Vi: Be A Sister to Every Girl Scout - Violet Petal

Welcome to the Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting!  The main focus of this book for our first and second year girls is the Daisy Petal Patch.  Unlike the badge work for older girls, there are not a whole heck of a lot of guidelines for the petal patches.

Petal Activity #1: Enjoy Vi’s Story and talk about it
Vi's story is in the Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting.  Vi the Violet is the tenth petal of ten that you will learn about in this guide.  Vi's petal is about learning what being courageous and strong means.  If you don't the Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, you can hear it read here by Troop #5007.
Other appropriate books to enjoy and discuss in lieu of Vi's story:

Read Everybody Bakes Bread, by Norah Dooley

Elana's Ears, by Gloria Roth Lowell

How I Became the Best Big Sister in the World by Gloria Roth Lowell

Petal Activity #2:  Make a mural from girls around the world

For this part of this petal, we wanted something that was more tangible, that each girl could take home.  We made *word* murals!

Supplies: 


Heart Frame
Cardstock
Scissors
Sharpies
Compliment List (in case anyone hits a roadblock)

1.  Give each girl a piece of cardstock and a scissors.  I like to randomly hand out different colors, but some may prefer to use just one color - perhaps blue for daisy.  
2.  Have each girl cut a square of cardstock to size for her frame, and insert it. 
3.  These frames have no glass, or any plastic, so no need to remove anything.  Each girl will need a sharpie, and they will go around/interact yearbook style.  They need to write on each girls heart - ONE - word that best describes this friend.  
4.  When they are done writing, the girls can decorate their frames and read what their friends wrote about them.

This is an incredibly affirming activity for little girls, and it really bolsters them to hear all the good things about themselves.  My girls were almost preening at the end of this activity!

Petal Activity #3:  Practice being a sister to every girl scout

There are lots of activities and ways to fulfill this step, but what we did was a pen pal project with another troop.  We were in Nebraska, and we connected with a troop that was in Georgia.  Each of my girls filled out this simple and *free* pen pal template.

**Get the template FREE here!**

 
This pen pal letter guides the littlest ladies so they can still have a great, informative letter, and not be too stressed about getting it all right.  It lets the girls share their name, age and birthday, and also what their favorite color, part of school and food is, then leaves space for a short letter.  They can also paste a picture of themselves, or draw a pic of themselves as well.  I know it can sometimes be hard to network with other troops, so feel free to join Girl Scout Leader Connection on Facebook - there are lots of leaders from lots of places there!