Activity 1 : As Girls Arrive - Girl Scouts Northeast Texas

Activity 1 : As Girls Arrive
Time Allotment
15 minutes
Materials
• Brownie Elf Kaper Chart template
• Kaper Chart
• Scissors
• Crayons/markers/colored pencils
• Masking Tape
• Poster Board Kaper Chart
Steps
Have the supplies set up for girls to color their Elf Kaper squares so that they can start coloring them
while waiting for others to arrive.
Instructions
• Let girls color the Elf any way they’d like.
• Have each girl write her name on the line.
• The first girls to arrive at the meeting can choose the Kaper they’d like to do at today’s meeting by
placing their Elf on the Kaper Chart. The remaining girls will be rotated in for all future meetings so that
everyone gets a turn to try all the Kapers.
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Activity 2 : Opening Ceremony
Time Allotment
10 minutes
Materials
• Girl Scout Promise and Law
• Poster Board with the Promise and Law
• Brownie Adventure Map
Steps
Invite girls to gather in the Brownie Ring/Circle
SAY:
• Welcome girls to our second Girl Scout Brownie meeting. I am so happy to see your great big
Brownie smiles. Are you excited to find out what we’ll be doing at today’s meeting?
• Let’s start out by reciting the Girl Scout Promise and Law.
• Did anyone have a chance to practice at home since our last meeting?
Normally, girl who is listed on the Kaper Chart for the Opening would lead the group in the Opening
Ceremony. She may or may not be ready to do this yet. Ask her if she would like to lead the group in
reciting the Girl Scout Promise and Law. If she isn’t ready, ask if someone else would like to lead the
group or if they would rather repeat the Girl Scout Promise and Law after you.
Recite
The Girl Scout Promise
Recite
The Girl Scout Law
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Activity 2 : Opening Ceremony Continued
• OK girls, are you ready to start our Brownie Adventures?
Hold up the Girl Scout Brownie Map. Show all the fun things to do on the path as you talk about each.
• Here is a map that shows some of the fun things we’ll be able to do this year. We are going to set
out on our big Brownie Adventure and along the way we’ll have the opportunity to sell cookies, to
take trips, and to explore the outdoors.
• Just like on any adventure, we’ll have lots of opportunities to choose the path we want to take.
• You have an important choice to make today. You need to choose what our Brownie year is going
to look like. I’m going to guide you through the kind of adventures you can have during the year,
then you’ll make a decision as a team to choose one.
• Are you ready to find out more about these different adventures?
• Awesome! We have four activity stations set up, representing the four choices. You will have the
chance to learn about each adventure, and at the end of our meeting you will get to vote for
your favorite.
• Does that sound good?
• Great! Let’s get started.
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Activity 3 : Brownie Badge Year
Time Allotment
10 minutes
Materials
• Brownie Badges
• 1 or 2 small bags of original flavored Skittles
• Bowl or bag
Steps
Show Brownie Badges as you talk about the Badges girls can earn.
SAY:
• This activity will give you more information about the Brownie Badges.
• If we choose this adventure, we will be able to earn badges for learning new skills, like hiking by
earning the Hiker badge; how to be a better friend by earning the Make New Friends Badge; how
to do science experiments by earning the Home Scientist badge, and there are more badge choices
if we decide we would rather learn other skills. During the year, you could earn three badges, plus
earn the My Promise, My Faith award, a badge for learning about money, and a badge for
learning about running your cookie business.
• One of the badges we can earn is called Making Friends. We are going to do an activity like the
ones you’ll do to earn this badge.
• The first thing you do when you are making friends is to get to know each other better.
• Let’s play a game to find out a little more about what our Brownie Friends enjoy doing.
• Let’s play the Skittles game.
• In this bag (bowl) are skittles in all the colors: red, orange, purple, yellow, and green.
• I am going to pass the bag (bowl) around and you can pick out one Skittle. Depending on what
color you pick, you’ll tell everyone something fun about yourself.
