Glo Run

Every year our military base offers a free Glo Run during Military Appreciation month. This year we decided to brave the cold and make it a troop event. We had some girls from our Daisy and Brownie troops show up and they had a blast! We purchased all types of glow sticks from the dollar store and we also brought canned food donations which earned us more glowsticks. Our scouts nearly ran most of the two mile run and were still full of energy as we sat down and waited to get our free pizza. I am so glad we decided to make this a troop event, because I sure this is one they'll remember for the rest of the year!

Service Unit Event: FROG Dance

 Our Service Unit is predominately scouts who come from military families so having a FROG (Father, Relative or Other Guy Dance) is definitely something that is very special to our girls. I will admit that I got very emotional seeing my Daisy and Brownie dancing with their dad as I volunteered at the dance because we were very grateful that he was here this year and not deployed and was able to attend. Some of our other scouts weren't as lucky, but we're fortunate enough to have grandpas, other dads or brothers step up and be their dates. It was night full of dancing and they even had a knighting ceremony. 

Spooky STEM Monday

One of my all time favorite monthly events is our STEM Mondays. In September the girls made exploding rainbows, used straws and connectors and teamwork to build and use cut out tangram pieces to make tangram art. For the month of October, we wanted to stick with a Halloween them, so we had the girls make self-inflating ghosts (balloons with ghost faces, vinegar and baking soda) and they made their own homemade slime. Then while they had their snack outside we had an oozing pumpkin! Not only is this a great opportunity for our Daisies and Brownies to work together, but they also get to see how much science, technology, engineering and math projects can be! 

Sister Troops Event: Bonfire

 

We are definitely fortunate to have such an awesome sisterhood with our sister troops. Our Daisy, Brownie and Junior troop got together for a Back to Troop Bonfire at our Girl Scout Little House. The girls kicked off the night by roasting marshmallows at the fire pit and making s'mores.

After s'mores we played a few games and had some of our scouts teach the girls

some new songs. Then we had the girls split into ten groups (each group had a Daisy, a Brownie and a Junior) and they all picked a part of the Girl Scout Law and had to come up with a skit to perform in front of all the girls. After each girl performed their skit the other Girl Scouts had to guess which part of the law they had. This was definitely a great way for our scouts to remember the petals/Girl Scout law.

While we waited for parents to come and pick up the girls, one of our troop leaders got them together and they came up with a funny story -- each girl had to add on a part of the story. It was definitely interesting to see what they could come up with!

We cannot wait for our next Sister Troop event.

Farm Tour

During one of our Service Unit meetings we heard so many rave reviews about a local farm tour that we decided to take our troop and their families on a tour there before they stopped giving tours until spring. Our girls enjoyed learning about the process they go through to make the milk and butter and they especially loved seeing the newborn baby calfs and then going to pet the older cows. After their tour they were treated to milk samples and a soft serve. This was definitely a fun family event and our girls retained so much information and definitely impressed with their "pop quiz" at the end of the tour. 

Daisy Troop: Friendly & Helpful Petal

Our friendly and helpful petal activity was probably one of the girls' favorites so far. We had the girls help their Daisy sisters paint their hands. Once their hands were painted they had to leave a handprint on their friendly and helpful cards. Their cards said "a friendly and helpful Daisy was here". The girls were instructed to leave their cards at home or at school when they felt they did something that was friendly and helpful without being told to them. The next meeting we discussed what type of things they did :)

Brownies Fall Camp

In May, we ended our Girl Scout season with an overnight at camp and we had enough remaining camp credit that we were able to kick off our new Girl Scout year with another overnight at camp.

 Our camps are always Girl Led with adult supervision. Our Brownies and Daisy tags were responsible for their belongings, the cooking, serving and cleaning. Our new camp volunteers probably did not expect how independent we require the girls to be.

Our first night of camp it stormed for a little while so after dinner we spent the night having the girls make dreamcatchers and they had a lava lamp STEM project. Once the rain passed, they were also able to go on a mini night hike before we spent the remainder of the night around the campfire roasting s'mores.

We had a great menu this year and the girls were able to do a lot more cooking in the kitchen. Usually when the weather permits it, we have the girls cook at the campfire, but since it stormed we ended up utilizing the kitchen more this year.
My two favorite items on the menu were nachos and pancakes! Yum!

Our second day at camp the girls hiked to the vehicles at the parking lot and loaded their belongings and then we took our annual picture by the camp signs. After that we had them make a circle around the flag pole and say the Pledge of Allegiance and Girl Scout promise.

