Hi Married2grumpy!
Ah, how I remember those days when my girls were Daisy Scouts! They are great big 7th grade Cadettes now. But since I didn't know if in the future some would be applying for Wider Ops (and it turned out several have and are looking forward to those experiences this summer) I saved all of my records going back to that year! Call me crazy I don't mind - it goes with the GS leader territory!
Here are some ideas of things we did that year - and also I'd suggest checking into the new Daisy Leader book as I know they've revamped the program since then.
Promise & Law - I'm presuming they've already learned the Promise but there are some good ideas for ceremonies that connect the Promise to the Law in the Ceremonies book, and check with leaders of some of the older troops in your council. They may have some good ones too. Or PM me and I'll send you the details on the candle ceremony we've been using for years. We also had them draw pictures showing how they would serve God, country and help people. These were shared with the troop.
Stories about Juliette Gordon Lowe - National publishes a great story book with big pictures. Your council may have a copy in their library you can borrow.
Check with older troops - especially 6th grade Juniors, Cadettes, and perhaps Seniors. Often the badge work THEY are doing involves or can involve working with a younger troop on everything from learning about Girl Scouts (we did a paperdoll activity with the uniform history with a Daisy troop about 2 years ago) to theater activities and so forth.
Clown Day - the girls put a "dress up" costume together from whatever they could find at home for example a pair of Dad's big shoes, a bright colored blouse, etc. and brought it with them. Then we did clown makeup (the white based is available through places like Spencers or other novelty stores and isn't terribly expensive). We were lucky to have someone that could do balloon animals and talk about the history of clowning. But without that a little internet research on the history should give you enough. They also made "props" out of paperplates. Sorry I can't remember the specifics of that part of the activity!
It is sort of a "craft" but it was also an activity that allowed the girls to share about themselves, dreams, etc. Yes, they can do that at this age. Each girl was given a blank piece of paper and told to design her name anyway she wanted. To include in the design (which resulted in all sorts of pictures and so forth) those things she liked, that were important to her, etc. They worked on this for about 1/2 the time and then shared their design with the troop.
We did a field trip to a vet's office.
Have they done an investiture ceremony? These usually happen part way through the year and are a great way to introduce them to the ceremony part of GS.
We did a senses exploration where they smelled, tasted, and touched different things and drew pictures along with some simple words. Also an outdoor exploration even if you did it on the playground.
Oh this was fun! Ahead of time adults traced and cut out simple shapes of a glass (small circle), plate (larger circle), knife, fork & spoon. The girls then glued these onto a placemat sized posted board and we helped them enclose it in clear contac paper. This was to help learn table setting. Once the placemat was done they used it as a guide to set a table. Then we went through putting the napkin in their lap, etc. Passing food (whatever snack you're having that day), waiting for everyone to be served before starting - in other words basic table manners. We added to the festivity by simply telling the girls it was a special day and they could "dress up" if they wised. Have some great pictures of that day!
Shadow plays
I know these aren't recipes but hope these ideas help!
Deb
