Girl Scout Fun - March Edition

Note: These activities are from a resource that our council used as part of New Leader training. I shared these with other leaders as I served as area Trainer and they have been a valuable resource to many over the years. Since our council no longer shares these ideas, I wanted to make them available to new leaders in a digital format. These ideas are not restricted to only Girl Scouts, they can be used in many youth development settings. Enjoy!

Have a cookie booth sale! Be sure to contact your Service Unit Cookie Chair (or booth manager) to schedule the place and time. Plan for potty breaks, and rotate the girls if you have more than one location. The girls usually have a a great time working with booths, and you can have a treat afterwards like pizza, ice cream, or whatever the girls decide. If you have younger girls, you might consider letting them bring their own money and going for fast food and letting them order their own food. Many young girls may not have had that experience before!

Learn knife safety. Practice on soap bars (Ivory works great) or peel carrots for a snack.

Tie some knots. It's fun to practice with thin licorice ropes.

Make plans to celebrate the Girl Scout Birthday with another troop. Make and decorate cupcakes to share. If you have candles, remember to stress fire safety (put hair up, or down back of shirt; stop, drop, and roll with demonstration, etc. They can't hear this stuff enough.) Make friendship bracelets - two identical, one to keep and one to share with a new friend. You could have the five colors of the scouting world (purple, gold, blue, red, and orange) plus green and then use three colors at one time. The bracelets could be braided or just knotted at intervals depending on their ages. When they exchange bracelets, have them describe why they chose the colors (my favorite world of Girl Scouting or my favorite colors, etc).

Make a time line of major events in the Girl Scout Movement on a piece of really big butcher paper. You can get all of the dates in the handbook. Then let the girls add their birthdays. Have the girls make their own Life-Lines with major events from their lives.

Be careful to be sensitive if you have girls of different faiths if considering "Easter-type" activities such as Easter bonnets, egg crafts, bunnies, etc. It might be a better idea to do "spring" activities instead or you could do activities from different Spring celebrations.

On March 3, Japanese Children's Day and Doll Day are celebrated. Fifteen special dolls are arranged in ceremonial fashion, with the Emperor and Empress in a place of honor. Artificial cherry and orange tress and household utensils are included. Girls dress in formal kimonos and serve tea and cakes to friends. Perhaps you could sample some Japanese food or do origami.

Passover is often celebrated in April. It commemorates the Israelites' departure from Egypt and the first barley harvest. This a family feast of thanksgiving and freedom, with unleavened bread and many other traditional foods. Sample some of these foods and learn about the traditions.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17. Have a green meeting where you make green/shamrock crafts or eat green food. Eat potato soup, Irish stew, or make Irish soda bread or even baked potatoes. Have a potato toss.

Learn about snakes (St. Patrick allegedly chased them out of Ireland.) How many kinds of snakes are there? How many are venomous and how many are beneficial?

Have a shamrock relay race by making four large shamrocks out of green paper. Divide into two teams of equal players. Each team receives two shamrocks. At a signal, the team moves forward by stepping on the shamrocks. While standing on one, they must move the other forward for their next step. If you take a step off the shamrock before getting to the finish line, that player must start over. The first team with all the players across the finish line wins.

Have a potato relay. Make a line on the floor with masking tape for each team. The object is to roll the potato down the line with a a shillelagh (or a fairly thick, knotted stick). The player then runs the potato back to his team for the next player to use. The first team to get their potato over the finish line wins.

Beginning on March 21, Iranians celebrate the twelve day festival of No-ruz (Noh-rooz). This Muslim festival is symbolic of new life and growth, and the goodness of Allah. The festival table is spread with seven foods, all beginning with the letter 's' plus symbolic items. There is a legend that the earth trembles as the new year begins, so an egg is placed on a mirror and when the cannons are shot, the egg trembles. Gardens of Adonis are grown with quick-growing seeds such as lentils and wheat. Make mosaic art with lentils and other seeds.

Talk about good outdoor manners and conservation skills. Know to to protect and appreciate the natural world.

Take part in a conservation service project such as planting seedlings on a hillside to prevent erosion, repair trails, clean fire circles at a park, organizing a newspaper or aluminum can recycling project at the girls' school. Trim bushes to keep paths open, adopt a highway, take down old yard sale signs or flyers posted around the neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.

Go on a nature scavenger hunt. Have the girls find (but not pick - just show somebody else or take a photo of) a smooth edged leaf, a Y shaped twig, something alive, a smooth rock, a pebble smaller than a pea, a pebble as big as a grain of rice, something that looks like something else, something prickly, somebody's food, a dark green and a light green leaf, a pinch of dust, a pretty thing besides a flower, something with more than four legs, something you can pick things up with, a leaf with symmetrical veins, something dead, something yucky, something bumpy, a
seed that travels by wind, something soft, something furry, etc.

Hold a "baby shower" to benefit babies born to mothers in shelters or jail or hold a baby shower for the first girl born on the Girl Scout birthday in your area.

Adopt a grandparent at an elder care home.

Make and fly a kite.

Graphics used in this blog post have been purchased from EduClips. The ideas shared in this post have come from a handout shared by the Ozark Area Girl Scout Council (that has become the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland). This resource is no longer shared by council trainers, however I have continued to use it over the years and felt that others might also benefit from the information provided.