Craft

Girl Scout Promise Hands

Have girls trace their hands on construction paper and cut them out, making sure each finger is separate. Print copies of the Promise Trefoil on green construction paper with the paper set at landscape (laying on its

side) with room for the hands next too the trefoils. Girls glue their cut out hands to the paper next to the trefoil folding down their thumb and pinkie finger to

make the Girl Scout sign. Once completed these can either decorate the girls' scrapbooks or be sent home as a way to help the girls practice the Girl Scout Promise.

Promise trefoil

Construction paper

Scissors

promise trefoil.pdf

Trefoil with Girl Scout Promise.pdf 

Promise Center

Craft

Promise Bookmarks

Color and cut out promise bookmarks 

Printouts of promise bookmarks

Crayons

Promise bookmarks.pdf 

Promise Center

Craft

Trefoil Magnets

To help the girls remember the promise, we made trefoil-shaped magnets with the promise written on them so that the girls could post the promise on the fridge and practice it every day.

Green art foam

Print outs of the promise

Glue sticks

Sticky magnets

Promise Center

Type

Activity Descriptions

supplies

Badge

Discussion

Choosing a Journey

Before we begin to talk about and choose our journey, let’s start by talking about all the fun things they’ve done together so far in Girl Scouts. Allow each girl to talk about something that they’ve done so far in your meetings or something they hope to do with the group.

Explain the journeys:

What is so great about water? Lots of things! On the Wonders of Water Journey, we’ll discover all the ways we love water, save water, and share water! We will explore the science of water and how we can share what we know with others. Plus we’ll have a chance to explore the great outdoors!

Stories and clues are everywhere! When we go on the World of Girls Journey, we learn about girls our age, how they are like or unlike us, and how other’s stories can inspire us to make the world better. We might hear stories, change stories, or write our own stories. And at the end, we’ll all have a story to tell about our journey!

Give your stamp of approval: It’s time to give your stamp of approval. Invite the girls to use their stickers to vote for the one(s) they most want to try out first. If you gave them more than one sticker, they can divide their votes based on multiple interests. Or the girls can draw a heart or star or a smiley face on the sheet for the Journey they want tovote for. The Journey with the most votes will be the one the troop begins.

Tally up the votes! : Once all the girls have had a chance to put their stamp on the journey they chose, count up the votes for each one. Once the votes are tallied, the winner can be announced, but also let the girls know, there will be opportunities to choose to learn about other topics, so if their first choice was not selected, there will be times when

the troop will do other things that are of interest to them(Learn more about the ELF friends, take field trips, do artprojects, play games, and earn badges!)

Variation: Journey Quiz

Have the girls fill out a quiz about their interests

Girl Scouts of Western New York 

Sheets with choice

Daisy Journeys Choices for Girls.pdf

Stars

or

Quiz

Journey Quiz.pdf

First Mtg

Craft

Girl Scout Promise Door Hanger

As the girls arrive, give them the required materials.

Cut out the cardstock strips.

Glue one strip to the Popsicle sticks.

Lay the ribbon in an upside down U shape.

In order from top to bottom, glue Popsicle sticks to ribbon.

Allow the glue to dry.

The girls should take them home and hang them on a door, so they can see them daily.

Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania

Ribbon

Popsicle sticks – 14 for each girl

Ribbon – cut into lengths about 2-3 feet long

Scissors

Glue sticks

Cardstock with the Girl Scout law printed on it, one set for each girl

GS law door hanger.pdf 

First Mtg

Craft

Daisy Project

Draw (or copy) a large daisy on white paper for each girl. Ask them to draw a picture of something they would like to do at meetings on each petal. If the girls ask you for suggestions, give them suggestions in several areas by saying, "Draw something that would be fun to do outdoors, or an art project, or learning about people." They can draw their face in the center of the daisy.

Girls can share their Daisies in the closing circle.

Be sure to keep a record of everyone's ideas to help you plan future meetings.

