Girl Scout Kaper Chart

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It's a great idea to have a kaper chart to give the girls responsibilities at meetings. Last year, my troop use "Be" and "Been" bags: Each girl  decorated a foam hand that was put into the "Be" bag. Whenever we needed someone to be a helper, we pulled a name from the "Be" bag and put it into the "Been" bag. Once all the names were in the "Been" bag, we started all over.

This year, I wanted to use a kaper chart to take less meeting time away from pulling names. My basic materials are in the top picture: a magnetic dry-erase board with a corkboard border ($7 at Target), a $1 roll of wrapping paper, double-stick tape, and push pins.

I started by cutting the wrapping paper to the shape of the dry erase board, then used the double-stick tape to stick it on. I cut some plain scrapbooking paper I had up into rectangles, then taped printed paper on top of that. Each rectangle has one job: Flagholder, Promise Leader, Song, Snack, Clean-Up, It-Girl (to start off games and such), Buddy (bathroom buddy), and Closing (to start the friendship squeeze).  Since Daisy Scouts vary in their reading skills, I wanted to have visual cues for each job. I have a friend with a Cricut who let me use it to cut out the graphics.

Then, I used the Cricut to cut 2 different sizes of circles (printed paper and plain paper). I taped the smaller, plain paper on top of the larger circle. These will hold the girls' names, and I will use the push pins to move them around the corkboard border. 

I'd love to see what you're doing for kaper charts! Leave a message in the comments section below to share your own.

Plan for Girl Scout Celebrations!

Keep in mind that there are several days throughout the year when you can use a meeting to celebrate a national Girl Scout event.

October 31: Founder's Day/Juliette Low's Birthday. You can have the girls plan a birthday party for Juliette Low. Divide them into small groups beforehand plan what kind of food, decorations, and games they want to have at a party for Juliette Low. Ask the girls if they have any ideas about how to celebrate! They might want to have a tea party (to honor Low's love of tea) or make collages showing what they love best about being in Girl Scouts. Or, you can fulfill the Girl Scout Law's decree to make the world a better place by creating a birthday-in-a-box along with their own celebration to help someone in need in the area.

February 22: World Thinking Day. World Thinking Day is a time to appreciate Girl Scouts and Guides around the world. Maybe you'll have a guest speaker from another country come in to teach the girls something about his or her culture. Or, you might want to raise money for the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund. Each year, a different theme is chosen (2012 is "girls worldwide say 'we can save our planet'"), so think about asking girls what kinds of projects they can do within that theme. Or, see what your local council is doing and how you can participate.

March 12: Girl Scout Birthday. Many of the activities appropriate for Juliette Low's birthday would also work here. Maybe the girls had a great idea that you weren't able to put into place in time for Founder's Day, so now's the time to use it! The girls will love that you're listening to them and feel empowered to make more troop decisions in the future.

What Girl Scout celebrations have you done in the past? What kind of activities made your meeting or field trip a success? Leave a message in the comments section below!