Daisy Leaders Unite! Girl Scouts USA!

[Sleepingbooty]

Just found this thread! I haven't had time to read through all the posts, but I just wanted to say hi.

I am the leader of a brand new kindergarten Daisy troop. In fact we have our first meeting this Wednesday evening. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I'm also my older daughter's Brownie leader. This is her third and last Brownie year. My co-leader and I have had a blast running the troop. I'm hoping that this Daisy troop will be a good time as well. One good thing - my Daisy co-leader is super hands on. She's never been involved in scouting before so she is a total newbie but has already been super helpful and enthusiastic.

 

[minniebeth]

Bumping for some potential new Daisy Leaders...

 

[erika412]

Thanks for the bump, I just saw this thread for the first time.

My 1st grader is in her second year of Daisy's and it is my first time as a co-leader. The leader from last year is still doing it, but needed extra help- she basically did it by herself for 30+ girls! - and I decided to help. It has been a lot of fun.

My Kindergartener does not have a troop. No one has started it up for her grade. Last year, the troop had already been started at this time. She watched her sister go to Daisy meetings all last year and is sad to not have that. I would lead it, but I have a hard enough time finding childcare for my baby for the 1st grader's meetings.

Our troops are at our school and basically all the girls join so we have around 34 Daisy First graders and I'm assuming about the same for this year kindergarteners.

I guess I don't really have a question here, I'm just sad for my kindergartener.

 

[r4blessings]

I posted a question over on the CB board looking for advice, ideas and good websites for ideas on running my first daisy troop, and a dis'er was kind enough to bump up this thread!

We had our first meeing last Thursday and it went really well! The girls all seemed to have a lot of fun and I am just looking for fun ideas for the holiday season coming up as well as fun field trips we can take.

Anyone care to share their thoughts?

 

[emmaallie1]

Hi all, I have a new troop with 8 girls (so far) and I am wanting to know if anyone has a smock I can borrow? We want to make our own and the person offering to make them for us needs a pattern to go by. Also, if anyone else has made their own please send me any ideas you have. I'm in Grove City Ohio and so anyone near here that may have a smock I can borrow or any unused petals/patches they have unused they would want to sell at a discount please let me know. Thanks so much!!!

 

[Miss DeLynn]

So, the Daisy Leader for my kindergardener took on way too much this year. She's a mom of 5, a full time nursing student in another state four days a week, plus she works a LVN three days a week! Talk about a work load! The only reason she volunteered was so her 1st grader would have an actual troop! So anyway, I put it out there that I wouldn't mind helping her out if needed, and I got a phone call asking me to please take over the whole troop of now 23 girls! Wow! I agreed because so far my daughter's and other girls first time experience as a GS hasn't been all that great! I remember when I was in, I was in for nine years, and my mother was my leader, I want to give back to my daughter too.

So anyway, I'm taking on this troop of K-1st and they are all on different levels! I'm so confused as to what to do with them! Half of them have their daisy patches already and of course the new ones don't! No one has any advise for me, because no one wants the 1st graders! What do I do? Any ideas about how to incorporate the petals and journey's into our meetings? I seriously feel like I'm starting a brand new troop with only half a year to complete everything! I'm totally overwhelmed! Any help is appreciated!

 

[madmom1030]

Take a deep breath.

First thing is to have a parent meeting with all of the parents. If they won't split then let them know that because of Girl Scout policy (safety wise book if you don't have a copy call council and they can send you one) that you need at least 4 adults at every meeting. (double check this with your council but limit for daisy troops is 15 girls). Set up a rotatation of the parents to help out at meetings. If you take field trips you will need more parents. ( 7 adults for 23 girls). You will also need at least one co-leader to have on paperwork and the checking account.

It is easy to work the petals and journeys in together. The journeys meetings are planned for you so all you have to do is pick a petal to work on and add on activity into your meetings. I would plan for the younger girls if the older girls have repeat something not a big deal.

You really want to encourage the parents of the 1st graders to step up and help if you stay together next year it will be harder with brownies and daisies.

Good Luck

 

[r4blessings]

Good luck to the new leader! I don't have any advice, since I'm a new leader this year too, and only having our third meeting tomorrow (we got a late start from council) So I am just sending

Does anyone have any cute Christmas party and/or craft ideas for daisys to share? I am planning our party for Dec 17th and looking for cute ideas. Tomorrow they are making toilet paper angel ornaments/figurines and counting out the change we collected for our angel tree.

 

[minniebeth]

Take a deep breath.

