Think outside the box! (Girl Scout event ideas)

Article in the Acorn (Oct 2017)

GIRL LED: GIRL POWER    By Denise Sheaks Burke MA, LCSW Volunteer for Girl Scouts of California Central Coast LET GIRLS LEAD THE WAY AND YOU FOLLOW! GROWTH mindset versus CLOSED mindset Encouraging versus Discouraging. How to encourage, engage and empower in all that you say and do. The POWER of non-verbal communication. How your non-verbal cues can empower or confuse. The Girl Led Facade : Leaders and adults who make it       look girl led, but undermine the girls choices. Girl Led Confusion : Laissez faire leadership style leads to the most lowest productivity. Being girl led means guidance and support. Well intentioned leaders sometimes allow chaos, confusion, and frustration when they instruct the girls to lead but don’t offer them the tools to succeed. If you were sending the girls on a hike, you’d give them a map and guidelines to help them find their way, the same goes with a girl led troop model. Gro...

I love camp! Camp inspires, brings youth together through teamwork and it's just a lot of fun! I believe that camp is also very therapeutic, not only for the kids, but for the volunteers, counselors, interns and staff as well. That's why many people are camp crazy and even though many camp directors and staff make less money (or work for free) than corporate jobs, people stay in the business because it truly is a career that makes you feel like you are making a difference. The benefit of camps is that the theme and focus of the camp can vary from sports to college prep. Sky's the limit, regarding possibilities for program content in camps. The benefit of camp is that the program content doesn't have to be as strict as academic models and in fact, camp programs teach usable skills but in a fun way. Girl Scout camp is no different. Many councils are encouraging more volunteer run camps. Of course the benefit for councils is that volunteer camps require no funds from th...

I am an unlikely Girl Scout Service Unit Manager, or so I thought. I didn't beg for the job, nor did I ever aspire to be a free employee leading hundreds of girls and leaders. I loved running my daughters troop, but went to the monthly service unit meetings as my obligation and thought that you must be a little bit wise and a little bit crazy to be a service unit manager. As I've now learned, it's really more like a lot crazy and the wise part will come, only after becoming a service unit manager. I accepted the position when nobody else would. The competitor in me just didn't want to see my local service unit go down in flames. All of the parents claimed they were too busy and too tapped out juggling kids and responsibilities, to assume the responsibility. I had those excuses (or reasons) too, but luckily, I had no idea what I was signing on for, so I said "Ummmmm, okay...I'll do it." That first service unit meeting as service unit manager was a bit...

Camp Will Keep Us Together!  (link) Every spring, I lead a PA teen leadership retreat at our local Hyatt hotel. This year was our second retreat. We had approximately 65 girls attend, ages 10 years old and up. I had Junior PAs, and PAs. The retreat was a huge success! The teen girls are craving more programming that speaks to their interests. The workshops were informative, interactive and lots of fun! The girls created their own camp model in mock board meetings, they worked in teams to write their own camp song and presented their camps/songs in front of the entire group. We did lots of team building and ice-breakers and stressed that everything they learned at the retreat is something they can do at camp with their tribes of younger scouts. The girls also learned about setting goals, showing appreciation and learned that being a leader means many things. The girls slept over night at our local Hyatt, slumber party style. I booked 14 hotel rooms, had chaperones volunteer to ...

Anyone who has a Girl Scout or leads Girl Scouts will eventually hear about PA's. What is a PA? The PA is a Program Aid who receives leadership training which teaches them to assist younger scouts at events and at camp. What age level can girls attend PA training and become PA's? Girls in 7th grade and older are qualified to become PA's, according to GSUSA. However, girls can attend PA training toward the end of 6th grade, since many Girl Scout summer camps need PA's to assist with their programs. The camps are also a great opportunity for the PA girls to begin their leadership experience actually leading younger scouts. I have a pilot program idea however, that addresses the needs of today's girls and could help our tween girls stay in scouting. In 2014, GSUSA reported that there was a decline in membership of over 400,000 girls and adults. The result equates to a 6% decline in girl members in 2014.     As a service unit manager, I have watched as area service u...

The Chinese New Year is a terrific event idea or troop meeting celebration, to teach the girls about Chinese culture and traditions. A troop can also choose to represent China for Thinking Day, or use these idea's during a meeting in the month of February to celebrate Thinking Day. The Chinese New Year generally falls between the end of January to the middle of February. The Chinese New Year in 2015 will be February 19th and the year of the Goat/Sheep. Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year." You can order Chinese New Year patches for this event and you can get the girls patches that represent the year of their Chinese Zodiac. I have provided links to order patches and to look up the girls Chinese Zodiac sign. I have organized a sisterhood at Disneyland to celebrate the Chinese New Year on February 1st, 2015. California Adventure will have parades and festivities celebrating the Chinese New Year. Com...

Our annual fall Harvest Moon overnight retreat was held at Camp Gilmore in the Malibu Mountains. This was a new location for us and we loved it! Each troop stayed in cabins and each cabin slept 9-10 girls and adults. The girls decorated their cabins in fall/Halloween theme and attended 4 workshops on Saturday. If your service unit or troop wants to plan a retreat, there are many summer camps that offer their cabins during the school year for this purpose. Camp Gilmore is a Salvation Army sleep away camp during the summer for under-privileged children from the inner cities. I especially love that the money we spent on our Girl Scout retreat helps fund their summer programs. Harvest Moon had 167 girls and their leaders/parents attend. The workshops we ran are as follows: 1) Archery. (5-6 year olds did marshmallow archery with bows we purchased off Amazon, since the Archery bows are difficult for the younger girls to handle). 2) Solar Over Cooking (details listed below) and they cooked m...

