Program Potpourri - Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois

Girl Scouts
of
Southern
Illinois
program
potp ourri
2 0 0 9 - 2 0 10 I s s u e
www.girlscoutsofsouthernillinois.org
Corporate Service Center
#4 Ginger Creek Parkway
Glen Carbon, IL 62034
(618) 692-0692
(800) 345-6858
Regional Service Center
4102 S. Water Tower Place
Mt. Vernon, IL 62864
(618)242-5079
(888)317-6353
Mission Statement
GIRL SCOUT
PR
OMISE
PROMISE
Girl Scouting builds girls of Courage,
Confidence, and Character
who make the world a better place.
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country
To help people at all times
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
Discover
GIRL SCOUT LAW +
Connect
I will do my best to be
Honest and fair,
+
Friendly and helpful,
Considerate and caring,
Take
Courageous and strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
Action
And to
Respect myself and others,
=
Respect authority,
Use resources wisely,
Make the world a better place, and
Be a sister to every Girl Scout.
Leadership
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Fun for Girl Scouts of All Ages .....................................................................................................
Great ideas for Girl Scout meetings .....................................................................................
Get to know each other games ............................................................................................
Travel games .......................................................................................................................
Indoor games ......................................................................................................................
Cleaner Alternatives .............................................................................................................
DA
GS
Girl Scout Daisies ..........................................................................................................................
Footprint Race .....................................................................................................................
Caterpillar Race ...................................................................................................................
Sore Spot Tag ......................................................................................................................
Making Oobleck ..................................................................................................................
Ants on the Run ..................................................................................................................
Cookie Concerns .................................................................................................................
Help! I can’t get off! ..............................................................................................................
The Endangered Hobbit .......................................................................................................
Pizza Rats ..........................................................................................................................
The Nose Knows .................................................................................................................
Bubble Fun ..........................................................................................................................
Bubble Art Notepaper ..........................................................................................................
Felt Gingerbread Men ..........................................................................................................
Turkey Placemats ...............................................................................................................
Sparkle Paints .....................................................................................................................
Word Find ...........................................................................................................................
Girl Scout Brownies ......................................................................................................................
Wiggle-Lo ............................................................................................................................
Trash the Neighbor’s Yard ...................................................................................................
Doctor .................................................................................................................................
Frogs ..................................................................................................................................
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls ............................................................................................
Balloon Play ........................................................................................................................
Paper Plate Hats .................................................................................................................
Scratch Art ..........................................................................................................................
Make your own Valentine’s Haiku Card ................................................................................
Stack it Up! .........................................................................................................................
Pose Tag .............................................................................................................................
Stick Out Your Tongue .........................................................................................................
Wilma & the Monster ..........................................................................................................
Eating Low ..........................................................................................................................
Girl Scout Promise Game ...................................................................................................
Camouflaged Creatures .......................................................................................................
Turtle Pizza .........................................................................................................................
Animal Puzzles ...................................................................................................................
Environmental Word Search ................................................................................................
Animal Puzzles Answers .....................................................................................................
JR
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Girl Scout Juniors ..........................................................................................................................
California Kickball ................................................................................................................
Pass the Story ....................................................................................................................
Tie Flip-Flops ......................................................................................................................
Snow Cream .......................................................................................................................
Tissue Paper Flowers ..........................................................................................................
Dino ....................................................................................................................................
Girl Scout Promise & Law Relay .........................................................................................
Skin Prints ..........................................................................................................................
Juliette Low Rap ..................................................................................................................
Orange Teeth .......................................................................................................................
Easy Mini Pizzas ................................................................................................................
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Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Girl Scout Juniors (continued) ............................................................................................................ 23
Make Your Own Apron ........................................................................................................ 23
Hit the Deck ........................................................................................................................
The Rock Game ..................................................................................................................
Balancing Eggs-periment ....................................................................................................
Rolled Paper Beads ............................................................................................................
Passing Crossed or Uncrossed ...........................................................................................
Papier-Mache Bowl .............................................................................................................
Who’s Eating Whom ...........................................................................................................
CD
JR
Girl Scout Cadettes .......................................................................................................................
Girl Scout Candy Centerpieces ...........................................................................................
Fancy Girl Scout Bracelet ...................................................................................................
Troop Family Tree ...............................................................................................................
Ecosystem Jobs .................................................................................................................
Treasure Maps ....................................................................................................................
Tie Fleece Blankets ............................................................................................................
Microclimates ......................................................................................................................
Women’s History Quiz ........................................................................................................
How to Make Radioactive Slime ..........................................................................................
Green Candied Popcorn ......................................................................................................
Maori Games ......................................................................................................................
Take a Powder .....................................................................................................................
Girl Scout Seniors .........................................................................................................................
Song Writers .......................................................................................................................
Picassos .............................................................................................................................
I Love My Neighbor ..............................................................................................................
The Ocean is Stormy ...........................................................................................................
Papier-Mache Masks ..........................................................................................................
Crayon Shaving Hearts ........................................................................................................
Unique You ..........................................................................................................................
Take a Breather ...................................................................................................................
Talking Without Your Mouth .................................................................................................
Web of Life ..........................................................................................................................
Funnel Cakes ......................................................................................................................
AMB
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Girl Scout Ambassadors ................................................................................................................
Sassy Sayings Jewelry Box ................................................................................................
Shoe Designer Project ........................................................................................................
Fab Ribbon Board ...............................................................................................................
Oreo Balls ...........................................................................................................................
Pretzels ..............................................................................................................................
Stress & Epson Salt ............................................................................................................
Make a Troop CD ................................................................................................................
Sing It, Don’t Say It .............................................................................................................
Magnet-icent .......................................................................................................................
Sugar Sweet Body Scrub ....................................................................................................
Perfect Pedi ........................................................................................................................
Making a Noise Maker ........................................................................................................
What is Your Self Concept? ................................................................................................
Psych-Out! Soda Pop Experiment .......................................................................................
Tie-Dyed T-Shirt ...................................................................................................................
Old Fashioned Taffy Pull ......................................................................................................
Recycled Bag out of Plastic Bags .......................................................................................
No-Sew Bandana Tote Bag ..................................................................................................
Decorated Candles ..............................................................................................................
Cheddar Garlic Biscuits .......................................................................................................
Reindeer Food .....................................................................................................................
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Log on & Load Up!
on great ideas for Girl Scout meetings
Tarheel Triad Council: This Council has many great ideas for crafts, games, and service projects.
There are enough “Bright Ideas” here to keep your meetings fun all year.
Visit: http://www.tarheeltriad.org/Bright%20Ideas.htm
Girl’s Life Magazine Website: This magazine has got great tips for girls who are entering adolescence.
There are stories, crafts, games, and lots of advice. Visit: http://www.girlslife.com
The Girl Scout USA Website: Click on “What Girls Say” portion and discover the what Girl Scouts are
thinking. Do a poll of the same topics with your girls at the meeting and see if they match up.
Visit: http://www.girlscouts.org/research/what_girls_say/.asp
Get to know each other games!
Who Am I?
Materials: 1 Index card per girl • pens
Directions:
1. Each girl is given an index card and given five minutes to list ten physical characteristics of herself,
such as hair color, eye color, height, face shape, description of smile, eyes, ears, hands, etc. She
may not list things she is wearing. Have each girl write her name on the back of the card. Once
everyone is completed, the leader should collect the cards and shuffle them.
2. The leader selects a card, taking care that no one can see the name on the back. Starting with the
least obvious characteristic, the leader reads each clue.
3. Girls try to guess when they think they have enough clues to figure out who is being described.
Human Bingo
Materials: paper • pens
Directions:
1. Have each girl divide her sheet of paper into 9 squares by drawing two vertical lines crossed by two
horizontal lines. Mark the middle square as “free.” Provide extra paper for writing down answers.
2. Make a list of 5 questions that will help the girls get to know each other. (The girls can suggest their
own questions, or this list can be made ahead of time by the leader). For example: “What is your full
name?” or “What is the strangest thing you’ve eaten?”
3. Have each troop member interview 8 different people, writing down the answers to each question.
The girls get to mark a bingo space with the name of each person that they interviewed.
4. When everyone has finished, the leader uses a troop list to call out names. Along with marking a
bingo square, the answers to each girl’s questions should be read aloud by one of the troop members
who interviewed her.
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Travel Games
Great ideas to use with the girls when traveling on field trips or to programs & events!
Counting Cows
Count the cows you see on your side of the car. If you pass a field full of lots of cows, you’d better count fast! If
you pass a cemetery on your side of the car, you lose all your cows, but only if the opposing team calls “your
cows are buried!” This game gets interesting when distraction tactics are used to either cause your opponent
to miss cows on their side of the road or to miss a cemetery on your side of the road.
Have a Spelling Bee
See who can spell the most words correctly. Choose words that match the correct difficulty level for each
age of your girls. You might like to bring small dictionary for word ideas and definitions.
I Spy
Look around and pick an object you can see either in the car or along the road. Then give others a clue
such as, “I spy with my little eye... something green,” or “I spy with my little eye .. something brown and
furry.” Continue to give more clues until they can guess what it is.
Play Favorites
This one is a good conversation starter. Go around the car and ask each person their favorite color. Then
have everyone think of different “favorite” questions for the group. What’s your favorite... movie, flavor of
ice cream, song, game, toy, place to visit, restaurant, book, animal, fish, etc. Be creative and don’t forget
to ask the driver too!
Indoor Games for Any Age
Bob the Builder
Materials: 50 sheets of computer paper • 10 sheets of construction paper • 30-40 toothpicks • roll of
scotch tape • 3 pages of newspaper • 4 wire coat hangers • measuring tape
Directions:
1. Divide the troop into groups of 3 or 4.
2. Teams must build a structure that is at least 1 foot high and will support as many shoes as possible. One by
one, see how many shoes each structure can hold without collapsing. Start with the leader’s shoes and
work through the rest of the troop, if the structure holds up. The structure that supports the most shoes wins.
Cotton and Nerf
Materials: duct tape • cotton balls • small Nerf balls
Directions:
1. Divide into teams, with one girl being designated as the “target.” Have an adult member wrap this girl in
duct tape, facing sticky side out.
2. Have the girls throw the Nerf and cotton balls at the target trying to get them to stick. Nerf balls are worth
two points and cotton balls are worth three.
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Æ
Textbook Slam
Materials: An old, heavy textbook that can get dirty or scratched
Directions:
1. Start with a circle of girls sitting in chairs, with each girl holding her hand out in front of her. Have one girl
stand in the middle of the circle holding a textbook.
2. The middle person walks around the circle and randomly grabs another girl’s hand. That girl must rise and
follow the person with the textbook. She too will randomly grab someone’s hand, and that person must
follow. The next person grabbed does the same, grabbing another hand, and so on.
3. When the girl with the textbook drops it, everyone walking must find a chair and sit down. Of course, one
person will not have a chair – the person who remains must pick up the book and start the next round. The
girl carrying the textbook may take a chair out of the circle so that the girls are farther away from the chairs
to add to the mad dash.
Pumpkin Art Challenge
Materials: a pumpkin for each group • toothpicks • play-dough or modeling clay • odds & ends: buttons,
stickers, crayons, etc
Directions:
1. Divide girls into groups of 4. Try to group girls who may not know each other very well. Also, do not make
groups larger than 4, as bigger groups may make it hard for all girls to participate.
2. Give each group five minutes to make the most creative pumpkin face they can. They cannot cut or carve
into the pumpkin, although they can use toothpicks to support the “ornaments.” Allow girls to use items they
may be carrying to add variety: earrings, combs, scarves, etc.
3. Have judges come around and declare a winner. Make the focus of the activity teamwork , as girls who do
not know each other well will have to work together quickly to make the 5 minute time limit.
Cleaner Alternatives
Could be an Earth Day Project!
