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:: Pocket Programs Archive
The following are the Pocket Program activities that have been featured in past weeks:
Do This and Add Something
Have the girls form a line. As additional
girls arrive just have them add onto the line. The first girl in line starts by performing a simple action, such as clapping
hands, bowing her head or touching her nose. As she does this she turns to the next girl and says, “Do this and add
something.”
The second player repeats the action and adds a new motion. The next person does the first two
motions and adds her own, and so on. Anyone unable to perform all the previous motions in proper sequence goes to the head
of the line and becomes the first in the next game.
Talk Show Star
Create an imaginary TV show in which you are the host. Interview a
pretend leader - a mayor, for example. Ask at least five questions about her leadership role. Provide time for your “studio
audience” to ask questions as well.
Campground (or Backyard) Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup sugar 1 teapoon
vanilla 1 1-pound coffee can with plastic lid 1 3-pound coffee can with plastic lid Crushed ice Rock salt Place
cream, milk, egg, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and mix well. Clean the 1-pound coffee can well. Pour the liquid into
this small can. Seal with the plastic lid, and tape the lid to the can well with sealing tape or duct tape. Set this can in the
center of the 3-pound coffee can. Pour 4 parts crushed ice and 1 part rock salt into the spaces between the small and large
cans until full. Cover the large can, and tape this cover in place as well. Take the whole thing outdoors and roll it back and forth
on the picnic table, lawn or other open area for 10 minutes. Uncover and stir the ice cream. Re-cover and tape shut as before. Return
to large coffee can with the salt and ice (or replace as necessary) and roll 5 minutes more. Open, serve and enjoy!
Being My Best -- Peer Pressure Role-Play Giving in to peer pressure means going along with the group so you won’t
feel different or so others won’t make fun of you.
Create and act out a situation
about kids dealing with peer pressure. With your troop, friends, or family, role-play each situation twice. The first time,
have the main character give in to peer pressure. The second time, have the main character resist peer pressure. What are
some techniques you can use to resist peer pressure?
Investiture or
Rededication Ceremony
At an Investiture
Ceremony, a new Girl Scout makes her Promise for the first time. She will try to live by the Girl Scout Law. She wears her
uniform for the first time and receives her pin.
If a Girl Scout wants to, she may reaffirm her acceptance
of the Promise and Law at a Rededication Ceremony.
Both ceremonies may be inspiring and beautiful. The Promise
and Law may be repeated while the girls light candles representing the three parts of the Promise and the then parts of the
Law. "When Ere You Make a Promise," "Make New Friends," "On My Honor," etc. are good songs
to end the ceremony.
You can find complete ceremonies for both Investiture and Rededication in Let's
Celebrate! Girl Scout Ceremonies. Available at the Council Shop for $10.77 including tax.
Make a Compass
Equipment:
a darning needle, a magnet, a cork, a bowl of water
1. Rub the ends of the magnet across the needle
about 50 times, always going in the same direction. This makes the needle into a magnet.
2. Push the needle
into the cork and lay it in a small bowl of water. Try moving the cork in different directions. No matter which way you turn
the cork, the needle will always point... north, south, east or west?
3. Find out why the needle always points
in one direction. How did Columbus find his way to the new world? Why would a compass be necessary when sailing in the ocean?
Was it known at the time of Columbus, why the needle always points in one direction?
The
Game of Rhyme
Have your girls sit in a circle. The leader begins with a sentence such as "I see a
bear." Pick a girl to start rhyming and she will add a sentence such as "Oh, tell me where!" Continue
around the circle with the next girls adding rhyming sentences such as "Under the chair," "Does he have any
hair?" Continue until no one can rhyme, then start with another sentence.
Human
Knots
Ask the girls to stand in a close circle in groups of 8 to 10. Have them reach into the center
and take hold of the hands of two people other than those immediately next to them. Now the group works together in an attempt
to untie the knot without releasing hand holds.
Juliette Low World Friendship
Fund Activities
Juliette Low wanted girls to know Girl Scouts and Girl Guides in other countries. Girl
Scouts of the U.S.A. gives money to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund to help Girl Scouts from the U.S.A. travel
to other countries and to help bring Girl Guides from other countries to the U.S.A. The perfect time of the year to
collect this money from among troop members is around Juliette Low's birthday, October 31st.
Juliette
Low World Friendship Fund Ideas:
Metric Money: Each troop member donates a coin (nickle,
dime, quarter, half-dollar) for one of the following:
Every centimeter of her height
Every centimeter of her weight
Every celsius degree of her temperature, etc.
Willpower Pow Wow:
Each troop member comes
with money saved by resisting the temptation of candy, sweets, movies, etc.
Friendship Ring:
Canadian
Girl Guides drop a coin in a box each time they phone a friend. The troop puts their coins together for the Fund.
On Juliette's birthday, have your troop pay:
A nickle for every foot you can jump
A nickle for
each inch your hair is long
A penny for each second you can hold your breath
A penny per spin around before
you fall down
What new ways can you add?
Animal
Cinquain (5 line poem)
Equipment: pencils and paper for each girl.
Line one:
Name an animal
Line two: Write 2 words which describe what it looks, feels or sounds like
Line three: Write 3 words that tell how it moves or something it does
Line four:
Write 4 words with your thoughts about the animal
Line five: Write some related
word or repeat the name of the animal
Example:
dog
black, sleek
comforts and protects
I love her dearly
Suki
Can-o'-Lanterns
Wash out an empty soup or coffee
can. Fill it with water and freeze it; you'll be punching holes in the can and the ice keeps the can from being
dented as you work.
Draw a Jack-o'-lantern face or other design (like the outline of a cat, for example) on
the can. Use a hammer and nail or sharp screwdriver to punch holes in the metal on the lines you've drawn.
