Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part V

Summer's almost over, and it's time for the last installment of my list of ideas to incorporate into the "5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals" Daisy Journey! Today I'll be listing some ideas to use for Mari's Story, "Rumbles and Roars," which talks about her trip to Africa, where she saw a baby elephant and parrots!

Song

• Sing "If You Should Meet an Elephant"

 
Activity

• Do the Elephant Walk activity listed in the book. My girls had a lot of fun trying to follow the leader with their eyes closed. You can set up an obstacle course -- as we did with chairs -- but be sure to have enough adults on hand to guard against bumps and bruises! Alternatively, you can put lines on the floor for the leader to follow, a la this activity.
• Since water is an important part of the story, try this water pollution activity.
• Make an African-animal mobile.
• Make a Paper Bag Elephant.
• Make an elephant jigsaw puzzle.
• Make some animal snack holders!

Game

• Play "Roll an Elephant"

I hope you've enjoyed my posts about the "3 Cheers for Animals" Daisy Journey! If you have any ideas about things to do to go along with this Journey, please leave a message below! And be sure to come back to read about our meetings this year. 

Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part IV

I've been listing ideas for activities to go along with the "3 Cheers for Animals" Journey book. This week, I'm going to list some ideas to go along with Gloria's story, "Dancing Through Japan." Our girls really enjoyed the Japanese yoga activity from the book, so I'd definitely recommend trying that out!

In this story, Gloria tells her flower friends about Japan without saying a word. She acts like a fish, a butterfly, a turtle, a crane, and a panda bear. She also gives her friends origami presents.

Activity

• Make origami. The book has directions on how to make a crane, but you can also make horses, dogs, and much more. I like the idea of having the girls give each other their creations as a gift, like Gloria does in the story
• Create a country box about the people, places, animals, food, and culture of Japan
• Make a fish aquarium from paper plates
• Gloria was able to tell her story without sound. Have the girls practice their sense of sound with this sound-matching activity

Game

• Play animal charades
• Just like Gloria was able to tell her story without talking, have the girls line up in order of height, birthday, or age without talking 

Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part III

Hello!

Hope your summers are going well. Have you started planning your first meetings yet? I'm excited to get started and to use some of the ideas I've found from Pinterest to our meetings. The last two blog posts have listed ideas to incorporate into your meetings when you start the "3 Cheers for Animals" Journey. This week, we're going to take a look to see what we can add to go along with the third story, "Bienvenido a Mexico!"

I should say that many of the activities from the Leader's Guide worked really well in our troop. And the activity pages in the girls' Journey book were awesome for pre-meeting activities and then for sharing during Circle time. But there's always room for more fun activities, so that's what I'm hoping to share with you here. Here goes!

Zinni's story is about her trip to Mexico, where she took care of a horse, had a rooster, found a baby chick, rode a burro, and ate quesadillas. She also spent a lot of time with her colorful family, who she misses when she returns. Here are some corresponding ideas:

Activity

• Make a heart map showing the things that are most dear to you. Be sure to let the girls share their maps with each other!
• Make a collaborative color wheel from cut-up magazines! I think it would be really cute to make a daisy in the colors of the Daisy petals.
• Make eyedropper volcanoes in different colors with baking soda and vinegar
• Use shaving cream painting to make colorful rainbows or animals
• Make a continent box--or in this case, a country box--where girls can explore the people, places, animals, and culture of Mexico 

Snack

• Make or serve a quesadilla 
• Eat "horse food"--apples and oats! 

Do you have any additional ideas that would go with Zinni's story? Leave a message below!