The first meeting of the year is always the worst!

We had our first meeting of the year last week, and I felt like it was pretty chaotic. The girls were excited to see each other and so I had a hard time getting them calmed down and focused on the meeting. We started out by talking about the summer and practicing the promise and the law. Then we started the Daisy Journey book, working through the character introductions and workbook pages. We officially started our simple sewing projects with our pin cushions and water-bottle carrier bags. The sewing machines were not all agreeing with us, so it was interesting to say the least.

I look forward to our meeting this week where Faith will earn her individual patch for animal tracks, we will read the first chapter of the book, plant our herb gardens and finish our pin cushions by gluing a fancy ribbon around them. I purchased a small sewing kit with enough mini-spools of thread to give the girls each 2 colors. I would like to give them each a needle-threader but have yet to find that many of them.

Rather than transport the sewing machines back and forth, which seems to upset how well they run, Sammi and I sewed the water-carrier bags and they are now ready for each girl to do her tying and glue on her patch identifying it as hers.

Starting our second year!

We are getting ready to start our second year together as a troop! It's so exciting. There are so many ideas bouncing around in my head. We will start this year with our first Daisy Journey, "Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden". The journey book will teach us about becoming leaders.

We will also be learning to do basic sewing. Our first project will be making pincushions using this design:

Click here to see the full tutorial on CraftPudding.
The only difference is that I will be using small plastic jars instead of baby food jars. The plastic jars are much less breakable and so are better suited to the girls. I plan to have the girls work on their pincushions at our first meeting in September after we finish our work in the Journey books. I am also planning to have 2 or 3 sewing machines at the meeting so that the girls can start working on their water bottle carriers.
The carriers are made from fleece. I think fleece is nice to start with since it doesn't fray. The girls will sew a simple zig-zag seam to make the bag and then can cut the fleece to tie the sides into "tassles". You can click here to see a .pdf with instructions. They are rough instructions as I created the project as I went yesterday.
I think that our troop will have nice results taking turns working on projects. The projects will take more than one meeting but that is okay, since girls sometimes have to miss meetings.

Here are some of our goals for 2010-2011:
1. Complete "Welcome to the Daisy Garden" journey
2. Complete 5 simple sewing projects
a. make a pincushion
b. make a water bottle carrier
c. make a pillow
d. make a SWAP sash
e. make a bean bag frog
3. Complete "Between Earth and Sky" journey
4. Host a SWAP

Daisy/Brownie Camp 2010

The first weekend of August 4 girls from my troop attended Daisy/Brownie camp with 20 other girls. It was quite an exciting 3 days! The Brownies and the older Daisies who are bridging to Brownie this year were working for 3 Try-Its, Art to Wear, Science in Action and Colors & Shapes. Each Try-It requires 4 projects to complete. My girls cannot earn Try-Its yet, so I found corresponding patches for them online: tie-dye t-shirts, science and painting (art).

We started Friday off with setting up camp and then assigning girls to the tents & tent moms. Each girl was also given a number to help us identify her projects. I had my daughter, 2 girls from my troop and the daughter of another leader who couldn't stay on the campsite (no dads are allowed to be tent dads.) We made our first project, permanent sand-castles (Colors and Shapes).
Then we had a very nice woman come and talk to the girls about constellations, they drew their own star charts and then she drew a large star chart on the sidewalk for them. Our snack was banana boats.

Banana Boats:
Large bananas still in the peel (greener ones work better)
Chocolate chips
Marshmallows
Granola
Berries
Slice the bananas length-wise, but not all the way through. Have girls fill the bananas with their choice of toppings -- not too full! Then tightly wrap the bananas in foil. Place bananas into the coals of the fire for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Friday night was a true test of our campers, the winds coming off of the lake were so strong! Carey's tent half-collapsed during the night and she moved her girls to Loretta's tent. In the morning her tent blew all the way down, and as it had been serving as a wind block for my tent, my tent went down too! Loretta's tent ended up collapsing too. We started the day with tie-dyed t-shirts (Art to Wear). I taught them and by the time I was done my whole left hand was purple! I showed the girls the different ways to tie their shirts and after they did the tying, the tent moms helped with the dying. We did learn that we should have washed the shirts first, as the sizing prevented the dye from soaking right in. After the shirts were dyed, we wrapped them in plastic wrap and marked them with the girls' numbers. They were left in the sun for the rest of the day to cure.


