A site for Girl Scout Leaders. We have lots of helpful tips, crafts, SWAP's, ceremonies and more!
Imagine being recruited to lead a troop by Natalie Wood and Celeste Holmes. Who could say no! The video is simple and to the point. I also love Natalie’s expression when she “imagines” millions of Girl Scouts!
Could you say no to Natalie Wood knocking at your door and asking you to be her troop leader? Imagine some of today child actresses – if they had been in Girl Scouts, where would they be today?!
Yours in Scouting!
Girl Scouts has always been about community service. Whatever the local community needs, the Girl Scouts have been there. This year (our 100th) many troops, service units/associations, councils and the national organization are challenging the girls to step up and commit to community service in a big way – like 100 ways!
At the national level, GSUSA has the Forever Green initiative. Forever Green is the 100th Anniversary Take Action Project. February’s focus was on “Reduce Waste” by using reusuable bags and reusable water bottles. March’s focus is on creating “Rains Gardens” while April’s focus is on “Earth Hour”. Check out their website for more information.
The Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains has challenged their troops to participate in 100 days of service. From February 22nd (World Thinking Day) until June 1st they will be serving their communities. The council has adopted three goals (Reducing Hunger, Reducing Poverty and Sustaining the Environment. Check out their website for some ideas.
My Service Unit has a two prong approach to service this year. We started out the year asking our troops to participate in 100 service projects. We have been tracking this on our service unit website – as of today we are at 28 service projects completed. We hope that this will give other troops different ideas on how they can provide service to the community.
The other thing we did was support the February Forever Green initiative - we designed reusable bags that the troops can now use to give to their families and during cookie booths so that the general public will have reusable bags! We created over 600 bags!
What is your troop doing to Take Action during the 100th Anniversary?
Yours in Scouting!
Happy Birthday Girl Scouts!
Happy Birthday Girl Scouts! It’s your birthday! How are you going to celebrate!
If your council is hosting a celebration for the birthday of Girl Scouting, this SWAP would be great to continue the celebration! This SWAP idea can be found on the Making Friends website. (They have some great ideas for SWAP’s!) I have made a few modifications (not many, just the bottom!)
Skill Level: Junior – Ambassador (because of the small seed beads and tiny fingers don’t always work well together!)
The supplies
Supplies: Seed beads, mini candy cups (similar to mini cupcakes but smaller, about 1″), candles, gel glue, pom poms (1-1/2″ size), foam circle or poker chips, and safety pin.
Directions:
Candle and pom pom - looking like a cupcake!
Step 1:
Cut your candle in half. Glue it to the middle of the pom pom. I used hot glue here. It will dry faster so the girls won’t have to hold it in place (nobody wants a tilted candle on their cupcake!). Glue the pom pom into the candy liner. I used the hot glue again, because it was out and ready, but you could use the gel glue for this step.
The "glue" that holds the "sprinkles" on!
Step 2:
Spread gel glue on top of pom pom. Gel glue is best for this step because it holds into position better than white glue sometimes. This is were the girls can get a little creative! Wherever there is glue, there will be “sprinkles”.
Sprinkles!
Step 3:
Next sprinkle your seed beads over the glue. This is best done over a paper plate so that the extras are contained and not all over the floor. After some of the beads are sprinkled on, you may want to turn it upside down to shake off those that didn’t stick.
Cupcake on a plate!
Step 4:
The final step is to put your cupcake on a plate! Use a poker chip or a foam circle. Glue the cupcake (either hot glue or gel glue) to your circle (this is your plate!). If you are using a foam circle, you can stick the safety pin through it with a troop tag. If you use a poker chip, you will have to use a different kind of pin that you can hot glue to the back.
Enjoy your cupcake SWAP! Do you have any SWAP ideas for the Girl Scout birthday? Please share!
Yours in Scouting!
Girl Scout week is the week in which March 12th falls. March 12th is the actual birthday of Girl Scouting. This would be a great time for girls to celebrate the beginning of Girl Scouting (and since this is the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouting – a really great time to celebrate!).