• Red Skittle = Share a favorite pet or animal
• Orange Skittle = Share a favorite sport or activity
• Purple Skittle = Share your special talent/skill
• Yellow Skittle = Share your favorite place to visit
• Green Skittle = Share your favorite food
Pass the bag clockwise around the circle or hold the bowl over the girls’ heads so they can pick without
seeing the color. Start with yourself, say your name, pick a Skittle, share your favorite based on the color
of the skittle. Go around the circle clockwise so that all girls get a chance to say their name and share
their favorite. After each girl shares, she can eat her Skittle.
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Activity 3 : Brownie Badge Year Continued
Variation: Instead of using Skittles for this activity, you can substitute other items such as small toys,
stickers, etc., which the girls can keep.
You’ll need five different objects for girls to choose from. For example, if they’re picking small plastic
animals, you could say, Depending on the animal you choose, you’ll tell everyone something fun
about yourself.
• Pig = Share a favorite pet or animal
• Horse = Share a favorite sport or activity
• Cow = Share your special talent/skill
• Goose = Share your favorite place to visit
• Rooster = Share your favorite food
SAY:
• The Making Friends Badge is just one of many badges you can choose from. There are also badges
for hiking, making pottery, pet care, and so much more.
• If you choose the badge path, you will learn new skills and then you will use those skills to find a
way to make a difference in the world by taking action and doing a project that you care about.
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Activity 4 : A World of Girls Journey Year
Time Allotment
10 minutes
Materials
• A World of Girls Journey Awards
• Map or globe with countries and states clearly visible
• Biscuits, scones, shortbread, or other English snack
Steps
Show World of Girls Journey Awards as you talk about the Awards girls can earn.
SAY:
• Now we’re going to learning about what you’ll be doing if you choose A World of Girls.
• You’ll learn about girls all over the world through stories, books, TV shows, movies, and online
sites. You’ll look for clues in those stories that tell us what life is like for girls all around the world.
You’ll learn about how other girls live and try some food from other countries.
• Then you’ll decide how you can help make life better for girls. You will be able to earn four
awards. The names of the awards are Hear a Story, Tell a Story, Change a Story, and the Better
World for Girls Award.
• During the year, you’ll also have time to earn badges for learning about money and about running
your cookie business.
• Let’s do an activity that will help us get a taste for A World of Girls.
• Travel and meeting people from other places gives us ideas about how to help others.
• Gone to other countries? Where would you like to go?
• Does anyone know who started the Girl Scouts?
• Her name was Juliette Gordon Low but she was nicknamed Daisy by her family.
• Juliette (Daisy) Low grew up in Savannah, Georgia.
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Activity 4 : A World of Girls Journey Year Continued
Ask girls if they know where Georgia is on the map and if they would like to show everyone.
• When Juliette grew up, she wanted to start an organization just for girls. She got this idea from her
friend, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. In 1910, Lord Baden Powell and his sister Agnes started the Boy
Scouts and the Girl Guides in England.
• Juliette Gordon Low visited England to see her friends and learned about the Boy Scouts and the
Girl Guides. That’s what happens when you travel. You meet people from other places. You see
different parts of the world. And you get all kinds of new ideas!
• Has anyone ever been to England?
• Does anyone have family that comes from England?
• Who would like to come up and show us where England is on the map?
• In England, it is customary to have tea time at 4:00 in the afternoon. English people usually like to
serve biscuits, scones, or shortbread with their tea. Would you like to taste a little sample?
• Where are your families from? Your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents? Would
anyone like to show on the map and share a country where your family came from?
Let girls share where their families are from and show the country on the map. If there’s time, ask girls to
share any special foods they like to eat in that country, special family traditions, special clothing that is
worn from that country, or anything else that they know.
• If you choose this Journey, you will find out about girls all over the world, their customs, their
• foods, and the games they like to play., You will hear stories about how they are making a real life
• difference in the world, and then you will get a chance to make a difference too!
Variation: Tell girls about the Brownie Troop in Purvis, Mississippi that used their cookie money to
purchase a handicapped-accessible swing and petitioned the City Council so they could install it.
