Month #5 -- Earning our Red Petals

We have had many opportunities to earn our red petals for being courageous and strong. The girls attended "Animal Yoga" in December to earn this patch as well as learning new exercises for their homework this past month. As an extra opportunity to try new things, I brought a hula hoop, a jump rope and an ankle skipping toy (sorry, I don't remember what it is called.) The girls enjoyed trying to hula hoop, though only a few were "pros", and jumping rope was by far the most popular activity. None of the girls was able to figure out the skipping toy, but everyone gave it a try. Our most recent opportunity to work on this petal was a trip to the fire station. We talked with Firefighter Troy about fire safety and how to be courageous and smart during a fire. The girls got a chance to walk through an ambulance and the big ladder truck! (Pictures to come, I promise!) We really enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot. At our next meeting the girls will be making a thank you card for the firefighters who talked with us.
Our craft project for the month was to make bead-ballerinas. The girls used beads, pipe-cleaners and paper muffin cups to make their ballerinas. We talked about being physcially strong and practicing a lot to learn skills like ballet, gymnastics, swimming and other sports.
To start the girls thinking about their next petal, Orange for Responsible for What I Say and Do, I read the girls some short stories from a book called, I Did It, I'm Sorry. The girls were given a set of multiple choices of how to correctly handle each situation, for example when something gets broken at home. I asked the girls to remember these lessons for the next month and try very hard to admit when they had done something wrong. I also asked them to remember to follow rules like wearing seatbelts.

Month #4 -- Earning our Light Green Petals

This month we needed to talk about earning our Light Green petals as well as prepare for our Red petals. Two of the girls in the troop missed the meeting in December, so I decided to read a story to the girls that had lessons about being considerate and caring as well as being brave and strong. I felt that the fable The Lion and the Mouse would fit perfectly. I started out by asking if the Lion was brave and strong, the girls agreed, but they also agreed that he didn't have to be nice to anyone if he didn't want to, since he is the king of the jungle. They thought the Mouse might be caring but since mice always run away and hide, they aren't very brave. At the end of the story the girls saw that the Lion had tried being considerate and caring and the Mouse had found courage. To back up the lesson, I created a bookmark as our craft. The girls colored and cut out the bookmark. When the bookmark is closed the Lion says, "I can be considerate and caring" and the mouse sits at his feet. When the mouse is pulled down, the message "and I can be courageous and brave." apears. Click here if you for the PDF would like to use this craft. For homework I asked the girls to find a new exercise to learn, reminding them that exercise makes their bodies strong. For example, Sammi wants to learn to hula hoop.