Month #8 -- Earning our Green and Rose Petals

Our meeting this month was on Earth Day, and I thought it was the perfect day to learn about and earn our Green and Rose petals for using our resources wisely and making the world a better place. I started the meeting by talking with the girls about what Earth Day is. Most of them had learned about it in school and grasped the concept pretty well. We then started talking about recycling, I was very happy to hear that most of the girls do some sort of recycling with their families. I handed out recycling stickers for them to label their recycling bins. These stickers are available for free at our library and are sponsored by our Municipal Utilities. We then began to talk about reusing items that can't necessarily be recycled. An example I gave them was of the fairy house I made with my daughters out of an old orange juice jug. We hot glued all kinds of found objects to the jug, anything bright and shiny that our local fairies might like (glass pebbles, marbles, sea shells, old jewelry, beads, mirrors, etc). The girls then placed the fairy house outside and we waited for a garden fairy to move in. This project allowed us to use a jug in a new way, decorating our yard instead of throwing it in the local landfill.

The girls and I then talked about how taking care of the Earth can make the world a better place. If we practice good habits like picking up litter, we might brighten someone else' day or inspire them to pick up a piece of litter too.
Our craft project this week was to create Bird Nest Kits. We wanted to reuse a seemingly useless item from our everyday lives. The girls agreed with me that nests made out of sticks might be pokey to sit on, so we thought the birds could use our old dryer lint to line their nests. I found this project in an Earth Day Craft book, the original instructions saying to use milk cartons. Since part of the lesson was to use resources wisely, I explained to the girls that I didn't have any milk cartons, but I did have miniature cereal boxes. Before the meeting I asked the parents of the troop to save their dryer lint and bright pieces of string. I then cut "windows" into the broad sides of the cereal boxes. At troop meeting, the girls stuffed their boxes with their dryer lint. Some girls forgot their dryer lint or did not have enough to fill the box, so we shared. The boxes were then tied with hemp cord so that the girls could take them home and hang them from their trees.

Unfortunately, less than half of my troop attended this meeting, so I sent out e-mails asking them to work with their parents on a project that recycles or reuses household items we would normally throw away. The girls will officially earn their petals when they tell me about what they made with their mom and dad. The girls have no rules on these projects except that we don't want to pollute our yards if we can help it. We should try to use items that will degrade naturally like papers, cardboard, natural strings and glues.