Happy Birthday Girl Scouts!
It all started with a phone call on March 12,
1912. . ."I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America,
and all the world. . ." Juliette was off and going with the first
Girl Scout troop. It became official when the Girl
Scout Week Resolution was passed by Congress is 2003. Celebrate Girl
Scoutsı birthday on Monday, March 12 and throughout the week of March 9-15. (future
GS Week dates).
Some Girl Scout Week celebration ideas from GSUSA
are provided under GS
Week 2007, GS
Week 2006, GS Week
2005, and GSUSA
archives. More are provided for you below. . .
1920-1928 The "Jingle
Poster"
Monday's Scout
is at the tub,
Her Sunday
clothes to rinse and rub.
Tuesday's Scout
will roast and stew
And fry fresh
pancakes just for you!
Wednesday's
Scout is bent on thrift
To patch a hole
and darn a rift.
Thursday is
Scout Service Day
For helping
your neighbor in many a way.
Friday's Scout
is rosy and strong.
She camps and
hikes the whole day long.
Saturday's
Scout is happy and gay,
For this is
Baby Caring Day.
While Sunday's
Scout presents to you
Her
un-uniformed back in the family pew!
Invite friends to a Birthday Party themed Troop
Meeting. Have a Girl Scout birthday cake & balloons with Girl Scout
songs & games to share what girl scouts is all about. Instead of 94 candles
on the cake (!!!), insert a number of candles into the shape of a ³9² and a ³4²
on top of the cake, OR make this into a teaching moment by using nine green
candles (tens digit) and four blue candle (ones digit), OR take the easy way
out and purchase a number 9 candle and a number 4 candle.
Girl
Scout Week is also a great time to learn and/or review our Girl Scout Promise
and Law. See my Learning
the Law webpage for a wide variety of fun games and activities on this
theme.
Stick
with the Girl Scout theme by planning a special craft activity. Iıve listed a
variety of ideas on my Hereıs to the
Memories webpage. Check our Council Shop for Girl Scout products (profits
stay in your area), or place an online order. Some
products are available through:
·
Trefoil shaped cookie
cutters from GS Shop, Tintinnabulation (3
sizes) and Copper
Gifts,
·
Making Friends-
craft packets and activities tied to GS award requirements.
·
A variety of GS candy
molds from Sugarcraft
and Streichs
Cake and Candy Supply
·
New
Stamp on the Block GS stamps (for ink pads)
Through
the Ages
Play some games
suggested by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement,
to celebrate Scoutingıs 100th anniversary in 2007.
Learn about the history of Girl Scouts while working on the Girl Scout Ways try-it, Girl Scouting in the USA badge, GS Silver 4Bs Challenge, or GS Gold 4Bs Challenge. If interested in the following council-own programs, contact the council first for permission and ordering information:
Some resources on Girl Scout history:
Borrow
one of the Girl Scout videos from the Council Office to show at your next meeting.
Some of the ones suggested are: ³"Golden
Eaglet", "Silver Jubilee", or "Something for the
Girls"
Carol Lee from GS of Lenni-Lenape Council in NJ
developed a Then
and Now Activities worksheet for GS Week and shares:
³Girl Scouting has always
been in the forefront of encouraging girls to explore the world beyond their
doorstep whether itıs around town or around the world. Juliette Low included badges in her
first handbook, How Girls Can Help Their Country, that were considered
quite controversial for the time.
Girls had the opportunity to learn about topics from flying an airplane
to playing basketball. (When the
girls played basketball, they had to draw curtains around the court so the
public would not see them in their bloomers.) How far we have come! . . . It might be a fun time for Brownie GS & Junior GS to
compare the awards they can earn now with ones girls did back at the beginning
of the program. I created a sheet
with some compared awards. Your girls could do the activities from then &
now to see just how different things are now."
Prepare a layette basket to welcome the first baby
girl born on March 12th in your area. Tuck in a box of Girl
Scout cookies for the mom!
³Girl Scouts used to establish seven days of
service
during Girl Scout Week. For example, during the 42nd celebration, in 1954:
Spread the Word
Increase public awareness and the girls pride in membership by planning activities with other Girl Scout troops in your elementary school:
Dear Teachers,
We want to thank you for all you do for us. You do GOOD
AND PLENTY around here. You help us by giving us MOUNDS of homework so that we
can SKOR well on all of our tests. We know that the lessons you have taught us
will help us both NOW AND LATER in life. Sometimes you are a HOT TAMALE and
other times a BIG RED but we know that you love us to (REESE'S PIECES and that
you would do anything for us even though we act NUTRAGEOUS at times.
We wish we could give you a 100 GRAND on
PAYDAY but you will have to settle for HUGS and KISSES and a SYMPHONY of voices
saying ³thank you²!
Love,
Daisy,
Brownie, and Junior Girl Scouts
XYZ
Elementary School
Girl Scout Sunday
& GS Sabbath
³Join Girl Scouts throughout the USA during Girl
Scout week and celebrate Girl Scout Sunday (March 9, 2008) or Girl Scout
Sabbath (March 15, 2008)² Sandy Coy has compiled ideas for Christian,
Jewish, and Interfaith services (internet archives). Additional suggestions
are available for Scout Sunday,
GS
Sabbath, and Inter-Faith
GS Sunday services.
Rose Holland encourages Boy Scout and Girl Scout service organizations to work together to plan special Sunday services at her Catholic church in Wisconsin and shares. . .
At our church we only do 1 Scout Sunday for all
Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Girl Scouts.
The main reason is Girl Scout Sunday is ALWAYS during lent and they do
not want to do any types of celebrations during lent. Since we have a school associated with our church in the
past it has focused around those boys and girls. I have made efforts the past two years to pull others in who
do not attend the school. Fliers went out to all troops in our Service Unit and
to all Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops in the area. We take turns running
it, but have ALL participate and are sure to divide things up evenly.
In the past we have had a separate service
just for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and their families, this year we are
reaching out at 3 different services since our pastors are now responsible for
3 churches. We have 4 older girls and 4 older boys do petitions, youth
receiving their religious recognitions carry up flags and the gifts, and our
children's choir is participating at one of the services (about half of which
are Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts). We also provide coffee and donuts after the
mass, donating the proceeds back to the church. . .
Should your Girl Scout families be a religiously
diverse group, please refer to Girl
Scout Beliefs and Values and GSUSA
Religious Principles for guidance (archived links). Laura from Maine shares
how all Girl Scouts in her service unit, regardless of faith, are invited to
plan a Sunday service at one local church each year on a rotating basis . . .
In my service unit for over 20 years the Girl Scouts have rotated
between the Catholic Church, Methodist Church and the Congregational Church.
Usually one of our leaders who belong to one of these churches is our liaison
and makes the arrangements with the minister. The girls participate in someway
in the service and after the church service the GS provide snacks and beverages
for the congregation. It really works out well.
Speaking as an adult who has attended
services (for over 20 years) in the churches it offered me the opportunity to
learn about other religions. Also,
these same churches are very supportive of Girl Scouting in our community by
letting us use their facilities for meetings and events.
Girls
Scout participation patches are available for GS
Sabbath, GS
Shabbat, and GS
Sunday. Girl Scout Sunday or Sabbath might also be a nice time to present
any religious awards that the girls have earned. Details on these awards as well as additional resources are
available on my All
In Good Faith webpage. Also refer to the Spiritual
and Girl Scouting Links at the bottom of Sandy Coyıs archived webpage.
Updated February 2008