Spring, Meetings 5 & 6

I didn't write a blog last week because we worked exclusively on our super duper top secret project.  This week we finished it, so now I can finally tell you all!

First off, I am so proud of our scouts for keeping this super duper top secret project a secret!  This was our Mother's Day project, hence why we kept it a secret.  You'll never guess how much this project cost.  Seriously, try!  If guessed less than $5, you win!

Supplies:

Small coffee filters

Markers
Staples/stapler 

Spray bottle with water and vinegar

Pipe cleaners

Plastic bottles

Modge podge or watered down liquid glue

Tissue paper
Beans, rice, or something else to put in the bottom of the bottles

My awesome Co and I experimented on this before we did the craft with them, just so we knew how to do it (since they always have questions).  We had seen a number of how-to's for the the vase and flowers, so it was a matter of figuring out what was going to work best for our girls.

Step one is coloring the coffee filter, which we did during meeting two.  It's so easy, really!  Simply lay out a coffee filter, color a few squiggles around it (don't color in the whole filter), and spray it with your watered down vinegar.  Then, let it dry.  It takes roughly 2-3 hours to dry on its own, hence why did this a few meetings before.  When the filters dry, it will look like you tie-dyed them.  If you use contrasting colors, you'll get some really cool effects too.

Step two is making the flower.  You'll want to use about 5-6 filters for this.  Layer/stack your filters and then staple it in the middle to hold them together.  Start by picking up the top/first filter and scrunching it up.  Then, one by one, crumple up each layer around that center layer.  Once all of them are done, tape or wrap your pipe cleaner at the bottom.  Then, while holding it at the bottom, carefully open up your newly formed petals.  When you're done, it will look like a flower!  

Step three is the vase/bottle.  Essentially, you will be decoupaging it.  Using a paint or foam brush, cover your bottle with modge podge or watered down liquid glue.  Place tissue paper scraps all over the bottle, and make sure you cover it!  Brush modge podge or glue over the layer of tissue paper to seal it on there.  This will also take several hours to dry, so you might want to do this a few meetings ahead of time too.  

Once all of that is done, you may want to place something like dried beans or rice in the bottom of your new vase before sticking your flowers in.  For an additional measure, you might want to coat the vases with a clear lacquer.  But, that's it!  The total cost of this project is roughly $3.  A pack of small coffee filters is about a dollar, and you can buy a large pack of pipe cleaners and tissue paper at most dollar stores, and you will have leftovers of both.  We let the girls make more than one flower and vase, and still had lots of leftovers.  When our moms saw them, they loved it too!

These vases were also the perfect opportunity to work in a lesson on being considerate and caring.  We read a passage from the guide book and related this to every day life.  We talked about simple thing we can do to be considerate and caring, such as using manners and going out of our way to be nice to people. The girls had way better ideas than we did about being considerate and caring.  Can I just say, again, these girls are SMART and are going to set the world on fire!

For today's meeting (6), we dove back into the Global Action badge before we finished off our Mother's Day gifts.  For our next point, we honed in on "empowering women."  How do you bring such an adult topic down to a five and six year old's level?  Simple!  Tell them about famous ladies who were girl scouts, such as our very own Juliette Gordon Low and Anna Maria Chavez.  We also mentioned Katie Couric, Venus Williams, Nancy Lopez, Dakota Fanning, Rachel Ray, Sandra Day O'Conner and several others.  In case you didn't notice, each of those women has a very different job.

We got so lucky today and had some guest speaker's volunteer to come in.  Sadly, two of them had to cancel (a minister and a welder), but we still had one very awesome guest speaker.  Our speaker happens to be a teacher to a few of the girls.  To set up our guest speaker, we asked the girls what they wanted to do when they grew up, and what they think they had to do to become that.  We even tied it in- the teacher would teach the gardener how to plant and care for wheat.  The gardener would grow the wheat, harvest it, and sell it to the chef.  The chef would make flour out of the wheat and then make bread.  The news caster would interview the chef who made the bread, and then bring her all the way back to our teacher.  I guess you could call it our own circle of life lesson, but when we put it into action like that, the girls got the two biggest points- you can do anything you want, as long as you stay in school, and of course work hard.