First thing is to have a parent meeting with all of the parents. If they won't split then let them know that because of Girl Scout policy (safety wise book if you don't have a copy call council and they can send you one) that you need at least 4 adults at every meeting. (double check this with your council but limit for daisy troops is 15 girls). Set up a rotatation of the parents to help out at meetings. If you take field trips you will need more parents. ( 7 adults for 23 girls). You will also need at least one co-leader to have on paperwork and the checking account.

It is easy to work the petals and journeys in together. The journeys meetings are planned for you so all you have to do is pick a petal to work on and add on activity into your meetings. I would plan for the younger girls if the older girls have repeat something not a big deal.

You really want to encourage the parents of the 1st graders to step up and help if you stay together next year it will be harder with brownies and daisies.

Good Luck

This is a great response...
Miss DeLynn!
I am now a 2nd Grade Brownie Leader, but was on my own for the first two years and did everything on my own with 20 girls. I had a co-leader in name only. I did have other adults present at meetings, but it was difficult to get them to volunteer. I now have a co-leader that helps and is great.
It was crazy for the other mom to try to take leader on with all that she had going on. I don't think people realize how much work an active/happy troop can be. But bless her for trying. Now you can start fresh! Don't worry about being behind, you can move forward from here.

I agree with everything that r4blessings said. You can google Daisy Journeys ideas as well to see what others have done to give you more ideas too. Like r4blessings said, you can adapt the petals into the Journeys activities.

Your troop is very large...don't be afraid to "assign" snack, volunteers, etc. GS is a volunteer-run organization, it is not your job. If a family wants to have their DD involved, they should be willing to pitch in one way or another. This is hard, but you need to communicate that firmly, or many parents will take advantage of the situation. I've learned this the hard way.

If you are not getting the help you need from parents, are there older troops in your school/community? (However, they cannot take place of the Safety Wise adult numbers present at your meetings/activities) The older girls/troops are great resources. My older DD's troop attended our Daisy/Brownie meetings and they help with extra hands, etc. and the younger girls LOVE them! Now that they are earning Silver Awards, some of the older girls are even planning projects/activities for the younger girls.

Good luck!

 

[minniebeth]

Good luck to the new leader! I don't have any advice, since I'm a new leader this year too, and only having our third meeting tomorrow (we got a late start from council) So I am just sending

Does anyone have any cute Christmas party and/or craft ideas for daisys to share? I am planning our party for Dec 17th and looking for cute ideas. Tomorrow they are making toilet paper angel ornaments/figurines and counting out the change we collected for our angel tree.

For our Daisy Christmas meeting last year, we made Holiday cards (stamped) for the troops. We played some Christmas games. Made ornaments: took irridescent red and green ornaments, pre-tied with a pretty ribbon on top and had the girls dip their middle 3 fingers into white paint and printed onto the ornament to look like snowmen. When the paint was dry, the girls drew hats, arms, faces, etc. and their names and year on the ornament with black fine tip Sharpie. When the ornaments were dry, they wrapped them in tissue and placed them in a little gift bag (labeled with their names).
Cookies and hot chocolate and a book ($5) exchange.

This year we are doing games and making/decorating no-bake and premade cookies and then each girl will get to take a few of each kind (kind of like a cookie exchange) to put in paper bags that they will decorate first so they can take them home.
We are doing some role playing for cookie sales (ours start Jan. 2 ugh!)
Treats to eat and then some type of exchange, we are thinking either an ornament or hair accessory exchange ($5).
Then dancing, dancing, dancing to music, that's all they love to do!

Next year I want the girls to make mini-gingerbread houses out of individual milk cartons, graham crackers, frosting and a variety of candy. For a service project: decorate frozen oj containers and plant flower seeds in them, tie with ribbon for the elderly in nursing homes.

I love to know what others do, many times it sparks another idea.
Have fun planning your Christmas party!

 

[TinaLala]

We've bridged up to Brownies this year and are having lots of fun. We're working on our ornament at tonights meeting and getting ready for cookies this month. Our girls voted to work on a play to earn three badges they voted on - Puppets & Plays, colors and shapes and art to wear. We're at 12 girls and having so much fun!

 

[LisaNJ25]

hi everyone!

Anyone have a cute simple idea to present the petals and fun patches the girls have earned so far?

 

[bear74]

We are making a bracelet with each of the colors representing part of the law.

