Girl Scout Necklace. This necklace also works for Girl Scout Ways. 5 yarns representing the 5 Worlds, 3 Green beads in center, 10 knots, 5 on each side of beads. This is a great introduction to Girl Scouts and a great Scouting Keepsake.
My Cadettes hosted a Mardi Gras theme event and had all the girls make MArdi Gras masks (Choose a holiday or event and make a mask) out of plastic face masks that cover above the nose (can order from Oriental Trading Col). The girls used sequence, pearl tiny beads, and feathers to decorate the masks with the older girls helping with the hot glue guns and hot glue.
Part 1 (t-shirt art) My troop made matching t-shirts. Each girl had to bring in a laundered white t-shirt and we tie-dyed them. It's great to have matching t-shirts for troop outings or encampments (so you can find your precious darlings among all those other scouts). The girls could also do iron-on appliques or sponge paint stamps. The idea is to have shirts that match.
I have first grade brownies. For our Art to Wear Try-It, we made warm fuzzies with felt and pom poms and read the story that goes along with it (have story and directions if needed). We also made friendship pins, each girl made enough for the whole troop, then kept one for herself and gave one to the other girls, they wear them on their vest. they loved them.
I heard of a neat idea but our troop hasn't done it yet. You take plain white baseball type caps and decorate them with fabric markers or paint. You could attach sequins, buttons, anything you like. Then you donate the hats to the hospital or doctor's office for pediatric chemotherapy patients who have lost their hair. You should check to see if they would be accepted first. Also a good time to remind the girls not to share hats, headbands, combs, barrettes, etc.
Our troop made t-shirts with the girls' hand prints on them. Each girl got to choose a paint color, then we painted their hand and they put their hand print on their shirt and everyone else's shirts. Then my co-leader and I wrote the girl's name under their handprint with a permanent marker. The end product: each girl has a t-shirt with the handprints of all their 'sisters.' They wear them all the time and they are cute as can be.
An addition to Carol's idea of Sat Feb 6.
If you have a very large troup, thumbs work great too!
We made beaded T-shirts using matching shirts with undid the hem and then slit the bottom all the way around, we then strung pony beads on them in lots of wonderful colors. So each girls are the same yet different!
Make a paste out of glue and water. Using heavy
cardboard strip make a bracelet (tape ends together).
Dip strips of newspaper in the glue/water mix and
place on bracelet. Cover completly. For the last
layer or two, use colored tissue paper instead
of newspaper.
I found this idea for "garden hats" in a craft book, but haven't tried it yet:Take a large cereal box and spray paint them various colors.
Cut about 2" strips, 4 inches in length and crease. Next, cut out flowers with construction paper or what have you and glue to rim of hat and VIOLA,
you have a garden hat!
Our troop did tye-dye shirts by adding fabric paint and water to squirt bottles and squirting the shirts while they hung on a clothes lines. Each girl brought their own squirt bottle and I made up about 6 colors. They each took turns and made different combinations, it was fun, easy and not at all messy. They dried by the time our party was done, about 1 hour.
My 2nd year Brownie Troop decided they wanted to go to our local AKC dog show this July. As part of the Art to Wear try-it we are going to decorate plain white hats to look like dogs (with fabric 'ear flaps'. Not only do they think this will be cool, but it will make it easier to keep an eye on them in a crowd!
I haven't tried this yet but I received it on a GS ring. They said it works great.
Reverse tie-dye
1 colored t-shirt washed
sponges in any shapes they want
cardboard
liquid cascade dishwasher soap
Put the cardboard in the shirt.
Take the sponges dip in the cascade and put on the shirt. It drawers the color off the shirt and leaves the inprint of the shape.
Linda
We've done many of the ideas at
www.makingfriends.com. There is a whole section on Brownie Try-its!
I purchased 10 pairs of jeans for $1.00 at a thrift store, cut out the backpockets (along with the fabric under the actual pocket part) to make purses for the troop. Cording, ribbon, shoelaces, bias tape--whatever we could find--were hotglued to the back for straps, and the girls decorated the front. They could be used for purses, necklaces, or hung in their bedrooms for decoration...also, the pockets could be sewn onto sweatshirts, or even on tote bags or back of jackets. (Plus, I have all that leftover denim...hmmmm...maybe rag rugs, or beanbags, or...)
For art to wear we did tie-dye, friendship bracelets, and we had the girls pair up and paint eachothers face that worked well #1 it got them to work togeather and #2 I did'nt have to paint all of the girls faces!
Cut out the back pockets from old childrens's jeans plus about 5 inches below the pocket. Cut the fabric below the pocket into strips and then string on beads. Put non-sew velcro in pocket top and you have a coin purse. Could also decorate the pocket. We aslo made T-shirts by cutting out shapes from freezer wrap paper (waxed on one side) and then ironing them on a shirt. The girls then paint (interior house paint works and is cheap) where the paper isn't. Peel off paper when dry. Works very well. We also made slipper socks by painting designs on the bottom of socks with fabric paint. Another leader make personalized mittens by glueing sequins etc. on inexpensive gloves.
