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Brownie Try-It Ideas
All
in the Family- We haven't done this one yet. We are
recommending that the girls do this one on their own. Here are some
of our suggestions.
3. Coupon Collection-
visit the Making Friends Website
they have coupons that can be printed out
Animals- For this Try-It we went to the Zoo. We prepared check-off sheets for the girls to find animals that represent the different types of animals. We played sound charades in the cars on the way to the zoo. Then during one of the meetings we did the creature moves and the others had to guess what animal we were.
Around the World- We spent about 3 months on this Try-It along with People of the World. Each meeting we did a different country. The leaders would read about Girl Scouts in each country. For snacks we tried to have a snack representative of the country. When we did Denmark we had Danish Toast with Jelly and Honey and Danish Wedding Cookies. The leaders also checked out 2-3 stories about life in each of the countries which we took turns taking home and would report on the next meeting. We did crayon resist batiks, and made Tapatan boards out of wood with buttons that we attached to our boards with large safety pins
Art to Wear- For this Try-It we made Tye-Dye T-shirts using acrylic paints diluted with water. Pour one bottle of paint into a milk jug then add water to top. Pour into the squirt top sports bottles. Rubberband the item you are Tye-Dying the way you want, then squirt the color on each section. I was told that after they are dry that you must put them in the dryer to set the color, but have heard since it isn't necessary. We made Mother's Day pins with birthstones for each child in a family. Visit www.friendze.com for information about ordering the parts. Recently we also made Girl Scout Law Necklaces. We used glass beads however, it would work just as well to use plastic pony beads. Instructions can be found at: http://haataja.virtualave.net/scouts/learn_law.html Our new girls are also working on this Try-It currently for the T-Shirt we used die-cuts out of contact paper and then the spray on fabric dye. This was in our opinion more messy than the tye-dye we had done previously as many of the girls could not get the hang of pumping the squirter (the type like on non-aerosol hairspray bottles) and got alot of the dye on themselves and clothes.
Brownie Girl Scouts Around the World- We haven't done this one yet, but it would work nicely to do this Try-It along with Around the World and People of the World.
Brownie Girl Scouts Through the Years- We haven't done this one either. You could plan a party and invite mom/grandma to come and everyone dress up like a particular decade, eat food that was popular, play music, watch a movie or dance to that decades popular music. Maybe mom or grandmother's could talk about popular language. Our Service Unit is doing this as a Brownie Lock-In. Girls will be divided into units and assigned a particular decade. The SU is checking out the Council Time Capsule and if possible the uniform trunk so the girls will be able to see the uniforms through the years.
Building Art- This is another one we haven't done yet. Check with Mad Science in your area. Here they offer this Try-it through the Council.
Careers- This is another one that we haven't done
Caring and Sharing- For this one each girl made a Brownie Scrapbook. We used the Brownie Friends from www.makingfriends.com as the cover. Then the girls finished the picture. They are quite cute as we did this right after our first campout where we encountered biting gnats. As part of the book we had each girl draw a picture of themselves and each girl in the troop, we also added a favorites page to our scrapbook.
Citizen Near and Far - At our first meeting of the year we brainstormed troop rules for meetings and for trips. We also decided that we would try using Scout Bucks for the year and that if you break the rules you can lose some Scout Bucks. We have also been voting on several things using different kinds of voting methods such as Show of Hands, Secret Ballot, Putting a Sticker beside our choice, etc. We had a Mini United Nations meeting to discuss the largest problems facing the world today. We decided that violence, pollution, and morality were the most pressing problems and discussed what we can do about them. We also each found a story in the paper or on TV where someone acted like a good citizen. As a Craft Project to tie in with this Try-It we are making Patriotic Yarn Bugs from the Making Friends website.
Colors and Shapes- For this try-it we made our own stamps out of meat trays and stamped a picture. The leader also made a Trefoil stamp which we used to stamp the front of our investiture invitation to our parents. We wove color patterns out of construction paper with the words "Brownie Friends Woven Together" at the top. We made the dough in the Try-It book which we then colored using red, yellow and blue food coloring. We mixed the three colors in different amounts to get different colors and shades of dough.