Light blue: Honest and Fair...The sky is blue and always fair...it rains on everyone or shines on everyone
Yellow: Friendly and Helpful... Yellow is cheerful and friendly and the color of the sun which helps all living things grow.
Lt. Green: Considerate and Caring... Light Green reminds us of the tiny new plants that sprout in the spring and require our consideration and caring to grow into healthy plants.
Red: Courageous and Strong... Red it the color of blood, it represents strength and bravery
Orange: responsible for what I say and do...Orange is the color of fire, it reminds us to always be responsible for fire can consume everything in its path if we do not use it responsibly.
Purple: Respect myself and others...Purple is the color of nobility and honor and it commands respect.
Magenta: Respect Authority... Magenta is a combination of Red and Blue, the colors of our Flag, it commands our respect.
Green: Use resources wisely... Green is the color of the grass and the trees and it reminds us to be careful to keep our earth green.
Rose: Make the World a better Place... Rose reminds us of the beautiful flower and to always find beauty in the world and try to leave it better than we found it.
Violet: Be a sister to every Girl Scout, just like the violet flower that grows in groups, we grow best surrounded by our sister Girl Scouts.

Does your Council have a Links book? We printed ours off the Council wesbite & it was filled with ideas and local programs for the kids to do - we are trying to incorporate as many as possible. We are going to do the Goblin Gala next month which looks like fun!

This is the "lesson plan" I am following and LOVE the Investiture ceremony here.

http://www.tarheeltriad.org/GS Program Meeting Plans/Daisy Girl Scout Program Meeting 1-15.pdf

I got this link from www.scoutingweb.com, which I have found to be a really good free resource for Daisy leaders.

We had our first meeting tonight and I wanted to share the craft that we did. The girls had fun making them. Here's a picture of the one I made for an example:

We have decided to purchase the petals and pins with troop money that we collected from annual dues. We are meeting twice a month and then will have the occasional field trips outside of our meeting. As for the petals and the Journey. We were told we had to do the Journey, but it was our choice on whether we wanted to do the petals. We have decided to do both. We'll complete the Journey this year and probably do about half of the petals this year. Then next year, we'll do the second Journey and the rest of the petals.

In lighter news-I am here to answer questions or help anyone who needs it! My favorite resource is www.scoutingweb.com it has TONS of information, crafts, songs, games, and even a full year of Daisies already planned out for you! After 8 years of leading I still go there for ideas and info!

http://www.makingfriends.com/store/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=DC

Check this out!

You can find your local council's website by going to http://www.girlscouts.org/councilfinder/

For general information about the "Journeys" for each age level, go to http://www.girlscouts.org/program/journeys/your_world/ (for Daisies this is the 'Garden' that PPs have mentioned)

You can find out more about recent changes to Girl Scouting by going to http://www.girlscouts.org/strategy/

http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_central/ is a good "General Info" site

Exploring the Girl Scouts web sites can provide LOTS of information -- have fun with your troops and thanks for voluteering!

-- Ali, a former scout, camp-counselor, troop leader and a new employee at my local Council.

Junior leader lurking here!

I just wanted to share this with you. We made it at our meeting yesterday and it was a huge hit. Bring a large bowl and some ziplocs because it makes alot.

http://www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/SubPages/GSRecipe.htm

Cathy

I found blue paper plates for the center. I precut the petals but had the girls color each petal according to the correct color. They wrote "The Girl Scout Promise" themselves in the middle of the blue plate and then once they were done coloring the petals, they glued them onto the plate. It really turned out cute and was easy enough for 5 and 6 year olds.

I can't believe I've missed this thread! Daisy leader here, I have 8 girls, one of which will be bridging to Brownies at the end of the year.

So far we have earned:

1. Daisy Promise center

2. Spring green: we made 75 handmade christmas cards for the local (terrible) nursing home, then we sang carols and passed them out to the residents.

3. Green: the girls said on the first day they wanted to make pickles (why I don't know) so we made refrigerator pickles and used (clean, sterilized) old jelly jars to store them. Then we made necklaces out of old key and re-purposed string and beads to wear to meetings and to tie in with the story.

4. Yellow: I made each girl seven little business cards that said "A friendly and helpful daisy was here" and sent them home with them to do good deeds. Each time they did something friendly or helpful without being asked, they gave thier parents a card. If they gave away all the cards by the next meeting, they earned their patch. The parents *LOVED* this one!

5. Scouting North East Texas (council patch): this took two meetings, but the girls loved it. The first meeting we learned about Texas, the state flag, bird, tree, and song, we had a hoe-down and sang Yellow Rose of Texas, and we made Texas chili that the girls then got to take home. The second meeting we learned about the history of GS in our area, about the local service center, and about the "Gowns of the First Ladies of Texas" museum at a local university.

6. Halloween we all dressed up, we bobbed for apples and played games, and just generally had a good time.

7. Christmas Party: My P.A. (my co-leader's Cadette daughter, so sweet!) planned all the games, and my wonderful co-leder brought snowman cupcakes. We sang Christmas songs and had a potluck.

8. Mardi Gras Party: We made masks, learned about the Krewes of Rex, Little Rascals, and Isis, learned the history of King's cake (and then ate some), the girls yelled for beads and we threw them so they could catch them, and listened to Zydeco music (my husband's family is cajun).