We lock up our cabinets because they are full of toxic and potentially harmful cleaning
products, but we think nothing of pouring them into the sink or toilet, which eventually
goes into our drinking water supply. You might think that by pouring a substance down
the drain, it goes away. That is not true, because from there it enters the water supply and eventually returns to
your faucet as the water you use for drinking or cooking.
Abrasive Cleaning: Use baking soda or salt, or a mixture of both.
Wood Polish: Mix together one part lemon juice and two parts olive or vegetable oil.
Tile Floor Cleaner: Mix one-fourth cup vinegar into a gallon of water.
Bleach: For a gentler alternative, try using borax. It is a naturally occurring form of the element boron. It cleans,
disinfects, whitens, and softens water without being as harmful to the environment.
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Footprint Race
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials: Footprints cut out of newsprint, construction paper, or cardboard;
a different color for each team
1. Mark a starting point and a finishing point with cones or tape.
2. Lay footprints in a straight line to the finish point, or, to be more challenging, have the prints
intertwining, making them further apart, or make them go over obstacles.
Girl Scout Daisies
3. Have the teams line up behind the starter.
4. On the signal, the starter from each team follow the trail to the end. If a girl misses a print, she
must go back to the print before that.
5. When the starter reaches the last footprint, the next girl starts, and so forth.
Caterpillar Race
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Directions:
1. Mark a starting point and a finishing point with tape or cones.
2. Divide into teams. Have the teams line up behind the starter.
3. The starter kneels down, the next girl grasps the starter’s ankles, and the next girl grabs her
ankles until they form a caterpillar.
4. On the signal, each team inches to the finish point.
5. Teams must stay together the whole length. If any of the girls let go, the catepillar must go
back to start and try again.
Sore Spot Tag
Materials: tape
Directions:
Follow your regular rules for tag – except add that the tapped person must hold the spot where
she was tagged with one hand until she tags someone else. This adds some challenge and
humor to the game – it’s hard to keep from laughing if you were tagged on the posterior and
difficult to run with a tag on the foot!
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Oh the places you will go ...
making oobleck to celebrate Dr. Seuss!
Please read the book first!
Materials: 2 cups of cornstarch • 1 cup of water
The girls will be totally taken with this goo. Oobleck tries to defy Newton’s third
law of motion that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you
quickly smack oobleck with your hand it immediately turns into a solid, instead
of splashing or moving. If you move oobleck slowly, it reacts like a liquid.
Directions:
1. Mix 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup water in a bowl. If you want to color your oobleck , add a few drops
of food coloring to the water before adding to the cornstarch.
2. Try it out (hit it with your fist and pour it off a spoon to see if it works) before you add more water to
make it easier to mix. When the girls aren’t playing, keep it covered with plastic wrap.
Ants On the Run
Ants are fascinating little creatures – and they’re easy to find.
Try an ant taste test and follow an ant to find out more about its life.
Some foods provide more energy than others. Ants – and other insects – are attracted to sweet foods,
but not just any kind of sweet food. Ants know which foods are high in energy. Sugars and artificial
sugars taste the same to many people, but real sugar has a much higher energy value. Ants can figure
this out and this knowledge helps them to survive.
Materials: sugar • artificial sweetener • two identical bottle caps (small & shallow) • two drinking
glasses • water • teaspoon • pen • watch
Ant food: Mix a spoonful of sugar with a little water in a glass to make a thick liquid. Clean the spoon.
Mix a spoonful of artificial sweetener with a little water in another glass to make a thick liquid. Fill one
bottle cap with each mixture – be sure to mark the caps so you know which is in each). Place the caps
close together in a place you know there are ants. The ants should be able to get to both caps easily.
Which mixture attracts more ants? Why? What happens if you take away the sugar mixture? How does
the ants’ response help them survive?
Follow that ant: Find an ant. Mark the spot where you first find it. Follow the ant for about 10 minutes.
Where does it go? What does it do? Put an obstacle in the ant’s path. What happens? Does the ant
seem to move faster when the temperature is higher (ex: in the sunlight). If you follow the ant long enough,
you might find its anthill. If the ant leads you to other ants, watch the way ants move in a line. When your
observation time is up, take a look at how far you and the ant traveled. Try to retrace your tracks.
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Cookie Concerns
The world’s population increases by about 160 babies per minute. More people need more resources –
but resources are limited – just like the cookies in this activity. This activity can also be done with popcorn.
Materials: One cookie per person
Directions:
1. Start with two cookies and two people. How much cookie should each person get? Add two more
people. How much of these two cookies should each of the four people get? Add four more people.
How much cookie should each of the eight people get? Think about how this game relates to the
world’s growing population. How should the cookies be divided up? What is “fair?”
2. Form into two groups: One group is made up of two people and the other group is made up of everyone else. Divide the cookies into two equal piles. Each group gets a pile. Is the distribution “fair?”
Ask how people in each group feel. Compare the cookies to world resources, like food or energy.
3. How does the larger group want to divide its cookies? What might the larger group do to get some of
the smaller group’s cookies? What can the small group do to distribute the cookies more fairly?
Consider options such as sharing, bartering, breaking cookies apart, etc. Does the small group want
to share its cookies? Why or why not? Does anyone think it’s a good idea to save some of the
cookies for a snack later? Why or why not?
People should work together to decide on a “fair” cookie distribution – and then eat away!
Help! I Can’t Get it Off!
That’s exactly what animals are thinking when they become tangled in litter, such as plastic six-pack rings over
their heads. They don’t have fingers and arms, so they are unable to lift it off. There have even been some
reported cases in which baby seals have gotten their heads accidentally stuck through six-pack rings and
were choked to death as they grew. What’s it like to become entangled in debris and unable to free yourself?
This simple hand exercise will help demonstrate this to your girls.
Take a rubber band and loop it around your thumb. Stretch it over your hand (not the palm) and then loop it
around your little finger. Pretend that your hand is an animal entangled in a piece of litter. Without using your
other hand, any other part of your body, or nearby object, try to free yourself from the rubber band. You can
move it in any fashion, attempt to use the fingers on the entangled hand, twist it, etc.
As you will soon discover, it is almost impossible to remove. This is the kind
of helpless feeling that many entangled animals experience, and what’s
worse, the more they struggle, the more entangled they become. That’s why it
is important to keep our oceans, lakes, and rivers free from debris, especially
plastics that do not disintegrate and are harmful to the creatures living there.
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The Endangered Hoppit
Every week, more than 20 kinds of living things disappear from the Earth forever. In this game, an
imaginary creature called a “hoppit” is threatened from extinction.
Materials: masking tape • a large number of similar, small objects (ex: several decks of playing cards,
several dozen bingo chips, etc).
Directions:
1. Mark off a small “home” area with masking tape. Spread small objects throughout a larger playing
area.
2. Everyone becomes a “hoppit.” Hoppits are imaginary creatures which hop. Their life consists of
gathering as much food (small objects) from the ground as possible. The object of the food is for
hoppits to keep hopping and gathering food. Hoppits collect their food in a small pile in the home
area; they can also stop hopping to rest in the home area.
3. To start the game, hoppits hop about on two legs and gather food. They can pick up only one piece of
food (object) at a time and take it to their food pile. Each hoppit has its own food pile in the home
area and tries to keep the pile at least as large as the other piles.
4. After about 10 minutes, hoppits are told that bad weather has made it harder to get food. This harder
life is represented by hoppits now being able to hop on one leg only. If a hoppit hops on two legs, it
“dies” and is out of the game. The one-legged hoppits should hop about and gather food for another
5-10 minutes.
5. Hoppits are now told that humans have built a shopping plaza on their home. Hoppits can leave food
piles where they are, but can no longer stop and rest in the home area. To stay alive, hoppits must
continuously hop on one leg while adding to their food piles.
6. How many hoppits survive after 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 20 minutes? At least two hoppits must
survive for the species to continue.
Pizza Rats
Ingredients: tomato sauce • English muffins • black olives • scallions
• cheese sticks/slices
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°. Using a pizza slicer, cut an English muffin half into a
triangle. Spread a tablespoon of tomato sauce onto the wedge.
2. Set round olives in place for eyes and a nose. Add round slices of green
onion for pupils and lay strips of cheese across the muffin for the rat’s fur.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.
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The Nose Knows
Materials: several different scents (ex: vanilla, peppermint, lemon, root beer,
cinnamon, garlic, onion), cotton balls, string, blindfolds, paper, pencil
Troops can check out the Senses Discovery kit to use the scents for this activity.
Directions:
1. Make scent marks by soaking cotton balls in various scents, one scent per marker. Most scents
should be distinct (ex: lemon vs. garlic) but a couple should be similar (ex: lemon vs. orange).
2. Choose a trail. The trail can be indoors or outdoors. It should wind for 15-30 feet. The start and
finish should be clearly marked and the trail should not involve any obstacles.
3. Place the scented markers in different spots around the trail. Assign each marker a number. You can
make the trail more difficult by having it double-back and/or by having some markers low to the
ground and others high up. Make a list of which scent is assigned to each number.
4. Split into teams of two. One partner is blindfolded and must sniff her way along the trail. The other
partner has the list of scents and the order in which they can be found. The sighted partner serves as
the guide, reading from the list, checking off scents as they are found and preventing any mishaps.
5. How quickly can the blindfolded sniffers find all the scents in the correct order and get to the end of the
trail? Partners should switch roles once the trail is completed.
How does it feel to just use your sense of smell? Did some people perceive the odors better than others?
Bubble Art
Notepaper
Bubble Fun
Materials: liquid dish soap • water •
flat cake or pie tins • thin wire •
heavy-duty scissors or wire cutters •
glycerin (available at drug stores)
Materials: paper cups • drinking straws • dish
soap • water • tempera paints • typing paper
1. Cut the typing paper in half or in fourths.
1. Mix the dish soap, some water, and
a spoonful of glycerin in a pan. You
don’t absolutely need the glyecerin,
but it makes the bubbles last longer
and get larger without breaking.
2. Mix the soap and water in equal amounts.
Add one color of tempera to each of the
cups.
3. Use the straw to blow air into the paint
mixture until it bubbles and froths up.
While the bubbles are still full, gently lay the
paper surface over the bubbles. They will
stick to the paper, then collapse. They will
leave their colorful print on the paper.
2. Create your own wand, bending the
wire into whatever shape you wish.
3. Dip in the soap solution and
wave in the air to create zillions
of super bubbles.
4. Let dry. Then fold paper in half to create
cards, stationary, or gift wrap
8
Felt Gingerbread Men
Materials: yard(s) of brown felt • fabric paint • ginger bread cookie cutters
• pieces of yarn and sewing needle. (optional if you want to make them ornaments.)
• scissors • markers
Directions:
1. Lay out the brown felt and let the girls trace the shape of the cookie cutters with a marker. Use scissors tocut out the shapes.
2. Decorate the gingerbread people with the Fabric Paint. Let them dry for a half an hour. Then the girls
can either thread a piece of yarn through the man or woman for a ornament or they can keep them as
toys to play with.
Turkey Placemats
Materials: large construction paper • markers or crayons •
brown, orange, and yellow finger paints • paper plates • clear
contact paper
Directions:
1. Draw a turkey on a white piece of construction paper.
2. With the help of a leader, pour the finger paint in a paper plate. Place your hand into the paint and use
your handprint as the turkey’s tail feathers.
3. When the paint is dry, cover both sides of the paper with contact paper to make an easy-to-clean placemat.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 4 to create a placemat for each dinner guest.
Sparkle Paints
Materials: empty squeezable bottles • flour • salt • water • tempera paint • paper
1. Mix equal parts of flour, water, and salt. Pour some of the mixture in each squeeze bottle. Add tempera paint to each bottle and shake well.
2. Squeeze the paint onto paper, creating a design, word or picture. If you like, you can brush the paints
on instead of squeezing them.
3. Let dry. When the paint is dry, the salt will make the picture sparkle.
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Find the Words
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Let’s go on a hike now!
Wear old clothes.
We’ll walk around the water.