Our speaker was so kind and told the girls what she did to become a teacher.  She told the girls about going to college and the classes she took as well as the training she had to take.  This interested girls.  Most of them thought you went to college, and then you got a job.  They really understood better when I told them what I had to do.  I'm a chef.  I did not sit in a classroom and memorize recipes.  I first cooked in a classroom before I had to cook for fellow students.  Then I worked in two different kitchen settings (front and back of the house) before I went to another country to practice my skills before graduating.  Our teacher had to observe other teachers and practice teaching before she could do it, just like I had to practice cooking before I could do it.  Needless to say, our girls thoroughly enjoyed this portion of our badge too (by the way, our cute kiddos gave a vase with flowers to their teacher as a thank you).

We finished off our meeting by throwing in some beans to our vases and placing our flowers in them.  After that, we made some invitations to our awards ceremony next week.  All in all, it was a fairly low key meeting, but fun.  We also got a chance to work parts of the Girl Scout law into what our scouts want to do, ie: being a welder is friendly and helpful and being a gardener makes the world a better place.  I can't wait to do this badge next year with new activities, it was so much fun!

Meeting Twelve Prep

I'm not sure if this is going to be a hit yet, but we'll see. For meeting twelve, we'll be making classic popsicle stick birdhouses. Thankfully, one of our awesome parents donated a giant box of popsicle sticks, so if the girls have trouble, we'll have extras, and lots of them.

The last time I made one of these, I was in elementary school, so I had to do some research on this, and find a way to do this without having to buy more sticks (granted, we have 1,000 sticks, so we should be ok). Some versions have you using dozens of sticks to make large houses. We also won't have to time to make those, so we needed to find something smaller, more practical, and easy enough for our Daisies to do. I can honestly say that for the first time ever, a search on Pintrest did not help, so on to Google I went! And oh the horrors I found! I mean, a house that needs 800 sticks, one that needs sticks, pine cones and hot glue, another one that needed a milk carton to glue the sticks onto and I even found one project that used tongue depressors to make a castle. I mean, really? Who has time to do that? Around page 12, I found a poem about birdhouses. It was about that time that I wanted to bang my head against the wall and wished that I could remember how we did in art class all those years ago. By the time I hit page 22, I was running into to sites that were selling kits to make birdhouses. I even found a book on making "creative" birdhouses. But, thanks to a clever little article on Ehow, it hit me- log cabin style.

The principle is fairly simple. Make a base by lining up several popsicle sticks (enough to cover the length of one) and then use a popsicle stick on either end to hold/glue the ends together. From there, stack it like you would a log cabin, gluing at the corners. To make this easier, we got out some foam sheets we had left over from another project and cut them into square so the girls could use them for the bases. We also used the excess foam to make roofs for the houses. I made one to show them how, but figure like mot projects, it's best to just show them, and then let them do the rest.

Meeting Ten Prep

Meeting ten will be taking place just before Thanksgiving. There's so many Thanksgiving crafts to do, but the question for us was which one can we tailor towards our girls and Girl Scouting? We started looking at all of the ideas out there and fell in love with a picture of some turkeys made out of construction paper and had made an accordion fold with the legs. That's when it his us- give the turkey the ten daisy petals instead of a few generic petals. Plus, with our girls still trying to remember the lines to the law, it was another chance to work it in!

To help them out, we made an outline for the turkey that we printed out on brown construction paper:

After that, we picked out the other colors they would need from out construction paper stash. It's really not a complicated craft, but it ties in the holiday and scouting.