9. We are currently doing the Girl Scout Birthday Week patch, we spent Monday (our meeting) learning how to say "hello" "goodbye" and Thank you" in Spanish and ASL, then learned how to say Girl Scout in ASL. I gave them each a packet to take home with their parents explaining the things they need to do on the other days, which they will bring back to the next meeting. We also planned a birthday box that we will take to the local social services center, and I will get the supplies and such for them to put together in a HUGE gift box I have at the next meeting.

10. Journey Watering Can: We planted lettuce (I a a BIG container gardener) and have been tending it all winter. We are planning to serve a salad out of it at our closing ceremony.

We have planned for the rest of the year:
1. "Scouting our Past" I have arranged for the Executive Director of the local social services agency to come and speak with our troop about when she was a girl scout. She was also a troop leader here in America and overseas, so that should be interesing. The meeting before, the girls will come up with the interview questions.

2. Rose: We will do this the week of Arbor Day and Earth Day, to tie in with the environmental hoopla they will be getting at school. We will either plant lemon tree seeds, start worm composting (I may save this for Brownies) or make fancy note paper out of old newspapers.

3. Golden Honeybee: The last "official" meeting will be spent planning the details for their closing ceremony.

4. Amazing Daisy Award: Earned at the ceremony.

My fabulous co-leader had a great idea to give out perfect attendance awards, and we decided it would be a good idea to give "individual" patches at that time, too. Our own daughters will get "My mom is a troop leader", the high seller will get a patch, the twins will get "girl scout sisters", etc. At least one for each girl, so everyone feels special.

Does anyone have any idea what the next Journey will be? I'm trying to plan next year, because I will have another Daisy troop then, too (my younger daughter).

wow thanks for all the info. We are a new daisy troop all the girls are 1st graders. I was reading this thread for helpful tips for our leader. 1st they are still selling the Tunic as all our girls got that. 2nd as far as I know we are just doing the petals. Have not heard anything about a Journey.

 

[madmom1030]

hi everyone!

Anyone have a cute simple idea to present the petals and fun patches the girls have earned so far?

We gave ours out at our Christmas party. I put them in little stockings. Check out the scouting web website they have a lot of ideas. It will be under ceremonies and court of awards.

Erin

 

[erika412]

I know this is an older thread, but hopefully some of you are still subbed.

This was our first year selling cookies. I helped unload the truck for about 50 troops in the area Saturday morning. Then brought ours to my house where I sorted, labeled and put them in my living room. Pickup at my house was supposed to start on Sunday, but I finished really early on Saturday so I sent an email saying they were ready. One person came Saturday. All but three have now come in the time frame I told them-

12-8 Sunday
12-4 Monday
8-8pm Tuesday

It is only 1:30 on Tuesday, but another mom who has an older girl and is the troop leader for her said she got her cookies on Saturday, gave a two hour window for people to come, had the cookies in her garage on tables and most people came during that time.

I think I gave our troop too much time. At least I feel like I'm stuck at home for longer than necessary.

This is a long post for the basic question. I'm wondering for those of you with experience of distributing the cookies to your troop, how do you do it?

 

[skw444]

This is my second year doing cookies and I was at the cookie warehouse on Friday morning helping sort our service unit. I got our troop's cookies back to my house around noon and sorted each girl's cookies in my garage. I gave them a 3 hour window on Saturday when they could come pick up their cookies. All but 1 parent came, but she had made special arrangements with me ahead of time. I think you just have to be tough when it comes to things like this or some people will wait until the last minute.

 

[erika412]

So I'm learning.

I'm doing it your way next year. Did you have them on tables in the garage?

 

[minniebeth]

I had a scheduled pick up time as well last year, and ended up delivering quite a few of the orders myself. It was a pain, but I just wanted to be done with them!
Another thing to think of, the more time the cookies sit, the shorter time to collect money, so then collection the money ends up being a hassle as well, they don't have it all yet!

You'll find what works best sometimes by trial and error. And just put your patience hat on. Patience with a capital P.

Good luck!

 

[erika412]

Someone else is dealing with the money aspect (thank goodness!)

 

[skw444]

So I'm learning.

I'm doing it your way next year. Did you have them on tables in the garage?

I didn't use tables...just had them on the floor of the garage. I had 97 cases of cookies to sort, so not enough tables for all those cookies. I had a sheet of paper with the girl's name written on it and then each of the different kinds of cookies and the # of boxes they had ordered. I staggered these piles around my garage so there would be no confusion on whose order was whose. When the parent came to pick up the cookies, I made them count them and then sign off that they received them.