Sadly, I was not a Girl Scout in my youth…but I absolutely, unequivocally know that I would have thrived as one. Adventures? Sign me up! Leadership Development? Yes, please! Life skill development? Absolutely! Empowering young women? Hi, have we met!?! These are basically ALL my love languages. So, it makes sense that I LOVE being a Girl Scout volunteer and finding fun, creative, (and easy) ways for our Junior troop to earn their badges! We recently earned the Girl Scout Junior Flower Badge and I couldn’t wait to share!
Our troop typically meets at the girls’ school but with COVID-19, we’ve been meeting at local parks for outdoor safety purposes. Each meeting we plan has a fairly simple agenda, which at this point helps keep the girls on track throughout the meeting.
The Flowers Badge focuses on everything that is wonderful about flowers in five different steps:
- Uncover the science of one flower
- Look under the petals
- Find out how flowers help people
- Have fun with flowers
- Send a message in flower code
Step One: Uncover the Science of One Flower
We went on a flower hunt around the park! Each girl received an observation notebook and a pencil. They were given strict instructions to not pick any flowers but to search for them and then write about what they thought was interesting in their notebook. Because it was a fairly small park with very few flower varieties, this didn’t take long. So we came back as a group to discuss what they observed!
Step Two: Look Under the Petals
For this step, we dyed flower petals to see how water moves through the flower’s stem. Each girl was given a clear plastic cup to fill with water, 2-3 drops of food coloring (unsurprisingly, most chose to make purple or stick with blue!) and a small white flower. In their observation notebooks, they made guesses of what would happen and how long it might take for the flowers to start changing colors. We were all shocked at how quickly you’ll start to see changes in the petals…very cool visuals for this age group!
Step Three: Find Out How Flowers Help People
As flowers can be calming, we opted to explore aromatherapy with bath salts. I found dried lavender and chamomile on Amazon (links below) and each girl received a little baggie for a scoop of each mixed with a scoop of Epsom Salt. The girls enjoyed the different scents!
Step Four: Have Fun with Flowers
For this step, we decided to create flower look-alikes with tissue paper, scotch tape, and pipe cleaners. Our vases ended up being brown paper sacks (which also conveniently kept all their goodies together as well!). As our meeting was outdoors…right before a rain storm…the wind was crunk and we spent most of this step chasing tissue paper around the park! So, maybe reconsider this activity if your meeting is also outdoors!
Step Five: Send a Message in Flower Code
For this step, we really just opened up for discussion to guess the meanings of different flowers. Here is the chart from the badge booklet that was fun for the girls to chat through:
- Snowdrop: Hope
- Pink Carnation: I’ll never forget you
- Aloe: Grief
- Bellflower: Thinking of You
- Daisy: Cheer
- Elderflower: Compassion
- Hibiscus: Beauty
- Forget-me-not or red tulip: True Love
- Lily of the Valley: Trust
- Yellow Rose: Friendship
This was a super simple badge to put together and the girls really seemed to enjoy learning more about flowers!
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