What’s that thing in the sky?
Look at the pretty flowers, but do not hurt them.
We’re having such a good time!
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Look how high we’ve climbed!
Try to stay on the path.
Our leader is having fun too.
We’d better hike back before it gets dark.
This has been the best day!
We’ll remember it even when we’re old women.
10
Wiggle-lo!
Wiggle-lo can be played inside and out, with as little as a five person group to as big as a twenty
person group. Have the girls stand in a circle with one girl in the middle. Then they start chanting
the song Wiggle-lo and clapping to the beat. This is how the song goes:
Girl Scout Brownies
Wiggle-lo Wig-Wiggle-lo
While the girls in the circle are chanting this the girl in the middle skips around the inside of the
circle. Then she stops in front of a girl in the circle and does these actions:
My hands up high, my feet down low, and this is how I WIGGLE-LO!
The middle girl raises her arms up to the “hands up high” part, then puts her arms down for the
“feet down low” part. Then, to “this is how I Wiggle-lo,” she does her very own made up dance. It
can be pretty much any movement.
Repeat: My hands up high, my feet down low, and this is how I WIGGLE-LO.
Now all the girls repeat the motions the middle girl made. Then the girl that the middle girl choose
to stand in front of switches with her. Now that girl is in the middle and the game continues.
This game can go as long as the girls want it to and it can be repeated several times.
Trash the Neighbors Yard
Materials: A coned off area the size of a basketball court or smaller. • Any soft balls, bean
bags, Frisbees.
Another game that can be played indoors or outdoors -- it works really well on a basketball
court. The playing area is divided into two sides by the middle line. Divide the girls into two
teams. On the middle line place all of the bean bags, balls and any other soft objects. On “Go!”
the girls must run towards the middle line and get as many of the items as possible.
The object of the game is to have the girls slide or roll as much stuff onto the other sides “yard.”
Give them about 4 to 5 minutes of playing time to slide things back and forth. Then yell freeze
and have all the girls stand still and do not let them throw anymore materials. Count the amount
of stuff on each side. The side with the most stuff on their “yard” loses.
Doctor
Materials: A coned off area the size of a basketball court or smaller • Any soft balls, bean
bags, or Frisbees.
Place all of the balls, bean bags or other items on the middle line. Pick the teams -- there
should be a even number on either side of the court. One member of each team is “the doctor.”
If a girl is hit in the foot by an object, she must sit down and is out of the game until the doctor
can save her by tagging her. The object of the game is to hit the doctor that way no one can be
saved. Once everyone is sitting down on one side then the other team wins.
11
Frogs
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Directions:
1. On the signal, have girls freeze where they are.
2. Jump on and off the lily pad with both feet. Try getting farther distance each time. (5 times)
3. Jump on and off the pad by jumping with both feet sideways. (5 times)
4. Hop on one foot, on and off (5 times)
5. Leap onto your pad (take-off on one foot and land on the other - 5 times)
6. Jump creatively (5 times)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
Ingredients: 1 cup peanut butter, • 1 cup honey • 2 cups powdered milk • 1 cup confectioner’s
sugar • 1 cup melted chocolate • 1 ½ cup crushed sweetened corn cereal (Corn Flakes recommended)
Directions:
Mix peanut butter, honey, and milk together to form very thick mixture. Roll out into small balls about the
size of a walnut. Roll in confectioner’s sugar. Dip in melted chocolate. Roll in crushed cereal. Place on
waxed paper and refrigerate until set. Yield: 18-14 pieces.
Balloon Play
Materials: balloons • cloth (wool sweater, nylon, or polyester) • cotton thread
• scissors • tape
Directions:
Blow up two or three balloons. To charge a balloon with static electricity, quickly rub it back and forth on a
piece of cloth, like the sleeve of a wool sweater.
Push and Pull: Tie a piece of thread to the end of an uncharged balloon. Tie another piece of thread to the
end of a different balloon. Hold the two balloons up by their threads so that they hang about 5 cm apart.
Does anything happen? Charge one of the balloons and hold it near the uncharged balloon. What happens? Charge both balloons and hold them near each other. What happens?
Hanging Balloon: Place a charged balloon on the wall. How well does it stay? How long will it stay on the wall?
Pet Balloon: Tie a piece of thread 35 cm long to the end of a charged balloon. Tape the balloon to the
edge of a table (so that the balloon hangs freely). Hold your open hand near the balloon. Is the balloon
attracted to your hand? Will it follow your hand as you move?
Dancing Thread: Tape one end of a 15 cm long piece of thread to a table top. Now move a charged
balloon over the thread. Can you make the thread stand straight up? Can you make it dance?
12
PAPER PLATE HATS
Materials: One paper plate and paper or styrofoam bowl per girl • glue • stapler • hole punch •
decorations: paint, glitter, ribbons, flowers, anything you’d like!
Directions:
1. Cut circle out of paper plate about where the rim starts, staple bowl upside down onto paper plate
brim in four places
2. Punch holes on either side on the brim for ribbon or elastic to tie around chin
3. Paint (light spray paint works best on Styrofoam) and decorate as desired
4. Attach ribbon or elastic in side hole
Scratch
Art
Materials: poster paper • crayons • black paint • paint brushes
• dish detergent • kabob skewers for scratching
Directions:
1. Color really hard all over the paper. It should be waxy looking with NO white showing.
2. After the paper is colored, take black tempera paint (Use a washable kids paint by Plaid that can be
found at Wal-Mart) and mix in a drop of dish detergent. Two tablespoons of paint with a good sized
drop of regular dish detergent is recommended. Cover the entire page with the paint. Allow to dry.
3. When the paper is completely dry, start scratching away with a wooden kabob skewer. Use a blow
dryer to make the paint dry faster. This is a good project to divide between two meetings. Girls can
color and paint at one meeting and scratch designs during the next meeting.
Make your own Valentine’s Day Haiku Card
from American Girl Website
How to write a personalized Haiku:
Five syllables in the first line
Seven syllables in the second line
Five syllables in the third line
Enter you name
Example:
I love you Mother
Happy Valentines to you
From your dear daughter
Sarah
Then decorate it however you want.
Stack It Up!
This game is a really good way for the girls to get to know each other. The game starts by having them sit in a
circle. Then a leader calls out different activities a girl could do, such as: “Have you ever ridden a horse?” or
“Have you ever made a cake?”
The girls that say yes to this statement must move two spaces to the right and sit on the girl that is two spaces
to the right. Eventually there will be some huge piles which will make the girls giggle.
13
Pose TTa
ag
A great game when the girls need to burn off some energy. Pose tag is just like tag except when girls get
tagged, they must do a certain pose. The leader chooses a category like animals, cartoon characters,
models. Then when the girls are tagged they must do a pose from that category. To get unfrozen from her
pose, another girl must come up and imitate that girl’s pose.
Stick out Your Tongue
Materials: 4 drinking glasses • water • salt • sugar • vinegar • unsweetened grapefruit juice or
strong instant coffee • tablespoon • teaspoon • cotton swabs • 4 different colors of pencils
• paper • paper towels
Directions:
1. Fill three glasses about 1/3 full of warm water. Stir a tablespoon of sugar into one glass (sweet solution).
Stir a tablespoon of salt into the second glass (salty solution). Stir a teaspoon of vinegar into the third glass
(sour solution). Put a little grapefruit juice or instant coffee into the fourth glass (bitter solution).
2. Draw a large “U” on a sheet of paper as a tongue diagram.
3. Dip a swab into one solution and touch the swab to different parts of your tongue: the tip, then to each
side, and finally to the back. Wherever you can taste the solution, mark the spot on your tongue
diagram in one color of the pencil.
4. Rinse your mouth out well with water. Repeat the testing process with each of the three other solutions. Rinse your mouth out after trying each solution. Use a clean swab each time. Use a different
color of pencil for each solution as you mark spots on your diagram.
5. How does your tongue map look? How does your tongue map compare to another person’s? Which
of the four basic tastes do you like the most? Which do you like the least? Why?
6. Dry off the end of your tongue with a paper towel. Sprinkle some sugar on your tongue. Can you taste
the sugar? The sugar won’t taste sweet until it mixes with saliva.
The rosy bumps you can see on your tongue are “taste buds.”
There are thousands of taste buds on the tongue. Each bud
contains ten to fifteen individual receptor cells. Each receptor
lasts for only about four days before it wears out and is replaced
by a new receptor. In very simple terms, your tongue can detect
four basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
Wilma and the Monster
Wilma and The Monster can be played indoors or outdoors, but it must be played on a soft surface such
as grass or carpet. Have the girls get in a circle and hold hands. Pick one girl to be on the outside of the
circle, she is the Monster. Now, pick a girl who is a part of the circle to be Wilma. The Monster is trying to
tag Wilma and the only way to keep the Monster away from Wilma is to turn the circle. The girls in the
circle are not allowed to let go of each others hands. Once the monster catches Wilma, she becomes the
Monster and the Monster picks the next girl to be Wilma.
14
Eating Low
Using resources wisely can involve “eating low on the food chain.”
Explore energy loss in a food chain with popcorn.
Directions:
1. One person is the sun, twelve people are plants, six people are
herbivores, and two people are carnivores. Plants, herbivores, and
carnivores sit in an upside-down pyramid facing the sun (ie: plants
are closest to the sun). Plants get their energy directly from the sun; herbivores get their energy from
plants; and the carnivores get their energy from herbivores.
2. The sun passes a bowl of popcorn to the row of plants. Each plant takes one handful of popcorn.
Plants eat at least half of the popcorn in their hand. They pass the rest of the popcorn back to the
herbivores; each herbivore gets popcorn from two plants. Herbivores eat at least half of the popcorn
in their hand. They pass the rest of the popcorn back to the carnivores; each carnivore gets popcorn
from three herbivores. Carnivores eat at least half of the popcorn in their hand.
3. Why do the plants pass back some of their popcorn? Why do herbivores get popcorn from more than
one plant? Why do carnivores get their energy from more than one herbivore? If a human being
entered the picture, would he or she get more popcorn by going to a carnivore or by going directly to
the six original plants in the carnivore’s food chain?
A food pyramid also shows energy loss. As energy moves from the sun to plants and on to animals,
much of it is lost. An animal gains only 10% of the energy of the plant it eats; 90% is lost to heat or is
never digested. Eating an animal is like “eating sunshine” third-hand. “Eating low on the food chain”
means eating more plants than meat and dairy.
Girl Scout Promise Game
Materials: ball
Directions:
1. One girl starts by holding the ball and saying the first word of the Girl Scout
Promise, “on.” She passes the ball to the next girl who should say “my” and
then pass the ball to the next girl who says “honor.”
2. Go slowly at first, helping the girls get the rhythm of the game and the words right the first time around.
3. Then try to go a little faster. If a girl misses her word she sits next to the leader.
4. To make the game more challenging, roll the ball to random girls who must say the Girl Scout Promise
words in order.
15
Camouflaged Creatures
In order to survive, living things must be able to adapt. Play a game that shows how worms and insects
have adapted so that they can “hide” from birds.
“Adaptation” is a gradual, but continuous process of change from one generation of a species (a group of
similar animals) to the next. When the environment changes, animal species must change with it. If animals don’t adapt, they are eaten or starve and the species become extinct.
Materials: approximately 100 colored toothpicks • pipe cleaners made up of about 25 of each of four
colors (one color should blend into playing surface such as green objects on a green lawn)
Directions:
1. Scatter colored objects throughout an area of about 25 square yards.
2. People play the role of birds looking for “worms and insects” (colored objects) to “eat.” Each person
has a “nest” about 30 yards from the feeding area.
3. One at a time, birds run to the feeding area to find food. Each bird takes its turn and makes several
flights. The rules: only one worm or insect can be caught per flight. Birds don’t care what color worms
or insects they eat, so they grab the first food they see. Birds can’t run their hands over the ground, so
they pick up worms or insects only after spotting them. Birds must keep moving while looking for food.
