The Girls Scout Way is a great badge to do early in the troop season or when your troop is just forming. You can cover the traditions of Girl Scouts and earn a badge at the same time. This badge has the same requirements for Brownies and Juniors. If you have a mixed troop, it’s a perfect choice!
Below is a list of activities to meet the requirements for the GS Way badge. Find ideas for more Brownie badges here.
Girl Scout Songs
At every troop meeting we sing Make New Friends to close out the meeting. The girls learned it very quickly and have used it for other games – like playing musical chairs while waiting for meetings to start.
A few other songs that are good to learn are the Brownie Smile song and Boom Chicka Boom. I like to use these songs when we have a bit of downtime in a meeting (waiting for someone to finish work) or if we end early and are waiting for parents to pick up the girls.
Celebrate Juliette Gordon Low
The Girl Scouts USA website has a good summary about Juliette Gordon Low‘s life and her founding of Girl Scouts. I focused on the characteristics the girls in my troop would have in common with her, like a love of the outdoors, animals, and sports.
Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday is October 31 (which the girls also think is cool) so we did this badge in October. You could plan a birthday party to celebrate or decorate your space for a party. We chose to play a party game with prizes.
I found this version of a “left right” game about a troop celebrating Juliette Gordon Low’s birthday. I put together small packets of candy/toys and had one packet for each girl.
To play the game, you sit in a circle and everyone has a package. While the leader reads the story, anytime the word “left” is said, everyone passes their package to the left. If the word “right” is said, everyone passes to the right. The story uses the words a lot, usually close together, so it gets silly quickly. At the end of the story, the girls open the package they have in front of them.
Sisterhood
My troop created a troop banner to celebrate sisterhood and coming together as a troop. The previous year we created our banner as part of the Making Friends badge. This banner included an image that each girl created. The images come together as one troop.
Girl Scout Traditions
This aspect of the badge is easy to incorporate into any troop meeting. We always say the Girl Scout Promise, hold our hands in the Girl Scout Sign, and finish a meeting with a Friendship Circle. You can also read through the Girl Scout Law and talk about all the components of the law.
Participating in traditional/annual events within your Service Unit (like World Thinking Day) is another way to explore Girl Scout traditions throughout the year.
