It's time to start planning your first few Daisy meetings. While it's easy to get overzealous and want to plan the entire year out, resist! You'll want to leave room for the girls to add their own ideas about what they want to do in Girl Scouts, and it's much easier to do this if you haven't already decided what all the activities are.
I've found that Daisy Scouts need quite a bit of structure and adult guidance in their meetings. By breaking each meeting down into several sections, you'll be able to keep up with their short attention spans--and make planning easier! The sections I plan on using this year are
Pre-Meeting 5 to 15 minutes
Opening 5-10 minutes
Song 5 minutes
Friendship Circle 15 to 20 minutes
Snack 15 to 20 minutes
Activity 20 to 30 minutes
Game 10 to 15 minutes
Closing 5 to 10 minutes
Our group meets every other week for 90 minutes; you can adjust the time spent on each section to fit your needs. I've planned out our first five meetings, which include an Investiture and Rededication Ceremony.
Next week, I'll talk about the Pre-Meeting, Opening, and Song parts of the meetings, with some ideas for making them interesting and exciting for the girls.
How do you organize your Scout meetings? Have you begun planning for the fall yet? What do you have planned? Leave a message in the comments section!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Get Ready For Summer!
With the Girl Scout year now over, it's time for Volunteers to kick back and relax ... right?
Well, sort of. I'd recommend taking the month of June to organize your materials, as does Girl Scout Leader-Creating One Meeting at a Time! By taking a few minutes to do this now, you'll be able to see what supplies you have left over from last year, and what you'll need to purchase to start the new year off.
I used the cheapest system available, shoeboxes. While you may opt to buy more attractive organizers, shoeboxes are easy to label and stack. Below, I've listed the organizational categories I created. What categories would you use? Leave a comment below!
Beads and String
Scissors and Glue
Tissue Paper
Construction Paper
Paint and Paintbrushes
Crayons and Markers
Miscellaneous Craft Supplies
Plates and Cups
Tune in next week, when I'll make recommendations for planning the first few meetings!
Well, sort of. I'd recommend taking the month of June to organize your materials, as does Girl Scout Leader-Creating One Meeting at a Time! By taking a few minutes to do this now, you'll be able to see what supplies you have left over from last year, and what you'll need to purchase to start the new year off.
I used the cheapest system available, shoeboxes. While you may opt to buy more attractive organizers, shoeboxes are easy to label and stack. Below, I've listed the organizational categories I created. What categories would you use? Leave a comment below!
Beads and String
Scissors and Glue
Tissue Paper
Construction Paper
Paint and Paintbrushes
Crayons and Markers
Miscellaneous Craft Supplies
Plates and Cups
Tune in next week, when I'll make recommendations for planning the first few meetings!
Our Final Ceremony
We held our final ceremony in our meeting place on Thursday. We asked parents to each bring a dish to share for a potluck dinner, and they really responded generously! I made no-fire s'mores, which went over well. Well, except for the running-around-with-sticks part. I'd definitely make them again, but would lose the skewers.
After the dinner, we held our ceremony. The Brownies performed their safety play for the Puppets, Dolls, and Plays try-it. In addition to that, they received their Cookies Count and Sports and Games try-its. The Daisy scouts received all of the petals this year--which puts us in a bind for next year. I'm planning on trying out the Journeys program, so tune back in for helpful hints as we go through that process.
No-Fire Smores
Skewers
Marshmallows
Semi-sweet or dark chocolate
Graham crackers
Crush graham crackers into crumbs. Spear marshmallows with skewers nearly all the way through. Melt chocolate in a small bowl. Dip marshmallows into chocolate and swirl, covering the sides and top of each marshmallow. Roll marshmallow in graham cracker crumbs. Set aside to dry.
After the dinner, we held our ceremony. The Brownies performed their safety play for the Puppets, Dolls, and Plays try-it. In addition to that, they received their Cookies Count and Sports and Games try-its. The Daisy scouts received all of the petals this year--which puts us in a bind for next year. I'm planning on trying out the Journeys program, so tune back in for helpful hints as we go through that process.
No-Fire Smores
Skewers
Marshmallows
Semi-sweet or dark chocolate
Graham crackers
Crush graham crackers into crumbs. Spear marshmallows with skewers nearly all the way through. Melt chocolate in a small bowl. Dip marshmallows into chocolate and swirl, covering the sides and top of each marshmallow. Roll marshmallow in graham cracker crumbs. Set aside to dry.
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