4. After several flights, how many of each color of worm or insect has each person collected? Which color
of food was the hardest to find? Why?
Turtle Pizza
Ingredients: ½ cup sweetened condensed milk • 1 (12-ounce) package caramel candies, unwrapped • 4 (10-inch) flour tortillas • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips • 1 cup toasted pecans
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.
Cut tortillas into 8 wedges each. Bake the tortilla wedges for 8 minutes, or
until a light golden brown. (If you try to cut the tortillas after baking, they will
break and crack)
3. Combine caramels and condensed milk in a microwave-safe glass dish. Melt in a double broiler or
microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave again for 1 minute. Stir again. When caramels
are melted, stir mixture until it is smooth.
4. Spread the mixture evenly on the tortilla wedges. Melt chocolate. Stir until smooth. Spread the
chocolate layer over the caramel layer. Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the chocolate.
16
Directions:
Insect Word Search: Hunt through the letters in the puzzle to find the words listed. The words can overlap,
run in any direction, or be spelled backwards. After you’ve found all the words, write down the leftover letters
starting from the top, lefthand corner and moving from left to right. What’s the secret message?
Animal Noises: Can you find 23 animal noises in the puzzle? You can go in any direction and you can return to
a letter you’ve used before, but you must always move from one letter to a letter beside it.
Animal World Crossword: Fill in the crossword using the clues.
17
Directions:
Insect Word Search: Hunt through the letters in the puzzle to find the words listed. The words can overlap,
run in any direction, or be spelled backwards. After you’ve found all the words, write down the leftover letters
starting from the top, lefthand corner and moving from left to right. What’s the secret message?
Animal Noises: Can you find 23 animal noises in the puzzle? You can go in any direction and you can return to
a letter you’ve used before, but you must always move from one letter to a letter beside it.
Animal World Crossword: Fill in the crossword using the clues.
17
Please see the following page for directions.
18
Æ
Chain Reaction
You can never do “just one thing.” Parts of the environment are connected to each
other. Here’s a puzzle in which finding one word leads to finding the next word.
Materials: Copy of the puzzle on the previous page • pencil
Directions:
1. The word search puzzle is a chain reaction. The first letter of every word is the same as the last letter
of the word before it. Find the first word and then the following words will connect to each other. Put a
line through the letters as you find the words.
2. Once you’ve found all the words, the letters that are left over make a poem. Take the spare letters in
the exact order they are written and fill in the blanks at the bottom of the page. When the poem is
finished, all the spare letters will be used up.
3. Have a troop discussion about the poem’s environmental message.
Animal Puzzle
Answers from page 17
19
California Kickball
Materials: 5 bases made in a
diamond shape • A rubber ball
Pass the Story
Directions:
It’s similar to normal kickball except for two rules:
Second, once runners get to the last base, they
must turn around and go around the bases again
then go home. (Make sure the bases are spread at
least 15 feet apart otherwise there might be collisions.) Indoors, omit this rule and let the girls run
home on the first go around. Runners can only be out
by being tagged with the ball or the ball being caught
in the air.
Directions:
Have the girls sit in a circle. Give
one girl the story stick, let her start
the story with one to two sentences,
then end it with a verb. Then pass
the stick to the next girl in the circle
and let her do the same. Eventually
there will be a wild tale growing as
the stick is passed on.
Tie FFllip-F
p-Fllops
Materials: A pair of flip flops • About 30 strips of ribbon or cloth
Directions:
Take a strip of the cloth and double knot it around the top rubber strand of the flip flop. Then
repeat this until the strips of cloth or ribbon fill strand.
Get creative -- use your school colors to create a pattern or use cloth with a cool animal print on
it. Anything goes with this project!
Snow Cream
Snow is pretty and fun to play in. If you live in an area where there is clean snowfall, you can
use it to make dessert, too!
Materials: Mixing bowl • Large spoon • 8 cups of clean snow
• 5 tablespoons sugar • 1 teaspoon vanilla • Milk
Directions:
1. Put the snow in the mixing bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla and stir.
2. Stir in the milk a little bit at a time until the snow cream reaches the desired consistency.
20
Girl Scout Juniors
First, a runner doesn’t have to run when another
runner comes to the base they are standing on.
There can be more than one runner on a base. If a
base does accumulate more than one girl, all the
girls in that group must run together to the next base.
Tissue Paper Flowers
From: http://crafts.kaboose.com/flower2.html
Materials: Pastel colored tissue paper, • Chenille stem • Scissors • Ruler
Directions:
1. Cut tissue paper into rectangles of desired size (5x7" is the size pictured).
2. Stack 4-6 pieces of tissue paper. Use the same color or different colors.
3. Accordion pleat the tissue paper working from the long side.
4. Wind one end of the chenille stem around the middle of the accordion pleated tissue paper.
5. Gently separate each layer pulling upwards toward the middle of the flower.
Dino
Materials: pipe cleaners • scissors • Optional – paper, glue,
colored pencils.
Directions:
1. Use pipe cleaners to make skeletal models of the dinosaurs shown.
Start with a dinosaur’s backbone. Add the appropriate sized head. Add the front and back legs in the
correct relative positions (make sure the neck is the right length). Then model the ribs. If you wish,
you can add other details with bits of paper.
Dinosaurs were reptiles
that appeared about 200
million years ago and
became extinct about 65
million years ago.
The largest dinosaurs
were almost 90 feet long
and the smallest were the
size of a chicken.
Scientists believe that a
few dinosaurs could glide,
but none could fly.
21
Girl Scout Promise and/or Law Relay
Materials: index cards • markers
Directions
1. Print the words of the Girl Scout Promise and Law on cards, one word per
card, one complete set per team.
2. Girls are divided into two teams.
3. Mix up the words and lines and place them face up on the floor about 10 feet from each team.
4. The teams must race to put the words and lines in correct order, one at a time, relay fashion.
5. If a word or line is wrong, the next girl must return the wrong word or line and bring back the correct one.
Skin Prints
No two people have the same fingerprints, not even identical twins. That’s why fingerprints are used to
identify people. Make fingerprints to explore your skin.
Materials: magnifying glass • paper • soft lead pencil and clear tape or ink pad.
Directions:
1. Use a magnifying glass to examine your fingers. Can you see the ridge pattern? The pattern will be
clearer when you take a fingerprint. Try the following methods to take a fingerprint:
Pencil Smudge Method: Rub a pencil over and over the same spot on a sheet of paper. Cover a large
area and make the blob as black as possible. Rub your finger back and forth in the pencil blob to get a
dark black smudge on your finger. Press a piece of tape over the black part of your finger. The tape will
pick up your fingerprint. Stick the tape on a clean, white sheet of paper to examine the fingerprint.
Ink Pad Method: Roll your finger on an ink pad. Put the outside edge of your finger (the side furthest from
your body) on a piece of paper. Roll your finger toward your body to get a print of a large part of the
finger. Roll the finger gently and evenly, in just one direction. Don’t press too hard.
What kind of ridge pattern do you have? Make a print of each finger and your thumbs. Are all the patterns the same? How do your fingerprints compare to other people’s?
The dermis and epidermis are “locked” together by little cone-like bumps called “papillae” that go upward
from the dermis and fit into hollow spaces in the epidermis. Skin may be as thick as 5 mm on the soles
of your feet and as thin as .05 mm over
your eyes. Papillae are arranged in
parallel rows, “friction ridges,” that make
swirling patterns. These are the lines that
you see in a fingerprint.
22
JULIETTE LOW RAP
Orange Teeth
[1]
Today we’re telling you a story you should know
About a real cool lady named Juliette Low.
This story is outrageous, truly crazy,
Bout a little girl who they called Daisy!
[2]
Now this Daisy was born way down in Savannah,
No, not in New York, New Orleans or Atlanta.
Daisy was born in eighteen sixty
On Halloween night which was really nifty.
[3]
Now this Daisy kid, she wasn’t no fool,
She liked all the fun stuff when she went off to school.
She liked writing, and drawing, and putting on plays,
She was chillin’ and dancin’ away most her days.
[4]
Then she hooked up with a man named Willy Low,
She was his Juliette, he was her Romeo.
In England they had a good life with lots of friends,
Then Willy up and died, and that part ends.
[5]
But Daisy was not about to throw in the towel,
She chatted with her friend Lord Baden-Powell.
He started something called the big Boy Scouts,
And girls could do it, too, without a doubt.
[6]
So she came back here and got down with the girls
And started the best thing in the whole wide world.
‘Cause Daisy was no little shrinkin’ flower,
She was, in fact, the start of Girl Power!
[7]
We’re the Girl Scouts, Growing Strong!
Hear us now and hear us long!
We are out to conquer the world!
We can do it girl by girl!
Try this simple stunt and listen to all the “how do
you do that?” comments. It’s a fun lunchtime
diversion.
Cut an orange (the tough, thin-skinned oranges
work best) into quarters and eat the edible part
down to the whitish rind. Take the knife and cut the
peel in the shape of teeth.
Position the rind in your mouth so that the exterior
(orange part) of the peel faces in and fit the edges
of the rind between your lips and gums.
Your noticeably ascorbic false teeth are then in
place. Stick your tongue through the “teeth” for a
touch of bizarre realism.
Easy Mini Pizzas!
Ingredients: 6 English Muffins, halved • 4 oz
Sliced Pepperoni • 6 oz Monterey Jack Cheese
• 6 oz Pizza Sauce
Directions:
1. Place English muffin halves on a cookie sheet.
Spread each half with pizza sauce .
2. Put 3-4 slices of pepperoni on each
3. half and then place a generous portion of
shredded cheese on top of each pizza.
4. Place in a 350 ° oven for about 15 minutes.
Can add sliced olives, etc. if desired. Make it
healthier with whole grain English muffins.
Make your own apron
Materials: plain white apron • permanent markers • Paint • paint brushes
Directions:
Lay the aprons out flat and let the girls create whatever they want on them. They can
create funny sayings like “Girl Scouts make the best cookies” or paint pictures on them. Then when
everyone is done have all the girls sign each other’s aprons to make a special Girl Scout keepsake.
23
Hit the Deck
This is a role playing game that needs a leader to shout out actions while another leader makes sure kids
who don’t do the right motion or don’t find a group are out of the game. Have the girls stand in a group in
from of the action shouter, make sure they have room this is an action game.
When the leader says these words the girls do the accompanying actions:
Ships: everyone runs to the left
Sailors: everyone runs to the right
Mermaid: girls lay on their side on the ground like a mermaid, waves, and says “Hi Sailors” (this is just a
funny one, no one gets out!)
Titanic: one girl get on another girl’s back, put her arms up in the air and say “Oh Jack!” If a girl doesn’t
have a partner, she is out.
4 sailors rowing: girls get in a line of four and make a rowing action. If a group doesn’t have four, they
are all out.
3 sailors eating: girls get in a group of three and act like they are eating. If a group doesn’t have three
then they are out.
Land ahoy!: one girl gets down on all fours while another puts her foot on top of her and says “Land
ahoy!”
Hit the deck: all the girls drop to the floor. Last one to hit the deck is out.
The Rock Game
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials:rock (or similar item)
Chant: Rock, rock, how I wonder
As it passes to another
Is it fair? Is it fair
To keep (name of girl in the middle) sitting there?
Directions:
1. Girls form a circle with one girl sitting in the middle. The girl in the middle shuts her eyes while the
leader gives a girl in the circle the rock.
2. The girl in the middle opens her eyes and the game begins.
3. As the girls in the circle say the chant, they pass the rock around the circle so that the girl in the middle
cannot see it, with their left hand cupped and their right hand moving from their left hand to the left
hand of the girl on their right on the beat of the chant. Each girl can decide whether or not to pass the
rock or keep it a few beats.
4. They continue to do this until the chant is over, then the girl in the middle tries to guess where the rock is.
She has three guesses. If she guesses correctly, she exchanges places with her girl holding the rock.
