Personal hygiene is very important for both children and adults. No one wants to be around a person who smells, even if this person is kind, funny and has a good heart. When I was an elementary school teacher, I always taught my students about good grooming habits, especially during the warm weather months. Since our school building had no air conditioning, after, my classroom remained ripe with the sweat of twenty children who could not find a way to cool off after running around during recess. I gently reminded them that they needed to go home and take a bath or shower and wash their hair so they all smelled better in the morning!
One way to earn the purple Daisy petal, Respect Myself and Others, is to teach your troop about good hygiene. There is a humorous book by Kate Bernheimer entitled The Girl Who Wouldn't Brush Her Hair that will teach your girls all about taking care of themselves.
At the beginning of the story, we meet a little girl who enjoys taking a bath, but does not like to brush her hair because it is "just her way". Soon, knots begin to develop and a mouse decides to live in her hair (like a "rat's nest"). The next day, a few more mice, who tell great knock-knock jokes and have fairy tale books, also move into her hair. Eventually, 100 mice move into her hair!
While she enjoyed the company of the mice, they started to become a bother when she attempted to take a bath. They could not swim so she did not bathe. And we all know what happens when we stop bathing...she became smelly and dirty. She also began to sleep less and less due to the mice.
Eventually, her teacher tells the little girl she has to choose between her favorite baby doll and the mice, since at rest time she could only have one thing with her.
She told the mice they had to go, and then she took a bath, washed her hair and brushed it! The children at school complimented her on her new hair style.
Here is the meeting plan to earn the purple Daisy petal.
1. Ask the children what would happen if they stopped brushing their hair. Then ask what would happen if they stopped taking a bath.
2. Read the story to the girls.
3. Talk about good hygiene and why it is important, even if you do not feel like doing it!
The girls are going to make their own personal hygiene bags. Give each girl one of these bags in which to place their items. You can get small travel size soaps from your friends who travel a lot and have them from hotels or you can ask your doctor's office if they have samples for you to have. You can also ask your dentist for travel size floss and toothpaste for your bags.
These Rat Tail Combs would be a fun addition to the bag.
You can then have the girls do a crazy hair art project. Here is a printable template for you to start with from Artistry of Education. The girls can use crayons to draw crazy hair styles. Then give them each a few of these mouse stickers to put in the hair they drew,
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