Computer Smarts- This is a new one that we haven't done.
Cookies Count- For this Try-It we decided what we would do with our money we earned and set goals. We decided to use it towards Camping and Community Service Projects. We role-played with the leaders posing as customers. Sometimes they weren't very polite to us, but it was good practice. For the Good Manners portion we took a picture of all of us laying on the floor in a circle with our heads together. Then we had the picture put on a 3X4 (approx.) card with a Thank You note on the back. We delivered these Thank You's to every customer.
Creative Composing- We rewrote the words to Britney Spears "Lucky" for the compose a song try-it. If interested in the words e-mail us at gstroop506@scoutinglinks.com We composed poems , and we composed secret messages using pictures/words or a secret code. Finally we composed a painting or drawing that we displayed in our Brownie Museum on Rededication Night.
Dancercize- For this Try-it we did an aerobic workout with Barbie, and had a Teddy Bear Dance Party. Then we went to watch the Ballet "Anastasia" over the Winter Break.
Earth and Sky- We pretty much just followed the guidelines on this one. Luckily it had rained a little the morning that we went to do this one. Otherwise we would have only found dry soil when we dug down to the 3inch and 6 inch levels. We did this one evening hoping to see some bats or other evening animals but all we saw were insects flying.
Earth is Our Home - This try-it has changed almost completely since we earned it, but the terrarium project has remained. Our terrarium lasted almost through the summer before everything died. Our younger siblings kept tipping it around which didn't help. For the cooking with the sun part at day camp we made Solar S'mores using a pizza box oven. Many pizza places will donate these and they are easy to make. Take the pizza box and line it with foil. Put a piece of black paper in the bottom of the box. Cut a flap in the lid and cover it with foil also. Put Saran wrap over the hole that remains when the flap is opened. Using a piece of string adjust the angle of the flap to direct the sun's rays into the box. We put the graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow in the solar pizza box. Then added the second graham cracker after everything was gooey.
Eat Right, Stay Healthy- We didn't do this one as a group. So we don't have any suggestions at this time.
Eco-Explorer - This one used to be called Outdoor Fun but they changed the name and moved requirements around. We found this neat website to help explain the food web at http://www.kidsplanet.org/wol/page_1.html, then you could make a food chain.
Friends are Fun- We made Friendship bracelets using macrame, made stationary to send letters to our Junior Pen pal troop using stamps, made beaded heart keyrings in place of growing the mums to give to a friend. We made 2 each so the girls had one to keep and one to give away. Instructions for these are to attach 4 lengths of cording to a keyring with a larks head. This gives you 8 strings to work with. Take two from each side and put 3 beads on the 2 on each side (we used clear with silver sparkles and white pearl pony beads)then put a heart shaped bead on the center 4 strings. Next divide the 4 into 2 groups of 2 and run these between the 2 strings on either side. This makes the 2 on either side join in the center to become the 4 that you put the heart shaped bead on. Repeat above process until you get the length you want. We did 3-4 hearts on each one. Then we did the measure up activity where you wrap the strip of paper around the ruler. We got paint sticks from Home Depot for free which worked great.
Girl Scout Ways- This is one of the first ones every troop should earn. Just follow the steps.
GirlSports- We earned this one before they changed it. We had a Brownie Olympics where we did the stretching exercises, then tried to balance a beanie baby on our heads while walking a chalk line. We used water balloons to practice throwing and catching. Then we ran an obstacle course. For that we had to balance the beanie baby, do a hopscotch, hit the ball on a paddleball 5X then jump rope 5X. From there we went and made one basket in the basketball hoop and did 2 chin-ups on the chin up bar. Then we had to try to throw about 10 different size and shape balls into a basket. Finally we had to try to catch a spoonful of water from a sprinkler and return to the finish line without spilling it. We got awards for different parts and everyone got a medal that the leader's got from Oriental Trading Company. With some adaptation you could probably do something very similar.