We spent the remainder of our day at the camp's splashpark (which I'm sure was one of the girls' favorite activities) before we all made our way back home. After fall sales we have learned that the troop made enough camp credit for another overnighter and to think they'll still earn credit after cookie sales. Sounds like our troop will be camping a lot this year!

Update

My, oh, my!

I really thought I would have the time to keep up with this blog, but apparently I am the type to overbook our schedules and with Girl Scouts and soccer three times a week plus work I think I met my match.

Now that soccer season is over, I can finally play catch up on this blog.
Be prepared for a dozen posts of all the fun events we have done throughout the months of September and October.

Promise Center Achievement

Our Daisy troop is going to have a little ceremony at the end of our meeting where we will take the time to hand out certificates to all of our Daisies for earning their Promise Center. Half of our girls already have certificates from our Growing Daisies event, but I wanted them to have a special certificate from our troop as well.

We have one second-year Daisy in our troop, so she will be the one handing them their certificates and doing the Girl Scout Handshake with them. 

I found this certificate on Pinterest. The original had a different type of font that I didn't care for so I cut all the text out and replaced it with two KG fonts that I adore.

Brownie Troop

All of my recent posts have been about our new Daisy troop, but here's one of the little gift we have for our Brownies tomorrow. Our troop funds purchased their journey book for them (they will be working on A World of Girls journey and I custom made some dollar store dry erase boards for them.

Board Games & Pajamas Day!

We couldn't think of a better way to introduce the girls to their first petal (Honest and Fair) than with a Board Games & Pajamas Day!

Like we do for our regular meetings we had the girls pull a colored bracelet out of a bag when they walked into the room to determine which table they would sit at. We're hoping that this a way that will allow them to meet new friends throughout the year :)

Then we had the girls recite the Girl Scout promise (because routine with this age group is key!). Then we started discussing with them what they thought Honest and Fair meant. We followed up with asking them how they could practice being Honest and Fair while playing board games with their Girl Scout sisters.

We had four different tables set up with different board games. For this event and age group we chose: Candyland, Hedbanz, Zingo and Chutes & Ladders. Myself and my co-leader helped out at two games that we thought the girls couldn't play without a little assistance and we always have a little Brownie help (a sister to our Daisy) who helped the group that she tagged along with.

Half way through our event we let the girls have a snack (best time to start buying snacks since it's nearly Halloween and they offer everything in small portions!). Then we followed up with a group potty break.

After that, we had another hour of playing. We wrapped up 15 minutes before pick up time. We had each girl tell us an example from their games of someone being honest and fair. Some of our girls were able to give us specific details including names and what they did, while others said that everyone they played with were being honest and fair. 

Then we got them all together to do a friendship circle and sent them home with a fun patch to go on their new uniforms that they all received at today's event.

Now we just have to think quickly of something else to do at our next meeting that also relates to the Honest & Fair petal!

First Troop Event

We had our first troop event today and it was a success. Since we don't have any funds, we need to keep it simple for the first couple months. We decided to have a Daisy Movie Day at our local USO, which is free to rent.

At our first meeting, our girls voted on their movie (Frozen won!) and the treats that they would like to have at their event. We made a concession stand, similar to one I saw on pinterest, and bought some popcorn, a variety of drinks and lots of candy. We also printed out some "daisy bucks" for the girls to spend.

We gave each girl $5 in Daisy Bucks, so they had to practice managing their money. We also made movie tickets for them. The girls were responsible for making sure they didn't lose their movie tickets before they entered the "movie theater". They also got to bring home the movie tickets as souvenirs and they earned their first fun patch :)

Can't wait for our next event!

First Meeting

KAPER CHART

I may have had a little too much fun preparing for our first Daisy meeting.  I saw a bunch of cute kaper charts online and used some ideas from various ones to make our board. The Girl Scout Daisies have each of our twelve girls' names on them and they can be moved around to different flower pots (all of which have different jobs). We added an American flag, The Pledge of Allegiance, the Girl Scout Law and the Girl Scout promise, which are all used for the opening of our troop meeting.

OUR FIRST MEETING
As the girls started to arrive they each pulled a colored bracelet from our crate. We had three tables each with a colored flower (green, yellow and pink). The color of the bracelet determined the table that they would be sitting on for that meeting and who their bathroom buddies would be.

Next, they had two coloring sheets for them to color on while they waited for their Girl Scout sisters to arrive.

Our next activity was an ice breaker. We purchased a ball from the dollar store and wrote simple questions all over it (i.e. favorite candy, what do you want to be when you grow up, something fun you did over the summer). We had the girls pass the ball to each other; when they caught the ball they told us their name and they answered the question that their hands landed on. It was a fun way to learn a little bit about each girl.

