Tips for Fall & Winter Camping with Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts are excited for this time of the year! With the cooler months here, many Girl Scout troops are preparing for Fall & Winter camping excursions. Here are some tips for Fall & Winter Camping:

• Certifications & Planning Committee – Adult leaders and parent attending the camp outs will need to be certified and background approved. Creating a planning committee will help spread the “load” of planning for the girls’ outing.
• Packing Lists – Create a packing list for the girls and parents ahead of time. Include needed instructions for the camping excursion to prepare the parents ahead of time. Create a packing list for the leaders as well, including food items, tents, crafts supplies, and miscellaneous needed items.
• Back up activities – Having back up activities is important for a variety of reasons including weather changes, the need of additional activities, unforeseeable change of plans, and so forth.
• Kaper Charts – Create a camping kaper chart which includes duties for all the girls. Parents can also help with other duties as well. This will continue to teach the girls responsibility while having fun!

Don’t forget the all time camping favorite for Girl Scouts – making Campfire Smores! Have fun with the girls and please let us know of your unique ideas related to Fall & Winter Camping with Girl Scouts!

Girl Scout Fun is Getting a New Style!

Busy Life with Girl Scouts

Life has been very busy at our home, especially with leading Girl Scouts for the past eight years in our area, plus two years prior experience. It has been a wonderful experience and I have so much to share with you coming in the months ahead.

Do you like our new theme?

First, Girl Scout Fun has a new WordPress theme. It is much easier to read and looks great, at least in my opinion. Hope you like it better!

Revising the Old & Bringing the New

Next, I will be going through all the articles on site. This will allow me to make edits, add new ideas to existing content, and eventually add photos to the existing blog posts. I will also be working on adding new content for the New Year which is not very far away.

2018 is Nearly Here!

Can you believe it? I am amazed and can hardly believe Christmas is only a little over ten weeks away! Then, 2018 will be here in the midst of us!

I appreciate your patience of my being missing in action from blogging! I have been helping many, many girls in scouts over the past few years. Our troops and service unit kept growing and growing and growing!

Thanks for stopping by! Keep your eyes out for some new ideas, pics, and a whole lot more!

Would you like to make suggestions? Or, do you need help with some aspect of Girl Scouts? Please let me know. I would love to help you!

 

 

Making Invitations for Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Engagement

Girl Scouts belong to troops and they engage themselves in various activities. These activities include community service programs, art and crafts, as well as adventurous activities such as rock climbing, hiking and camping. Although you probably associate the Girl Scout with their famous cookies, they are so much more than that.

Important Life Skills

The activities that the Girl Scouts participate in are so as to teach the girls important life skills.  However, if you want to plan Girl Scout events, creating invitations is a great way to let the guests know when and where the event will be. You can create your own invitations with little time and money input.

• Choose a shape that represents a recent or upcoming Girl Scout activity. That is if the event is camping, use a tent shape. If the event is to help a crisis shelter, use a shape that captures the essence of the activity.
• Then trace the shape of your choice onto pieces of heavy card stock. Cut out the shapes. If you are using smaller cutter shapes, do not cut them out but instead trim the edges with edging scissors.
• Use markers or stickers to decorate the cut stock.
• The party event information should go on the backside of the cutouts. Place them in an envelope and mail them (or hand them out). This method enhances creativity of the Girl Scouts in the process making responsible able and reliable girls.
•  Alternatively, you could take picture of the entire troop or individual pictures of the members of the troop. Then, you have them printed. Either at home on a photo paper or you can use a photo service like the one at your local drug store. Once you have the pictures printed you write the event’s details at the back of the picture them mail it as you would a postcard.

What invitations have your Girl Scouts created for events? Do you mind sharing some of your ideas with us? Please leave a comment! We would love to hear your ideas!

Writing a Girl Scout News Letter Effectively

Keeping Troop Documentation

Troops usually need some kind of documentation of accomplishments and endeavors. A written documentation can be used or computer documentation.

Benefits of Newsletters

A newsletter comes in handy for leaders and parents. Newsletters are also a fun way of enhancing your child’s communicative ability when they are given the option to help create it.

Developing Communication Skills

By producing an informative and accurate newsletter, the young Girl Scout can pick up on important communication skills that come in handy in life. The Scout leader or one of the parents can hold the role of a publisher as a service to the troop.

