Daisy Scout Meeting Six

First week in December

Badges and Goals:

The girls finished up their Light Green “Considerate and Caring” Petal and started working on the Red “Courageous and Strong” Petal. They also practiced songs for caroling at the holiday party.

* * * * * * *

Arrival:                    Gathering- Work on thank you card to Post Office
                                                   (draw how kind)

4:05                         Daisy Circle- Daisy Promise
                                                      ‘Round the Daisy Circle with “how I was Caring and Considerate”
                                                      Water team garden
                                                      “Brave Olympics”

4:15                         Try new Foods

4:30                         Snack and read Tula’s story

4:45                         Blind Obstacle course

5:05                         Make Tula
                                Make Videos

5:20                         Practice Caroling

5:30                         Final Daisy Song in Circle
                                Friendship squeeze
                                Remind girls to be brave and strong, handout homework
                                Review party

* * * * * * *

Gathering Activities

We had laid out a poster board with “Thank You” written on it and had stickers and markers for the girls to decorate and sign for the tour guide at the post office. When the girls finished (only so many could work on this at once) we had a stack of construction paper so they could draw how they had been Considerate and Caring that week.


Daisy Circle:

Promise Leader lead the GS Promise and then we sung “Here we go ‘round the Daisy circle” with “Considerate and Caring.” (See Meeting One for song details). Then they watered team Garden.

Before starting the activities we introduced the “Brave Olympics.” Basically, we gave every girl a plastic bag and told them for every brave thing they did that day they would get a gold coin.

Gold Coins for "Brave Olympics."

Try New Foods (Bravery)

This was so fun! Everyone doing the Red Petal should do this.

In brain storming what was “brave” for a five or six year-old girl growing up safe and sound in the suburbs, we hit upon trying new foods. Seriously, what’s braver to a picky kindergartener then putting an odd looking vegetable in their mouth? My co-leader and I had a ton of fun buying things for this meeting. By the way, if you have a Wegman’s that’s where you shop for this.

Our collection of odd and unusual foods

What we came up with: (Starting at the right of the picture)

1. Pantone (Italian Christmas Bread)
2. Pomegranate Jam (on crackers)
3. Prickly Pear
4. Some weird spiky fruit whose name I don’t remember but was actually delicious
5. Cauliflower Bread
6. Star Fruit
7. Canned Jicama (warmed and served on crackers)
8. Papaya
9. Coconut Soda (not nearly as good as it sounds)
10. Goat Cheese (not pictured)

Weird Prickly Fruit.  Yummy.

We started with some of the least scary food and asked all the girls to try it. They got a coin for trying something new. We then worked through all 10 foods. Amazingly, of 8 girls (many of whom are pretty picky) 7 tried every single food! And the 7th, our pickiest, only refused the weird prickly fruit. She did have seconds and thirds of the cauliflower bread (which by the way was crazy delicious). Most of the foods really tasted good, which helped. I found the star fruit very bitter, but I had one girl who loved it and ate all the leftovers.



Snack and Story time

After handing out a snack (yes, they were still hungry. I swear my girls could eat all day long) we read the Tula story to the girls (which talks about standing up to bullies) and discussed this.

Blind Obstacle Course

While one of us was reading the girls the story the other went into the living room and set up a really simple obstacle course with pillows, chairs, the parachute and tables. We had a long scarf that we tied around the girls eyes and the object was for them to allow another girl to guide them through the obstacle course. The idea was they had to be courageous and trust her sister scouts. The other girls cheered them on.

Again, we chose who went first based on who was behaving at that moment. I lead the first girl then she would lead the next, etc. By the time they got to the last girl their patience was so thin that we quickly shuffled them to the next activity. The girls got coins for being brave and completing this activity.

One of my girls ready for the Obstacle Course

The girls enjoyed this, but there was too much time waiting and watching. In the future I would do this in small groups.


Tula the Tulip

This time we did the project all together, while my co-leader pulled the girls out one by one to make their videos.

My Tula (and friends)

Supplies

1. Real life tulip pictures (to pass around)



2. Red card stock cut into tulip shapes
3. Red tissue paper cut into tulip shapes
4. Googly eyes
5. Green Pipe cleaners
6. Dark Green Paint
7. Paint brushes
8. Dixie cups to contain water and paint
9. Stapler
10. Elmer’s Glue
11. Black sharpies

Steps:
1. Have girls glue down stems then go around and staple them
2. Glue cardstock then tissue paper over cardstock
3. Paint the long leaves (just for a different technique)
4. Glue on googly eyes and draw on mouth

One the othe girls' Tula

Christmas Card Videos

The other thought we had when thinking “what’s brave to 5 and 6 year olds?”, was that for many of the girls speaking or singing in front of people or being the center of attention was anxiety producing and, thus, required courage.

We used this in two ways. The first was caroling, which we were going to do later that month and the other was a Video Christmas (or Holiday) Card.

So … each girl was pulled, separately, into another room and my co-leader video taped them sending a message to their family and friends and singing a song. As you can imagine, some girls need more prodding then others, but they all did and got their coin. It left some really sweet videos that we later put up on the Shutterfly Share Site for their parents to send around to family and friends.

Video Christmas Card from Shutterfly (Just a pic.  Sorry)

Closing Circle:

We started the closing circle early this day so the girls could chose a couple songs and practice signing (for 1-2 of them just singing in front of the other girls required a lot of courage). We sang “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” and a few others until the parents arrived then did the friendship squeeze and ended the meeting.


Homework/Handouts:

Tula Handout (that wasn’t due until January) and reminders to bring in Items for Project Elf and food item for the holiday party the next week.