Large Daisy printouts

First Mtg

Craft

Thumbpring Name Tags

Have girls make name tags for themselves

Use daisy name tags link left or

Let each girl make a name tag and decorate with a thumbprint. This is a good experiment that requires just fingers, paint, paper, and a pencil, and demonstrates how a print is made. Even strokes of color are painted over a thumb or finger, which then is pressed carefully on paper without blurring. Girls may need to experiment until they get the right amount of paint. Ask them to "imagine" what the shapes are like and draw additions to the thumbprints. Let them try antlers, tails, legs, or feelers to create whatever they see in the prints. A stamp pad can also be used for these prints, but make sure it has washable ink. Instead of paint, try crayons. They make good prints and are washable, too.

Name tags

String

Paint

Pencils

Wet wipes

First Mtg

Craft

Get to Know Me Necklace

 (directions and details below)

Girls will create bead necklaces with beads representing their interests. Name tags will go on these. If there is time, girls can play a game where they find girls with similar interest.

Revised from: http://sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/2011/07/contest-winner-fun-freebie.html 

Notes:

We used paper bowls for the girls to collect the beads and gave them a bunch of white beads to use to fill in the necklace. We started by having the girls go up and pick out the beads themselves, but there were too many girls and it got chaotic, so we ended up having the rest of the girls in a circle and the leaders and helpers went around the circle asking girls the questions and then giving them beads. Overall, this was a little too complex for the Kindergartener. I liked the outcome and the kids got a kick out of me being able to read their necklaces, but I need to plan a way easier craft next time.

Beads

stretchy string

bowls

printout instructions

Get to know me necklace.pdf 

First Mtg

Game

Ball Name Game

Play a get-acquainted game such as the Ball Toss Name Game. Stand in a circle. Have each person say her name and have the group repeat her name. Start the game by tossing a bean bag, Koosch Ball®, or Nerf Ball® to one person in the group, saying her name as you throw the ball. That person then calls out the name of someone else in the group and

tosses the ball to her. Continue playing until all the girls know each others' names.

ball

First Mtg

Game

Shoe Talk

• ·         Divide the class into 2 groups & give them each 1 trash bag
• ·         Put each group at opposite sides of the room
• ·         Each child takes off 1 shoe & places in the group’s bag
• ·         Swap bags between groups
• ·         Students reach in, grab a shoe, & find their partners
• ·         The student asks a get to know you question
•  

Two large garbage bags

First Mtg

Game

Memory game

One girl says her name and one thing about herself and then the next person around the circle repeats the previous person's name and thing about her and then adds her name and a thing about her. The third person repeats the first two people's names and thing and adds her own and so on.

First Mtg

Game

Line Up!

• ·         All children stand up
• ·         You yell out a category and students line up again the wall if the category applies to them
•  
•  

Variation:Have You Ever

To play Have You Ever, set up a circle of chairs with one fewer chair than the number of children, plus one chair in the center. The person in the center is “it,” and must reveal a piece of information about himself in the form of a question; for example, “Have you ever visited Europe?” Everyone who has this fact in common with “it” must get up and move to another seat, and the person left without a seat becomes the new “It.” The game is most fun (and gets most chaotic) when it's played in large groups.

First Mtg

Game

My Favorite

Instructions:Ask the children to draw, one in each section, their favorite toys, food, person and animal. When they have finished, sit the children in a circle with all the pictures in the center. Can they guess whose is whose?

Variation: Snowball Fight

The snowball fight is a fun way to produce interaction among classmates in an entertaining way. The students either draw themselves or write down facts about themselves and wad the paper into a ball. The teacher says, "Go," and the students have a "snowball" fight with the paper wads.

A minute later, the teacher yells, "Freeze," and the students pick up the nearest paper wad and open it up. They take the next few minutes trying to find out whom theirs belongs to.

Handout

First Mtg

Game

Silly Name Game

The silly name game is a fun way to help students develop their memories while learning the names of their new friends on the first day. Each student chooses a word that starts with the same letter as his first name. For example, Joseph could be Jumping Joseph. Then students take turns saying their name and word out loud for the rest of the class to hear. The students will be laughing and giggling at everyone's silly names in no time.

First Mtg

Game

Introduce Another

During the Introduce Another activity, leaders divide the students into pairs. Give the students a couple of questions to talk about with one another, such as questions about their name, their age, and their family members. Allow students time to talk and get to know each other. After 10 minutes, have each student introduce his partner to the rest of the class. This activity is effective because now every student in the class has a new friend to spend the day with. 

