Back to the Thinking Day Page
Back to the Walnut Creek Association Home Page

Things to Remember
When working on activities that increase cross-cultural awareness, you might want to keep the following tips in mind:

• It is sometimes easier to emphasize the "exotic" over the familiar, however, you want to encourage girls to think of their WAGGGS counterparts as sisters with many of the same concerns, interests and needs as they have
• When raising money for the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund, you may want to de-emphasize the idea of helping our "poor" overseas sisters. For the girls to have an accurate picture of life around the world, they need to know that there are rich, poor and middle-class in every country, including the United States
• When you are doing activities on other countries, you might want to avoid emphasizing that the American way of doing things is best. Girls are able to draw their own conclusions and will appreciate a factual picture of life in other countries
• Girls will be eager to know what is fact and what is opinion. Culture, politics, even our undestanding of history is always changing and even more so internationally. Try to make sure that the information you are conveying is accurate. For example, some common misperceptions are referring to Africa as a country rather than as a continent made up of a variety of nations with varying cultures within those nations or referring to Asians as "Orientals", a term that many Asian people find demeaning
• Whenever you are working with activities that increase cross-cultural awareness, remember that you are providing girls with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help them live in an increasingly more diverse and inter-dependent world. There is very little that occurs in any part of the world that does not have some impact on the United States.

Program Links
The Girl Scout program materials contain many activities that may be used in conjunction with this calendar and other Thinking Day activities. Here is a list of just some of these program-related activities:

• Daisy Girl Scout Leader's Guide. "February 22, Thinking Day", "The World Centers", "The World of People", "Daisy Girl Scouts Try"
• Brownie Girl Scout Handbook. "People", "My World", "Dancercize", "People of the World", "Play"
• More Brownie Try-Its. "Caring and Sharing", "It's a Small World", "Earth is Our Home"
• Junior Girl Scout Handbook. "People", "Wider Opportunities"
• Revised Girl Scout Badges and Signs. "Celebrating People", "Creative Solutions", "Geography Fun", "Girl Scouting Around the World", "The World in My Community", "World Neighbors", "Ready for Tomorrow", "Eco-Action"
• Cadette and Senior Girl Scout Handbook. "Girl Scout/Girl Guide Traditions", "Citizen of the World", "Wider Opportunities"
• Cadette and Senior Girl Scout Interest Patches. "Global Understanding", "Travel", "Women's History", "Museum Discovery"

Suggested Activities for CountDown to Thinking Day Calendar
You may wish to use some or all of these activities as you make your CountDown to Thinking Day Calendar. One activity could be used for each day. Please feel free to add activities of your own or to build on the ones listed.

