Say goodbye to the Daisy leaves! This summer they were phased out and new, cloud shaped badges took their place. I loved how the leaves created a scene with the daisy petals so this is a big bummer. On the other hand, it will be easier to place these badges with the other cloud badges and not worry about spacing as much. The requirements are pretty much the same as before so basically just a shape change.
My troop works on a financial literacy badge every year. We normally aim for December so we can either start planning how to use proceeds from our cookie sale or discuss spending and budgets around the holidays. This year we have a Junior, several Cadettes, and a Senior. This is an easy badge to adapt for a multi-level troop.
Similar steps include discussing wants vs needs, creating a budget, and learning something new about money each year
GSUSA has just released 28 new badges, retired 13 badges, and changed the design of the Global Action Award badges.
Cookie Business:
Some of the old cookie badges are getting kicked out to make room for new and improved badges. Thirteen very different badges are out, with thirteen very similar badges coming in. This could make it easier to combine badges with a multi-level troop since many of the steps are similar, like set a troop goal and budget.
Retiring Badges:
Digital Leadership Badges
Find out how to stay safe online while using technology to make a difference in the real and digital world.
Math in Nature
Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors have a new series to bring math concepts outside of the classroom and into nature. I am pretty excited about these, I only wish my troop was younger!
Global Action Awards
The Global Action Awards are no longer dated and instead are Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 like the Cookie Family Entrepreneur pins. The requirements each year differ and can be found here.
Daisies have seven different Journeys available to complete. Below is a guide to help them choose which ones spark their interest. If they are able to complete any of the three Journeys along with a TAP for each, they will earn the Journey Summit Award which is the highest award available to a Daisy.
5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals
In this Journey, you will:
Find out what animals need and how to care for them—go on nature walks to observe animals; visit a farm, zoo, or animal shelter; or create an animal sculpture.
Plan a Take Action project that teaches others how to care for animals.
Earn 3 leadership awards: Birdbath Award, Red Robin Award, and Tula Award.
Between Earth and Sky
In this Journey, you will:
Explore nature and learn how to keep the Earth healthy—visit a park or farm, talk to a scientist, or make origami butterflies to celebrate nature.
Plan a Take Action project, such as planting a tree, creating a garden for a children's hospital, or putting on a play about protecting the Earth.
Earn 3 leadership awards: Blue Bucket Award, Firefly Award, and Clover Award.
Outdoor (Daisy)
In this Journey, you will:
Explore the wonders of camping and learn how to make art outdoors.
Plan a Take Action project that helps make your favorite park, beach, or forest a better place for everyone.
Earn the Buddy Camper badge, the Outdoor Art Maker badge, and a Take Action Award.
Think Like a Citizen Scientist
In this Journey, you will:
Find out how scientists use the scientific method to investigate the world and make discoveries.
Do hands-on activities to learn how to make observations and collect data.
Plan a Take Action project that helps others.
Think Like a Programmer
In this Journey, you will:
Find out how programmers use computational thinking to solve problems.
Do 3 computational thinking activities: Building a Foundation, Happy Maps, and Plant a Seed.
Plan a Take Action project that helps others.
Think Like an Engineer
In this Journey, you will:
Find out how engineers use design thinking to solve problems.
Do 3 hands-on design challenges: design and build a fairy house, a car powered by air, and a way to get across a canyon.
Plan a Take Action project that helps others.
Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden
In this Journey, you will:
Explore the world of gardening—plant a mini-garden, learn about composting, find out how ladybugs help flowers, take a field trip to a public garden, or talk to a beekeeper.
Plan a Take Action project, such as planting vegetables in a community garden or flowers at a nearby hospital.
Earn 3 leadership awards: Watering Can Award, Golden Honey Bee Award, and Amazing Daisy Award.
If your Girl Scout Troop is tech savvy like mine, they have probably discovered the world of Roblox. If you haven't heard about it before, Roblox is a platform where any user can create a game using free software, and then publish it online for everyone to play for free! After reading the new Digital Game Design requirements, I thought this would be a perfect platform for my Troop since most of them are already playing games on it and having their own game on that platform would really spark their interest. This would also be a great time to introduce the Cybersecurity badges to make sure they stay safe online with their gaming profiles on and learn about hackers and scammers they may encounter while playing an online game. Learn about Roblox's commitment to keeping your kids safe on their platform at https://corp.roblox.com/parents/
Here are the Digital Game Design requirements for all the levels:
The Daisy, Brownie, and Junior requirements all include creating a maze game which is a great start to creating a game on Roblox. This will teach them how to manipulate the objects, test, and publish their game without having to learn any coding. The Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador levels can also benefit from creating a maze but they should take it a few steps further and learn how to create interactive GUIs to include decision trees with basic coding.
All you need to complete the Digital Game Design with your Troop is a Windows or Mac PC with Roblox Studio installed (free at Roblox.com/create), a free Roblox account for each Girl Scout or team of Girl Scouts, and internet access. Once the game is created using Roblox Studio, it is playable on PC, Mac, Android, iOS, XBOX One, and Amazon devices.
Check out our 8-minute, step-by-step video guide to creating a Roblox maze game on YouTube and have fun!!
