point and then how to choose beads to accent it. They learned to keep their beads/string on the table as they worked so they didn't drop the ends and lose their beads.  When they finished beading, we tied the ends, and our guest put a special clamping bead over the knots so they didn't unravel.  The girls made bracelets for themselves and one for their mothers for Mother's Day.  They were so excited, and their bracelets looked great.  Now they can make necklaces too.