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

Today's lesson learned, we should have used tablecloths on the tables. It's hard to forget that so many people today have peanut allergies. Thankfully, no one in our troop does, so we didn't think about that before we let the girls go at it. Of course they made a mess. Thankfully, I always carry some paper towels and cleaning spray in my meeting bag, so we were able to clean up everything. Having a tablecloth would have saved a lot of time. We also should have done this outside. The girls spilled a lot of bird seed on the floor. We would have cleaned it up, but the ladies in the office said the custodian would do it. Before we left, we tracked them down and gave them a massive apology.

The girls loved it though. Even the prep for it brought some fun to one of my friend's kids. We don't have any pine trees in our yard, but I have a friend who has a backyard filled with them. Her kids thought it was fun trying to find the "perfect" pine cones for me. We had well over 30, but we also had a variety of sizes to give the girls options. They didn't seem to care, they just liked getting their hands dirty.

Once they were finished, we played animal "Who am I?" to keep them occupied while the extra cleanup commenced. Even after the girls left, it still took us a while to get all of the peanut butter off the table and chairs we used. Seriously, I mean it, if you do this with your girls, do it outside! Also, don't forget to emphasize that they should not be eating the peanut butter and bird seed.

Despite the few bumps, the girls loved it and they each got to make several feeders. We told them to keep one and share the others they made. My daughter gave her extra to the friend that gave us her pine cones.

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

Today's lesson learned, make sure that when reading something important, the girls are paying attention. While reading our story, one of our awesome parents volunteers held up the cards that had the pictures of the items the girls would be finding during their little scavenger hunt. I stayed behind in the gym to read the last riddle while our fearless leader stayed out in the school to keep an eye on the girls. We had a few teachers let the girls come into their classrooms to give them riddles, and we had someone in the office help us out too. Some of the girls needed other hints. I thought that the riddles I had made would be easy, but it turns out they were a little on the hard side.

On the bright side, the girls really enjoyed it, and everyone helping thought it was a nifty thing to do to. It got the girl outside of our normal meeting spot, moving around, and it got them using their heads. Granted, once they got their goodie bags, all decorum sort of went out the window. We did have some candy in the bags, as well as a toy bracelet (to represent Juliette's pearls, since we couldn't find any cheap pearls). All in all, it was a huge success!

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 Six and Investiture

Meeting six was surprisingly low key, but nice. The most important part of our meeting was rehearsing for our investiture. We were able to squeeze in two rehearsals, and the girls did amazing. Afterward, we gave them a choice of what games we could play, and they all choose red rover, red rover. Who would have thought that such a simple game would become so popular with them?

As for the investiture, I have a few valuable lessons for you all... Lesson number one, make sure before the ceremony, all of your pins are unpinned and ready to go. We had a blonde a moment and forgot to do that. Lesson number two, if you can, try to do it in a place where the sun isn't affecting everyone. We were a little limited as to where we could do it, and unfortunately, the cafeteria at our troop's school had a huge glare on the stage. The sun was in the girl's eyes, and it made it tricky for our friendly photographer who was helping us out. Lesson three, which was a good thing, has to do with our petals ceremony. Our fearless leader had a great idea. Instead of putting our petals on a poster, we ended up putting them on a tri-fold poster, and taped that to a table. It was a lot easier that bringing in my daughter's easel for a poster board.

Over all, the whole day was a success. Even though we had to stand behind the girls and remind them about their lines, it was still wonderful. We got a lot of compliments from the parents, so hearing that made it all the better for us!