They came up with the idea while doing A World of Girls Journey.
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Activity 5 : WOW! Wonders of Water Journey Year
Time Allotment
10 minutes
Materials
• WOW! Wonders of Water Journey Awards
• Two bottles of water (one clean and one with dirt and leaves)
SAY:
• Ready to learn about this adventure?
• I am going to give you some clues and you are going to guess what you think I am describing. Are
you ready? Here are the clues.
• Without me the earth would look like the moon.
• When I’m clean, I am colorless, odorless, and tasteless.
• I take up over half of your body.
• I cover over 80% of the earth.
• I fall from the sky.
• Does anyone think they know what I am talking about?
• That’s right! It’s water.
Show girls the clean bottle of water. Show the Wonders of Water Journey PDF as you talk about the
Awards girls can earn.
• Welcome, girls, to the Introduction to the Wonders of Water Journey.
• If we choose this adventure, we will find out how to love water, save water, and share water —
and you will earn awards too. You will earn four awards: the Share Water award, the Save Water
award, the Love Water award, and the WOW! award. You will also earn a badge for learning
about money, and a badge for selling cookies.
• Let’s learn a little more about this journey.
• Raise your hand if you love water.
• Let’s play a little game.
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Activity 5 : WOW! Wonders of Water Journey Year Continued
• Everyone who likes to go, or wants to try, swimming, make the swimming motion with your hands.
• Everyone who likes to go, or wants to try, boating, sit down and pretend to row a boat.
• Everyone who likes to go, or wants to try, snorkeling, plug you nose and hold your breath.
Remember, water can be liquid like when you go swimming in it; and when water freezes, it makes
snow and ice.
• Everyone who likes to play in the snow, pretend to make and throw a snowball.
• Everyone who likes to go, or wants to try, ice skating, pretend to ice skate.
• Everyone who likes to go, or wants to try, skiing, make the skiing motion,
• What do you think it would be like if the water that you love to swim in and drink wasn’t clean?
• What if it was dirty like this?
Show girls the bottle of dirty water.
• Look at this bottle of dirty water Would you want to drink this water?
• Would you want to swim in this water?
• What are some of your ideas on how we can keep our water clean?
• What are some other ways we could save water?
• Great! You have some really awesome ideas!
• If you choose this Journey, you will be able to learn about all kinds of fun ways to love water, save water,
and share water. You will even be able to work as a team to come up with ideas to save water and help
others save water too! Did you know that a group of Brownies in Westchester, Pennsylvania who were
working on the Wonders of Water Journey got their second-grade classroom to conserve water and
switch to re-usable bottles. From there, their efforts rippled out to the school, and then the district, and
pretty soon the whole school district was recycling and saving water.
Variation: Tell girls about the Brownie Troop in Purvis, Mississippi that used their cookie money to
purchase a handicapped-accessible swing and petitioned the City Council so they could install it.
They came up with the idea while doing A World of Girls Journey.
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Activity 6 : The Brownie Quest Journey Year
Time Allotment
15 minutes
Materials
• Brownie Quest Journey Awards
• Brownie ELF Clues
• Apples (1 apple per 3 girls)
• Apple corer (to core and slice the apples)
• Peanut Butter (for peanut allergies, substitute frosting or cream cheese)
• Bag of small white marshmallows
• Plastic knives
• Small baggies
Steps
Show Brownie Quest Journey as you talk about the Awards girls can earn.
SAY:
• Welcome, girls, to the Introduction to the Brownie Quest Journey
• If we choose this adventure, we will be able to go on a quest for something special. We will explore
the Trail of the Three Keys, we will solve a mystery, and we will earn awards along the way. You
will earn four awards on this Journey, but they are a mystery. I can’t tell you what they are. You
will have to choose the Brownie Quest Journey in order to find out. When you find all three keys,
you will unlock the master lock for the Brownie Quest and earn a fourth award. You will also earn
a badge for learning about money, and a badge for selling cookies.
