Daisy Petals - PETAL POWER

• Have a game day and talk about how it's not fun to play with cheaters. (I'm sure you can find better words than that!!)
• Have an Egg Hunt for our "honest and fair" petal. Allow each girl to find 5 eggs. Once they reach their goal they have to assist the other girls until everyone finds 5 eggs. Talk about how fun it is to help each other. (You can vary this according to season or holiday).

• Read the Brownie Story. Each time the girls hear the word helpful, have them stand up and shout "Helpful!" Then send them home with little sheets of paper that say, "A Girl Scout was here." Each time they do a good deed/chore without being asked, they can leave a slip of paper.
• Talk about taking care of pets and animal safety. Visited a local veterinarian's office, and make a pet supplies donation to a local animal shelter.

• Secret pals! - Have each girl pick out of a hat and bring a special gift or "secret admirer" message to the next meeting - something they've made themselves. Even better - send the gift in the mail or drop it off on the front porch - girls love getting mail. Then you could have each girl bring a card to the next meeting to reveal herself.
• Make cards to take to a nursing home and then go and spend time with the older folks of your town. Visiting is fun during holidays, but remember it's nice to visit any time of the year.

• Practicing for a ceremony (Investiture/Bridging) is a good way to earn this. Talk about how it is sometimes scary to get up in front of people and that it takes "courage" and "strength." Then practice your ceremony until everyone feels comfortable with their parts.
• Play a game called "Emotions." It requires the girls to pick out of a hat a paper that has an emotion on it, like Happy, Sad, Mad, Glad, Excited, Hurt, etc. Have adults help with the reading and have each girl stand in front of the group and act out the emotion without talking. If your girls are shy, it could take quite a bit of courage to stand up there and do that in front of everyone.
• Host a fashion show or an imaginary pet show (use stuffed animals)- another opportunity to stand out in front of people.
• Plan a field trip without mommy! Parents or older girls from another troop can help you out with this. Girls really get the chance to grow without parents hovering over them. Walk to a local restaurant or ice cream parlor, or visit your neighborhood - go to the post office, police station, etc.
• Try different foods that you have never tried. (Check for allergies).
• Learn about what it means to be strong not just by lifting weights but strong in mind too.
• Make a growth chart to hang in their rooms so they can see how they grow.

• Do a service project that helps the environment. Pick up trash around the school, park or playground (wear gloves, of course!). Talk to the girls about how each person should help take care of the earth. Maybe plant a tree or some flowers.
• Get a big sheet of paper and have the girls make a list of troop rules.
• Copy a picture from a coloring book. Have the girls color the picture. Have the girls crumple the picture into a ball. Now smooth out the picture. Note all the wrinkles left on the paper. Explain when you say something bad or mean it will always leave a mark on that person. Some marks don't show but others do. A Girl Scout's job is to be responsible and not say things that might hurt someone on the inside. Discuss what words hurt and what words are nice. Variation - if you have access to small tubes of toothpaste, (dentist samples) have them squeeze out the paste as fast as they can, then when they are done, ask them to put it back in the tube. Moral - sometimes we say things or do things and don't think about the effect, and we can't take it back. Think before you speak.
• Responsible for what I do can be as simple as having the girls always wear their seat belts when in a car.
• Have the girls think about what chore they could do to help mom around the house and one that they can do at the Daisy meetings to help out, like take out the trash or push in the chairs at the end of the meetings. They have a chart to take home and check off for two weeks.

• Have a doctor, nurse or dentist talk to the girls about how important it is to take care of themselves. Maybe visit their office.
• Put together care packages of toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, wet wipes, soap, and combs. Each girl gets one and donate the others to a shelter. Talk about proper hygiene and why it is important.

• Take a field trip to the local police station or fire house for a tour.
• Have someone in authority, principal, police officer, fire fighter, etc, talk to the girls about what it means to have their job and how people depend on them.
• Have girls dress up and put on a skit showing people in authority and why it is important to respect them. For instance: doctor (if you don't follow doctor's orders you don't get better), teacher, crossing guard, etc.

• Gather miscellaneous craft stuff left over from other projects, then set it out with NO instructions other than "make something." You'll be surprised at what they come up with, and how cooperation and working together suddenly happens.
• Collect aluminum cans for recycling.
• Visit a recycling center.
• Make paper from all of our construction paper scraps.
• Practice some "leave no trace" skills by cleaning the playground.
• Have a relay race with recyclables. Make a pile of mixed recyclables (plastics, tin/aluminum, newspapers, etc) and have a separate box labeled for each type of recyclable. One by one the girls put one item at a time into the correct box. Give a time limit and they can race against the clock or each other.

• Plant sunflower and daisy seeds for the girls to take home.
• Go to a recycling center and practice recycling at home. (Also good for Use Resources Wisely)
• Help a senior citizen with yard clean up.
• Plant trees on Earth Day.
• Plant a flower garden as a "thank you" to the church/school where your troop meets.
• Make bird feeders out of recycled materials.

• Find a troop outside of your area to be Pen Pals with.
• Have a Sister Brownie Troop.
• Have a Thinking Day party.
• Study Girl Guides from other countries, complete with an appropriate snack and craft.
• Make swaps for sister brownie troop.
• Have a Daisy party for all the Daisy troops in town (that's assuming that there's more than 1 Daisy Troop!)