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Updated October 2019
You did it super leader! You managed to get through your first year of Daisy Scouts and do all of the petals and the blue Promise Center. Now that you are a veteran, what are you going to do with your Daisy troop for your second year?
For some leaders, they may try to do all three Journeys to have the troop earn their Summit Award. Others may want to try one Journey to test it out and add other things to the program as the year progresses.
Just as in my article Daisy Meeting Ideas for September to December, feel free to change or move around the meetings to fit your schedule. Nothing is set in stone! If you do have a mixed group of old and new girls, try integrating your activities so that they align with a Daisy petal. Repeating petals is not a bad thing, but the way you do it needs to be fresh and new for those who have learned them already. Reinforcement is a good thing.
Image by Hannah Gold
Your First Daisy Girl Scout Meeting of the Year
For some of your girls it is "Welcome back!", but for others, it may be their very first Daisy Girl Scout meeting. It is a good idea to start the meeting more non-traditionally so the new girls know what to expect. Ice breakers are also fun for those who know each other from the previous year, because they may not have seen each other over the summer. You might want to try an ice breaker activity as the girls sit in a circle.
Here is a resource of four pages full of ice breaker games. You know your girls best, so see which one will work for you. After you have done your Ice Breaker game, it is time for the Pledge of Allegiance, Girl Scout Law, and Girl Scout Promise.
Now it is time to break out your Kaper Chart and explain what the jobs are, how they are done, and how often you will rotate them. Then give each girl a job.
Your co-leader and you will want to talk about the things the girls did last year and what they want to do this year. What are their goals?
Next you can review the Girl Scout Promise with this craft activity.
Materials
Girl Scout Law Printed on cardstock (Small sized. Check out these images)
Safety Pins
Gimp
Pony Beads
Before the meeting, you will need to print the Girl Scout Law cards out. You can use contact paper to laminate them if you wish. If you do not laminate them, use a small hole puncher to make a hole for the safety pin.
You will also need to cut the gimp into 5-6 inch lengths and put a knot at the bottom.
To make life easier for the girls, create your own craft kit and separate the pony beads into the colors you nee. Place these in a snack sized baggie with the gimp and card. After the girls are done beading, knot the end for them on the safety pin and attach to the card. The girls now have something they can pin to their Responsibility bags.
Your Second Daisy Girl Scout Meeting of the Year
This is the perfect opportunity to practice a short Rededication and/or Investiture ceremony. For investitures, please see this blog post on the different things you can do. Resources for Rededication can be found here and here. Remember to keep it short and simple and to inform the parents ahead of time when the ceremony will be.
Since you want to keep the girls interested and motivated, break the meeting up into five segments:
- Your usual opening
- Rehearsal
- Craft
- Rehearsal
- Closing for meeting
Your craft is an easy one.
Materials
Invitation you created
Crayons
Find an image of a Daisy petal to color in and cut and paste it to a blank page on your computer. Type in "You're Invited to Troop 12345's Rededication and Investiture Ceremony". Add the details and print several extra copies just in case (this is always best practice). You can resend this document in emails to parents and/or place it on your troop Facebook page or Shutterfly account.
The girls can color the page and hand it to their parents at pick up time.
Your Third Daisy Girl Scout Meeting of the Year
Today is the day for your Rededication/Investiture ceremony. You will have to decide whether or not you want this to take place first thing or as your final activity. If you do it at the end, you have a chance to practice one more time!
Either way, you will need something to do with your girls. Here is an easy craft.
Materials
Foam Daisy shapes
Glitter foam stickers (or other stickers of your choice)
Peel and stick rhinestones
Dowels
Thin markers
Masking tape or duct tape
Have the girls write their name on the front of the flower and then decorate it with stickers and rhinestones. When they are done, your co-leader or you can tape the dowel to the back.
Your Fourth Daisy Girl Scout Meeting
Celebrate Founder's Day
Now that you are in the month of October, at some point toward the end you will can have a meeting that is a service project for Juliette Gordon Low's birthday (which is October 31st). Doing a service project covers several of the petals:
Friendly and Helpful
Considerate and Caring
Responsible for what I say and do
Make the world a better place
At the start of the meeting you can talk about these parts of the Girl Scout Law and how it ties into today's project.
Share with the girls the story of who Juliette Gordon Low was and why she was courageous and strong for starting the Girl Scout movement. Because she wanted to help girls develop all kinds of skills, this was a service. She was inclusive.
Because the girls are young and the Halloween spirit is in the air, you can do this simple project. Be sure to find an organization that will be wanting to accept your donations.
Materials
Large plastic orange drinking cups
Face stickers
Orange tissue paper
Curling ribbon
Candy
Printable Halloween gift tags
Have the girls make faces on the orange cup. Have them add candy and help them put the candy and treats into the cellophane bag. Tie with ribbon and add the gift tag. The girls can write on it "Happy Halloween" or "Enjoy these treats". You can find free printable Halloween gift tags here at Print This Today's website.