Here are some tips for creating a newsletter:

• Find a template that is appropriate for the newsletter. If your computer has word processing software then this is an easy option for you. Word processors like Microsoft Word usually have various templates for various formats and newsletter formatting is one of them. If that is not helpful, you can check online for other free templates to use.
• Take time to gather the necessary information from the Scout leader, the parents, volunteers and the Girl Scouts themselves. It is important to gather as much needed information as possible then decide what should go into the newsletter later.
• While gathering the information, have a list of who gave you info so that it will not be hard to track them in case of the need for a follow up question later.
•  While publishing, include the information about the purpose of Girl Scouting while praising the program for empowering the girls. Add the troops number, motto, where the meetings are held along with phone number of the publisher in the newsletter.
• Other items you can include are the scout emblem, information about upcoming meetings, events and pictures. The pictures may be of events and meetings; they should be of variety so that you can pick some candid pictures along with posed pictures.

Does your troop create and distribute a Girl Scout newsletter? What are some of the items you include in the news? Please leave a comment! We would love to hear from you!

What To Know When Learning About Air

Learning about Air

The Girl Scout is an organized institution that helps the girl scouts learn about many things in life including learning about air. Learning about air might seem to be too obvious or common knowledge. But, believe me, not many people know much about air. This is the key reason why we have to be very keen when learning about air.

Teaching Essentials

Air is very essential in our lives but most of the people in our current generation fail to acknowledge the importance of this precious commodity that is free from God. When learning about air, we have to be very objective and specific so that we can equip the girl scouts with proper and relevant knowledge.

Discuss Air Pollution

When learning about air, one major topic should be air pollution. There is massive air pollution in the world today. This has led to a lot of misfortunes and catastrophic occurrences to the human race. The rising cases of airborne diseases such as asthma and common cold are all due to air pollution. However, all this is due to the possible lack of understanding that we have about air. This goes a long way to explain the importance of learning.

Enough Knowledge to Change the World

Learning about air is a very wide topic. Apart from just learning about air pollution and its effects to us as human beings, it would also be important for the girl scout guide to teach the girls on some of the things they should do to have clean air and conserve the environment. As the future leaders of this world, girls should have all the knowledge when learning about air so that they can change this world. The girl scouts can learn about the ecosystem and the effects of air pollution to the ecosystem. They can discover aspects of industrial pollution and the green house gas effects caused by the automobiles.

 

Some Creative Ideas On Fall Crafts For Girl Scouts

Interesting Fall Crafts

As a scouts guide, there are numerous creative ideas that you can use for creating interesting fall crafts for girl scouts for both fun and as a way of teaching them something useful. While creating some of the fall crafts for girl scouts, the girls can learn how to be creative, as well as how to apply these ideas in real life situations such as camping. Some of the simple fall crafts for girl scouts that you may consider include making a hot dog roaster and a memory box using readily available materials from home.

Hot Dog Roaster

One of the fall crafts for girl scouts that is easy to make and really useful (especially if the girls are out camping) is a hot dog roaster. It operates without a flame and it may be helpful in case the girls are out camping under the hot sun and they lack fire, but need a quick snack.

The hot dog roaster is made from aluminum foil and uses the sun’s rays to roast the hot dog. All you need is a cylindrical container that is cut into half and covered in aluminum foil. The hot dog can then be placed in the container and left under the sun to roast.

Birch Bark Canoe

A birch bark canoe is one of the simplest fall crafts for girl scouts to make. The fact that the canoe actually floats in water makes this idea one of the most useful fall crafts for girl scouts to make while camping.

Supervision Required

In addition, the girl scouts get to learn how to recycle and nature’s products. To make this canoe, you only need birch bark, strong glue, and scissors. However, making the birch bark canoe is one of the fall crafts for girl scouts that will require supervision of an adult since it involves the use of precise cutting measurements, as well as scissors and glue, which may be misused in a harmful way by kids.

Related articles

• Girl Scout Recycling Craft Bonanza! (girlscoutfun.wordpress.com)
• Teaching Girl Scout’s Recycling (girlscoutfun.wordpress.com)

Girl Scouts Salvation in the Assembly Line

Assembly Line Activities

Crafts can be a ton of fun for an activity in girl scouts. But it can turn into a messy headache just as quickly. To turn this project into a fun activity you can turn to the assembly line approach. This way you can get the girls all going on their craft while sparing a majority of the mess and headache.