My camp Program Director Mindy Hostetter, designed a Masquerade Ball and Girl Scouts from our service unit and neighboring service units were invited. The event was held in the early evening at a local middle school, using their multi-purpose room. This event was a big hit!! Event details: Cost $20 per pair (father/daughter, mother/daughter, etc). $30 per family (yes-siblings were included, making this a fun family night). Hours: 5-8pm. 1) Hire a local DJ or see if any parent has some DJ skills. 2) Mindy rented a Photo Booth which the kids loved. She contacted local vendors and one gave her a great deal, since it was for Girl Scouts. 3) Craft table: the kids could color and make a craft masquerade mask. 4) A table was set up with masquerade mask sugar cookies, frosting and sprinkles and the kids decorated their cookie. 5) Parents from the hosting troop made foods and desserts and donated them to the event. 6) Create invitation, stressing that it is a dress up event (no jeans or t-shir...

Camp Conejo's 2014 theme was Surfin Safari. We expanded to two sessions this year and my Program Director, Mindy Hostetter created an amazing program. Workshops included: Etiquette, wood working, archery, rain sticks, ukulele, hula, Irish Dance, Square Dance, Hip Hop Dance, martial arts, acting, Improv, message in a bottle, sand art, rock painting, camping, golf, computer programming, sit upon scrap booking, cartography, healthy living, tennis, tons of crafts, camp carnival and more. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE WORKSHOP: Read the history of the Message in a Bottle (below) to the kids • This week every kid at camp will write a letter to another camper (they will not know who will receive it) Make sure they do not write, “Dear ___”...start the letter with “Hello”, etc. • If you are working with young children that can’t write yet, please write the letter for them, but have them tell you what to write. • Encourage kind words. You can give them prompting sentences if they are in t...

I wrote the following blog article back in 2010. Little did I know that once I moved back to California with my kids later that year, that my Girl Scout involvement and commitment would skyrocket. My passion to give back was allowed to blossom fully once I took on the Service Unit manager position for Girl Scouts, where I then had the freedom to start a day camp, direct and create new events and to help leaders make their troops stronger. The article I wrote below, helps explain why I love helping girls be the best they can be, each and every day.  "Scouting rises within you and inspires you to put forth your best"...(Juliette G. Low). I received an e-mail today asking if anyone had an inspiring story to tell about a girl who had benefited from the experience of being a Girl Scout, who may not have been able to have those opportunities if it were not for scouting. I went to delete it until a wave of emotion went through me, reminding me of a very inspiring Girl ...

Thinking Day is an easy event overall because generally each troop creates a table with a display, food and swap representing the County they have chosen. However, I have added a couple of fun things to Thinking Day. At our event, I added an Around the World Cake Walk . I use to love cake walks as a child at the school carnivals, so I added one to Thinking Day. Each troop brings a cake or a box of cupcakes decorated in the theme of their Country. Some bring cakes from a recipe that reflect their Country. Some troops simply bring plain cakes which is fine. The more cakes, the better. Each troop is asked to bring a cake or a dozen cupcakes as their contribution. We have a contest and the best decorated cake/cup cakes receives a prize awarded for their troop. Usually local businesses donate prizes. Last year, the winning cake was Singapore and that troop received a bowling party and bowling patches. We sell cake walk tickets for $1 each and we always have a huge line throughout the...

One of my favorite memories of being a Girl Scout is the camping trips. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and I did not have opportunities to camp until I joined Girl Scouts. Many kids these days, have never camped out in tents. I love bringing kids back to basics and to nature. Now kids are so connected to their technology that they rarely have an opportunity to spend any amount of time under the stars, sleeping in tents, eating food made over a camp fire or spending time hiking and enjoying the outdoors. I have led many events but this year, I had the opportunity to take over as Director of a weekend camping trip called Harvest Moon. Most of the girls slept in tents but at Camp Arnaz, some girls had an opportunity to sleep in yurts as well. We had workshops during the day: archery, knife handling, outdoor first aid, songs/skits, dutch oven cooking, craft (making bird feeders) and a scavenger hunt. We also had a DJ after dinner in the camp lodge. The girls loved that of course! I ...

Camp Conejo 2013 was a huge success and our theme was Brave. We had a rock wall brought in and a giant slide. We had box oven cooking (baked cupcakes), dutch oven cooking, made ice cream in zip lock bags, scavenger hunt, zumba, flag football, relay races, water color painting, cartooning, banner making, spy workshop making invisible ink with lemon juice and more. The key to any sucessful event or camp is making is fun, fun fun. We dance to Girl Scout camp songs at opening and closing circle but add a hip hop song or two to get the girls dancing. I add songs I've written to current pop songs with my own homemade lyrics. I do this at smaller events as well. Always remember to really listen to what the girls want at an event or camp. My events and camps are girl led and although I am guiding the process, our teenage (PA-Program Aids) are completely in charge of the tribes of Girl Scouts.