You can have girls decorate their own cupcakes with their own candle. They can have their ceremony and then have a reception with the cupcakes they made. This ceremony was found on a great website: Scouting for All Seasons.
G is for the Gracious way we all proclaim our birth
I points up the Ideas shared and those we’d like unearthed
R is for Respect we have for every race and creed
L is for our Loyalty to promises we heed
S is for Sincerity of deed and word and mind
C is for the Countless ways in which these are combined
O is Obligation that we owe to fellow man
U means that it’s You who must be first to lend a hand
T is for the Teamwork which has evidenced our growth
I is for Integrity which backs the Girl Scout oath
N is for the Noble way we remember days of old
G is for the Grateful thanks for efforts toward our goal
It all began with a spark of light,
And Juliette led the way.
Today her ideas are glowing bright,
It’s Girl Scouts’ 100th Birthday!
How will you celebrate Girl Scout week?
Silly songs are an important part of Girl Scouts! Girls will remember the silly songs longer than what activities they did to earn any badge! This song really doesn’t have “words” – it is more about hand motions. The cool thing about this song – you can’t mess it up! The troop can create their own hand motions that work for them!
I found a website with the words/hand motions: Scout Songs. Here are the words with some simple motions:
Dum Dum Dada (pat both knees twice, pat right hand on left shoulder twice)
Da Dum dum Dada (pat both knees twice, pat left hand on right shoulder twice)
Da Dum Dum Dada Da Dum (pat both knees twice, pat right hand on left shoulder twice, pat both knees twice, pat left hand on right shoulder twice)
Dum Dum Dada (repeat same motions as above)
Da Dum Dum Dada
Da Dum Dum Dada Da Dum
Dum Dum Dada (pat both knees once, pat right hand on left shoulder once, pat knees once, pat left hand on right shoulder once)
Da Dum Dum Dada (pat both knees once, then pat right hand on left shoulder once, pat knees once, pat left hand on right shoulder once)
Da Dum dum Dada Da Dum (pat both knees once, pat right hand on left shoulder once, pat knees once, pat left hand on right shoulder shoulder once, pat knees once, cross hands and pat knees once, uncross hands, pat knees once, and snap)
Dum Dum Dada (repeat same motions as above)
Da Dum Dum Dada
Da Dum Dum Dada Da Dum
Did you get all that?! If you are like me – I’m a visual learner – I need pictures to go with words! I found a video of some girls doing this song. Their hand motions are different than described above. They also sing it a lot faster. You can slow it down at the beginning and then get faster as you go along!
This song is on the list of songs at the Rock the Mall event in Washington DC on June 9, 2012.
What’s your favorite camp/silly song?
Yours in Scouting!
Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world are getting ready to celebrate World Thinking Day on February 22nd. I found a fun video that showcases the 4 World Centers. Enjoy!
Have you visited one of the World Centers? Tell us about it!
Yours in Scouting!
Girl Scouts wear two pins on their uniforms. The Girl Scout pin everyone recognizes what it is and what it represents. The other pin may be given to girls without any background and they never realize what it represents. The following ceremony can be used at a troop meeting or at a Thinking Day event.
This ceremony explains the meaning of the World pin.
Items Needed: Flannel Board; blue flannel cut into one large circle, two stars, one compass needle; yellow flannel cut into one large trefoil (leaves only), one large circle band (to go around blue circle), one stem (with flames at the base).
Girl #1. What is the World pin?
Leader: It is the pin of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is a symbol that has deep meaning for all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. The symbol also appears on the WAGGGS flag. We are going to construct such a pin. As we do, let us consider very carefully the reason for its color and design. Then we will know how deep a feeling of international friendship it can inspire in us.
Girl #2. Why is the World pin blue? (Put up blue background.)
Leader: The field of bright flue in our pin symbolizes the sky above us all throughout the wide, wide world. We thus carry out the words of Robert Bade-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, who asked us to “Aim high – look wide.”
Girl #3. Why do we have a trefoil in the World pin? (Put up trefoil.)
Leader: On the background of blue, we place a gold trefoil because Girl Guides and Girl Scouts everywhere make a three-part Promise.