If she doesn’t, she remains in the middle and the chant starts again.
24
Balancing Eggs-periment
From: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Activities/FunScience/Balancing-eggsperiment
First get permission to use kitchen equipment and eggs!
Materials: One raw egg • Salt
Directions:
1. Make a tiny mound of salt on a hard, smooth surface.
2. Balance the egg on top of the salt very carefully, then gently blow the excess salt away. You should
succeed with patience and a steady hand.
Note: Try this experiment without the salt about March 20, on the spring equinox, or about September 23,
on the autumn equinox. During the equinoxes the sun appears directly overhead at the Equator, and the
length of night and day are nearly equal worldwide. Carefully balance the egg on a hard smooth surface. If
it doesn’t balance, then try the experiment with some salt.
WHY? Some people believe that the gravitational pull of the sun that occurs on the equinoxes can help
keep an egg standing on its end. This idea is unproven, but it’s interesting to test it.
Another way to stand an egg up—on any day—is to use salt. The salt crystals are almost perfect cubes,
and they help form a pedestal that supports the egg.
Rolled P
aper Beads
Paper
Materials: colored pages from magazines • pencil • white glue • string
Directions:
1. Cut triangle shapes from some magazine pages. Small triangles make smaller beads, larger triangles make larger beads. Experiment a little, trying several sizes to make your necklace interesting.
2. Roll the paper triangle over a pencil with the wide end down first. As the point rolls up over the broad
side of the paper, rub a little glue under the pointed end. Roll tight. Hold it firmly for a few seconds to
be sure the glue will stick. Then slide the bead off the pencil.
3. Make a pile of beads; then begin stringing them on
the string. Colorful yarn looks fine, dental floss is very
sturdy.
Tie a knot with the ends and wear with pride!
25
Passing Crossed or Uncrossed
This around-the-campfire game is historically played with a pair of scissors, but
can be as effectively played with two pencils, two sticks, etc.
A leader starts the activity by passing two pencils to the person sitting to the left in the circle. The leader
says one of two things: “I am passing these pencils to you crossed,” or “I am passing these pencils to
you uncrossed.” The leader indicates to the group that each person is to individually receive the pencils
and then pass them on crossed or uncrossed, while verbally stating both how they were received and
how they are being passed (crossed or uncrossed).
Confusion begins when a player receives the pencils parallel to each other and the passer says “I am
passing these pencils to you crossed.” The group will look to the leader for confirmation that this person
is bewildered. Your confirmation of the passer’s correct statement and action increases the confusion.
Why are obviously uncrossed pencils being passed “crossed?” The key is that the obvious pencils have
nothing to do with the crossed or uncrossed situation.
The “key” is the leg position of the person doing the passing and the leg position of the person to whom
the pencils are being passed. For example, the person receiving the pencils says, “I am receiving these
pencils crossed.” (Are the passer’s legs crossed or uncrossed?) and “I am passing them on uncrossed”
(Are the receiver’s legs crossed or uncrossed?)
Papier-Mache Bowl
Materials: flour and water for glue mixture; use a ratio of one cup flour to one cup water • 1”by 3” newspaper or grocery bag strips • petroleum jelly • bowl • tempera paint • acrylic gloss finish.
Directions:
1. The bowl is made by layering paper strips over a mold (the
bowl). Cover the outside, bottom and rim of the bowl with
petroleum jelly. This makes it easier to separate the dried
bowl from the mold when you have completed your project.
2. Cover the outside of the bowl with strips of newspaper
dipped in the glue mixture. Apply the strips vertically, covering the bowl’s surface. Then apply a second layer of strips
horizontally. Apply a third layer, vertically again. Repeat this
layering until the papier-mache is five layers thick.
3. Let dry. Separate the papier-mache bowl from the bowl used as a mold. You may have to insert the
tip of a table knife at the edges and pry to loosen the bowls. Paint the bowl with tempera. When the
paint dries, give it two coats of an acrylic sealer.
4. Your papier-mache bowl will look wonderful holding items like potpourri, potato chips, or any other dry
items. It can be gently wiped clean, but do not try to wash it in water.
26
Who’s Eating Whom
Animals depend on plants and each other for food. Make a food chain mobile to explore who’s eating
what – and whom.
Materials: colored construction paper • colored yarn • crayons or felt pens • scissors • tape or glue
Directions:
1. Prepare a list of plants or plant parts, herbivores, carnivores that eat herbivores and carnivores that
eat carnivores. You should be able to make several food chains using the list.
2. Discuss the list. Which animals eat plants? Which animals eat other animals? What food chains can
be made?
3. Cut sheets of construction paper in half. Fold these pieces in half again. Write the names of the
plants, herbivores, and carnivores on both sides of the folded pieces of construction paper, one name
per piece of paper. Draw pictures if you wish.
4. Arrange the pieces of paper into food chains. There should be a plant at the bottom of each chain;
the final carnivore is at the top.
5. Cut equal-length pieces of yarn. Lay a piece of yarn between each part of the food chains. Lay a
piece of yarn at the top of each food chain. Tape or glue together the two sides of the folded pieces of
construction paper, making sure that the ends of two pieces of yarn (one from above and one from
below) are in between.
6. Hang up the food chain mobiles. What would happen if one of the animals in the chain disappeared?
. A “food chain” consists of a series of animals that eat plants and other animals. A plant is eaten by
an animal, which in turn is eaten by another animal, and so on. Animals are classified based on
where they fall on food chains (i.e. what they eat). Herbivores (plant eaters) are near the bottom of
food chains. Most people picture the grass-eating cow as a prime example of a herbivore, but plantsucking and plant-chewing insects consume the most plants. Some carnivores (meat eaters) feed on
herbivores. Examples of these carnivores are lady bugs eating aphids, coyotes eating mice, insect/
worm-eating birds, and lions feeding on antelope.
Human beings, grizzly bears, chimpanzees, hedgehogs and raccoons are “omnivores.” They eat
both plants and animals. Vultures and condors are “scavengers.” They eat dead, decaying animals
Food Chain Examples:
cloverÆrabbit Æfox
nut ÆsquirrelÆ hawk
cloverÆgrasshopperÆfrog ÆsnakeÆ hawk
27
Girl Scout Candy Centerpieces
From: MakingFriends.com
Materials: 6 to 12 pops per pot (depending upon the size of the pot) • Girl Scout Candy
Molds, Vanilla Candy Melts (One pound of candy melts will make about ten Girl Scout pops.) •
Lollipop Sticks • Yellow and Blue Cellophane • Curling Ribbon • Flower Pot • Styrofoam
Directions:
1. Melt candy according to package directions.
3. Refrigerate molds until they set.
4. Cut cellophane into 10" squares. Wrap the candy in cellophane.
5. Tie off with ribbon. Wrap the chocolate candy in clear cellophane. Tie off with green ribbon.
Curl ribbon with scissors.
6. Arrange candy pops in flower pot using Styrofoam to anchor. Hide Styrofoam with extra
pieces of curled ribbon.
Fancy Girl Scout Bracelet
From: MakingFriends.com
Materials: Round “I”, “♥”, “G” and “S” Letter Bead • 4 mm Faceted Beads • Beading Elastic
• 4 mm Round Gold Beads • Scissors • Tacky Glue
Directions:
1. Cut a 12" piece of beading elastic.
2. Condition the ends with tacky glue. Let dry.
3. String on alternating faceted beads with gold metallic beads.
4. After stringing eight sets, string on the “I ♥ GS” beads alternated with gold metallic beads.
5. String on alternating faceted beads with gold beads until you have enough to go around the wrist.
6. Tie off with a double knot and trim.
Troop Family Tree
On a card (cut into the shape of a leaf for added decoration) have each girl write
her name, names of her family members, names of her pets, countries and states
family members originated from, etc.
Hang the cards on a “tree” made from cardboard, a mobile, colored butcher’s
paper taped to the wall. Have the girls use their imaginations.
28
Girl Scout Cadettes
2. Pour into molds. Add stick.
Ecosystem Jobs
Living things do specific kinds of “jobs.” These “jobs” are related to each other. Try a
fast-paced game of tag to demonstrate the interrelation of living things.
Materials: objects which can be tossed around (ex: balls, Frisbees, crumpled paper)
• name tags or colored shirts • chalk • optional: large boxes
Directions:
1. Form three groups: decomposers, consumers (about twice the number of decomposers), and producers (about twice the number of consumers). Each group should be easily identifiable.
2. Set a boundary for a large playing area. Players must remain in this area. Use objects such as balls
to represent abiotic components. (Abiotic components are nonliving chemical and physical factors in
the environment.) The number of objects equals the number of producers. Place objects in two or
more piles within the playing area. You may want to keep the objects together by putting them into
boxes.
3. The game involves the basic chain of abiotic components to producer, producer “eaten” by consumer,
and comsumer “broken down” by decomposer to return to abiotic components to the environment.
The overall idea is to maintain the ecosystem, while each group fulfills its goal.
4. Producers are the only players who can take objects from the piles. A safety zone (marked in chalk)
around a pile protects a producer from being tagged while she is picking up an object. Producers
want to get all the objects (as many as possible) out of the safety zones and to hold on to them.
5. Consumers get objects by making a two-handed tag on a producer that is holding an object. The
goal of consumers is to get as many objects as possible from the producers and keep the objects.
6. Decomposers can only get objects by making a two-handed tag on a consumer holding an object.
When decomposers get an object, they return it to a safety zone. The goal of decomposers is to get
all the objects (or as many as possible) back to the safety zone.
7. Players can hold only one object at a time. When players are tagged, they must give up the object
they are holding. Players can toss and pass objects to members of their own group.
8. Producers begin the game by running to collect objects. Consumers are allowed into the playing area
a few moments after producers. Decomposers enter the area last. Play continues as long as you
wish (producers keep taking balls, decomposers keep returning them). Adjust the number of objects
used in the game or players in each group if play is not progressing smoothly.
9. How are all the groups dependent on one another? How does each group contribute to the continuous functioning of the ecosystem (ex: abiotic components recycled and all groups have food)? Can
the ecosystem continue to function if, for example, decomposers are removed?
Æ
29
All life is connected in delicate balances called “ecosystems.” Living things do one of three different
“jobs” to maintain ecosystems – they are producers, consumers, or decomposers. “Producers” are
green plants. They use the sun’s energy to manufacture their own food from abiotic (nonliving) elements through “photosynthesis.” Green plants provide food and oxygen for other living things.
“Consumers” are living things that eat other living things. Some consumers eat producers; they are
“herbivores,” which means “plant eaters.” Some consumers eat other consumers; they are “carnivores,” which means “meat eaters.” “Decomposers” break down dead plant and animal materials
into abiotic elements. Decomposers are recyclers; the abiotic elements return to the soil, water, and
air for use again.
Treasure Maps
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials: Provide each girl with a large newsprint, poster board or 11x17 sheet of
paper • markers • crayons • magazines • scissors • glue.
Directions:
1. Girls make a poster of what they would like to be, become, do, or have happen during this Girl Scout
year. They can use pictures from magazines, draw pictures, cut out words, or write on the pictures. The
poster has to reflect their hopes and dream for the year.
2. Afterwards, have each girl show her Treasure Map and explain it to the group.
3. Have a group discussion about how visualizing our dreams can often help make them come true.
Tie Fleece Blankets
Materials: 2 2-yard pieces of fleece fabric • sciccors • rulers • 4” x 4” paper
Directions:
1. Lay the pieces of fleece on top of each other. Lay the piece of 4” x 4” paper on the corner of your
blanket.
2. Cut out the corner through both layers. Proceed to do this on all four corners.
3. Cut about 1-inch wide and 4-inch deep fringes into all sides of the blankets.
4. Once you have cut all the fringes, double knot every other fringe. Then flip the blanket over and tie the
rest of the knots. This way the knots look even. Make sure to double knot the knots so that they do
not come loose in the wash.
These make great gifts!