Meeting Eleven Prep

Meeting eleven will be all about turtles. Our fearless leader's original idea was to have the girls make turtles out of papier mache, but I brought up the question of where will they dry? There's an activity from the leader book that has the girls coloring a turtle shell, but that won't last them very long. Obviously, we needed something else to do. While at Michael's a few weeks ago, we stumbled into the isle that had foam and foam crafts. I had bought some kits for my daughter that created cute animals using little foam dots. I found them and showed them to our fearless leader. That was when we saw the boxes of turtles and realized that it would be something easy and mess free for the girls to do. And, the best part, each kit only cost $1!!! I think it's safe to say that the prep for this meeting was incredibly easy!

Meeting Eight Prep

For meeting eight, we will be getting very brave and will be making pine cone bird feeders. It's something perfect that goes along with our animal theme from 5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers For Animals! And along with our "recycled items" motif. Not only that, there are few supplies we have to buy for this meeting.

Meeting prep:
Open pine cones (we got 30, thinking each girl could make 2)
Peanut butter (with 15 girls, and 2 pine cones each, we got 3 large jars)
10 lb bag of bird seed (yes, this is too much, but we will have another use for it later)
Paper plates
Plastic spoons
String or yarn

If you've never made one, here's how to do it- simply spread the peanut butter around the pine cone, and then roll the pine cone around in the bird seed. Tie a piece of string to it, and then hang from something outside.

Meeting Seven prep

Meeting seven is a very special meeting. Why? Because it will be our meeting just before Juliette Gordon Low's birthday and Halloween. We plan on starting the meeting out by reading about JGL to the girls, so they can learn more about our fabulous founder. Following story time, we will be doing a very special scavenger hunt.

Not that long ago, I found this wonderful story. Looking at the items next to the story, I wondered how it would work as a scavenger hunt. Our meetings are held in the gym at the school our girls go to right after school. At first, we wondered if we could hide things around the school, but with a troop of daisies, we came to realize that it might not be the best idea. Our next idea was to make riddles based on the items, and have the girls go around the school asking volunteers (parents, teachers, ect.) what they were.

To do this, I picked out fifteen items from the story, since we have fifteen girls. I made the riddles simple. Here's our riddles:

Riddle 1, pumpkin:
I am big and small, slightly round, and I am something that you can eat and decorate
Hint: Juliette was born on October 31, 1860 (Halloween)


Riddle 2, GA state quarter
I am small and shiny, but very valuable. Sometimes people use me to buy gum balls
Hint: Juliette was born in Savannah, Georgia


Riddle 3, Daisy flower
I come in many colors, but bugs know me the best by my scent. People like to pick me and put me in vases
Hint: Her uncle gave her the nickname of Daisy


Riddle 4, horse
I am helpful and fun. Farmers sometimes use me to help them get work done, while little girls sometimes use me to jump over small fences
Hint: Daisy loved animals and had a horse named “Fire”


Riddle 5, art palette
Many famous artists have used me to make their great paintings. Sometimes, you can even see me on TV when artists are teaching others how to paint
Hint: Daisy loved the arts. She enjoyed drawing, painting, poetry, drama, sculpting and iron work.


Riddle 6, letter
Sometimes, when Girl Scouts go to camp, they create me to send home to their Moms and Dads. And, if you’re a lucky girl, sometimes you might receive these in the mail
Hint: Daisy wrote many letters to family and friends even though she often misspelled words. While at boarding school in New York she wrote several letters in French.


Riddle 7, ring
I am also small and shiny. Some of your Moms and Dads like to wear me on their fingers
Hint: Juliette Gordon was married to William Low on December 21, 1886.


Riddle 8, rice
People all around the world love to eat me. Before I am harvested as a plant, farmers flood my fields with lots of water
Hint: On her wedding day a piece of rice thrown in celebration became lodged in her ear. When the doctor tried to remove it, he permanently damaged her left ear drum.