When you are done, sing "Happy Birthday" and serve cupcakes to your girls.
Your Fifth Daisy Girl Scout Meeting
Plan a Field Trip
If you live in a climate where winter is harsh, this is the perfect opportunity to take a field trip. You can go over the "Respect Authority" petal by visiting the police station or fire station. If you visited one last year, then go to the other this year. These are free and it is important for children to learn about their helpful community helpers.
If you do not want to go on a field trip, then you can teach your girls about Veteran's Day, which ties into being Courageous and Strong.
Materials
Hero Mom book
Markers
Scissors
Ask the girls if they know anyone serving or who has served in the military. Talk about Veteran's Day and why we honor our military men and women. Then read the book Hero Mom and make cards to send to Veterans either overseas or to send to a local VA hospital. The printable cards are free to download at Project Nursery. More Veteran's Day ideas that are free to download can be found at A Cupcake for the Teacher.
Your Sixth Daisy Girl Scout Meeting
The Thanksgiving holiday is fast approaching. You can do this meeting three different ways.
1. Focus on a service project
2. Focus on doing fun Thanksgiving activities
3. Do a mix of 1 and 2
I am a huge believer in the community service aspect of Girl Scouts. Growing courageous, compassionate and caring children is a role that we leaders play. It is a huge part of who Juliette Gordon Low was. She did not start Girl Scouts so troops could sell cookies and do crafts...she started it so girls could could grow intellectually and learn things that they ordinarily would not given the mores of her time.
According the Girls Scouts of the USA website:
"...just like Girl Scouts across the country and around the globe today, they offered a helping hand to those in need and worked together to improve their corner of the world."
With Thanksgiving around the corner, now is the time to do a service project to help others in need.
Find a need in your community and see how your girls can fulfill it. Collaborate with a house of worship or your school to organize:
A gently used coat drive
A new hat, glove, and scarf drive
A canned food drive
A slipper drive
Or you can have each girl bring in one of the following items and make a big bag of Thanksgiving foods to donate to a family in need. The girls can make pictures or cards that go inside.
Some items to put in the bag or basket are:
Canned corn
Canned string beans
Canned peas
Pumpkin bread mix
Corn bread mix
Canned apples
Canned cranberry sauce
Canned turkey gravy
Jar of applesauce
Box of Bisquick for making biscuits
Box of brownie or cookie mix
Supermarket gift card so the family can buy a turkey
*You can add additional optional items for the basket or use doubles of some like the canned corn.
For the cards, you can use fall stickers like these:
Your Seventh Daisy Girl Scout Meeting
Photo from Pixabay
For this meeting, your troop can earn the Daisy Girl Scout Safety Award. This can tie in with the orange Daisy petal, Responsible for What I Say and Do. There are three components to earning this award:
1. Understand what to do if you get lost. Know your phone number, address, and who it's safe to ask for help (police officer, teacher, person in charge).
2. Find out what you should do if you or a friend is choking.
3. Learn how to do "Stop, Drop, and Roll" if your clothing catches on fire.
Activities for Part 1
Ask the girls if they had ever gotten lost. Tell them if it happens to them, they should try to find a grown up in a uniform. If they are in a store, they should find someone with a store name tag on them or go to a customer service/check out desk.
Then hand out one of these free printable worksheets about knowing their personal information. If a girl does not know her phone number, please let the parents know at the end of the meeting. This is an important thing for them to know.
If you have a play cell phone, the girls can practice dialing the phone number on it. They can also practice dialing 911.
Activities for Part 2
At Girl Scout Leader 101, Lora Brinkman shares her idea for this activity. Be sure to find a huge stuffed animal for this.
Activities for Part 3
Children learn in school about fire safety and the term, "Stop, Drop and Roll". You can start this part of the meeting by reading this book to the girls.
After listening to the book, have the girls demonstrate the procedure. If you have time, here are some free Fire Safety crafts that you can do with your girls to close out the meeting.
Another thing you can do is learn this easy Stop, Drop and Roll song. Scroll to the middle of the blog post. It is sung to the tune of "Three Blind Mice".
If you have time, print out this coloring page for the girls to do to calm them down after rolling on the floor.
Your Eighth Daisy Girl Scout Meeting
It is that time of year that the girls are giddy with the holiday spirit...and maybe you are feeling a bit of that Mom stress that happens to so many this time of year. There are expectations, obligations, and the time crunch seems to come faster and faster.
As I have discussed in previous blog posts about celebrating the December holidays, this is an area that you need to tread lightly. If you have a diverse group of girls, best practice is to do non-denominational winter crafts like the ones below. They ready for you to do with no prep work at all. The girls get to take something home from your celebration.
Another fun thing to do is play Minute to Win it Games like the ones here.
After the meeting is over, sit back, relax and enjoy your well deserved time off.