30
Microclimates
Materials: thermometer • paper • pencil • optional: light meter
Directions:
1. How many different microclimates can you find within a few feet? Compare open, exposed spots to
sheltered spots. Write down the location of each spot and its temperature.
2. For each spot, measure the temperature just above the surface of the ground. Then, measure the
temperature five feet from the ground, in still-wind or low-wind conditions. Whenever you take a
temperature, hold the thermometer in place for several minutes to get a valid reading.
3. Look for holes in trees or in the ground. Is the air temperature in a hole higher than the air temperature
just outside the hole? Look for different surface materials and textures. Take and compare temperatures near grass, pavement, gravel, woods, etc. Compare temperatures on slopes and in gulleys and
at the base of a tree and in the branches. Take light readings if you have a light meter.
4. As you take temperature readings, note animals and plants found in the various spots. Are the plants
found in open, sunny spots the same as those found in the shade? Where are the greatest number of
plants and animals found?
5. What is the hottest microclimate you find? The coolest? The sunniest? The darkest? The driest?
The dampest? How close together are the microclimates? Why are temperatures in the same area
different at different heights?
A “microclimate” is the combination of heat, light, and humidity in a very small area, such as under a tree,
near a pond, or in a field. This activity focuses on the temperature of various microclimates. When
someone talks about “temperature,” they are usually referring to air temperature. Temperature can vary a
great deal in an area as small as a few feet. The microclimate of a particular area determines the type
and number of plants and animals found there.
Women’s History Quiz
Match the following women with their accomplishments:
a. A teenager, she made a ride similar to Paul Revere’s.
1. Mary Katherine Goddard
2. Rebecca Motte
3. Phillis Wheatley
4. Jane Addams
5. Kate Warn
6. Sybil Ludington
7. Deborah Sampson
8. Mary Hays
(better know as Molly Pitcher)
b. She enlisted as a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. When her gender was discovered, she was discharged with honors.
c. A newspaper owner, she was awarded the contract to print the first copies of
the Declaration of Independence.
d. She was the first African American poet.
e. She was under surveillance for years because of her “radical activities.”
f. She was a bodyguard for Abraham Lincoln on the dangerous trip to his
inauguration.
g. She earned a pension of $40 per year for her cool action under fire during the
Revolution. Oncet, a cannonball passed between her legs!
h. She encouraged American soldiers to burn down her mansion (the British
were using to store guns and food.)
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Answers: 1-c, 2-h, 3-d, 4-e,
5-f, 6-a, 7-b 8-g
How to Make
Electroactive Slime
from: Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com
Materials: 3/4 cup cornstarch • 2 cups vegetable oil • glass • refrigerator • 1x6x6 inch styrofoam
Directions:
1. Mix the cornstarch and vegetable oil together in the glass. Refrigerate the mixture until it is chilled.
2. Remove from refrigerator and stir (separation is normal). Allow the mixture to warm enough so that it
can flow.
3. Take a block of styrofoam (size is not important) and charge it by rubbing it on hair, wool, etc
4. Tip the container of slime and let it flow freely. Place the charged styrofoam about an inch (2 cm) from
the flowing slime. It should stop flowing and seem to gel! If you wiggle the charged styrofoam, the
slime may follow or pieces of it may even break off.
5. When the styrofoam is removed, the slime will continue to flow. After use, refrigerate slime in a sealed
container.
Green Candied Popcorn
A fun treat for St. Patty’s Day!
Ingredients: 4 quarts popped corn • 1 1/2 Cups sugar • 1/2 Cup light corn syrup • 2
tablespoons butter • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional, does
make mixture slightly more creamy) • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla • 1 teaspoon baking soda green food coloring
Directions:
1. In heavy saucepan on medium heat, melt butter then add sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar and salt.
Increase temperature to medium high and bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar.
2. Once mixture boils, add in food coloring and stop stirring. Boil for 5 minutes (Do not stir). Mixture
should be about 250-260 degrees.
3. Remove from heat and carefully stir in vanilla and baking soda. Working quickly and while mixture is
foamy, pour mixture over popped corn and gently stir to coat popcorn.
4. Place popcorn into a large roaster or rimmed baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or sprayed
with cooking spray) and bake at 200° F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
32
Maori Games
The Maori, a Polynesian people, settled in New Zealand before the year 1300. The first European, a
Dutch explorer, dropped by in 1642. In 1769, Captain James Cook, the English navigator, “rediscovered” the beautiful islands. His glowing reports attracted many European settlers, who brought technology, firearms and diseases which led to changes and conflict. In time, the Maori and Europeans learned
to live side-by-side. New Zealanders today are proud of the Maori culture and eager to preserve it.
TUTUKAI
Sit or stand in a fairly close circle, with one person in the middle (let’s call her “Lyn”.) One person in the
circle starts the game by holding up a small stone and calling out “Teenai!” (meaning “here it is” and
pronounced similar to “10-A”). The stone is passed from hand to hand around the circle while everyone
chants:
Maori children used to play
Games just like we do today;
Pass the stone and “Lyn” will try
To guess who has it — KEI A WEI (meaning “who has it?” and pronounced similar to “K-R-Y”)
If Lyn can guess who is holding the stone, she changes places with that person and the game begins
again. Girls can use tricks such as pretending to pass the stone when they don’t have it, passing it
behind their backs, changing directions, etc to make it harder to guess.
TE RAUPARAHA’S HARA
This Maori chant –a sort of cheer—was shared by a New Zealand Girl Guide at an international event at
the Edith Macy Girl Scout National Center. Throughout the chant, keep time by stamping your right foot
with an even beat.
Ka Mate! Ka Mate! (slap hands on thighs)
Ka Ora! Ka Ora! (stretch hands out in front)
(repeat verse)
Te nei te (hands on knees)
Tangata (hands on hips)
Pu Hur uh uru (stretch hands out straight in front)
Na na nei I (hands on thighs)
Tiki mei (hands on heart)
I wha ka whiti te (stretch hands out straight in front)
Ra! (tap hands on chest)
Upane! (hands stretched to the right)
Upane! (hands stretched to the left)
Upane! (hands to the right again)
Ka upane! (hands to the left again)
Whiti t era! (throw arms up, jump high, roll eyes, stick out tongue and yell)
Pronunciation Guide:
a: cut; aa: father
o: or; oo: awe
e: bed; ee: dairy
u: cook; uu: moon
i: city, ii: seed
When two different vowelsare together in a word,
say each one separately rather than running them
together. “Wh” is pronounced as “f.” “G” is always
pronounced soft, like a “j.”
33
Take a Powder
Chemistry is the study of the physical and chemical characteristics of materials. It doesn’t take a lot of fancy
equipment and difficult-to-pronounce chemicals to be a chemist
Materials: magnifying glass • black construction paper • water • measuring cup • aluminum foil (to mix on)
• toothpicks and spoon (for mixing) • glass • diluted tincture of iodine (28g per 500 ml water) • vinegar •
baking soda • red cabbage juice or litmus paper • dry baker’s yeast • small plastic zip bags • test powders
Example test powders: baking powder, baking soda, crushed antacid tablets, artificial sweetener, sugar,
cake flour, white cake mix, chalk dust, cornstarch, cleaners, dishwashing/laundry detergents, instant mashed
potatoes, powdered milk, garlic or onion powder, unflavored gelatin, instant pudding, instant tapioca, white sand,
salt, talcum powder, yeast
Directions:
1. All the powders to be tested should be labeled. For each powder, complete all the tests and make a chart
describing how specific powders react to each test. Which powders have what properties? Can you organize powders into groups (ex: acid, base, sugar, starch)?
2. Observation: Take a good look at a powder. Put every bit of the powder on black construction paper for easy
visibility and use a magnifying glass. Sometimes a quick sniff can help to identify a powder. Rub the powder
between your fingers – are the grains large or small? Powders should NEVER be tasted.
3. Water Test: A drop or two of water on a small amount of the test powder provides a lot of information. Does
the water soak right in or does it bead and roll off? Are gas bubbles produced? If so, the powder may
contain an acid and base that react with each other in the presence of water. A little water in a glass can be
used to see whether a powder floats or sinks when dropped on the water and whether it dissolves.
4. Iodine Test: A drop or two of diluted tincture or iodine indicates the presence of starch. Iodine changes to
purple or black immediately when its added to a little flour or cornstarch.
5. Vinegar Test: Mix a couple of drops of vinegar with a small amount of test powder. If the powder is baking
soda, it will start to fizz as carbon dioxide gas bubbles are produced. Do any other powders react with
vinegar (an acid)?
6. Acid/Base Test: use red cabbage juice or litmus paper to test whether a powder is an acid or base.
7. Baking Soda Test: Dissolve a spoonful of baking soda in 500 ml of water. Put a drop or two of the baking
soda solution on a test powder. If its acidic, it will start to fizz as carbon dioxide bubbles are formed.
8. Sugar Test: Put a test powder in a plastic zip bag with a little dry baker’s yeast and warm water. Make sure
you get all the air out of the bag before you seal it. Place the bag in a pan of warm water for about 15 minutes. If the powder contains a simple or complex sugar, the yeast consumes it and releases carbon dioxide
gas. The gas collects in the plastic bag and is proportional to the amount of sugar in the sample. If you test
the same mass of different powders, you can compare the volume of gas produced, which tells you the
relative amount of sugar in each powder. Compare the results for sugar and artificial sweetener, in particular.
9. Extension: Once people are familiar with the tests and how different powders react to each test, put together
a collection of unmarked powders. The challenge is to use various tests to identify as many powders as
possible.
34
Song Writers
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials: Lined paper • pencils or pens
Girl Scout Seniors
Directions:
1. Girls are each given a piece of paper and a pencil or pen. Together select a simple child’s
song that everybody knows, such as Old MacDonald, She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain, Three Blind Mice, etc.
2. Each girl is then to write “lyrics” to one verse of the chosen song, writing in third person and
using her name, something she likes, something about her, etc. If there is a board or a flip
chart, the leader can write the “verses” so that everybody can see and sing along.
Example: (sang to the tune of Three Blind Mice): “ Sally Brown,Sally Brown. She is ten, She is
ten.She loves to play soccer every day. She likes to eat pizza any way. Sally Brown, Sally
Brown.” Remember to write positive things!
Picassos
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials: Drawing paper or newsprint • 3-4 markers or crayons
Directions:
Girls are each given a piece of paper and markers or crayons. The girls should sit in pairs and
face each other. After carefully studying their subjects, the girls are to draw a positive abstract
drawing of their subject, reflecting their style, attitude, coloring, motion, strong physical characteristics, etc.
Abstract art is the simplistic form of objects, usually there is an emphasis on color in these works.
I Love My Neighbor
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials: The leader may want to list examples to
share with the girls, chairs.
Directions:
1. The group sits in a circle on chairs.
2. One person will stand in the middle of the circle without a chair.
3. She will then state “I love my neighbor who…likes to play soccer, loves animals, etc.”
4. Then everyone who does that must get up, move to another chair at least two chairs away.
The last person left is the next caller for the neighbors.
35
The Ocean Is Stormy A Game From Denmark
Directions:
1. Mark circles on the floor with chalk, string, jump ropes,
or hula hoops, one for each pair of girls minus one.
Also
available in
Friendship
Kit!
2. Get into pairs. Each pair, except for one, should stand in a circle and choose the name of a fish. The names
of some fishes are: sea bass, trout, catfish, perch, herring, salmon, pike, flounder, sunfish, sturgeon, mahi
mahi, angel fish, clown fish, etc.
3. The two girls who have not chosen fish names are the whales. They walk around the outside of the circles
and callout names of fish.
4. When the pair’s fish name is called, they leave the circle and walk behind the whales.
5. After all the fish names are called, or after the whales call all the names they can think of, the whales shouts,
“The ocean is stormy!”
6. Then everybody rushes to find a circle. Any two girls can get in a circle, but no more.
7. The two girls left without a circle become the whales for the next game. To make if more challenging, tell the
girls they may not return to the same circle or to the same partner.