Space the holes out a bit. Then let the ice melt.
You can place a candle or electric light in the
can and the light will shine through the holes you've punched. This is a great way to decorate using recycled materials!
Celebrate Juliette Low's Birthday!
The founder of Girl Scouts was born on Halloween
in 1860. You may celebrate her birthday in many special ways:
1. Make up a play or skit about Juliette Low's
life or about how she started Girl Scouts.
2. Invite another troop to share a birthday party with
you.
3. Play the Juliette Low Wide Game (see below).
4. Collect money for the Juliette Low World Friendship
Fund.
5. Hold a Girl Scout's Own about the values that Juliette Low held for the girls of the United States.
6. Have a re-dedication ceremony with candles.
Juliette Low Wide Game
Starting point:
Team receives a note saying, "Juliette Low started Girl Scouting in the city of Savannah by a telephone call to her friend.
Get your first clue by telephoning the number below." (A troop mom will answer. Tell her who you are and ask her where
you can find a daisy)
First point: The troop mom tells the girls where to find a person with a daisy.
They find her. She also has a pumpkin. She says, "Juliette Low was born on Halloween so with your knife cut an eye or
nose to start a Jack O'Lantern." Then she shows the team where the trail marked by little paper pumpkins starts and
tells them to follow it.
Second point: Two Girl Scouts are stationed at the end of the pumpkin trail.
They say that Juliette Low like to put on plays. They ask the team to choose and act out a Halloween ghost or clown. When
they guess what the team is acting out, they make a trail sign to show the team which way to go.
Third point:
Along the path the team meets a person dressed as an Indian. She tells them that Juliette Low's grandmother was captured
by Indians and lived with them. Her Indian name was Little-Ship-Under-Full-Sail. If the team can tell north by looking at
the sun, the Indian will give them a sketch map to the next point. The team tells her which way north is and she gives them
the sketch map.
Fourth point: The sketch map leads them to a person with an American flag. She says
that the first Handbook was called How Girls Can Help Their Country. She asks the team to tell her two ways a Girl Scout can
be a good citizen on a hike. Then she asks them to fold the flag. She then directs them to a trail marked by red ribbons.
Fifth point: At the end of the trail a person meets the team and says that Juliette Low had friends all
over the world. She asks the team to show how they would greet a Girl Guide from another country. What emblem would the Guide
wear that the team also wears? Then she says that Juliette Low camped with many girls and was a good storyteller at campfires.
The team receives directions that lead to a compfire and tells them what their part of the campfire is.
Enjoy
S'mores at the campfire! Be sure to sing Happy Birthday to Juliette Low.
Decorated Soap
Equipment:
one bar of soap for each girl, white glue, wrapping paper with small pictures, paraffin.
Cut out small pictures
from wrapping paper that will fit the top of the bar of soap. Glue the picture to the soap using white glue mixed with a small
amount of water. After picture is dry, dip the top of the soap in melted paraffin wax. (Be sure to use the double boiler method
to melt the paraffin and have an adult do this part.) Picture will last a long time while the soap is being used. Be sure
to think Safety-Wise with this activity.
What Would You Do If?
Divide girls
into groups of 4. Leader writes situations on pieces of paper and each group selects one. Groups discuss their situation and
make a decision about what they would do, and decide which part of the Law helped make their decision. Groups report to the
troop.
Situations:
* You see a friend take something that belongs to
someone else.
* You are asked to work with someone you do not like.
*
Your mother isn't feeling well, and has been in bed all day. You've made plans
to do something
special with your friends.
* A friend calls you on the phone and asks you to give her the answer
to
a homework problem.
* Your leader is giving instructions for something
you already know how to do.
* The troop has voted to do something you don't want to do.
* You did something wrong, and another girl is being blamed for what you did.
*
You are playing a game that your team really wants to win. You know the
scorekeeper has
given you extra points by mistake. Your team wins by one
point. What would you do?
*
The troop is going on an overnight. The leader says no one is to bring any
electronic
toys. You have a new iPod you want to show your friends. What
would you do?
Thanksgiving
Thanks
At the troop meeting nearest Thanksgiving, have the girls bring a list of things that they feel thankful
for.
Have each girl read her list and at the end be open for discussion of how good it feels to be able to give
some sort of thanks.
Let the girls add onto their lists at the end of the discussion and take them home to share
on Thanksgiving Day.
Talking Stick Story Telling
Equipment: Stick
(over two feet long)
Group sits in a circle on the floor. One player holds the stick. She begins to move
her hands up the stick, hand over hand, while she begins a story. When she reaches the top of the stick, she hands it to the
next girl, who picks up the story. Continue around until all girls have had a turn.
Straw Painting
Supplies:
Felt-tip pen
Shelf paper
3 spoons per girl
Drinking straws
3
colors of non-toxic Tempra paint
Old shirts
Procedure:
1. Put old shirts on the girls.
2. With a spoon, put a drop of paint on shiny shelf paper.
3. Put one end of the straw near the drop of paint and blow
through it spreading the paint.
4. Place a few drops of the other colors of paint and blow them around.
5.
Let the painting dry.
6. Once it is dry, trace around the paint with a felt-tip pen.
Tin Can
Stilts
Supplies:
2 large coffee cans
String
Hammer and nail
Procedure:
1. Using the hammer and nail, make two loles on opposite sides of each can near the unopened end.
2. Put
a string through the holes on each can and tie the ends together.
3. Step onto the coffee cans and pull up on the strings
as you walk on these stilts.
Think You Can?
Supplies: paper of all sizes;
newspaper, 8 1/2" x 11", etc.
Give everyone a blank piece of paper and challenge them to fold it in half 8
times. The results are surprising!
Click Here for more of the Pocket Programs archive of activities featured in past weeks.
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