First Mtg

Game

The Empty Chair

In her book, "101 Movement Games for Children," Huberta Wiertsema shares the game called "The Empty Chair." For this game you need chairs for everyone in the group, plus one extra. Arrange all of the chairs in a wide circle, facing inward. The circle needs to be big enough to allow for running. All of the children sit in the chairs and announce their names. Ask the children to repeat the name, if necessary. If there are multiple people with the same name, ask if one uses a nickname or add the first initial of their last names. The child sitting to the right of the empty chair must "slap" the chair and call out a name of one of the children in the circle. The child belonging to that name runs to the empty chair and sits down. The child next to the newly emptied chair calls out a new name and the game continues until everyone's name has been called.

First Mtg

Game

Two Truths and a Lie

To play Two Truths and a Lie, each child in the group must reveal two facts and one made-up statement about himself, without saying which is which. Then the group must guess which statement is false. Two Truths and a Lie works best with smaller groups of kids so the group has more time to spend on guessing, perhaps trying to figure out not only which statement is false but why.

First Mtg

Game

Willoughby Walloughby Woo

A good get-acquainted rhyme/song is "Willoughby Walloughby Woo"

Willoughby Walloughby Woo, an elephant sat on you

Willoughby Walloughby Wee, an elephant sat on me

Willoughby Walloughby "Wecky," an elephant sat on "Becky"

Willoughby Walloughby "Wio," an elephant sat on "Tio," and so on for

each girl

First Mtg

Time

Description

Supplies

Who will lead

Opening Activity

(10 min)

Decorate name tags and snack

Let each girl make a name tag and decorate with crayons and markers.

Notes:

We had the girls write their own names, but some were hard to read.  Next time I might pre print the names.

Crayons

Markers

Name tags

Circle

(10 min)

• Take attendance.
•  Teach the quiet sign. 
•  Talk about what Girl Scouts is about.
•  Say the Pledge of Allegiance.
•  Teach the Girl Scout sign and promise.  Talk about what it means. 

Form a “Group Agreement” with the girls. Have them make suggestions about positive rules about how they should behave while at their meetings - such as bathroom permission and staying in the room, walking and not running, etc. The buddy system is always used. Girls must have a buddy when leaving the regular meeting location, even if it’s to get a drink or use the restroom. These buddies are responsible for staying together.  Let the girls decide on consequences. An example is on the first time: the girl is reminded of the rule, the second time she sit out of an activity, the third time she take a note home to parents, and finally she misses one meeting.

Activity

(25 min)

Get to Know Me Necklace (directions and details below)

Girls will create bead necklaces with beads representing their interests. Name tags will go on these.  If there is time, girls can play a game where they find girls with similar interest.

Revised from: http://sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/2011/07/contest-winner-fun-freebie.html

Notes:

We used paper bowls for the girls to collect the beads and gave them a bunch of white beads to use to fill in the necklace.  We started by having the girls go up and pick out the beads themselves, but there were too many girls and it got chaotic, so we ended up having the rest of the girls in a circle and the leaders and helpers went around the circle asking girls the questions and then giving them beads.  Overall, this was a little too complex for the Kindergartener.  I liked the outcome and the kids got a kick out of me being able to read their necklaces, but I need to plan a way easier craft next time.

Beads

stretchy string

bowls

printout instructions

Game

(5 min)

Play a get-acquainted game

Ball Toss Name Game

• Stand in a circle.  Have each person say her name and have the group repeat her name.  
• Start the game by tossing a ball to one person in the group, saying her name as you throw the ball.  
• That person then calls out the name of someone else in the group and tosses the ball to her.  Continue playing until all the girls know each others' names. 

Notes:

We planned on having more time for games, but the craft took longer that we thought it would. 

This game was fun and the kids liked it.   We had a big group and they hadn’t learned each others names yet, so we skipped the calling out their names and just had them roll it to someone and that person said their name.  We had the girls who had gotten the ball put their knees up, so that we could tell who needed a turn.

ball

Clean up

(5 min)

Closing

(5 min)

Teach the friendship circle, sing make new friends, and do a friendship squeeze.