Happy Girl Scout Week!

We have created exciting activities for every day of the week so your troop can celebrate! These activities can occur this week, or you can review them to potentially use in future meetings. It’s always a good time to celebrate our Girl Scout traditions.

 

  • Sunday, March 10: SWAPS Sunday

    Today’s theme: SWAPS, or Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere, are small crafts you can make with your troop and share with others! We have a few options for you below.

    • Swap idea: In honor of the Girl Scouts birthday, we encourage you to make a puffball cupcake! You will need a cupcake liner, puffball, beads for decoration, cardstock, a candle, glue, scissors and markers. You can cut out a tag from the cardstock, glue the cupcake liner to it, then glue the puffball into the cupcake liner. From there, you will glue beads to the top of the puffball and glue a candle into the center. Last, you will write happy birthday and the year on the tag! Happy celebrating!
    • Swap idea: “Daisy” was Juliette Gordon Low’s nickname as alittle girl. In 1984, when Girl Scouts were naming the newest, youngest group of GirlScouts, they decided to honor young “Daisy” and all she would grow up to achieve. For our DaisySWAP, we used buttons, pipe cleaners, hot glue, and, of course, a safety pin.
    • Swap Idea: Did you know that, in order to fund her Girl Scout headquarters in 1914, Juliette Gordon Low sold her strand of rare matched pearls? In doing so, she said, “Jewels are not important, but myGirl Scouts are. They need the money more than I need pearls.” To celebrate this spirit of giving, we’ve created a swap to represent the pearl necklace. All you’ll need to recreate it is shiny paper, yarn, glue, pearl stickers, and of course, a safety pin. Show us your swaps on our social media channels!
    • Every year, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) hosts the annual World Thinking Day, which encourages Girl Scouts across the country to learn more about Scouting in other cultures. One World Thinking Day tradition is the exchange of SWAPs between Girl Scouts representing different cultures. We decided to make a cowgirl hat in Girl Scout green to represent Nashville, using a painted bottlecap, foam, gem stickers, and of course, a safety pin.
    • Swap Idea: Girl Scout cookie season wouldn’t be possible without the hard work from Girl Scout volunteers, leaders, and cookie parents. To say thank you, we’ve cooked up a fresh batch of Cookie SWAPs! They’re not quite as good as Girl Scout cookies, but they’re pretty close. Weused shiny paper, felt, a popsicle stick, glue, markers, and of course, a safety pin to create this SWAP.
    • Swap Idea: Since you’re dressing up for Girl Scout spirit day today, we wanted to show our spirit with some festive uniform SWAPs. These are easy to customize with your favorite badges, patches, and journeys. We used felt, foam, markers, puffy paint andof course, safety pins to bring these miniature creations to life!

    Volunteers: Do you find yourself continuously looking for art supplies for these crafts? Today could be a great day to review your supplies and determine what you might need in the future. You can always reach out in our GSMIDTN Facebook group to see if another leader might have supplies they would be willing to give to you!

    Did You Know? Reese Witherspoon, the acclaimed actress, producer and entrepreneur, was a Girl Scout here in Middle Tennessee! She has credited her entrepreneurial spirit to her days of selling Girl Scout cookies. In addition to her impressive resume, Reese is known for her drive to empower women and tell female stories. Her production company, Hello Sunshine, focuses on female-oriented stories. Witherspoon’s philanthropic endeavors revolve around advocacy for women and children. During the Covid-19 pandemic, her lifestyle brand, Draper James, launched the “Draper James Loves Teachers” initiative. They offered free dresses from their collection to teachers. How can you work to tell women’s stories?  

  • Monday, March 11th: Make Some Music Monday

    Today’s Theme: In Girl Scouts, our hearts are filled with songs. These songs are a way of passing down traditions through different generations! Check out our songbook and have a sing along with your friends!

    Volunteers: Unsure where to start? Check out a few classic Girl Scout sing alongs on YouTube!

    Did You Know? Dolly Parton was a Girl Scout when she was growing up. Aside from her record-breaking music career, Dolly Parton lives out the Girl Scout spirit through her remarkable philanthropy work. She began by launching her Dollywood Foundation to increase the number of local high school graduates and decrease the dropout rate. From there, she created a bald eagle sanctuary. In 1995, she created the Imagination Library, which has now given out over 100 million books. In addition to creating a hospital and cancer research center, Dolly has donated millions of dollars to medical research, including Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital and Moderna’s Covid vaccine. She has also donated millions of dollars to assist with wildlife disasters that occur across Tennessee. Dolly has a remarkable legacy for a reason: she believes in helping people at all times.

