This post will be much better organized than the actual meeting. We did a decent amount of up/down the stairs between the church’s kitchen and our meeting room.
Opening Circle
*Girl Scout Promise
Rededication / Investiture
*Brownie Pond Ceremony
Badgework
*Snacks
*Girl Scout Way
BROWNIE POND CEREMONY
I found this ceremony on the GS of San Jacinto resources page and have used it with both of my troops. I modified it a bit from how that council does it because I didn’t like the poems at either the beginning or the ending of the ceremony. For the ceremony, had the girls sit in a circle. In the middle, I placed a circular mirror surrounded by pine branches – this was our pond. Then I read the girls the Brownie elf story from the handbook. I had each girl stand up to do the “twist me, turn me”, and to be pinned. When I pinned my girls, I pinned their badge upside down. The intention is that after they have done three good “turns”, they can flip the badge so that it is right side up.
SNACKS
The girls did the final two steps of the Snacks Badge. It was definitely a bit chaotic having 8 girls in the church’s kitchen, but it all worked out. No one was injured, and there was surprisingly only minimal mess. It also helped that moms who were not in adult helpers to the girls washed dishes as soon as they were dirty.
Step 3: Sweet Snack
We made rice krispie monsters (idea from One Little Project). While you can use ready-made treats, I broke the girls into teams with an adult helper to make the treats from scratch. Once the treats were finished, we placed them in the fridge to cool down faster. We melted the candy melts in the microwave, and the girls dunked their treats in, took them out, and put the eyes on. Each girl had a piece of parchment paper with her name on it for placing the finished monsters.
Step 4: Snack for Energy
This was our final step to complete the Snacks Badge! In keeping with Halloween, the girls made harvest hash (idea from The House of Hendrix). This was the last thing we did, so the girls took their portions home with them.
GIRL SCOUT WAY
We managed to complete two steps for this badge. We’re still working on Steps 1, 3, and 4. Regardless, we should be done with the badge by our second December meeting. I don’t want any badges from 2017 carrying over into 2018.
Step 2: Celebrate Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthday
I read a brief history of JGL and then the girls started working on their own JGL pumpkin (idea from here). Each paper strip has a different fact about her life. We didn’t have the time to finish the pumpkins during this meeting because the ceremony and food prep took longer than I expected.
Step 5: Enjoy a Girl Scout Tradition
This step tied into our Brownie Pond Ceremony by reading the story of the brownie elves.
Plant, Plant, Electro...What? 