Papier-Mache Masks
From: Tarheel Triad Council, Inc.
Materials: cardboard • scissors • glue • newspaper • poster paint • clear acrylic
spray • yarn • pencils • Gesso (from art store)
Directions:
Session 1:
1. First, cut out a circle about 14-16” in diameter with a handle cut from the cardboard. Next, mark and
cut out the eyes to fit your face. Then draw the other features on the face.
2. After that, dilute white glue in water. Take newspaper strips and dip them in the glue mixture. Put at
least two layers of these strips on the cardboard. For the nose and mouth, take a wadded paper
towel and shape it into desired features. Then cover these with two or three layers of the strips.
3. For the hair, take pieces of yarn and dip them into glue mixture and place them on the mask.
4. Let dry for several days.
Session 2:
1. Once it is completely dry, paint with Gesso.
2. Let this dry for about 30 minutes. After that has dried, paint it with the poster paints and let it dry. Then
spray with clear acrylic spray.
36
Crayon Shaving Hearts
Crayon shavings melted between wax paper and then cut into hearts make a
beautiful display in windows. This is an oldie but goodie craft!
Materials: pencil sharpener, crayons preferably warm colors, cereal boxes cut
out into heart shapes, wax paper newspaper, hot iron
Directions:
1. Make lots of crayon shavings with a pencil sharpener. Place shavings on a piece of wax paper. Either
place another piece of wax paper on top or fold over the edge to cover all of the shavings.
2. Iron on the lowest setting for about 1 second. You can go always go longer after checking to see if the
shavings have melted. Be careful to not burn the wax paper. It is a good idea to do the ironing on a
piece of newspaper. Some shavings could leak out of the sides and it does leave a residue underneath the wax paper. If you are worried about your iron, just place your wax paper between two sheets
of newspaper or scrap paper.
3. Take cereal boxes and cut out heart shapes to be used for patterns. This is where you get variety so
let the girls draw the hearts. Draw around your pattern. Cut out, hole punch and tie on ribbon, thread or
fishing line. Hang!
Unique You
Human beings are all similar, but no two people are exactly alike. Check the things that make you unique
and how your traits come from your parents.
Directions:
1. Make a list of the traits you have from the following group (a “D” indicates a dominant trait, while “R” is
a recessive trait):
Hair: dark (D) vs. light (R)
Eyes: brown, hazel, green (D) vs. blue or gray (R)
Eye Lashes: long, 9 mm or more (D) vs. short (R)
Nose: turned up (D) vs. turned down (R)
Dimples: yes (D) vs. no (R)
Ear Lobes: free (D) vs. attached (R)
Hair on Middle Joints of Fingers: yes (D) vs. no (R)
Freckles: yes (D) vs. no (R)
2. Put an “F” beside a trait you share with your father and an “M” beside a trait you share with your mother.
Do you get more traits from your mother or your father? Which traits are shared by both parents?
3. Compare your list to other people’s. How many people have each trait? Which traits are most common? Are recessive traits less frequent than dominant traits
4. Some Special Traits: Can you roll your tongue into a lengthwise tube? (One study found that people
who can roll their tongue are more likely to study science!) Can you bend the tip of our tongue back
sharply without touching your teeth?
37
Æ
4. (continued) Can you spread your toes and wiggle your little toe sideways without moving any of the
other toes? Can you bend the top joint of one of your fingers without bending the other joint? Can you
bend your thumb as far backward as you can forward? Can you form your two middle fingers into a
“V” shape?
Take a Breather
Your lungs are elastic organs on either side of your heart. Check your breathing rate
and measure your lung capacity.
Materials: large clean bottle or jar transparent enough to see the water level inside and preferably a cap
• measuring cup • marking pen or masking tape • .5 m of rubber tubing • sink or large bowl •
water • rubbing alcohol and sterile cotton balls
Directions:
1. Sit and count the number of times you breathe out in one minute. How does your breaths-per-minute
compare to other people’s count? Bend and touch your toes 50 times. How does exercise affect
breathing?
2. Calibrate a large bottle or jar. Use a measuring cup to add 400 ml of water to the bottle at a time.
Mark the water level after each addition with a marker or masking tape. Fill the bottle completely with
water. Put the cap on or put your hand over the opening. Invert the bottle into a sink or bowl threequarters full of water. Make sure that no water gets out of the bottle.
3. Take the cap off the bottle. Insert a length of tubing into the jar, work the tubing into the air cavity and
suck on the free end of the tubing to draw the air out. Stop sucking the instant that water starts entering the tubing in the jar. Pinch the tubing to stop any further water flow. Mark or remember the water
level.
4. Take a regular breath. Then blow out the air through the tube. Blowing into the tubing forces water out
of the jar. When you’ve run out of air, pinch the tubing. Your lung capacity is the amount of air in the
jar. Read the volume from the marks on the side of the jar.
5. Try measuring a regular breath again. Each time you do a test, refill the bottle with water. Clean the
end of the tubing with water and disinfect it with a cotton ball soaked with rubbing alcohol. How do
your two tests compare? How do your tests compare to other people’s?
6. Do the test with a deep, deep breath. This should give you your maximum lung capacity. How does
your maximum capacity compare to a regular breath?
Human beings need oxygen to survive. Oxygen comes from the air around us. Our breathing system
allows us to take in air, remove oxygen from it, and exhale a body waste product called carbon
dioxide. On average, a person goes through about 35 lbs of air every day, which is about six times
more than the total amount of food and water you take in. Different people have different breathing
rates – what is natural for one person may not be for another.
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Talking Without Your Mouth
You communicate every day by speaking and writing words. Learn a new way to communicate – sign
language.
Directions:
1. Learn the letters and signs used by deaf people. How long does it take you to feel comfortable using
them? Can you teach them to someone else?
2. Variation: Write a short message on slips of paper. Fold the pieces of paper in quarters. Scramble them
in a pile. Each person chooses a slip of paper and finger spells and/or signs the message for others to
guess. It might be easier to let everyone write down the letters or signs as the person makes them.
Sign Language
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Web of Life
Food chains usually have many branches and combine to form a food web. It’s easy to get all tied up –
literally – in this webbing exercise.
Materials: big ball of string • blue, green, and red nametags • tape or pins (to attach nametags) •
scissors
Directions:
1. Write the ecosystem LAWS on blue tags, one per tag: light, air, water, soil. Write the name of plant
parts on green tags, one per tag; seed, bud, leaf, twig, bark, nut, flower, berry. Write the name of the
consumers on red tags, one per tag: insect, hummingbird, robin, mouse, deer, squirrel, chipmunk,
raccoon, weasel, hawk, owl, coyote, woodpecker, fox, wolf.
2. Each person pins on one name tag. If there are more people than tags, there can be duplicate tags.
Everyone sits in a circle with the colors of tags mixed together.
3. Begin by using pieces of string to connect LAWS to plant parts.
4. Connect plant eaters to plant parts. Then connect plant eaters to the LAWS they use directly. For
instance, the rabbit is first connected to the leaf and is then connected to water.
5. Which meat eaters eat which plant eaters? Don’t forget to connect meat eaters to the LAWS they
need. For example, the fox is connected to the rabbit and is also connected to air.
6. Make as many connections as you can. People will be holding several pieces of string each. Discuss what each connection means. Also, discuss interdependence.
7. What would happen if a fire destroyed all the plants (plants drop their strings)? The plant eaters would
starve, which would cause the meat eaters to starve. The web would be destroyed. What would
happen if the water became badly polluted?
Funnel Cakes
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon sugar • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cup all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon vanilla • 1 egg beaten • 2 cup milk •
½ (4 tablespoons) melted butter • powdered sugar, for topping
Directions:
1. Combine milk, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda,
and sugar and gradually add to wet ingredients.
2. Beat with a mixer until a smooth batter forms. Fold in melted butter. Pour batter into a funnel or
squeeze bottle while using your index finger to stop the flow of the batter.
3. Bring the funnel over the hot oil and release your finger to start a stream of batter while moving the
funnel in a circular motion to create spiral-like shapes. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown and
slightly puffed. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Yield: 6-8
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Sassy Sayings Jewelry Boxes
Materials: Magazines • Glue stick • Paint • Glitter • Cardboard
box or tackle box
Girl Scout Ambassadors
Directions:
1. Girls cut out sayings and pictures in magazines that they like. It could be “Super,” “Beautiful,” a picture of a ballerina .... anything!
2. Use the glue stick to glue on the sayings and pictures to the sassy sayings jewelry box.
Then add glitter or paint.
A tackle box is the perfect way to organize your jewelry.
Shoe Designer Project
Materials: canvas shoes • Acrylic paints • Paint brushes
Lay the shoe out in front of you. Paint whatever design you want on them with the acrylic paints.
Now you have your very own unique shoe!
Fab Ribbon Board
Materials : Fabric • Ribbon • Scissors • Glue • Flat push-pins • Corkboards
• Foam padding
Directions:
1. Cut cork to fit your locker
2. Cut foam the same as the cork
3. Trim fabric a couple of inches wider and longer than cork
and foam
4. Place padding over cork, then cover both with fabric,
gluing it down on the back of the board
5. Cut six pieces of ribbon long enough to crisscross diagonally across the board, and glue
to the back of the board.
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Oreo Balls
Ingredients: 1 package regular size Oreo cookies, crushed • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened • 1 package white almond bark • 1 package chocolate almond bark • 1 package of plastic
sandwich bags
Directions:
1. Start by putting about 5 or 6 Oreo cookies in a plastic sandwich bag. Repeat this several times until
all the cookies are out of the package. Then let the girls smash the Oreos in the bags with the bottom
of a cup, a spoon, etc.
2. Once the cookies are smashed into crumbs, pour all the bags into a huge bowl. Using a blender or
hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together.
3. Roll into walnut size balls. Chill for an hour.
4. Melt approximately 3/4 package of chocolate almond bark. Stick a toothpick in an Oreo ball and dip
it in the melted chocolate almond bark. Allow to harden on wax paper. Takes about 15 min.
5. While waiting, melt about 1/4 package of white almond bark. When Oreo balls are no longer sticky to
the touch, decorate with drizzles of chocolate and white almond bark. Use a sandwich bag with a tiny
hole cut in one corner to drizzle the almond bark.
Pret zels
Ingredients: 1 tbsp. yeast • 1/2 cup warm water • 1 tsp honey • 1 1/3 cup
flour • 1 tsp salt
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Put the yeast in a small bowl with the water and honey. Stir a little, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
3. Mix the flour and salt together in another medium-sized bowl.
4. After the 5 minutes is up, check on the yeast mixture. It should be bigger than before and a little bubbly.
Add this mixture to the flour and salt mixture.
5. Stir everything together. Use a spoon to start. Finish with your hands. The dough is ready when it is
still a little crumbly and flaky.
6. Sprinkle flour on a cutting board. Put the dough on the cutting board and knead it into one big ball.
7. Break off a piece of dough that’s about the size of a big gumball. Use your hands to roll it into a skinny
snake.
8. Twist the snake into a medium-sized pretzel and put it on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with
nonstick spray. Do this with all the dough, making 12 pretzels. Bake the pretzels for 12 minutes.
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Stress & Epson Salt
Victoria Abreo, BellaOnline’s Alternative Medicine Editor, From: www.bellaonline.com
Stress can drain magnesium, a natural stress reliever, from the body. Magnesium is necessary for the
body to bind adequete amounts of serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical within the brain that creates a
feeling of calm and relaxation.
Soak aching, tired feet in a pan of water with a half cup of Epsom Salt. This will not only make your feet
feel better, but they’ll smell better too!
Soaking a splinter in Epsom salt can release the splinter and help the area to heal.
Rubbing Epson Salt directly on the body exfoliates the skin and leaves it smooth and silky. You can add
essential oils or mix with baby oil. Keep a mixture by the sink if you wash your hands a lot. The combination can help treat dry skin.
