Since we meet right after school, we always start with a snack. After that, we played the Mystery Bag Game.
Mystery Bag Game:
Need -- 5 paper lunchbags, numbered 1-5
1 leaf, 1 grape (or piece of fruit), 1 lasagna noodle, 1 cup, 1 stuffed animal
paper ballot for each girl
What to do: Have each girl feel inside the bags and try to guess what each item is without peaking. Have her write down the number of the bag and what she thinks is inside. When they finish, have them sit in a circle and call out guesses before revealing what's in each bag. See if they can guess how all the items are related (they're all water-related: leaves need water to live, grape is 81% water, lasagna noodles are cooked in water, cup holds water, animal needs water to live).
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| A picture of water. I was bored looking at all the writing... |
We then talked about how not everyone has access to clean water. We discussed the three scenarios in the leader handbook on p.45 (all having to do with how you'd feel if you didn't have as much water as you're accustomed to). We talked about how protecting water is living out "using resources wisely" in the Girl Scout Law. We talked about ways to conserve water in our own lives and homes.
Since this was the first meeting, we then played a "Get-to-Know You Game."
Get-to-Know-You Game:
What to do: This is pretty much like "Concentration." We sat in a circle and clapped hands in a rhythm. I started with "I'm Laura...and I like knitting." Then the next girl had to say, "That's Laura...and she likes knitting. I'm Alexis...and I like animals." Since the girls are kind of young, we only made them remember the person next to them and their own. As they get older, you could make the game harder by making each person remember everyone who's gone before them until the last person has to recite everyone else's names and likes.
Then we sang two songs -- The Brownie Friend Song and On Top of Spaghetti.
We always end by reciting the Girl Scout Promise, making a Friendship Circle and singing Make New Friends (we do the first 2 verses). Then we do the Friendship Squeeze, and twist out of the circle and we're done!