I should note that it took the girls about 10 minutes to have a bathroom break before the ice breaker, so I would suggest letting all your parents know that they should have their daughters use the bathroom before the meeting starts.

After our ice breaker, we came in to do our opening ceremonies for our meeting. After that, we started our Daisy Circle for troop business. For this first meeting we voted on the movie for our upcoming "Drive In" movie night as well as the concessions. No surprise, Frozen is their movie of choice!

The next activity was did was a Girl Scout law bracelet. We purchased a bag of pony beads from the dollar store (which had each of the petals colors except for the dark purple which we bought at Walmart). We had the girls put on the beads one by one and told them what each color of the petal stood for as we put them on their bracelets. We lucked out and had two parents who stuck around to help the girls tie on and clip the ends of their bracelets.

I thought we wouldn't have enough activities for our first meeting and to my surprise we were running behind schedule.

We had to have our girls quickly hand out drinks and cupcakes, we sang Happy Birthday to our Girl Scout sisters who had summer birthdays and faster than we know it we were having the girls line up to go outside. We handed their binders to their parents since we were running behind schedule and we gave out Birthday in Bag to our summer birthday girls (this included a box of funfetti cake mix, funfetti happy birthday icing and a happy birthday patch from Snappy Logos).

Next meeting we will practice better time management and we will have our snack outside if the weather permits it. Our Brownie troop meets right after, so I felt bad that I cut into their time. Otherwise, the girls had fun and they were well behaved and they participated so I think our first meeting wasn't too bad :)

Now to start working on our concession stand for our first troop event!

Parent Meeting

We put together a handbook for our parents. I found the initial version online, and tweaked it a little to be more applicable to our Council, Service Unit and Troop. You can access it here.

We met half of our parents at our Service Unit's Growing Daisy program, so they actually received their handbook prior to our parent meeting and we had them fill out the Daisy Information Sheet so we had an easy way to remember their contact information.

Here's our outline for our parent meeting:

Parent Meeting

• Introductions 
• Leader Introductions
• Service Unit Information
• Troop Meeting Date/Time/Location
• Uniforms
• No dues, so parents are responsible for purchasing uniforms
• Give Daisy petal set to the leaders for us to hand out to the girls as each petal is earned
• Financial Assistance available for those who may need it
• Forms (Amanda)
• Daisy Information Sheet
• on the back under special info: please let us know if there are any holidays that your family does not celebrate
• All About Me Sheet
• fill out with your daughters at home and have them bring it to the first meeting
• Health History
• it is important to list all allergies and to keep us updated if there are any changes to your child’s health
• Parent Involvement Form
• successful troops have great parent participation
• Photo Release Form
• Allows us to post any pictures on our Facebook group, our Service Unit Facebook group and the Council Facebook page/website
• Snack Sign Up Sheet
• Petal Work
• The first few months of meetings and extra curricular activities will be set around the Daisy Petals
• There are 10 petals that the girls will earn
• STEM Mondays
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
• The girls will choose in advance what type of STEM activities they would like to work on
• Important because women are underrepresented in these fields
• Attend 3 STEM Mondays to earn a fun patch
• Calendar
• Service Unit Events
• Events that we are invited to participate in with all the other troops
• Troop Events
• Events designated for our troop only
• We will have the girls decide on what type of outside activities, events and field trips they would like to participate in
• Some may be open to scouts and their families
• Product Sales Information
• Candy, Nut and Magazines Sales
• Girls can start selling today if parent permission slip is turned in
• We ask that parents do not advertise on online sites (Craigslist or Fort Riley Sales page) but they can post about it on their personal facebook
• Girls will turn in order forms by [Insert Date]
• Products will be distributed to the girls between [Insert Date]
• All products can purchased online, but they will have to pay a shipping fee
• Have all girls fill out the address forms which will provide $2.50 per booklet
• Cookie Sales
• Order taking will start January 1st
• Only two weeks of booth sales this year!
•  Questions?

It's Nearly Time

I've been busy these past few weeks volunteering at all of our recruiting events. We have so many new Girl Scouts this year! I initially planned on having a troop of 10, but we added a few more Daisies who requested to be in our troop.

This weekend is our Daisy parent meeting and our first troop meeting is just around the corner! On top of all of that, we've started Fall Sales. We've also already planned a "drive in" movie night and a board game and pajamas event to get the Daisies through the first month, they'll start their own activity planning at the first meeting.

Our Brownie troop is getting ready to do some Fall camping and I'm excited to see what other activities the girls would like to do this year.