Riddle 9, tea pot
I come in many sizes and colors, but no matter how I look, I always hold the same thing. The drink I hold is often served with things in it, like sugar, lemon and even milk
Hint: Soon after their marriage, Juliette Low and her husband Willie moved to England




Riddle 10, picture of a boy scout
Sometimes people think that you and I are rivals, but we are actually great friends. We are very much alike, yet very, very different
Hint: After Willie died, Juliette met Lord Baden-Powell founder of the Boy Scouts


Riddle 11, star
Some people like to make wishes on me, but whenever you look up on a clear night, you can see me
Hint: Lord Baden-Powell said to Juliette, “There are little stars that guide us on, although we do not realize it.” This gave her encouragement to return to the USA and start Girl Scouting.


Riddle 12, telephone
I come in many forms, but I always serve the same purpose. People use me to talk to people who live near and far
Hint: When Juliette arrived home in Savannah, Georgia she made that famous phone call, “I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all of the world, and we're going to start it tonight.”


Riddle 13, Girl Scout pin
Just last week you received me. Ms. Michelle put me on a yellow tab on your uniform
Hint: Juliette Gordon Low started the first Girl Scout Troop on March 12, 1912.



Riddle 14, pearls
I may not come in many colors, but I come in different sizes and lengths. Sometimes you might see your Mommy wearing me
Hint: Juliette Low sold her pearls, a wedding gift from her husband, to help fund her Girl Scout programs.


Riddle 15, breast cancer ribbon
In October, we recognize this disease. In part of our recognition, you might see people wearing me in pink
Hint: Juliette Low died of breast cancer on January 18, 1927.


Riddle 16, birthday patch
You already have some of me on your uniform, but I am not like any of the ones you already have. I represent everything you just learned today, but most of all, I am something special to represent Founder’s Day


We printed out sheets of papers with pictures of all the items. After the last riddle, once they guess it, we'll have a special goodie bag for them, which will also include a JGL birthday patch. Other items we put in the bag include a pink ribbon swap, a pink daisy lollipop, and a few other things we picked up at the dollar store that related to everything we talked about in the story.

Meeting Five prep

I can not wait to do meeting five with the girls! We will be making a team bird bath. Before the bath activity, we plan on reading A Little Birdie Told Me, which will lead right into the bird bath.

This will be the first meeting that we had to spend money on. We found a lot of easy bird baths that used terra cotta pots and their bases. The concept it to get 3 large pots, all in different sizes, and to stack them up (large on bottom, small on top), and to use the largest pot bottom as the "bath" portion (much likethis bird bath). To save a little money, our idea was to use 2 medium sized pots, stacked at their bases, and to use the larger bottom still for the bath. Our fearless leader and I really liked the idea from that link that used a small base for a bird seed holder, so we thought we could add our touch by decorating that one ourselves.

With 15 girls in our troop, we decided it would be easy to split up the work a little, so we wouldn't have so much crowding or oopsies. We plan on splitting them up into 3 groups, and letting each group paint a portion of the bath, and then assemble the bath the next day once it's dry.

Before the meeting prep:
2, 12" terra cotta pots
1, 12" terra cotta pot base
1, 6" terra cotta pot base

Acrylic or tempera paint, various colors (stuff that will wash off the girls and their clothes)
paint brushes
paper plates or bowls (for paint)
acrylic based silicone caulk (afterwards, to assemble the bird bath at all seems)
Clear spray paint (make sure the can says for out door use)

As part of our example, my fearless leader and I did that bird seed portion today. It's far from perfect, but it serves it's purpose (identifies who dun it). We also found some inspiration to add a little something to it....

We took that phrase and painted it around the edge of the dish. We had some extra room, so we wrote our council name in there as well, and separated it by a trefoil and faux-daisy.

As for the top, not too special as you can see (yes, I put my hand over our troop number, gotta keep this anonymous you know!). We're still waiting on it to dry, but as soon as it's done, I'm gonna lay on that clear/seal spray paint to give it the final pop (I promise I will edit in a photo when it's done!).


The best part about this craft... we got in touch with our local parks and rec department to see if we could donate our bird bath to one the parks in our county. That way, the girls can take their friends and family to show off their work. As of today, we're still working on the kinks, but if all goes as planned, in the spring, we will be putting the bird bath in one of our locals parks and we will get to plant daisies around it (which will go with one of our petals project, and our Earth Day good turn).