Throw a couple of handfuls into a bath to take a few moments to yourself after a hectic day.
So, the next time you’re shopping for healthy beauty products, pass by the expensive, fancy stuff and buy
a box of Epson Salt!
Spa Treatment Scrub Recipes
Facial: Mix 1/2 tsp. of Epson Salt into cleansing cream for a deep-pore cleanser. Massage on skin.
Rinse with cool water. Pat dry.
Skin Mask: For normal to oily skin, mix 1 tbsp. of witch hazel, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of nonfat dry milk, the juice
of 1 lemon, and 1/2 tsp. of Epsom Salt. Apply to moistened skin. Leave on for 20 minutes and rinse with
tepid water. For normal to dry skin, mix 1/4 cup of grated carrot, 1 and 1/2 tbsp. of mayonnaise, and 1/2
tsp. of Epson Salt. Leave on for 20 minutes and rinse with tepid water.
Make a troop CD
Sing it, don’t Say it
Have every girl in the troop bring in a song that describes herself on a jump drive or the CD the song is
on. It can be her favorite song at the moment or one
she’s loved her whole life. It can be one that says
her name or one that just makes her happy.
Taylor Swift was a Girl Scout! Now
see if your troop can write songs like
her.
Break into groups of 5 or 6 and
come up with lyrics that discuss what
is going on in your lives right now.
Have the leader bring her laptop and blank CD’s
to make a playlist on of all the songs. Then burn
a CD for each girl in the group. Girls can decorate their CDs with permanent markers.
Taylor’s songs are popular because
they are stories about her life that
every girl can relate to in their life.
Have each girl write why she chose the song.
Compile the girl’s explanations together for
each girl to take with her CD. Now they will
remember each girl in their group forever.
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Magnet-icent
Materials: Clear flat marbles • Glue • Scissors • Images or pics • Magnetic tape
Directions:
1. Trim photos and cutouts to fit the shape of the marbles.
2. Glue image face down onto the flat side of the marble.
3. Cut a square of magnetic tape and adhere to the back of the picture
Perfect Pedi
Sugar Sweet
Body Scrub
Have a spa party at your next meeting,
girls can do manicures and pedicures.
Shape: Take off old polish and clip nails
straight across, just above the skin.
Shape nails with a nail file until they are
even and softly rounded.
If you have dry skin or just want a good
exfoliater this scrub is the perfect recipe!
Ingredients: 2 cups brown sugar • 1cup
honey • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice • 3 tsp of
ginger
Soften: Soak feet in warm, soapy water.
Massage with a scrub, rinse and blot dry.
Buff rough heels with a pumice stone.
Push back cuticles with an orangewood
stick. Rub feet with foot cream and wrap in
a damp, hot towel. After five minutes, wipe
nails clean with polish remover and weave
a tissue between toes to separate.
Directions:
1. Grate fresh ginger (you can use the
powder kind if you don’t have fresh) and
combine with remaining ingredients in a
small plastic bowl.
2. Use the scrub in a warm shower then pat
skin dry.
Polish: Start with a basecoat (three
strokes from base to tip). Wait a few
minutes, then repeat the process with
two coats of polish and one topcoat. Let
dry an hour.
Don’t use on your face and don’t apply to freshly
shaved skin. Yeouch!
Making a Noise MakeR!!
Materials: an empty, washed out milk jug • markers • tiny granite rocks
Here is any easy way to cheer louder at any sporting event! Make your own noise maker. Take an empty
milk jug and decorate it with markers however you want. You can put your favorite team colors on it or
draw someone playing your favorite sport on it. Then put about two handfuls of rocks into themilk jug and
close the cap tight around the top.
Now shake and cheer!
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What is Your Self Concept?
Being aware of whom you are and your confidence level plays a big part in becoming a dynamic
person. A dynamic person is someone that everyone wants to be around. They are role models, great
communicators and generally fun to be around. But before you can be a dynamic person you must find
out what you think about yourself. Hopefully there are more positives than negatives.
In this exercise have the girls sit in a circle. The leader should provide the following list:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
A ping-pong ball or a ping-pong paddle?
A rippling brook or a roaring ocean?
A pair of faded blue jeans or an extravagant evening gown?
An evening at a heavy metal concert or a night at the symphony?
A horseback ride through the country or a subway trip downtown?
6) A light bulb or a flashing neon light?
7) A big sister or a newborn?
8) A multifunctional calculator or a pad and pencil?
9) Toast or a bagel?
10)One scoop of vanilla ice cream on a plain cone or a gooey banana split?
11) A steamy best seller or a comic book?
12)New and Improved or Traditional?
13)An interstate or a gravel road?
14)A snowstorm or a rain shower?
15)A star studded night or a blanket of clouds?
16)An exclamation point or a question mark?
17)Now or then?
18)Knight in shining armor or a damsel in distress?
19)A summer afternoon or a winter morning?
20)Saturday night or Sunday morning?
Go down the circle and ask each girl to pick a number, and then read the statement that goes with the
number. Each girl must answer the one she picked and tell why choose what she did. While everyone
else is answering the girls write down their answers to every question.
At then end tell the girls to pick one that describes them the best. Like are they a summer afternoon or an
exclamation point. Go around the room and have them say what they think of themselves and tell why they
choose that statement.
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Pysch-Out !
Classical Conditioning was discovered by Ivan Palvlov, when he trained a dog to salivate by the ringing of
a bell instead of the appearance of food. Every time Pavlov would go to feed a dog he would ring a bell.
Eventually the dog was conditioned to salivate when a bell was rung.
It is a very simple process:
Before Conditioning:
Neutral stimulus- no response
Unconditioned stimulus- Unconditioned response
Conditioning
Neutral stimulus- Unconditional response
After conditioning
Conditioned stimulus- Conditioned response
Try out the following experiment to explore the effects of conditioning!
Soda Pop Experiment
from: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2001/EmmaB.html
Materials: Clear Cups • Flavored sodas • Food coloring • Stop watch
Directions:
1. Have the girls sit in a circle and pass out the normal colored soda. Time them to see how long it
takes them to guess the flavor.
2. Add food dye to the sodas to make them different colors. Give the girls the soda and time how
long it takes them to figure out the flavors. Has the color of the soda conditioned them into thinking
one flavor is another?
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Tie-Dyed T-Shirt
From: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Activities/Crafts/Tie-dyed-t-shirt
Japanese tie-dye, or shibori, is more than 1,000 years old. Peasants used the technique
to brighten up old clothes. Tie-dye was also fashionable among royalty.
Caution! Dye can stain anything, even the sink. Cover your work area with plastic and read the instructions on the dye package. Always wear rubber gloves.
Materials: White, 100% cotton t-shirt (prewashed) • Rubber bands • Large pot • Hot water • Fabric dye (any color) • Large bucket • Tongs • Water- and heat-safe rubber gloves
Directions:
1. Dampen the t-shirt. For a random pattern, twist and scrunch the fabric, using rubber bands to hold the
t-shirt in that position. For a circular pattern, grab part of the t-shirt and twist it into a long, skinny rope.
Tie several equally spaced rubber bands around the fabric. Each rubber band will form a circle.
2. Now a leader needs to boil water in the large pot. Using the measurements on the dye package, the
leader needs to pour the hot water into a bucket and stir in the dye.
3. Dunk the shirt into the water with the tongs and stir constantly for 10 to 15 minutes. The t-shirt will
appear slightly darker when it’s wet.
4. Rinse the shirt under cold water. Then remove the rubber bands and rinse until the color runs clear.
Dry in a clothes dryer to help set the color.
Old Fashioned Taffy Pull
“Taffy Pulls” were a favorite form of party entertainment for young people from
the late-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. This is a special winter
memory-maker that will be fun for your troop!
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups light molasses • 1 ½ cups sugar • ½ cup water • 1 tablespoon vinegar •
¼ teaspoon salt • 3 tablespoons butter • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
1. Combine the molasses, sugar, water, vinegar, and salt in a 4-quart saucepan. Cook and stir over low
heat until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the butter and cook, without stirring, until the mixture boils and reaches between 260° and 268°
on a candy thermometer (hard ball stage).
3. Pour out onto a greased large shallow pan and after a few minutes, sprinkle with vanilla.
4. Allow the taffy to cool for around 15 minutes or until it can be handled safely. The edges will cool more
quickly, so turn them in towards the center to form a mass.
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Recycled bag out
of plastic bags
From: http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html
Materials: Plastic bags (thin, flimsy ones work best) • Parchment paper, freezer
paper or plain old copier paper • Iron (and your favorite ironing surface)
NOTE: Make sure you have good ventilation when you do this activity!
Directions:
1. Flatten out the bag and trim the bottom seam and handles off. This allows the bag to be opened up into a
larger rectangle of plastic.
2. Turn the bag inside-out if it has printing on it. Once the ink heats up, it comes off of the bag and makes a
huge mess. If the bag has an interesting design you’d like to preserve, try using a clear plastic bag layered on top of the printed one. Between 6-8 layers of plastic gives the best results. So, either fold your
bag twice until it is 8 ply thick, or use three or more bags layered on top of one another. Trying to fuse less
than 6 layers often results in little holes forming in the finished piece and a generally weaker material.
3. Next, run a hot iron (set to “Rayon,”) and keep the iron moving constantly. Make sure to get the edges, and
after about 15 seconds, flip it over and iron the opposite side for a few seconds. Let the girls do most of
the ironing, but leaders should still supervise.
4. Peel a corner of the paper back to see if the plastic is fused together. It should be fairly smooth and “one
sheet” to the touch (watch out, it’s a little hot). If the layers are not all melted together, iron it some more.
5. Peel the parchment paper away from the finished plastic sheet.
6. Sew the plastic sheets together.
No-Sew Bandana Tote Bag
From: MakingFriends.com
Materials: two 22” bandanas • fabric scissors
Directions:
1. Cut the blank 1” border off of the bandana in one piece. This fabric will be
used to make a handle.
2. Lay bandanas out, wrong sides together, lining up the edges as best as possible. Using fabric scissors make a slit every ¾ of an inch, cutting up to the most inner printed square on the bandana.
3. Cut out the corners and discard these small squares of fabric.
4. Beginning at one corner, take one of the fringes from the top and one from the bottom and tie them
together in a double knot. Tie one on each corner. Continue tying all around except for the top, which
will be left open. Iron the top fringes down on each side.
5. To make the handle, cut each long scrap into two equal pieces. Discard one piece and braid the
other three together, knotting at each end. Knot an end to each side of the bag.
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Decorated Candles
Materials: candle wax • candle scent and color • double boiler (empty coffee can in a
pot of water works fine) • candle wick • candle mold (empty container such as milk
carton works fine) • gemstones • tacky glue • glitter
Directions:
1. Prepare wick in mold according to package directions.
2. Melt wax in double boiler. Stir in scent and color.
3. Let wax harden and remove from the mold. Glue on gemstones and glitter to decorate.
Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
Ingredients: 2 cups buttermilk baking mix • 2/3 cup milk • 1/2 cup shredded
cheddar cheese • 1/4 cup melted butter • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Combine baking mix, milk, and cheese with a wooden spoon until soft dough
forms. Beat vigorously for 30 seconds.
3. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until
golden brown.
4. Combine butter and garlic powder. Brush over warm biscuits before removing from the cookie sheet.
Reindeer Food
Ingredients: 3 cups Rice Krispies • 3 cups Corn or Rice Chex • 3 cups peanut
butter Captain Crunch 3 cups Kix • 2 cups mixed nuts • 1 cup coconut • 1 1-lb
package vanilla flavored almond bark
Directions:
1. Melt almond bark in double boiler.
2. Mix all other ingredients into a large bowl. Pour melted almond bark over the cereal mixture. Mix well
to coat everything.
3. Spread onto 2-3 cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Let dry about 20 minutes.
4. Break into pieces and store in an air-tight container.
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