The reason for this is you can find suggested activities in the binder books for each level. So most of what I'm blogging about are times we chose to do different activities than those suggested.
For second year Brownies and up, I give the girls a list of ALL the official badges we can work on, and they choose which ones they want to do. You can start this with first year Brownies, if your troop is up for it. Mine wasn't, so I chose the itinerary for 2nd grade, and they chose it for 3rd and up.
Anything the girls do not choose as a group, they are welcome to do independently. More info on independent patch work here.
Recently I posted some things to consider for camping with Juniors (those steps can be adapted for other levels as well, and as always, check with your council for guidelines/requirements, and do what works best for your troop!). We worked on our Camper and Simple Meals badges while at camp. I didn't list the specific steps we took, because the suggested steps in the binder worked well for us (for the most part).
Note: I do not require my parents to purchase the binder for their daughters. I purchase one for the troop, and use it as reference. Your girls might enjoy their own binder -- and I tell mine they're welcome to buy one if they like. But we try very hard to keep the cost for parents to a minimum.
And there are some badges where the suggested activities simply aren't a good fit for my troop. Those are the ones I typically post about here.
As always, if you have questions, please don't hesitate to post. Thanks! :)
Binders can be purchased online or at your local council shop.
I just came across your blog. I am a new troop leader myself, Daisy-Cadette's. Your blog has been very helpful as there are not many GSblogs.
ReplyDeleteHi , can you Daisy troop leaders tell me if you require your girls to purchase the book ?
ReplyDeleteNope. I never require any of my girls (or the parents, actually) to purchase any of the books. I do have one that I use for reference (and sometimes read the stories aloud to the girls while they are having a snack). I do tell parents the books are available, if they WANT to purchase them. But especially since GSUSA's pricing increased on uniforms/badges, I try to minimize the cost to parents as much as possible.
DeleteI think the books are fun and can be enjoyable for the girls to have, but by no means would I ever require them to purchase the books. They're expensive.
I agree very expensive. However you can check out from your library or buy used on Amazon!!
ReplyDelete