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I love blogging, and I love girl scouts!  I adored it as a youth growing up, and I adore it now as a leader.

HOWEVER! I want to make sure that this blog is truly addressing our needs as leaders, and offering really useful resources.

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I want to offer a safe, and anonymous place to get out all your questions and frustrations.  I want to know what you WISH you knew when you started this endeavor.  Are there resources you have since discovered that would have been great to be directed to right from the start? Were you grossly unaware of the massive amount of time and dedication leading a troop takes? Were you unprepared for your parent meeting?  Did you AMAZING membership coordinator offer you some great resources, and you'd like to see those made available for others? 

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Also - what would you like to anonymously ask other leaders. Do you need to know how that one upbeat gal manages to *always* have a sunny disposition? Do you wonder how leader Sally manages to do SO many events? Are you hitting a wall with fundraising and trying to figure out how other troops seem to be rollin in the dough? Or are you frustrated with waning numbers, and wondering why more leaders wont volunteer on a service unit or council level?

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Please share!  

Event Planning with DAISY's!

Every leader has to, at some point, plan an event.  The participation level of said leader should *theoretically* be minimal, however with the smaller girls, that can be a struggle.  They need a bit more guidance, and are really still learning what it means to plan an event.

Today I will discuss the technique I've found that works really well with my littlest girls, empowering them to plan their own events while giving me some control of the situation so we don't end up with girls planning a bridging ceremony complete with ponies, ice cream and helicopter rides lol!

When my Daisies plan an event, we break it down into 3 parts - beginning, middle, and end.  This is a pretty easy process for the youngest girls to understand.  We use meeting time to plan events, and I come prepared.

Most recently, we planned out bridging ceremony.  I use foam sheets for our planning - just because they are fun.  You could use anything from regular paper to a tablet - just as long as the girls can visually appreciate it.  The process will go smoother if they can SEE what they are planning.

I start with 3 pieces of foam sheets, and they look like this:

Once I get the three basic parts on their own foam sheet, I break down those parts individually.  I like to piece out 2 or 3 parts that can be specifically planned out for each portion of the event.  I also add a space for notes on the bottom - historically, I've learned my little ladies often have many *tips* or advice for me regarding the events we plan.




In terms of breaking down each portion, the example I am using in this post is our upcoming bridging ceremony.  The beginning section of this event planning was broken down into 3 parts - opening, Emcee, and short speech.  Since I have Daisy's, my girls are all 5 years old to 7 years old.  Some of them are great at coming up with options, or choices, and some struggle.  Because of this, I generally put two or three choices, and then introduce them as a choice to the girls. We discuss each one, and the implications, and then the girls take a vote on which they prefer.







Since the outline is already set up, its fairly easy to just highlight, circle or underline the choices the girls make.  I also open the dialogue up to any notes or suggestions the girls have - they are usually pretty entertaining, as well as helpful! The photo to the left is a great example of the finished product.






In the end, you have a three page outline that is simply written, and easy to understand for your event.  I generally make foam sheets in the same manner for other items that need planning as well - for instance, our bridging ceremony will be a potluck style picnic, so we have a sheet for sides/appetizers, and main dishes as well in a similar style.

As the girls age, I imagine this will evolve to them handling all of the details, but at this point in time, this is a really effective, and simple way to plan their events thus far.

We had a great time with this - not many things cuter than 5 and 6 year olds planning a bridging ceremony!  Tell me how your event planning went!

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!