  • Tuesday March 12th: Girl Scout Birthday

    Today’s Theme: Need an excuse to throw a birthday celebration or bake a cake? Today is your day! On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low officially registered the organization’s first 18 members in Savannah, Georgia. Over 100 years later, the Girl Scout legacy and its traditions live on. Today, we want to encourage our Girl Scouts to show kindness wherever they can! Unexpected good deeds are a lovely surprise for the recipient, and make you feel good as well. How do acts of kindness change the world around you? We also challenge you to think about the Girl Scout impact and how we can make a difference in Middle Tennessee.

    Volunteers: Did you participate in Girl Scouts or a similar experience when growing up? Today is a great day to reflect on cherished traditions you can share with your troop. You will look back in fondness on the lessons you learned and were able to pass along to the next generation.

    Did You Know? Christina Tosi, the CEO and Head Chef of Milk Bar, was a Girl Scout! Christina has had an industrious career as a chef and has developed a nationally known bakery. Milk Bar is known for their multi-layer birthday cakes, cereal milk flavored soft-serve ice cream, “Compost Cookies”, and so much more. You can find Milk Bar treats at Target, Whole Foods, and several other grocery stores.

  • Wednesday, March 13th: Wear It Wednesday

    Today’s Theme: What better way to show your Girl Scout spirit than by wearing green? We invite you all to wear green or your Girl Scouts gear out and about today. You might chat with someone who would like to join Girl Scouts themselves!

    Volunteers: We invite you to wear your Girl Scout gear as well. Someone might want to ask you about you our program!

    Did You Know? Kendra Scott, the internationally known jewelry designer, was a Girl Scout! Kendra began her jewelry company in the spare room of her house in 2002. It is now valued at over a billion dollars! Over 95% of her 2,000 employees are women. Kendra Scott offers a jeweler badge experience for any Girl Scouts that would like to visit their store and make their own piece of jewelry.

  • Thursday, March 14th: Thankful/Take Action Thursday

    Today’s Theme: How can we “help people at all times”? Today, we encourage you all to look around your community and brainstorm what you can do to be of service. Have you volunteered before? We invite you to search for community service projects you would like to accomplish and discuss them with your troop and family. There’s a good chance one of your friends would like to participate as well! We are also hosting a Teams call this evening from 5:30 to 6:30 with our CEO, Danielle Barnes. She will be discussing Life Skills and Traditions!

    Volunteers: What does your volunteer work mean to you? Think about how you can discuss meaningful service projects with your troop, and what projects you all could accomplish together in the future. In the spirit of gratitude, Volunteer Appreciation Month is just around the corner. How can you all celebrate the incredible work you accomplish with Girl Scouts together?

    Did You Know? Three of our First Ladies were Girl Scouts. They include our current First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, and former First Ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton. In addition to her role as First Lady, Hillary Clinton also served as a Senator and as Secretary of State. Other notable leaders that are former Girl Scouts include Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Marcia Fudge, Secretary of Housing and Development. The Leadership skills you learn in Girl Scouts can take you far!

  • Friday, March 15th: Jummah/Flag Friday

    Today’s Theme: We invite you to read a few prayers that relate to your Girl Scouts experience and see if you can find any similarities! We would like for you to discuss the practice of observing Jummah in Islam. Do you notice any similarities between Sunday services, Jummah and the Sabbath? In addition, you can check out a few resources pertaining to different flag ceremonies.

    Volunteers: Today is a great day to discuss different faith traditions with your troop. If you need a brush up on what different Flag Ceremonies look like, we recommend checking out our Flag Ceremonies guide.

    Did You Know? There are several journalists who participated in Girl Scouts! They include Katie Couric, Dylan Dreyer, Savannah Guthrie, Gayle King, Robin Roberts and many more. Each of these women know how to effectively research and ask questions to enlighten their audience.

  • Saturday, March 16th: Girl Scout Sabbath

    Today’s Theme: Today we invite you to learn more about Judaism and the Sabbath! To conclude the week, we also want to encourage you to participate in a service project that you brainstormed earlier in the week. There are endless amounts of ways you can help people at all times.

    Volunteers: A major component of the Sabbath is taking time to rest. Is there an area where you could use a little bit of rest? Today might be a great day to think with your fellow volunteers about ways you all can support each other. Delegation can work wonders!

    Did You Know? There are at least 30 astronauts that participated in Girl Scouts! That is an incredible figure. Let this serve as a reminder that you can shoot for the stars. These 30 astronauts did, so why not you?