Nila came up from Sioux Falls and brought a bounce house for the girls. We tried to have stuff available to keep them busy during their downtime since laying down in the tents wasn't an option. While the girls were playing in the bounce house and blowing bubbles, I enlisted the help of Bridget and Emily in pulping the shredded paper I brought. We pulped the shredded paper and the wood shavings in 2 old blenders. Be sure to put a lot of water into the blender so it doesn't get locked up.

All the pulped paper was dumped into a large plastic bin to soak and soften until we were ready to start the project after lunch. After lunch 1/2 of the girls went to work on Pounded Flowers (Colors & Shapes), and the other half came to work with me on Paper Making (Science in Action). To give each girl a chance to make her own individual sheet of recycled paper, I started with 2 dozen wooden frames I picked up at the dollar store. Becke and I removed all of the glass and metal from the frames and then I stapled sheets of window screen to the back of the frames. I used animal screening because it was cheaper than aluminum screening but also because I was worried that the aluminum would have sharp edges. Each girl received 1 frame with her number written on it. Then I dumped 3 or 4 scoops of pulp onto it and let the girls spread it out and squeeze out as much water as possible. Once the girls felt their paper was perfect, they were laid out in the sun to dry.

The left-over paper pulp was dried as much as possible and then Carey, Nila and I formed it into balls (about the size of baseballs) to use as fire starters at camp.
That afternoon we took a nature walk with the girls, which was a nice treat, as the trails were much cooler thanks to all the shade. At the butterfly garden we found a leopard frog, which was the highlight of the hike.

Saturday evening we noticed the barometer dropping and were really worried about storms. The police told us the winds were supposed to drop off and the skies were supposed to be clear, so we stayed at camp. We did decide to try to finish up early the next day because the heat index was supposed to be in the high 90s. So the plan for Saturday night was to break the girls up into small groups and rotate through activities. Loretta taught the girls to make Mobiles (Colors & Shapes), Brandy taught the girls to make Friendship Bracelets (Art to Wear), Carey helped the girls rinse out their t-shirts,


and I taught the girls to make Lava Lamps (Science in Action) and Color Plates (Science in Action).

Lava Lamps:
Fill a pint jar 1/2 full with water
Add 2-3 drops food coloring
Fill jar to within .5 inches of the top with cooking oil or mineral oil
Drop in 1/4 tablet of alka-seltzer and watch the "lava" action
I used the lava lamps as a chance to talk to the girls about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and why it is so important to keep our oceans clean.
Color Plates:

The girls each colored a paper plate that had been divided into 8 sections and had 2 holes punched in it close to the center. Once colored a string could be put through the holes to create one big loop. The idea is to twist the string tightly so that as it unwinds the plate spins, creating the optical illusion of "mixing" the colors of the rainbow back into white. The demonstration plate didn't work out so well, but Jeanette, Emily and I were quick to come up with a solution. The plate was taped to a lazy susan and spun back and forth very quickly. The girls said they saw the illusion of white.

The next morning we needed to accomplish tearing down camp, finishing the Colors & Shape Try-it and the Science in Action Try-it. After camp was torn down I took the girls and had them start on autograph books. To incorporate colors and shapes, I had them each make a crayon rubbing of a small leaf on a page of the autograph book and sign their name. We passed the books around in a cycle to ensure every girl worked on every book.

