If you’re welcoming a group of Daisies into the world of Girl Scouting, you’re already familiar with what it takes to support and direct their boundless energy and endless excitement for the world around them. Three years ago, my group of kindergarteners and first graders were just a little twelve-girl Daisy troop—these days we have girls from Daisy to Ambassador with 32 girls as we go into our fourth year! We’ve had so many new Girl Scouts join our troop over the last few years that we’re well-versed in making the experience special for each and every one of them—but being a new Daisy is extra special!
Daisies get to experience everything for the first time, from making friends to any new activities—and your troop is responsible for kick-starting their love of Girl Scouts! But there’s no need to be intimidated. Here are eight amazing activities for brand new Daisy Girl Scouts that we know they will love!
Learn the Girl Scout Promise
As one of the first things any new Girl Scout learns, the Girl Scout Promise is a must for your new Daisies. Making it fun and engaging helps them remember each line, even if they don’t have much practice with memorization yet. Our amazing Daisy leader Hannah made these super cute placemats with the girls. They traced their own hands and then decorated them with flowers! She laminated them using a machine but you could also use clear contact paper. Now the girls have something to help them practice the promise each and every day!
Play the Be a Sister Game
Daisy Girl Scouts are just starting to explore the world around them and understand the importance of friendship! This game helps them learn about both! To play you’ll need one plastic capsule or Easter egg per girl. Each egg should be filled with a different number of a small snacks like M&M’s or Cheerios. First, hide the eggs. Next, have the girls find just one egg each, but tell them not to open it just yet. Make sure the girls help each other out so they all find an egg!
After every girl has found an egg, the girls should sit in a circle with a napkin in front of each girl to place their findings. Go around the room and have each girl open their prize, one at a time. Remind them not to eat what’s inside just yet, and have them count their items. Some girls will have more, and some less. Discuss with your girls how they feel when others have more than them.
Finally tell them that since they are all friends, and it is part of the Girl Scout Law to “be a sister to every Girl Scout,” we have to figure out a way to make it fair. Let them problem solve how to make sharing the treats equally. We normally use a crayon and draw one circle per girl on it, and then allow them to sort the snacks into equal piles. In the end, make sure to let them know how happy you are that they are learning this important part of the Girl Scout Law: being a sister to every Girl Scout.
Explore the World of Girl Scouting
Using your Daisy Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting, explore the path for a Daisy Girl Scout from the petals which walk them through the most important elements of being a Daisy, to the badges they can earn. Talk about the exciting adventure they are on, and all the amazing things Daisies can do! This is also a great time to talk about the parts of the Daisy uniform and why they should feel very proud to wear them. You can also discuss why Daisy Girl Scouts are called Daisies! (Remember it’s got something to do with our founder!) This way they will begin to feel connected to the wide world of Girl Scouts.
Create a New Troop Tradition
Traditions are a part of Girl Scouting. From the Promise and the Law to the iconic color of the Daisy uniforms, each one is part of a tradition. Talk to the girls about why traditions can bring us together. Explore traditions Daisies have in their families, then let the girls create a tradition for your troop. Maybe it’s that they always sing “Make New Friends” at the end of every meeting, or they choose to collect and donate canned foods every year during the holidays—it’s up to them!
Plant a Daisy Garden
Teaching your girls to work together as a team is a vital part of their Girl Scout experience. One way to encourage the girls to work together is to have them care for their own garden. This could be a container garden or a spot in your community or school garden. Working together to help grow tomatoes or strawberries is a great way to have them connect, learn new things, and rely on each other, and it can help them and encourage them to think out of the box for ways to enjoy time together. One of our favorite memories was planning tomatoes one year—we had so many that we made pizza sauce and homemade pizza!
Get to Know Each Other with a Game
A simple but really fun game is the Get to Know me Game! Have the girls sit in a circle, and answer questions by putting their hand in the center. Great questions are “what’s your favorite color?” or “Who likes eating peas?” Let the girls ask some of the questions, and get excited about their sister scouts’ unique qualities, and how much they have in common!
Host a What I Want to Be Day
Hosting a “What I Want To Be Day” is another fantastic way to get to know your girls and their interests! Invite them to come dressed up in clothing that represents a job that interests them. Librarians or authors with their favorite book, veterinarians or zoologists with a favorite stuffed animal, doctors with a stethoscope, etc. Take pictures of the event to add to your program scrapbook and for kids to take home. (Trust me, your troop parents will love this!)
Make a Friendship Fruit Salad
Explain to your girls how all of the things in a fruit salad are great on their own, but when they come together, they make something even better! Have them all bring in a different ingredient, then enjoy the delicious result! We’ve also done this where the girls each bring one of the ingredients to make cookies. Either way, they’ll have a delicious snack and embrace the concept of Girl Scout sisterhood.
No matter what you do, don’t forget to make it fun (and a little silly)! Being a Daisy is a special time for any Girl Scout, and the memories you make this year will be ones they treasure and carry throughout their Girl Scout careers.
What to do next:
- Learn more about what Daisy Girl Scouts do and what badges and Journeys they can earn.
- Check out our other younger girl resources on The Trailhead.
- Are you a troop leader for Daisy Girl Scouts? Learn everything you need to know from the basic Daisy characteristics to how to bridge to Brownies with our online training.
Richel Newborg—Richel is a troop leader to Troop 2740 located in Fort Worth, Texas (although she was born and raised in California). Her mom and grandmother were also Girl Scout Leaders. Her favorite memory so far as a troop leader was packing friends, family, and excited girls into her living room (almost 50 people) when their bridging/rededication ceremony was rained out. It was crowded but an awesome celebration of Girl Scouting and they even managed to have a real bridge!
