Panda Jar

This project was inspired from in an old issue of Ranger Rick Jr. magazine.  They have since updated the project to use foam, but I prefer using felt.  (click here for Ranger Rick version of craft)

Panda Jar for Daisy Animal Journey

Advance Prep/Supplies:

1. Collect old jam and salsa jars with lids

2. Black,white & green felt-precut strips: circle for lid (white), long strip to cover edge of lid (black), small circle (black) for nose, ovals for eyes (black), 2 ears (black), 2 arms (black), bamboo shoot (green) -- all should be pre-packaged in sandwich bags for each girl.

3. Medium or large googly eyes 

4. Glue

5. Black markers 
6. Inexpensive candy to fill jars

Activity Plan:

1. Review the world map and talk about pandas: their habitat, food and habits.

2. Read Animal Journey about Pandas and China

3. Give each girl a jar and supply bag 

4. Offer gluing directions, step-by-step.  Jar lid becomes panda head, jar is body & arms.

5. When completed, girls can wait in line to get it filled with candy.

Experience shows...

1. Choose bottles that are cylinders (not octagons or hexagons or ridged!)

2. Choose your glue carefully. Super tacky or fabric glue work best with felt but you might want to test different glues on the glass also (in advance!).

Alternatives:

1. Make elephant, lion, birds, or other animals as needed.
2. Panda masks can be downloaded and printed from Girl Scout website too.

Investiture? What's that?

Girl Scouts encourages leaders to plan Investitures for the 3rd or 4th meeting. This is when the Girl Scout is official 'vested' or pinned as a scout. I always thought the timing of the investiture was awkward because the girls want to start wearing their new uniform (tunic or vest) as soon as possible. In fact when I started in leading, we were told that uniforms were absolutely required for meetings (they are 5 yrs old-not so easy in reality!). So, if you can, save the tunics to hand out for this ceremony, but if not, then you can give them the official Girl Scout pin (trefoil) during the ceremony as well as their first badge, the blue Promise circle, for the center of the Daisy flower.

Part of the reason why Investitures are not held at the first meeting is that the girls need the time to learn the Girl Scout Promise! In my experience,

Why Girl Scout Fun?

I started to blog to help fellow Girl Scout leaders do what's important-create fun projects for the youngest scouts without spending hours coming up with the ideas.  Books are nice-they have creative stories but when you are in the trenches, you need projects and ideas which will keep 15-25 daisies quiet and captivated and hopefully motivated and inspired to stay in scouting for years to come.

I spent countless hours, as a new Daisy leader, searching for project ideas-back 6 years ago-when we didn't have Pinterest or great blogs to give us ideas. I always felt the responsibility to share ideas with the new leaders behind me but there was never an easy way.   Our Council is trying to make use of social media too, but its slow going!

This blog is not officially affiliated with Girl Scouts or any of their organizations but I respect and honor their mission.

Daisy Banners

This Daisy decided to add a heart on top of
her blue promise circle!

We love to reinforce the Daisy petal theme with our Kindergarteners.  What better way than to give them a little take home banner?  

Advance prep/supplies:
1. yarn
2. sticks broken to approximately one foot lengths
3. "Daisy blue" felt or fleece
4. pre-cut flower petals and a promise circle to correspond to official Daisy petals, preferably sticker-backed felt.  To emphasize the promise circle, you may need to cut out an additional white circle slightly large than the blue promise circle.
5. fabric glue, preferably Fabri-tek.
6. Make a sample (see note below about glues).

Activity Plan:
1. Distribute blue felt/fleece, sticks and yarn.
2. Have girls fold felt over stick and apply strip of glue.
3. Help girls tie yarn to each end of stick
4. Turn over 'banner' so foldover is hidden (unlike this sample photo!).
5. Stick or glue petals (in any order) around a blue promise circle (if needed, adhere a white circle below the blue circle, for emphasis).

Experience shows...
It's really hard to work with glue and felt.  Buy the best fabric glue that you can.  I recommend Fabri-tek.  The felt absorbs the glue.  You should experiment at home first.

Alternatives:
You can buy felt letters and symbols, with sticker backs.  If you want, you can have the girls add their initials to their banner.