Tagalong Chocolate Chunk Cookies

ok, this is ridiculously self-promotional, but I made these Tagalong Chocolate Chunk Cookies and blogged about them on my other blog. I thought you might like to try them!

I think when we do our cookie booths at the end of Feb, we're going to print out a few different recipes that call for Girl Scout cookies and have them on-hand to give out at the store. We're givers, we are.

An Update on our December Craft and our January Meeting

So for our Christmas party in Dec, we went with the felt Christmas trees...

It was a little chaotic because we had 15 girls there, most of whom had never sewed before. We probably should have enlisted a few more parents to help with that one! At one point I looked over at my co-leader and she was just holding her head in her hands (it was also the week before Christmas break. Everyone was excited.)

So. January. We had a short meeting this month because it's cookie season and we wanted to meet with the parents for a bit to talk cookie sales. 

We started with snack and then, because it was in the 60's in Colorado in January, we went outside for a brief scavenger hunt. I gave the girls each a sheet of paper with five things they had to find...the only rules were 1.) they had to stay where I could see them and 2.) they couldn't write the same answer in more than one spot. Here were the things they had to find:

Find something that:

1.) is blue

2.) needs water to grow

3.) is alive but not a human!

4.) starts with the same letter as your name

5.) is a different color in winter than summer

Since we're doing the Water Journey this year, I made a few of the items watery. We didn't have a race or a winner, just had the girls talk about what they found when they came back inside. 

Then we did our craft for the day -- a Water Friendship Bracelet.

from Classroom Magic

Each of the beads represented a stage in the water cycle. We had the beads and string pre-packaged in ziploc baggies to make craft time easier...but the catch was that the girls didn't make their own bracelets. I told them they were making one for someone else, but wouldn't tell them who. When we finished with craft time, we all sat in a circle and each girl passed her bracelet to the person on her right. I figured it was the easiest way to exchange friendship bracelets without anyone getting hurt feelings or other drama! They all loved the craft and were excited to exchange with each other.

We finished with The Brownie Smile Song (you can find it on youtube if you need the melody), the Pledge (I know...this should go at the beginning but there's no good place for it when we're having snack and crafts and...it just seems to go better at the end) and the Girl Scout Promise. Then we sang "Make New Friends" while in our Friendship Circle, did the Friendship Squeeze and dismissed until next time! 

Brownies -- December Meeting

So tomorrow's our December Brownie meeting...and I think we'll make it mostly fun and Christmas-y. One of the things I love about Girl Scouts is that it's pretty flexible -- which means it's as fun...or as boring...as you make it! We'll probably skip any World of Water projects for this month. Instead we'll do a Christmas-y craft, decorate cookies, and sing some carols to get ready for singing at the senior center this Saturday. We're also going to pass out the badges the girls have earned so far (we decided it's more fun to have some to wear now, rather than waiting until the end of the year to get everything they earned).

Here are a few craft ideas we're thinking of:

Felt Trees:
These are on sale on etsy. so there aren't instructions, but I think they're self-explanatory. I'm thinking about cutting out, stuffing and gluing the trees together, then having the girls do the decorative stitching and sew on the buttons -- both for time's sake and because I don't think most of them have sewing skills yet.

Bird Feeders:
Instructions are here. I love bird feeders for winter! And I think it encourages a love of nature and wildlife that's a great part of scouting.

Clear Globe Ornaments:
So many ways to go with clear ornaments. The snowman directions are here...but you can also do a snowy landscape w/ fake snow and mini pinecones and greenery...or you can put glitter and poms in there...or beads...or have the girls bring in small trinkets to create a keepsake ornament. Or you could just decorate the outside with glitter glue and/or paint instead.

I think we're going to go with the felt trees because I like the idea of the girls learning a new skill (sewing -- and they get a Fun Patch to boot!).

Anyone else have ideas for winter Girl Scout crafts or activities? You can also check out more on my scouting pinterest page.

Girl Scout Fire Starters

I just wrote a post on  my other blog on how to make your own firestarters for campouts. Check it out!

How to Make Fire-Starters

Wonders of Water: Meeting 3

Because we've been learning about water we decided to do a little experiment this week. The girls learned that water acts as a magnifier. We followed the instructions here, and made water magnifiers.

Materials:
cardboard (I used a cereal box)
glass microscope slides (found at Hobby Lobby -- about $3/10)
tape
medicine droppers (from pharmacy at Walgreens -- $2/16...I just asked the pharmacist if I could buy a bunch)
cups for water
newspaper and other small things to view through magnifier

Prep work beforehand: I cut rectangles out of the cardboard and then cut holes in the middle of each rectangle.

 During the meeting: The girls taped the microscope slide under the hole in the cardboard. They then folded down each end so the magnifier looked like a little table.

They filled the medicine dropper and then put two or three drops on the slide.

They put a piece of newspaper under the magnifier and looked through the glass at the magnified print. We also examined tiny beads.

The girls loved the experiment but got a little crazy with the water toward the end. The magnifiers can withstand a few drops of water but when the girls totally soaked them, the cardboard collapsed.

After we made magnifiers, we talked about how at the last meeting, the girls had come up with ways to conserve water at home. They talked about the things they had done (turning off the water when brushing teeth, using one cup for drinking all day, etc.)

We have now earned the first of the badges in this series -- the Love Water Award.

Love Water Award is the heart-shaped one on the top left

We finished our meeting by forming a Friendship Circle, singing "Make New Friends" and doing the Friendship Squeeze.

Our Kaper Chart

I've been wanting to assign the girls some jobs for each meeting. The whole idea behind scouting is that the girls move toward more independence so that eventually, they're in charge of the troop. Our girls are still young but they need some responsibilities at the meetings (and they get really excited when they have jobs!) So I finally made us a kaper chart. I kept mine simple, with pre-cut foam shapes from Hobby Lobby and a corkboard I had sitting around the garage:

Our girls are 2nd graders...the jobs we've assigned for now are:
Attendance Taker (in case we earn a badge at the meeting -- we can keep track of who participated)
Pledge Leader (for the Pledge of Allegiance)
Promise Leader (for the Girl Scout Promise)
Friendship Squeeze Starter (we end every meeting with the Friendship Squeeze)
Snack Helper
Supply Helper (to pass out craft/other supplies)
Song Starter (we also end every meeting with "Make New Friends")

We tried it out at the last meeting and it was hugely popular. I just have to be careful now, and make sure every girl gets a chance to do something!

Tissue Paper Flowers

Another craft we did with our Daisies in the spring was tissue-paper flowers. We had each girl make one flower and twisted it onto a green pipe cleaner stem to take home.

The girls, of course, loved the flowers. They needed some help from leaders but it was a fun project overall.