Oh Sh*t...AKA...You Need How Many Swaps For Tomorrow??

 

So, this is what happens...when you see a Facebook post clarifying that those "Swaps" your youngest was talking about after her last Scout meeting were actually for her meeting on Monday.  And it's Sunday afternoon.  And there's zero craft supplies in your small, rural Pennsylvania town.  Walmart is a good hour away.  And I don't have time to fashion little tiny birthday cakes out of twigs and yarn. 

First I said some very un-Girl Scout-y words and then hollered for my mom.  Did I mention I was in the middle of prepping for my own Daisy meeting?  Finding 25 safety pins was my first crisis but thank God for my mom.  After we scrounged around for a few minutes she remembered that she might have pack in her sewing box.  Problem 1 solved.  Then I went to the computer and busted out Excel.  A little clip art and fancy font work and voilà, tiny Juliette "Daisy" Low Birthday Card Swaps.  Mom and A worked on cutting them out and putting them together while I finished sorting last spring's cookie sale incentives. 

I don't know what people did before the internet.  But in the end, A will be getting her Girl Scout Way badge and no one needs to know that we slapped these together at the very last minute.  Thank You, Technology!

Adventures in Scouting: A New Year!

 One of my favorite things about being a Daisy Girl Scout leader is the crafts.  My group loves to do crafts and I try to come up with something every week.  It's difficult sometimes, they have to be kind of simple.  We've got little kids with little hands and they're still gaining coordination skills.  They also get very excited and they ain't got time for long instructions.  I generally like to go with inexpensive, too.  These "Get to Know You" necklaces are just a cheap tub of pony beads (we sorted ahead) and any cord/string you can scare up.  The kids had lots of fun stringing beads and sharing their life facts with their friends.  Each color stands for something: 

Pink=Sisters
Blue=Brothers
Green=Years in Scouts
Orange=Pets
Yellow=Kindergarten 
Purple=First Grade  

Another thing I like, especially at the beginning of the year, is having a craft that can easily be adjusted for the number of kids you have attending.  These ghosts are made with the super cheap paper plates.  I think there was 50 in the pack for $2.  A sheet of black construction paper, I traced the eyes and mouth on and cut into strips for each girl.  For the hands I made a template and let the girls trace them on to drawing paper and cut them out.  The streamers are just white crepe paper.  The extra crepe paper will be used to decorate for our Halloween Party in a few weeks and the plates will come in handy for snack. In a world of so many Pintrest fails these projects are foolproof, not messy and super easy for the kids and for you!  Over the next weeks and months I'll be posting lots more ideas, try them with your kids and let me know how they turn out!