Healthy Habits- This is another of the new ones that we are thinking about doing. Check back to see what we did.
Her Story- We did this one our first year. We went to the nursing home to sing Holiday Carols, then we asked several women of different ages about what they thought were the most important issues facing women. It was interesting to hear their answers. Most agreed that keeping the family strong was the most important issue. Other parts we just followed the ideas in the book. We recommend doing the My Time Line activity.
Hobbies- We have discussed different hobbies and each chosen something to either start or refine. We had a show and tell of our various hobbies at our Rededication/Award Ceremony. We are also collecting Postcards and SWAPs from all of the 50 United States and beyond. You can see our progress by visiting our Postcard page.
Let's
Pretend- We started this one out by doing the Tongue Twisters on
the way to Ice Skating. Each girl tried a few known Tongue Twisters
then made one up on her own using either her own name or a sibling's name.
Here is a link to a website with lots of tongue twisters - The
Tongue Twister Database
the next activity
we did was the mime activity. We drew slips of paper out of a hat
and pantomimed the activity or the setting. At another meeting we
all dressed up in various Halloween costumes and had a fashion show.
This was our favorite part of this try-it. We also made the masks
from a paper plate.
Listening to the Past- Some of us did this one at Summer Day Camp. One of the older girl troop recreated a cemetery and set it up in camp which we went to visit. We also learned to play games that were popular throughout the decades and read stories that were written long ago.
Make It, Eat It- This used to be Food Fun. We did this one during our Spring Campout. We made GS Tacos for lunch and Fruit Juice Fizz for dinner. Then we made Fairy Rings for a snack. We also planned our meals for a whole day and learned about the food pyramid. These 2 choices are no longer part of this Try-it. The other ones are new.
Making Music- This is another one that was a blast just the way it was. We recommend doing the singing in rounds, Melody Glasses, Music around the World, and Action Songs.
Manners- We had alot of fun with this one also. We learned about Table Manners, Phone Manners, how to be a good Hostess, and how to introduce and meet people. Then we made ceramic teacups and used some of our Cookie money to go to a place called "Tea Time Treasures" for a tea party. We each got to dress up and put our good manners to the test.
Math Fun- For this Try-it we added a page to our Scrapbook called "My Numbers" we filled out all the information at the start of the year and then again at the end of the year so that we could see how much we changed or stayed the same. We also made up an alphabet code which we used to send a message to a secret pal. For the Can You Guess? we took a baby food jar and painted the lids blue. Then with green paint pen we painted on the land. Then we filled the jar with M&M's of different colors to represent all the people of the world. We did this activity on Thinking Day.
Me and My Shadow- For this try-it we did shadow plays at camp by tying a sheet between two trees. We also made the shadow and light plaques at Christmastime. We also made luminaria's with the Brownie Trefoil design cut out and the holes covered with different colors of tissue paper. We used these at one of our awards ceremonies.
Movers- We made the Pinwheels, kites, Paper Copters and Ring Gliders for this Try-It We used wrapping paper to make them which made them colorful.
My Body- This one has changed almost completely since we did it as first graders we did do the Muscle Reaction Activity, learn to take a pulse and make the fitness wheel.
Numbers and Shapes- We did the Math Shapes. You can use the pre-cut fun foam shapes to make pictures. For the origami we are going to make Holiday Ornaments like Stars, Angels, Santa, etc. or a Halloween Cat maybe. For the Mobius Strips we cut strips out of wrapping paper or strips printed off the computer in colorful designs, we will be making Jigsaw Puzzles out of old greeting cards
Outdoor Adventurer- We had a ball with the dress for the weather relay. We had winter, spring, summer, and fall clothes (ie. Summer- Swimsuit, Flip Flops, Sunglasses, Hat) Make sure you have the same number of items for each weather condition or season. We did a backyard campout and roasted our S'mores over the grill, Touch, Smell, Listen we had cards made up in a plastic sandwich bag, we hiked in a local park and found all the things on the list.
