Wrapping Cookie Boxes

My daughter decided that she wanted to wrap the boxes of Girl Scout cookies that were ordered through the pre-sale.  We decided to wrap them in ribbon to present them to her customers.  We mixed up the ribbons.  Some were spring colors and some were Seahawks colors.  After all, they did win the Superbowl :)

I attached a thank you note and curled the ribbon at the end.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

First Science Night for Girl Scouts

I usually plan a craft night for the last meeting of the month for Girl Scouts, but I decided to try out a science night, instead for this month.  We had also made Valentine's SWAPs earlier in the month, so I wanted to do something different.

Before the meeting, I went outside and gathered natural water pollutants (dirt, grass, leaves, and acorns), put them in a Mason jar, and filled the rest of the jar up with water.  I put a second empty jar next to it and draped a washcloth in between them to show water filtration.  Sure enough, it actually worked!  There were only a few drops of water, though, so if I ever do that again in the future, I'll start an hour or two before the meeting.  Magnifying glasses would be a fun addition, too.  I'll have to show them the picture to show them that it really worked.

We may explore how to purify water another time, as I would not want to drink the filtered dirty water.

While that was starting to filter, we explored water molecules.  My son had brought home Scientist in a Bag, which consisted of several books with experiments.  For the water molecules exploration, I had three jars, one with cold water, one with warm water, and one with hot water.  I added a little purple food coloring (since purple is my daughter's favorite color) to each jar.  The cold water jar's dye clumped together at the top.  The warm water jar's dye clung to the sides more.  The hot water jar's dye quickly separated and spread throughout the jar.  I further explained water molecule's movement by having them move around inside of a hula hoop.  When only one girl was inside the hula hoop, there was lots of room for movement and energy for heat, but not so much when all 5 girls were inside the hula hoop.

Lastly, we planted carrot seeds inside an empty Gatorade jug that I had.  They helped fill the jug, examined the seeds, and planted them.  Again, I'm really wanting magnifying glasses now.

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

Getting Ready for the Blue and Gold Banquet

Tomorrow is my son's B&G Banquet.  I really like how they make it fairly potluck-style.  His den is responsible for desserts, so the hubby came up with an idea of brownies with M&Ms inside and M&Ms and sprinkles on top.  I was also asked to make two of the table centerpieces.  This year's theme is the Olympics.  I went with red, white, and blue balloon weights surrounded by a gold garland.  They kinda remind me of sparklers, so I like how they turned out.

Thanks for reading!

 ~ Vanessa

Wolf Cub Scout Requirement 4E

My son's Den Leader modified this requirement, as he wanted proof of it, so he had everyone just keep track of the boys' chores for a month.  I am usually pretty creative and use a ruler to draw out a chart on bright construction paper.  This time, I decided to be a little more tech-savy and use Excel to keep track and chart his chores for the month.  I'm a big fan of Excel, especially when I get to play around with color schemes.  However, for this particular project, I am printing it off at the library, where the printer is black and white, so my primary objective with the data is legibility, instead of various shades of gray with hard to read words.  So, this isn't my prettiest work, but it's functional.

How did you keep track of your son's progress for this?

 ~ Vanessa

World Thinking Day

The Brownies and Daisies brainstormed ideas for their "What a Difference Kindergarten Makes!" booklet at last week's meeting. I typed up the ideas and printed them.  At tonight's meeting, they illustrated the booklet.

All of the girls attended Head Start.  My daughter attended there last year and I still serve as a Community Representative on their Policy Council.  I stopped there today and talked to her former teacher about donating the booklet.  She will contact us next month when they begin their Kindergarten readiness unit.  When they do this, she would like my daughter to come in and talk to the kids about Kindergarten and to donate the booklet!

There was enough time left in the meeting, so we read and discussed "Go to School for a Day in Namibia" (http://wws.peacecorps.gov/wws/multimedia/ebooks/namibia_school/nmb_school.pdf).  The girls had interesting perspectives, though their main interest were the animals that live in Africa.

We just have one Junior in our group, so unfortunately, things get a little dull for her.  She says that she will also pursue interviewing a teacher or principal about the importance of education for all children, especially girls.  I am really interested in what she will come up with!  I hope she follows through with this.

What ideas did your group come up with for World Thinking Day?

 ~ Vanessa

President's Day Craft

I tried to come up with a semi-educational activity for the kids for President's Day and came up a log cabin and cherry tree picture for the kids to make.  The kids wanted to make the log cabins more modern and put windows and windmills, but I wanted to keep it simple.  They added their own touch and wrote the two presidents' names on the picture, as well.

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

Valentine's Day 2014

For Valentine's Day, I made a special and healthy breakfast for my daughter and I.  I made a Valentine's-style Pop-Eye.  I've also heard it called Bird's Nest, Toad in a Hole, and Eggy in a Whale.  It's basically cutting a hole in a piece of bread, and frying it with an egg in the middle.  I thought I had a heart cookie cutter, but I didn't, so I had to cut the heart shape with a butter knife.  We also had a slice of turkey bacon to go with.

I was feeling extra motivated, so I decided to do my daughter's hair in a special Valentine's Day hair style.  I stole it from Pinterest and was relieved that it didn't turn out to be a total Pinterest-fail!

I thought it turned out really well!  Her teacher and the kids in her class liked it, though no one could tell that it was supposed to be hearts.

I hope everyone had a healthy and happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

Valentine's Day for Girl Scouts

We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a little early and tried out the tradition of SWAPs.  First, though, I want to say that I'm proud of them for enjoying our healthy snack.  One of our youngest girls is pre-diabetic, so I try to encourage healthy snacks.  This week was my daughter's week to bring snack.  I made banana, apple, and strawberry kabobs on toothpicks.

Here are some of the Valentine's Day SWAPs that we made:

Next week, we will conclude the financial badges and return to the Journeys.

Thanks for reading!

~Vanessa

Activity Planning Workshop for Girl Scouts

It's looking like our Girl Scout troop will become an official troop by the end of the month!  Right now, we are just waiting for paperwork to be processed.  So far, the troop will consist of:  two Daisies, two Brownies, and a Junior.  To involved them in the planning activities, and to keep myself on track, I have created a worksheet.  I think it will be simple enough to use, but effective.

Thanks for reading!

~Vanessa