Girl #4. There are two stars on the World pin. What does the left star stand for? (Place blue star on trefoil’s left.)
Leader: We place one star at the left – the side of the heart. This star stands for the pledge that all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts try, on their honor, to keep – their Promise.
Girl #5. What does the other star stand for? (Place star on the other side.)
Leader: On the right side, the side of the ready and helping hand, we place the star which stands for our Girl Guide/Girl Scout code of conduct – the Girl Guide/Girl Scout Law.
Girl #6. What does the pointer mean on our World pin? (Place blue compass needle in center of trefoil.)
Leader: We place a compass needle in the center of the gold trefoil, between the safeguards of the Promise and the Law, to serve as a guide pointing the way to the right course in life.
Girl #7. What does the base of the trefoil mean? (Place base on board.)
Leader: At the base of the gold trefoil we place the flame. Its burning stands for the love of humankind and is the true flame of international friendship that burns in all our hearts. May this flame encircle the world with goodwill.
Girl #8. What does the gold circle stand for? (Place gold circle around blue field.)
Leader: This gold band surrounding our pin symbolizes the sun that shines on children all over the world.
Leader: Let us all, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world, keep the meaning of the World pin as our inspiration in all that we do.
You can end your ceremony in a number of way:
Happy World Thinking Day!
More SWAP ideas for World Thinking Day!
AustraliaSkill Level: Daisy – Ambassador
Supplies: Card stock, stickers with animals from Australia, scissors, safety pins
Directions:
Find Australian animal clip art on the internet. Copy onto a document and print onto sticker paper. Cut out animals and place onto card stock. Add troop tag.
IrelandSkill Level: Brownie – Ambassador
Supplies: Fun foam, scissors, stencils, safety pins
Directions:
Using a stencil or other guide, draw a hat in green fun foam and pipe in black fun foam. Cut out. Glue pipe to hat. Add troop tag.
Skill Level: Junior – Ambassador
Supplies: Fun Foam, Print out of words written in Japanese, felt tip markers, safety pins
Directions:
Using the guide, draw different words onto fun foam. Add English version of word also. Add troop tag.
What country did your troop represent this year? What did you do for your SWAP? Please share!
Yours in Scouting!
If you have a booth at a Thinking Day event, you’ll want to share a SWAP, food and maybe even a craft from your country. DLTK’s website has some awesome ideas for food and crafts from a lot of different countries. If you need ideas, check it out.
The craft I’m going to focus on today is one I learned as a child! The craft is Ojo de Dios or God’s Eyes. I didn’t know the background of the craft until recently. In Mexico, the center of the Ojo de Dios is started when the child is born. Each year on the child’s birthday, the father adds to it until the child is 5 years old. At this time, the Ojo de Dios is complete.
Skill Level: Brownies - Ambassadors
Supplies: Yarn, Popsicle sticks (or wooden dowels or sticks from the yard), scissors, glue
Directions:
Variation: For older girls, you can flip the sticks over to create a positive and negative spaces in your God’s Eyes.
What craft will you showcase for your Thinking Day event?
Yours in Scouting!
It’s fun to teach the girls that Girl Scouting is bigger than the United States – there are girls around the world doing some of the same things they are doing. During the month of February it is a perfect time to showcase the Four World Centres.
On a previous post, I showcased the songs for Our Cabana (Mexico) and Our Chalet (Switzerland). In this post, I will focus on the songs for Pax Lodge (England) and Sangam (India).
On the website for Pax Lodge, they have a great story of how the song was written.
Pax Lodge Song
by Julie Felix
We wish you love (We wish you love).
We wish you light (We wish you light).
We wish you colours soft and bright.
We wish you light (We wish you light).
We wish you love (We wish you love).
We wish you peace on the wings of a snow white dove.
CHORUS
CHORUS
© Copyright Julie Felix
Here is a video with the music and words to help you teach the girls.
Here are the words for Sangam:
Sangam Song
Here is a video with the music and words.
Another great song to share and teach girls is The World Song. It would be a great song for a Thinking Day celebration.
Here is the video for this song.
What is your favorite song for World Thinking Day?
Yours in Scouting!
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