Penny Power- Many banks will give a tour and one in our area gives each scout a Dollar coin. (It used to be Silver dollars but now may be the new Gold Sacajawea coin.) We attended the At Ease Money Management Patch Program through our council which was good but I felt did not satisfy the requirements fully (it did not claim to either). We looked at the old design of the $5, $10, $20 bills and the new ones and discussed how they differed and why the new ones are more complicated to counterfeit. The girls thought the watermarks were especially cool. We gave each girl a $10 allowance and a checkbook and asked them to decide how much to save and how much to spend. Then we had erasers, pencils, pens, notebooks, etc. that they could buy. Each girl took a turn at being a customer and a cashier. Most of the girls decided to deposit their money in their checking account and then write a check for their purchases. We will carry on the use of the GS Checkbooks the rest of this year and next since we use the Scout Bucks throughout the year. We discussed and each girl was given the assignment to keep track of what they spend and what they save and we wrote up a plan and budget for our cookie proceeds.
People are Talking-This is one of the twelve new ones. We may do this one but haven't decided yet.
People of the World- This one has been mostly revised. We did the World Stories while sitting in our cabin at camp while it was raining.
Plants- This one has been changed alot with many of the activities being moved to this Try-It from other Try-Its. For the seed race we used miniature pumpkins, tomatoes, coleus, and some others I don't remember, just get a variety of different looking things. We made little signs for each section using strips of paper/toothpicks and covered with tape. Plant rubbings, while hiking in the park we made rubbings of bark, leaves, rocks, etc. At easter we made bunny planters out of white paper cups, cardboard for the ears with pink fun foam on the inside. Then we added wiggly eyes, a pink fun foam nose, whiskers and drew on a mouth. We filled with dirt and planted beans.
Playing Around the World- We did this one in about 1- 1 1/2 hours the morning after our first backyard campout. It is pretty fun and we didn't need to get creative. On Kim's game you can make it easy by using similar objects ( ie. fork, knife, spoon) or hard by using unrelated objects.
Point, Click, and Go- This was one of the first Try-Its we ever did we made our Investiture invitations, Played Barbie Hairstylist, looked on the web for information on endangered species, and learned how to make the computer work.
Puppets, Dolls, and Plays- This is another of the first ones that we did. We are currently doing it again so the new girls can earn it since we loved it so much. The first time we did it we made the Yarn Doll in the Try-It book and dressed her as a Brownie Scout. The uniform was a brown felt circle for a skirt and then a vest was made from a piece of brown felt with holes cut out for the arms. We made paper bag puppets that were bunny rabbits using cardboard for the head. We then used our paper bag puppets to put on a play about the Girl Scout Law. We used easter eggs, easter grass, and silk flowers for scenery on a makeshift puppet stage (the back of Mrs. C's couch and had a curtain that was held by 2 of the other girls. Finally we made a really cool wacky bird marionette using coils of plastic lacing (the leaders bought a project book for this one), yellow pompoms and orange fun foam for the feet and beak. This time around we made the Patriotic Yarn Bug from the www.makingfriends.com website, 5 little pumpkins finger puppets using white work gloves and orange pumpkin shaped fun foam, made Halloween paper bag puppets and put on a puppet show.
Ready, Set, Go Camping- This is one of those old Try-its that has changed almost completely. It appears to be pretty simple to do on a backyard campout or field trip to the park.
Safety Sense- For this one we made a big copy of our neighborhood and then let the girls take turns adding things like crosswalks, street signs, fire station, crossing guard, stop signs, etc. We read about Fire Safety and took a tour of the fire station. We also made sure the smoke alarms in our homes were working. Then we learned some basic first aid. The other requirement we did has been replaced.
Science in Action- We did this one to help our sister Daisy troop with their Bridging requirements. We started with a worksheet where we had to match up technology with items we use everyday, then we did the balloon blowing experiment, made some weird glop, experimented with a magnetic box that the leader's put together, and made the butterfly of many colors.