• Let’s find out a little more about the Brownie Quest Journey
• Even before Girl Scouts, there were Brownies, and lots of stories about them. Back then, Brownies
were elves: tiny creatures who did helpful work. Just like in the story we read at our last meeting.
• In Girl Scout Brownie stories, there is always one magical elf with one very big job: making girls
see that they are capable of remarkable things, especially if they team up.
• Are you ready to go on your first ELF adventure?
• Today, you will be on a quest for the missing Brownie Smile.
• The Brownie Smile has gone missing and it’s up to you to form your very own ELF team of three
girls to find it.
• You will be on a quest to find the three ingredients to make your Brownie Smile snack.
• So go ahead and get in groups of three, and then each team come and get your clues.
• ELF stands for Explore, Link Arms, and Fly into Action!
• So link arms, go explore by using the three clues to find your three ingredients, and then we will fly
into action to make our Brownie Smile snack.
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Activity 6 : The Brownie Quest Journey Year Continued
Have each team of three get a clue. Send them on their quest to find the three ingredients for their
Brownie Smile snack. After each team has found all three of their ingredients, have them gather at the
snack area.
• Congratulations, You have found all three clues and you have unlocked the Brownie Smile song.
• Let me teach it to you: I will say one line at a time and you repeat it after me, and then we will try
it all together.
Sing the Brownie Smile Song
Brownie Smile Song
I’ve something in my pocket.
It belongs across my face.
And I keep it very close at hand
In a most convenient place.
I’m sure you couldn’t guess it
If you guessed a long, long while.
So I’ll take it out and put it on,
It’s a great big Brownie Smile!
• Now you must be wondering what you have found and how these ingredients could possibly be the
missing Brownie Smile.
• Does anyone have a guess at how we can turn these ingredients into a Brownie Smile?
Show girls how to make the Brownie Smile with their three ingredients.
Instructions for making the Brownie Smile:
• Use the apple corer to core and slice the apples.
• Use the plastic knife to spread a small amount of peanut butter (or substitute) on one side of one
slice of apple.
• Place 6 marshmallows into the peanut butter (or substitute) on the apple to look like teeth.
• Take another slice of apple and spread a small amount of peanut butter (or substitute) on one side
of the apple.
• Put the second apple with peanut butter (or substitute) on top of the six marshmallows and
sandwich together.
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Activity 6 : The Brownie Quest Journey Year Continued
Note: The girl who is listed as the hostess on the Kaper Chart can pass out napkins or paper plates or any
other snack supplies.
Girls enjoy their snack. If time, show the video Where the Sidewalk Ends,Brownie Quest Take Action Project,
or tell girls about the group of Brownies who were working on the Brownie Quest Journey and convinced
Colleyville, Texas City Hall to build a sidewalk and make their neighborhood a safer place to ride bikes and
walk to school.
• If you choose the Brownie Quest Journey, you’ll be able to search for more clues, figure out what you
care about as a team, and then fly into action to solve the problem and make the world a
better place.
After Snack: Make sure everybody helps to clean up. Remind girls that Girl Scouts always leave a place
cleaner than they found it. Make sure to let girls know which jobs need to be done, such as clean up and
put away snack supplies, tables washed, trash put away, floor swept, chairs pushed in, etc.
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Activity 7 : It’s Your Brownie Adventure — Choose it!
Time Allotment
15 minutes
Materials
• Brownie Badges
• A World of Girls Journey Awards
• WOW! Wonders of Water Journey Awards
• Brownie Quest Journey Awards
• Sticky dots, stickers, or post-it notes (1 per girl)
• Tape
SAY:
• OK, girls! It’s decision time. It is time to for you to work as a team and choose your Brownie Adventure.
• Let’s take a quick minute to review the four choices. Then you’ll vote for your favorite.
Show the handout of the Brownie Quest
• Who am I and what do I value? When we take the Brownie Quest Journey, we’ll play games, read
stories, and learn about ourselves and others. When we know what we care about, we’ll search for
three clues and put them together to solve the puzzle, then team up to make the world a better place!
