When I signed up to be my two daughters Girl Scout leader, I was petrified! There was so much information and I just did not know where to begin!
One of the beautiful aspects of Girl Scouts is that as a Leader, you get a lot of autonomy. You get to decide how you want to run your troop. Do you want to focus on crafts? Or maybe you want to focus on camping? Whatever you want to do, you can do. Our troop is very badge and patch driven with a lot of field trips and community service.
I learned very quickly that I am not a craft type of person, however, these little girls LOVE to make crafts! What to do, what to do? Thankfully some angel introduced me to the bountiful wonders of Pinterest! Problem solved!
The first part of the Daisy petals is the blue circle in which you are learning the Girl Scout Promise: "On My Honor, I will try to serve God and my country and live by the Girl Scout Law". The petals all represent the lines of the Girl Scout Law. The Daisy book has stories about the petals and names all the petals with flower names. That didn't jive for me. My strategy was to find a book to represent the law and do a craft to reinforce the law and then called it good. The girls will be learning and experiencing the Girl Scout Law throughout their Girl Scout journey, so I don't feel the need to drill it into them as Daisy's. It will be learned and become part of who they are. I promise.
Initially I did create binders for all the girls that included pages upon pages of coloring pages with the Girl Scout Promise and Law to include homework asking them to communicate how they represented the law that week. No one was using their binder, not even my own children, so I have stopped using them. Even though there are some AMAZING printables out in the interwebs. My FAVORITE is from makingfriends.com and their Super Heroes collection! I thought it was BRILLIANT to provide characteristics for each of the super heroes representing the petal and the line of the law. It didn't resonate so much with my girls, but as an adult, I think it's the coolest thing EVER.
Learning the Promise is pretty quick and easy and a great way to start your Daisy year. Learning the Promise is also reinforced at every meeting in which you say the Girl Scout Promise. I have a large poster board for each the Promise and the Law that we use. I don't get hung up on the girls having memorized the Promise to have earned the blue circle. I do briefly discuss the meaning of the Promise and I glaze over the God piece, as I feel religion is not my place to discuss with the girls (and my parents thank me for respecting their personal beliefs).
Very easily, you can complete a petal a week. I'll be sharing with you the various books I used and the crafts the girls created to learn the Girl Scout Law. I am also a HUGE fan of field trips and using other free or inexpensive resources.
Below are my children creating a necklace using colored beads that represent the different petals. Also, they created a plate that had all the parts of the Girl Scout Law.
As a new Girl Scout Leader it is incredibly easy to get flustered and overwhelmed and not know where to begin. I think the resources the Girl Scouts provide are great but as the Leader you choose what to use and what not to use. As I said, I am not a fan of the Daisy petal characters in the hand book. I also haven't been a fan of the journey books. I am forever grateful that I can utilize different materials to teach the girls the same lesson. It is solely up to you! Have fun! Enjoy experimenting and finding creative ways to connect with your girls!
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