1. In what country can you tell how much money a person is worth just by looking at her? In Laos, the silver bands and coins worn by women are their family's savings and show how rich the family is. Try making a piece of jewelry that tells others about what is valuable or important to you.
2. What kind of music became popular in the 1950's that is considered to be invented in the USA? (Rock 'n Roll). Have them teach you a song or a dance from that period.
3. Where is paper-folding an art? In Japan, origami is the art of folding paper into beautiful shapes which can be decorative or functional. Your library should have a book on origami. Learn how to fold one or two origami shapes.
4. What country has the most bicycles in the world? (China). What kind of transportation system can you design for your community that does not harm the environment?
5. Where did dyeing originate? Tie-dyeing clothing and cloth for wall hangings is thought to have started in the nations of West Africa. Try tie-dyeing a T-shirt or wall-hanging.
6. There were once Seven Wonders of the World. Do you know which one still exists? (The Pyramids). Make a list of what you think are the seven man-made wonders in today's world. For a list of the classical Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, click here. For a list of suggested modern wonders, click here.
7. What are the top five countries for television watching? (Monaco, USA, Japan, Canada, Italy). Try planning a family activity night without TV. What other activities can you and your family do together?
8. What is one country where children win prizes for the most beautiful kite? (Guatemala or Japan). Why not make your own kite and hold a kite contest with your friends?
9. Are bananas grown in the USA? What about coffee? (Are they grown in Hawaii?). Go to your supermarket and discover foods from as many different countries as you can. You can schedule a contest to see which of your friends or fellow Girl Scouts can discover the most.
10. Several East African cuntries, such as Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, are famous for their game reserves, which protect endangered species, such as mountain gorillas, elehants and lions. Find out about the endangered plants and animals in your part of the country and what you cando to help preserve these species.
11. The yo-yo was invented in the Philippines, dominoes in China and the boomerang in Australia. Find ut about a toy that was invented in the USA. (e.g. Hula Hoop). Invent a new toy or game and teach it to others.
12. If it is 9:00 AM in your town, what time is it in Vanuatu? Vienna? Venezuela? Vladivostok? Find out about the international Dateline and Greenwich Mean Time. Why are they important? Dos every country agree to be part of this system? Does every state in the United States? Which states do not? (Interesting tidbit: in the USA, there are 4 timezones. These were created by the railroad companies due to the invention of steam locomotives and transcontinental trains. Every town in the USA knew when noon was .. that was when the sun was straight overhead. But because of the rotation of the earth on it's axis, noon (or any other hour) actually occurs at a different "time" as you travel across the USA. In order for the trains to have a consistent and reliable schedule, the railroad companies agreed to divide the USA into 4 time zones ... to standardize time.)
13. Match the food with the country where it was invented:
    • hamburger, doughnut, croissant, ginger ale, bologna
    • Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland
    Cook one of these foods for your family or have an international food festival.
    Answers: hamburger/Germany; doughnut/Netherlands; croisant/Austria; ginger ale/Ireland; bologna/Italy.
14. Match these tourist attractions with their cities:
    • Big Ben, Colosseum, Parthenon, Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty
    • Athens, Rome, Agra, London, New York City
    What tourist attractions do you have in your community? what would you show a visitor first? Make a poster or pamphlet promoting your tourist attraction.
    Answers: Big Ben/London; Colosseum/Rome; Parthenon/Athens; Taj Mahal/Agra; Statue of Liberty/New York City
15. Here is how to say "Hello" in five different languages. Can you match the word to the language?
    • salam, zdrastvuyte, jambo, an nyong haseyo, buon giorno
    • Russian, Italian, Korean, Swahili, Arabic
    See if you can learn some simple greetings or phrases in three languages other than the one(s) you speak.
    Answers:salam/Arabic; zdrastvuyte/Russian; jambo/Swahili; an nyong haseyo/Korean; bon giorno/Italian
16. In Korea, they celebrate children's day, called Uri Nal. How could we celebrate children's day in the US? Plan a celebration with a group of friends in order to have a Children's Day in your community
17. The oldest company in the world is the Faversham Oyster Fishery Company in Britain. It has been in operation since before 1189. What's the oldest company or business in your community? Find out more about it. Click here for the official website for the city of Walnut Creek.
18. What is the largest desert in the world? The Sahara covers all or part of many northern African countries. Find out the names of ten of these countries. (Algeria, Libya, Chad, Egypt, Tunisia, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Nigeria). The Sahara desert is getting larger every year. Find out some of the reasons why this is happening and some ways this could be prevented.
19. The largest city in the world (in terms of area) is in Australia. (Mount Isa). The most crowded is Mexico City. Find out how many people live in your community and how large your community is. Design an ideal community. How many people would it have? What would the house be like? The transportation?
20. The longest oil pipeline in the world runs from Edmonton, Canada to Buffalo, New York. It is 1775 miles long. Think of some ways we could rely less on oil and fossil fuels. Try to invent an alternative source of energy and a simple machine that will work using this new energy source.
21. The highest town in the world is Basisi on the Tibetan/Indian border at 19,650 feel above sea level. Find out how people have adapted to live at high altitudes. Make a diorama, collage or shadowbox display of five different types of homes that people live in around the world.
22. Go on a global treasure hunt. With a group of friends, go to your local library and see who can discover these facts the fastest:
    • 5 holidays celebrated in 5 European countries
    • The flags from 5 African countries
    • 5 different types of clothing found in the Western Hemisphere
    • 5 differetn foods found in the Middle East
    • 5 different games or toys that originated in Asia

Back to the Thinking Day Page
Back to the Walnut Creek Association Home Page