Share the handout of the Wonders of Water Journey
• What is so great about water? Lots of things! On the Wonders of Water Journey, we’ll discover all
the ways we love water, save water, and share water! We’ll explore the science of water and how
we can share what we know with others. Plus, we’ll have a chance to explore the great outdoors!
Share the handout of the World of Girls Journey
• Stories and clues are everywhere! When we go on the World of Girls Journey, we learn about girls
our age, how they are like or unlike us, and how other’s stories can inspire us to make the world
better. We might hear stories, change stories, or write our own stories. And at the end, we’ll all
have a story to tell about our Journey!
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Activity 7 : It’s Your Brownie Adventure — Choose it! Continued
Share the handout of the Badge Path
• What is so great about earning badges? You’ll learn so many great skills! On the badge adventure,
you’ll choose the badges that you want to earn based on the things that you are interested in. Once
you’ve learned some new skills, you’ll figure out how you can use those skills to help others or help
make the world a better place.
After you explain all the choices, tape the printouts of all four choices around the room at a height that
girls can reach. Show girls where you are posting each one.
• OK girls, are you ready to vote?
• Find a partner that you haven’t worked with yet.
• Give each pair two sticky dots.
• Are you ready to go ELF and vote?
• Link arms with your partner.
• Brownies on the left side of your partner, raise your hands.
• Whisper in your partner’s ear which choice you want to vote for.
• Partners on the right, do you know what your partner wants to choose?
• Great, stay linked arm-in-arm and fly into action by skipping together to the paper that shows the
adventure that your partner likes best, and put one of your sticky dots on the sheet of paper.
• When you are done, stay linked together and hop back to the circle.
• Ready, set, go!
Let girls vote. Remind girls they are only voting for the partners on the left and then they should come
back to the circle when they are done voting.
• Great! Now partners on the right side, raise your hands.
• Partners on the right, whisper in your partner’s ear, the choice that you want to vote for.
• Partners on the left, do you know what your partner wants to choose?
• Ok! Stay linked arm-in-arm and fly into action by flapping your free arm like a bird to the paper
that shows the adventure that your partner likes best, and put your last sticky dot on the sheet of paper.
• When you are done, stay linked arm-in-arm and walk backward, back to the circle and sit down.
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Activity 7 : It’s Your Brownie Adventure — Choose it! Continued
Bring all the voting sheets to the circle so girls can see the results. Guide girls in a discussion to come to
a consensus and make a final decision.
• Does it look like a lot of you are interested in the same adventure? Which one?
• Is there an adventure that only got a few votes, or none at all, that someone really wanted to try?
Would you like to tell the group why you wish that choice got more votes?
• How do you think we can make a final decision that our whole Brownie troop will be happy about?
Coach girls to come to an agreement and make a decision.
• Congratulations, girls! You have shown excellent leadership skills in coming to an agreement and
making your choice. I think you will really enjoy this choice.
• Are you excited?
• Me too! At our next meeting we will start our new adventure.
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Activity 8 : Closing Ceremony
Time Allotment
5 minutes
Materials
• None
Note: Girl who is listed on the Kaper Chart for closing will be the one who starts the Friendship Squeeze.
Steps
Gather girls in a Friendship Circle. Girl Scouts and leaders stand in a circle, each crossing her right arm over
her left and holding the hands of the person next to her. Sing, Make New Friends.
Make New Friends
Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver and the other’s gold.
A circle’s round, it has no end.
That’s how long I want to be your friend.
After everyone is quiet, girl in charge of the closing ceremony will start a friendship squeeze by
squeezing her neighbor’s hand with her right hand. One by one, each girl passes on the squeeze until it
travels all around the circle. Girl who began the squeeze can say, Goodbye Brownie Girl Scouts and
everyone raises their joined hands and twists clockwise out of the circle so that everyone is untwisted
and facing away from the circle.
REMIND THE GIRLS: When the next meeting will be.
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