World Thinking Day Stickers

Daisy leaders, you know as well as I do that children love stickers! As a teacher, it always amazes me how the power of a colorful, sticky piece of paper is something that will motivate youngsters to do what you want them to do and to achieve your desired results.

For this World Thinking Day, you Daisy Scouts would love to have a sticker to commemorate the occasion.  

This one is from Dazzle and it contains 20 stickers per sheet for the smaller stickers and there are 6 for the larger size. It is available in glossy or matte finishes.

World Thinking Day Sticker by TodaysEvent
Make stickers online at zazzle.com

It is also available in round or square pins as well.

How to Earn the Orange Daisy Petal With a Chore Chart

Being responsible is a part of growing up. We are not doing our children a favor by doing everything for them.  When I taught public school, year after year I was constantly amazed at how many children were not responsible for any chores around the house, not even making their own beds.  While in my classroom, they enjoyed organizing, prepping  and cleaning up.  They thought it was fun!

Taking care of pets, setting the table for dinner, and making her own bed are chores that kindergarten and first grade Daisy Girl Scouts can easily do. Children love to be helpful, as it makes them feel more grown up.  It also gives them a feeling of pride and accomplishment to say, "I did it myself!".  Here is a lesson plan for helping your girls earn the orange Daisy petal "Responsible for What I Say and Do".

Remember to get volunteers! Because you will be using dry erase marker, you will need some help as the girls are doing this activity. Ask a parent or member of an older Girl Scout troop to assist you.

Materials You Will Need to Earn the Orange Daisy Petal

Be sure to get everything together before your meeting!

Items you will need for this meeting:

• Dry erase poster board
• Sharpie markers
• Rulers
• Stickers
• Magnet strips
• Extra volunteers
• Optional: Book about being responsible, wallet size photo of each girl to be brought to the meeting, glue sticks

I Am Responsible (Kids of Character) from Amazon

Getting Started

After you have recited the Pledge of Allegiance, the Girl Scout Law and the Girl Scout Promise, it is time to begin your meeting.  You can ask the girls what the word responsible means.  If you have access to a white board, you can use tally marks or numbers to keep track of the responses to the following questions.

Ask the girls if they have any pets and what chores they are responsible for their pets' care (walking the dog, putting out water for the cat, feeding the fish). 

Then ask if they have to make their bed, set the table or clear the table.

Ask what else they are required to do at home.

Once you have all of the responses, talk about personal responsibility. Things like taking a bath or shower, brushing your teeth and hair, and eating right are all part of respecting ourselves and being responsible.

At this point, you can choose to read a book about responsibility or go right to the activity.

Set an Example

It is always best to have a sample project completed for the girls to see. They need a visual and you need to be sure each step is doable for young children.

11 x 14 dry erase poster board from Amazon

The Orange Daisy Petal Activity

Each girl is going to get her own piece of dry erase poster board.  At the top, have her write____________'s Chores with a permanent marker.  Make sure all girls have done this step before moving on to the next.

Then have her write the number "1" and draw a line after it with the ruler. Repeat for up to four chores.

They will leave the lines blank, so they can write in dry erase markers new chores to do at home each week.

Have the girls glue their wallet sized photo in one of the corners of the paper. 

Then they can decorate it with the stickers you have purchased.

When all decorating is done, give each girl two magnetic strips to place on the back.

What is the Girl Scout Slogan? A Great Opening for Your Meeting!

Many people are familiar with the Girl Scout motto "Be Prepared". But are you familiar with the Girl Scout slogan?

"Do a good turn daily" is the slogan that girls are taught when they are just beginning their scouting adventure. It has been a part of the organization since its inception in 1912, when Juliette Gordon Low founded it in Savannah, Georgia.

What it means is that girls should do something good for someone else each and every day. When they are younger, it can be as simple as helping a parent without having been asked or sharing a box of crayons with a friend who forgot hers. As they get older, the things they can do to "do a good turn" can be simple or far more complex, like starting their own community service project or volunteering their time at an animal shelter.

The Girl Scout slogan is really something every person, regardless of whether they are a scout or not, should do every day.

Photo from pixabay.com

For younger Girl Scouts, one way to start a meeting while you are waiting for everyone to arrive is to ask the girls what they did to "do a good turn".  The girls can sit in a circle while you or or co-leader leads the discussion.  In fact, this is a good job to switch off at meetings as you get to know your girls a little bit better by getting a glimpse into their lives. 

The key to not having this turn into a gab fest is to set limits. You may want to pass along a special stuffed toy that is your troop mascot, and whomever is holding the toy "has the floor" (a great term to teach younger girls!).  This child can tell ONE THING that she did since you last met that was a good deed.

Do not feel badly if a child goes on and on and needs to be cut off.  As a teacher, I always have at least one child every year who can tell quite a long story. It is important to emphasize keeping it short and sweet and letting the talkative child know that it is time for the next girl to share. She can tell you more later in the meeting one on one during the activity time.

Then she passes the stuffed toy to the next child. A girl does not have to share, she can pass. 

What have you done to "do a good turn" today?