Science Wonder- For the crystal experiment we did 3 different types of Crystals- sugar, salt, and baking soda, then used a magnifying lens to see how they differed. On the Bubbles all kids love bubbles. We read somewhere that if you did it on a really cold day the bubbles would freeze. We would like to try that but doubt it will ever get cold in Texas again. The Presto Change-O activity was fun. The girls were astounded at how the milk and lemon turned out. No one wanted to drink it. We also made the Lemon Soda from the old book. Directions are to make a glass of lemonade to your taste. Slowly add 1/2 tsp. baking soda and stir. Caution: Be prepared for a very sticky kitchen floor. The more you stir the more it fizzes, you get the picture. We experimented with the static electricity and explored what items are attracted to a magnet and why.
Senses- We had alot of fun with this one. We used individual condiment containers like at a restaurant instead of the egg carton. The girls also had fun with the Can You Feel it activity. Most of them did a pretty good job matching the items. For the What's it Like you can easily simulate hearing loss with the foam ear plugs, vision loss using a blindfold or if you have an old pair of regular sunglasses or glasses smear them with vasoline for visual impairment. Have girls identify things wearing a pair of gloves to simulate the lack of the sense of touch. To simulate speech problems have them say the promise with a mouthful of M&M's and then if they are brave they can try to drink something without swallowing the M&M's. This would simulate swallowing after a neurological impairment like a head injury. Good for encouraging girls to wear bike helmets. We also learned the GS Promise in Sign Language.
Sounds of Music- We made the shakers, the Single String Swing, and Kazoos. Then we changed the words to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to Julie the Yellow Ladybug and played our instruments and sang it at the Awards Ceremony. The requirements have changed now in the new books with a shoebox guitar added, melody mobiles, and Live Music.
Space Explorer- We had a group of Junior Scouts go stargazing with us for this one. We also watched and recorded the cycles of the moon for 1 month. For Shadow time we put a stick out in the yard at the beginning of a meeting and marked where the shadow fell, then again midway through and at the end. It was interesting to see that the increments were pretty equal just like the face of a clock. And finally we took a field trip to the planetarium.
Sports and Games- For this one we had a Swimming Party, and practiced Bike Safety. The other 2 things in this Try-it that we did have been replaced. When we did this one again for the new girls we played Octapus Tag which was fun but not a troop favorite.
Stitch it Together-This is one of the twelve new ones. Make sachets for Mother's Day instead of the Bean Bag. Sew Girl Scout Law Coloring Books for a Daisy Troop. Pages for Coloring Book can be found at http://furryfeathers.home.mindspring.com/book/ We put the Daisy Petals on the Front Cover and Laminated it then we sewed the books together. For the Animal sewing cards we copied pages from a simple coloring book onto cardstock. The girls colored the pictures and we laminated them. Then the girls punched holes around the edges and laced yarn through them. We are going to donate these to a Women's shelter for the kids there. Finally we tried our hand at embroidery which was still a challenge for 3rd graders.
Travel Right-This is one of the twelve new ones. Those of us who will be traveling over Fall Break, Winter Break, or Spring Break can earn this one independently.
Watching Wildlife- We chose not to do this one. It is one we can do on our own. If anyone does anything interesting we will post it here.
Water Everywhere- For this one we set up a Water Grocery Store with stuff from our pantry. Each girl was given a shopping list to find 5 items with water as an ingredient and 5 things that did not have water. They were surprised that the things without water were harder to find. We tried the water snooper and the Water Explorer activities, but the lake we were at was very murky so we didn't really see anything and all we could get in the strainer was seaweed. As our last thing we did the water layers experiment which was quick and easy and the girls thought it was neat.
Working it Out- This one has changed alot since we did it. It is one we definitely recommend if you are having problems with cliques or dominant girls that may say things or do things that hurt the feelings of more reserved girls.
Write Away-This is one of the twelve new ones. We will probably do this one after the Holidays.
Other sites that we know of for more great ideas
Brownie Girl Scout Try-Its- This site has pictures of the old try-its it doesn't appear to be updated and many of the links no longer worked the last time I checked it out.