It was time consuming but it allowed Loretta to make the Ooblek Goop for our last Science in Action activity. The girls loved the goop, especially since Emily had read Bartholomew and the Ooblek by Dr. Seuss to them the day before. It was probably the most popular project of the weekend. Thankfully the girls all got home before the heat set in and we had camp cleaned up before the heavy rains started.

Overnight Buddy Camp

Sorry I didn't get it posted right away, but we had our first camp-out! It was a one night camp-out designed to give the girls a chance to meet older and younger troops. The girls had a great time, as did I. We arrived on Friday evening and after going over safety rules and setting up camp, the girls were put into mixed groups to talk about what kind of experiences they have had in Girl Scouts so far. Then we started the campfire and made some s'mores! I survived the night in a tent with 4 little blonde girls! There were lots of giggles and whispers, but they were good girls and went to sleep with no problem. Saturday morning we took the girls on a nature hike to do some bird watching. My little group saw a red shouldered black bird (I think that's what it was called.) Our afternoon project was to make fire-starters by stuffing cotton or dryer lint into pine cones. Loretta then dipped them in melted wax. The girls then helped pack up the camp and were ready for a water-balloon fight. Sammi and I had to leave a little early but we had so much fun! I hadn't tent-camped in years and it was Sammi's first time. I can't wait to go to our 2-night campout in August.

Great American Buffalo Adventure

Oh my goodness, I can't begin to tell you how much fun the troop had on our adventure! All of the girls except one were able to attend, and I had the help of 4 other troop volunteers. We drove 2.5 hours to Wessington, SD to the Christensen Buffalo Ranch.

We were in the first group to go on the hayride. The hayride was in a huge hay trailer pulled by a tractor.

Mr. Christensen drove us and acted as our tour guide. The pasture was about 5 miles from the ranch house, and very bumpy, which made for lots of giggly little girls!

When we first got to the pasture, the bison cows were near a small pond with the calves. They ran from us because they wanted to protect their calves from us. I got this great video of the herd moving away from us.
Click here to see the video clip.
Mr. Christensen would stop the tractor to show the girls plants native to the prairie. We learned about Sheep Shower--an edible purple flower,Yarrow--once used as a laxative, and Indian Potatoes--a tuber that grows on the prairie and was a staple in the Native American diet. He showed us a lot of plants and picked flowers for the girls, he even found a wild rose!

Mr. Christensen seemed to really enjoy teaching the girls. He stopped and let us look around for flowers while he dug up Indian Potatoes, which he then cleaned and cut up, allowing each girl and adult to taste. They really do taste like potatoes!

My girls were very excited about finding the shed hair of the bison, who are losing their winter coats. Little tufts were stuck to plants everywhere we looked. We found different kinds of hair, the light brown seemed to be softer and finer than the black hair. I even stumbled across a large intact piece of hair.

After seeing the bulls, who are separate from the herd this time of year, Mr. Christensen took us to see a tee-pee ring. All that remains of the nomadic homes are rings of stones, which were used to hold the hides down. We had the girls stand on the stones to make it easier to visualize.

Back on the ranch, we were treated to a wonderful early supper of bison meat sandwiches and Girl Scout Cookies! Then we were able to help make rope, the girls worked hard to turn the crank that twisted the rope.


Our last activity of the day was to make necklaces with colorful beads, and a surprise trip to see a dove's nest. My girls were wiped out, and I was very tired and just a little sunburned. The girls were given packets with a placemat telling them facts about bison, bison meat recipes, a piece of handmade rope, a tuft of bison hair and their Great American Buffalo Adventure patch. We had a fabulous time together, and I am very glad to have such a great bunch of girls and a great bunch of volunteers! I can't wait to do this again next year!

Just something fun!

I have been working on a scrapbook page for my troop for the Service Unit book. I needed some embellishments and had the worst time finding what I wanted. So I created my own. I love this little Daisy. As you can see she has earned all her petals and is wishing you a Daisy Day!

Click here to download!

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.