SWAPS

SWAPs – has many meanings but my favorite is: Share with a Pal. When you are going to an event that requires SWAPS be creative. Every year at Camporee we had to bring SWAPS, but my first year as a leader I had no idea what they were. I recommend you make 10 at the LEAST. The girls will enjoy this activity so much you will wish you had more. As my troop got older they often made additional ones on their own just so they would have a larger variety of SWAPS.
SWAPS should have a way to be pinned on something, typically a hat. If your event has a theme, it’s always fun to follow that but if you settle for easy you may see several replicas of what you are handing out – many times we saw the same “camping” items year after year. After awhile the girls get bored with the same thing – smores, sleeping bag, flashlight and cookie boxes. I have to admit we had some really cute ones and often had girls seeking us out to swap.
My favorite was: I had a large dowel, cut it into many circles, we painted them varies skin tones, gave each a face and yarn hair adding bows to some, earnings, glued pins on the back along with a print out “CAMP – Came And Made Pals” with our troop # and names. The girls hardly wanted to swap with anyone because they loved each one they made, and they were all different.
For this I asked certain girls to bring a particular color yarn, 2 bags of pins, others variety of paint – it cost us nothing but a donated item from each girl. We had a meeting that was for a few hours on a Saturday so we started out sanding our wood, then painting. While that dried we worked on hair. I pre-made some examples of completed ones. Faces can be painted easy using q-tips for cheeks and eyes, no nose is needed.

Christmas Caroling

We did this annually, of course working in a nursing home helped because I set it up.
To do this, pick 6-8 upbeat songs. No one wants to hear a girl sing Silent Night while watching an elderly person tear up. Great song but it can be sad so stick to not so sad songs like: Frosty and Rudolph. Do not pick songs that cannot be sung along to like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”, it may not go well.
After you have picked your songs make easy to read large copies for all and staple them in the same order. Practice a little and send them home with your girls. Call a Nursing Home and set up a date that works for both sides. Put on your Santa hat and sing your heart out, add bells if you have younger ones. Remember making a card to something to hang on the door is nice, candy may not be a good idea since a nursing home has so many diets. Many residents have nothing to decorate with in their small area and most doors in a home are magnetic. Ask, and if so make something to display on them using a magnet.
So fa la la la your self to bring some joy into the lives of others!

Caroling last year, some of my family joined us too

Junior Scouts

Junior (Mints are Cool)
I continued on as a leader during the Jr. Years. As the girls got older they were able to do so much more. We volunteered at the Humane Society making kitty litter boxes. It was a job that the HS staff just didn’t have enough time to do. Locally we had opportunities; planetarium sleepover, skating, swimming and so on. While my daughter was in 5th grade I gave out a letter saying that I was done being a leader and with scouts. Many things happened to bring me to that decision; lack of parental help was the biggest. One meeting I was approached by 2 moms’s asking what it would take for me to continue. So I came up with the ultimate plan for me but more so for the girls. With registration paperwork I gave a calendar and list of badges. Before I would accept any registration each mom had to pick a badge and month to hold “their” meeting. Surprisingly every mom was on-board. The year turned on great. The girls did things I could have never done with them, for instance one mom owned 3 horses, I have never been on a horse, one held a night at her friends salon. After 7 years in scouts this did become my last year and I couldn’t have ended it a better way.

Brownie Scouts

Browines (are Sweet)
I changed my meetings during my Brownie troop years and finally settled on Saturday meetings. One problem I ran into over and over was a girl forgetting it was her snack week. Eventually I went to once a month meetings for 4 - 4 ½ hours and had each girl bring their own lunch putting some of the responsibly back on the parents. This was great for not only me, but all of the other parents on my troop. It allows time for the girls to be involved in other activities too. For the years I spent being a Brownie leader this schedule was followed and each year the parents expressed how well it worked.

Daisy Scouts

(Pick the) Daisies
Quite honestly I think Daisy’s can be a hard troop to run and it was a turn off for me.

By the time Christmas rolled around I was burnt out. It felt more like a babysitting group, except I was the sitter. We met every other Thursday night – not a good idea for young girls. The petals that the girls had earned didn’t seem to mean anything to my group of 5-6 year olds. I recruited my mom to be my co-leader because I didn’t see eye to eye with the one I was given. I was “lucky” enough to get a mom who was a scout until 12th grade. She would constantly ask if we were doing this or we were doing that. I didn’t even know what this and that was because I was never in GS. If you have a Service Unit Leader who offers guidance take her up on it.

Just remember, Daisy’s are only 1 year long so there is an end in sight.
Tip - You really should get involved in the monthly meetings held for the adults to get information. I did not attend those while I was a Daisy leader and I later found out they would have been beneficial for me.

Intro

How I ran my troop while working full time and being involved in other things Ideas for badges *see volunteering (soon to come)