I'm a little sad that I'll only have five months with our scouts, but I am looking forward to hopefully starting a new troop or joining an existing one back home in Hawai'i as soon as we're settled in right before cookie season. I can only imagine how successful the girls will be during cookie season back home since we have so many family and friends!

Hope you're all having fun planning for your scouting year!

Daisy Binders

I know that they do not encourage leaders to ever pay out of pocket for anything, but I couldn't resist. After skimming through our own copies of the Daisy's Girl Guide to Scouting binders, we have opted not to have our parents purchase them for their daughters. Instead, I bought some blue 1/2" binders on sale and used my Silhouette Cameo and some Oracal 651 vinyl to customize their binders. These will be given to the girls at their first meeting and has all the information they (and their parents) will need! They will also be responsible for bringing them to every meeting. 

So far in their binders I have included:

• Troop Overview Calendar (I use this calendar to list every meeting and which specific petal we are working on during that meeting/STEM days we have)
• Troop Snack Schedule
• Troop Monthly Calendar (this calendar lists our meetings, holidays, troop and service unit events, as well as the dates that they have off of school. I have August - December created on my macbook as of right now, but will probably only include two months at a time in their binders because the girls will have to decide which activities they would like to do/participate in)
• What Daisies Do Information Sheet
• Girl Scout Daisy Uniform Layout
• Daisy Awards Chart (I previously found this online, but lost the URL, so I have uploaded it for you. This is the same award tracker that can be found in the Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting).

We will also have a section for all of their petal work and songs.

*** Fashionable Moms is a great resource for Girl Scout printables and my go to website for all my calendars! Girl Scout Daisy Jumpstart Guide is a great source for information you may need as a leader or can be used as informational handouts for your parent meeting.

Organization is Key

After meeting with my co-leader today, I was finally able to finally start putting our binders together!

The first page in my binder is our Troop Roster form provided by our Council.

My dividers in the binder are:

- One for each of our twelve girls

- Meetings

- Petal Work

- Songs

- Service Unit Events

- Permission Slips

- Product Sales

- Blank Forms

In each of the girl's sections I have included (click on links to view/download forms):

- Daisy Insignia Record

- Daisy Information Sheet (my own creation)

- All About Me Sheet (I found this as an image online, so I have uploaded a .PDF version)

- Health History Form (Council Website)

- Parent Involvement Form (Council Website)

- Photo Release Form (Council Website)

*** all of these forms will be given to the parents at our Parent Meeting for them to fill out and then will be filed back into my binder for easy access.

First Year Leader

This is going to be my first year as a Daisy troop leader.

I had such a great time volunteering with my oldest daughter's Daisy troop last year as a co-leader and Cookie Mom, that I decided to start a new Daisy troop this upcoming scouting season. My older daughter bridged to a Brownie and my youngest daughter is entering Kindergarten and will be a first year Daisy.

I've spent the summer on Pinterest and on google searching for ideas. I've also been a volunteer/parent for our Service Unit's Growing Daisies program, so I have come across so many resources to help me with my planning.

Since I have such a vast amount of new resources and ideas, I wanted to have a page where I can share all of my favorites that I have found, as well as my own ideas and creations. I also figured this would be an awesome way to document my first year as a Daisy leader and another year as a co-leader with our Brownie troop.

I am so excited to start our scouting season. I have an awesome co-leader, who was also a volunteer in our Daisy troop from last year. I already know half of the scouts who will be in our troop, and will have interacted with the other half during our Growing Daisies program.

I have high hopes for our troop.

I don't want our troop to place an emphasis arts & crafts. I definitely want to incorporate as much community service as we can. I've already sent many e-mails to various organizations in the area to find as many community service opportunities as possible. I've realized that many organizations do not have any opportunities for young children unless you have a 1:1 adult and girl ratio because they do not want to be held liable for any accidents, but many organizations are willing to find or create easier tasks for young children if you reach out to them.

I also want our troop to incorporate a lot of outside of meeting activities (trips, educational programs, fun recreational events and family fun days).  I am also excited to announce that our troop will have a monthly event called STEM Mondays. On this meeting date we will spend the entire meeting time strictly on science, technology, engineering or math projects. We will also have a strong bond with our sister troops (my other daughter's Brownie troop and also a new Junior troop that will be led by another one of our volunteer moms from last year).

In the end, I hope that my scouts will end their first year as Daisies with confidence and the ability to lead. I've seen the positive influence that Girl Scouts has had on both of my daughters, even with my youngest one only experiencing Girl Scouts as a tag. I hope my scouts will leave feeling the same way as my daughters; inspired and excited to continue on in Girl Scouts.