Set Up Stations

If space allows, set up a station for each step in the craft. This can even be as small as a paper plate with the components for that step. Be sure to show the girls how to do the craft yourself. You can even write up directions for each step and have it at that particular station.

S’mores Sample Process

Let’s use a s’more as an example (just to illustrate the step process). Each piece of the s’more would have its own plate. The chocolate would have a plate, the graham crackers would have a plate, and the marshmallow would have a plate. You would set them in order of how you would assemble them. After you show the girls how to make the s’more, you would have the girls one by one (or two by two if a station is big enough) go through each station and make the snack themselves. Easy!

Environmental Education Through Girl Scout Camps

Environment Education Through Camping

Among the different educational activities that are organized as a part of Girl Scout program, the Girl Scout camps have become more significant. Those girls who participate in this program get a sound knowledge on the environment around us. The Girl Scout camps will create awareness on the importance of maintaining our environment and will teach some of the environmental friendly practices.

Cultivating Social Qualities

During Girl Scout camps, the campers are allowed to stay in troops, which helps them learn how to manage and become adapted to people of different backgrounds. This is an important quality that every person in this world should develop and the Girl Scout camps provide the best platform for those girls to cultivate these qualities at a young age.

Growing Girl Ideas & Plans

Certain camping programs encourage the girls to come out with their own camping ideas and plans. The ability to plan and organize an event successfully requires certain special skills and these kinds of activities are aimed at developing those skills.

Independent Living Skills

The Girl Scout camps help in developing some of the critical and unique skills that are required to lead an independent life. Girls learn by growing in new abilities, using natural resources, and adapting to environmental changes.

What are your girls learning at camp? We would love to hear your ideas! Please leave a comment below!

The Importance Of Girl Scout Cookie Programs

When we say Girl Scout, one of the most common things that hit the peoples’ mind is the Girl Scout cookies.

Tremendous Roles – Leadership

The Girl Scout organization plays a tremendous role as the leadership organization of the girls in the USA. Girls all over the nation continue to be benefited by the variety of programs organized by them. One of the most anticipated programs organized by the Girl Scouts of USA is the Girl Scout cookies program.

Learning New Skills

When we see from outside, the Girl Scout cookies program will seem to create a lot of fun and entertainment among the girls. Apart from the fun aspect of it, those girls get to learn some important learning in their lives:

• Their interpersonal skills get developed.
• They get to learn people management.
• Money management is one of the most significant aspects that they get to learn from this program.
• They learn the techniques for business and a certain amount of business virtues.
• They get the ability to set specific goals and adopt strategies to achieve the same.

Hence the Girl Scout cookies program keeps encouraging girls to lead their lives with confidence and individuality.

Do you love Girl Scout cookies? What is your favorite one you buy to support your local Girl Scouts? We would love to hear from you! Leave us a comment!

Teaching Girl Scouts Recycling

Recycling Foundations

Recycling is a great project for Girl Scout’s to undertake and a delight to teach.  The foundation is education about the importance of being good stewards of the earth.

Reinforcing Learning

From there leaders have a smorgasbord of activities to reinforce the learning.  The trick is to develop an attitude of fun with the necessity of recycling.

Free Online Environmental Resources

Here are some free online environmental resources to build a strong foundation and spark the imagination.

Recycle City (http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/) was created by the EPA.  In addition to basic recycling information, it contains a game which highlights the importance of recycling.

Benefits-of-Recycling (www.benefits-of-recycling.com) provides good basic information about recycling.  It includes information about the need to recycle, directions for what to recycle, and how to get started.

Earth Buddies (http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00442/index1.htm ) is a website sponsored by S.E.E.K. created by students for students. In addition to educational and activity components, this group issues a challenge and provides tools to become earth friendly.

Earth Day Network (www.earthday.org) is a wealth of information.  It contains a footprint calculator which measures an individual’s impact on the earth.

One of best sites is The Imagination Factory (www.kid-at-art.com).  This site is where recycling meets art.  It is fun, educational, and inspiring.  It includes a Scout Badge Matcher which helps connect projects to particular Girl Scout Badges and a Trash Matcher which connects throw away materials with a project.

These are rich resources which will help Scout leaders find interesting and fun ways to teach and to do recycling.  Happy Recycling!!!

Related articles

• Teaching Our Children to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rebuy (everydayhealth.com)