Meeting Four Prep

For meeting four, we will be reading a few passages from 5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals! Including Perfect Surprise in the Garden and When a Camera Meets a Nest. That will then transition into our project, making all about me nests. We looked around for things that we could use to make these nests and were a little shocked how much some of the supplies cost. Our next idea was to head out to one of the local parks to gather materials for free, until it started raining.

So, just like a couple weeks ago, we were looking around my house for inspiration. It just so happened that my awesome father-in-law had just sent a box to my fabulous husband. It had a long wad of brown packing paper in it. We noticed that the paper was crinkled up, much like the pre-cut crinkle paper you can buy in the gifting supplies section at most stores. That's when it hit us. The next thing I knew, I was standing on my kitchen counter looking in the cabinet above my fridge for paper bowls (yes, I realize that might be an odd spot to keep them, but it's the only free spot I had).

For our first moment of deja vu, there we were, on my living room floor, cutting up the paper. We wadded it up a little more and cut it in thin(ish) strips. Not knowing exactly much we would need for 15 bowls, we cut up the whole thing (which was roughly 20 feet long). The strips were on the thick side (roughly a half inch wide), but would be perfect for what we were doing. Our intentions were to have the girls glue the paper in the bowls, and then using whatever they could find in our arts and craft box, pick out what they like and what represents who they are. For this specific craft, we added a few things in, including pipe cleaners, tissue paper, foil, pom-poms, ribbon, and asked the girls to bring small things from home they might want to put in.

What you will need:
15 paper bowls (16 if you want to make an example)
brown packing paper, wadded up and cut into thin strips

glue
paint, or crayons, or markers, or colored pencils
misc. items, such as ribbon, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, foil, cotton balls, pom-poms, buttons, Easter basket grass, and other small things that you might find in a bird nest

The how to is pretty straight forward- just glue it all in, color it, or whatever their little hearts want to do with their nests. That's the beauty of this project- the nests are about them, so they get to decorate it to reflect their personalities. All of our girls in our troop are so unique and all have a lot of the same and varied interests. I am a chef and a writer, but I also like to do things such as sewing, knitting, scrap booking and more, so my fearless leader and I each made a nest as an example to show them who I am.

I can not wait to see what they come up with tomorrow!

Meeting Two Prep

For our second meeting, we will be learning about the Girl Scout Law. We will also be introducing the girls to the Daisy petals. My awesome leader and I were up late this past Saturday night trying to come up with an activity. During some chit chat, I remembered that I was saving toilet paper rolls to make this craft. That's when it hit us- instead of using 6 petals, like the craft calls for, use 10 and have the girls color them while we talk about it. It was going to take some prep work though....

With fifteen girls in the troop, we had to use all of the toilet paper rolls I had been collecting. We also made a couple extras to use as an example. To complete the flowers, we took some blue construction paper and cut out circles that we later glued on to it.

What you will need:
38 used rolls of toilet paper, cut in fourths (for 15- 10 petals per flower, one roll yields 4 petals)
15 blue, circle cut outs (can be done with one sheet of blue construction paper)
hot glue

What you will need for the meeting:
Crayons or markers in each of the petal colors- violet, light blue, yellow, light green, red, orange, purple., magenta, green, rose

The ahead of time prep:
For the toilet paper rolls, simply flatten them before you cut them. It doesn't have to be perfect, just cut in fourths. After that's done, cut out your blue center.

The original craft has you gluing each piece and holding it together with clothes pins. For this, you'll use your glue gun and place some glue at the edge of each piece to stack them up, like s0

Repeat this until you have all 10 petals glued. At that point, you will let them fan out to glue them together

Once you have that done, simply glue the blue center on

Tada! A nice Daisy for the Daisies to decorate

I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully it will be a hit, and something easy for the girls to do.