Crafts With Daisies for the Courageous and Strong

Daisies are the youngest in the Girl Scout organization, consisting of girls in Kindergarten and first grade. They explore the world around them as they learn the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law, which encourage all Girl Scouts to live with integrity and compassion. Daisies do not earn badges in the same way as the other levels of Girl Scouts; they have only ten badges to earn and all of the badges together form the image of a daisy. Each petal represents a factor of the Girl Scout Law. While other levels of Girl Scouts can choose their desired badges and earn them on their own, Daisies earn their daisy petals as a group, during meetings. Each petal can be earned over the course of a few meetings, depending on the emphasis the Troop Leader decides to place on any certain petal. The red petal is earned for being Courageous and Strong.

Courage to a little girl can be as simple as trying something new. Even coming to her first Girl Scout meeting can be courageous, especially if she does not know the other girls in the troop very well. Cut a strip of paper for each girl that is long enough to wrap around her head. Ask each girl to think of one or two things she has done that are courageous. Have an adult write these things down on her strip of paper, then allow her to decorate the strip with crayons, markers, foam shapes and stickers. After everyone is finished, tape the ends of the strip together and have the girls wear their Courage Crowns. Go around the circle and have each girl announce her courageous action. Thank each girl individually for sharing.

Celebrate the courage of others by holding up certain members of society as real-life heroes. Firefighters are considered by many to be true American Heroes. Create a paper doll firefighter friend with construction paper and glue or tape. Prepare a paper doll for each girl ahead of time. Make the doll out of the shade of paper you would like the firefighter's face to be. Cut out construction paper hats, coats and boots to fit the paper dolls. Have each girl clothe her paper doll and draw a face on it. Encourage them to talk about their firefighter while they are constructing it. Is it a man or a woman? Does she ride in the front of the truck or the back of the truck? Do she hold the fire hose? Plan a trip to the fire station or ask a firefighter to come to the meeting to teach the girls about what happens in a fire station.

Bridge the gap between a little girl's personal courage and a firefighter's heroic courage by constructing firefighter hats and having each girl think about what she would do to make the world a better place. Make the hats out of craft foam. Cut one sheet of red craft foam into an oval. Draw another oval two inches inside this one. At one of the short ends, draw a 3-inch triangle inside the inner oval. Cut out the inner oval but leave the triangle attached to the inner circle so you have a hat brim with a triangle that will stick up when a child places the brim on her head. Use other colors of craft foam to decorate the hat like a firefighter's hat.

Strength of character can be difficult to explain as the intended meaning of "strong" in the Girl Scout Law. If you ask a little girl how she would like to be courageous and strong, she may say something about what she would like to do when she is older to make the world a better place. Encourage the girls to think about how they can be courageous and strong as individuals all the time. Have them make friendship bracelets for each other and plan a discussion about standing by their friends and helping people in need. Explain that sometimes the person in need is just the new student in the class who needs someone to be friendly to him or her. Sometimes it is the parent who needs help carrying the laundry. Make the bracelets out of blue yarn, the color of The Promise Center on the Girl Scout Daisy, and of beads to match the colors of the petals. Ask each girl to think of a time when she was courageous and strong by helping another person. Have each girl make two bracelets. Tell the girls to keep one and give the other to a friend or a person in need.