Face painting is one of the possible items to cover in the Art to Wear Badge. We have a Shriner Group of Clowns and another County group of Clowns in our area. They are volunteers who entertain in childrens hospitals, etc. One of our leaders knew one of these Clowns. We asked him to volunteer his time to come to one of our meetings and demonstrate face painting. He was happy to do so and the girls loved it. He painted his face explaining to the girls what he was doing step by step. He also painted clown mouths on the girls & balloons on their cheeks with washable face paint. As a bonus, he showed them how to make an animal balloon. He was really a hit!
For art to wear, our troop wanted to play "Hollywood dress-up". Each girl brought sunglasses, dress-up clothes, beads, etc. and we made hats out of wrapping paper. Use 3 sheets of heavy paper, put all 3 sheets together, and mold over the top of each girl's head. Hold in place with masking tape. Then trim ends to form brim of hat, (we left them really big to use as sun hats), then decorated the "hat band" (masking tape) with ribbon, silk & dried flowers, etc. Afterwards, the girls had a fashion show with LOTS of giggles.
For our T-shirts we did the reverse. Each girl brought a dark colored shirt (blue, red, green, etc....) and we rubber banded them up and dipped them into bleach. We did this outside in the summer and the co-leader and myself did the actuall touch of the bleach. We had four buckets, the first with the bleach that the girls put thier shirts in, the 2nd and 3rd we just water. We used a hander to lift the shirts out and move them to the next. The fourth bucket is where we removed the bands. Then we hung them out to dry. It was neat to watch b-cuz even though we had some of the shirts start off the same color, they all turned out different shades. Depending on the orgianl dye and how long it was left to soak.
We are also painting tomorrow more T-shirts (since we have now added 11 more girls to our troop), but these are for the Christmas parade. Our whole service unit is dressing the same. We are taking a car sponge (figure 8) and pressing it in to brown paint - then on to the shirts. This will give you a reindeer's head shape (use your imagination here) then the girls will paint the hands black and these will be the antlers. We will then glue on some wiggle eyes and a red pom pom for a nose.
While having a brownie sleepover we worked on the Art to Wear try it by decorating white shoe laces with fabric markers, making troop number pins, and decorating kerchiefs. The last 2 ideas were taken from the Makingfriends.com site. All 3 were simple and nonmessy.
Many mask-making links (requirement #5)
http://familycrafts.about.com/parenting/familycrafts/cs/makingmasks/index.htm
http://www.sondrascrafts.com/crafts.php
Tire track t-shirt, tie-dye tennis shoes, fun foam earrings & some
puppet crafts.
Our girls did the tie-dye socks using permanent markers. They put rubber bands around a sock at 1 inch intervals then colored with markers. We sprayed the socks with a rubbing alcohol/water solution to make the colors run. I tossed the socks in a hot dryer to set the color. It was fun, easy and not much mess. The girls love the socks! We also did Mardi Gras masks. We traced a mask shapes onto poster board, cut and the girls colored them with markers, glitter glue and feathers. They used a chop stick as a mask "holder".
We took "skulpey" clay and cut it into small squares. The girls then rolled, flattened a little, used a round toothpick to draw a letter of their name and troop number, then poked a hole through the center, then we baked the clay. Then the girls strung their necklace. We also included some brown and green rounds for design. Fun project as the girls made their own bead necklace.
This Monday we will almost finish this try-it with decorated headbands. Our dollar store has the wide, cloth-covered headbands for 2/$1. With fabric glue, sequins, glittery objects, and fabric paint, the girls will be able to design their own.
For our t-shirt art, we made Halloween sweatshirts. I decided to choose a holiday other than Christmas since I myself have about 15 Christmas shirts. I bought the compressed sponge that you cut out into shapes, then wet and Viola! you have a stencil (which tied in the Colors and Shapes try-it along with the mixing of the fabric paint). The girls had a ball making these.
At our Halloween party, we invited our sister Daisy troop. My girls face-painted their faces and it was great fun! They made anything from cat faces to rainbows and flowers.
Finally, for the Knots try-it, I'm going to have the girls make "scrungies." Take an elastic hair band (the rubberband kind)and cut about 20 strips of cotton cloth about 6-8 inches long using pinking shears (so they won't ravel). Using an overhand or slip knot, tie each piece onto the elastic band making sure the knot is in the middle. When the entire band is covered, trim it and the girls can wear it to hold their ponytails!
This is also great to use for girls sports team colors!
For one of the activities for the Art to Wear Try-It, our Brownie Troop made Friendship Pins for themselves and to share with the other girls in the troop. We used the average size safety pin and fit 5 to 6 very small beads on each pin. The girls enjoyed making patterns and finding their favorite colored beads to make "that special" pin.
Instead of doing the T-shirt art each girl in our troop painted a canvas bag with fabric paint. Now each girl has a special girl scout bag.
We made up bracelets out of embroidery thread using different kinds of knots. We also made t-shirts, the girls painted. Our next meeting we be having a Juliette Low birthday party. Where we'll be doing up some masks (birthday items) and some face painting.
#1 Made troop t-shirts, #2 made bead troop number pins (see instructions on makingfriends.com)#3 Had a Shriner Clown come to meeting and demonstrate face-painting. He also showed the girls how to make animals out of balloons - just for fun, #5 Made monkey masks -found easy pattern in a book at the library - did a skit "10 little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped her head, mama called the Dr. & the Dr. said...." - the girls thought this was so much fun.
I saw a neat t-shirt idea in a magazine. You take a t-shirt (preferably white), trace with pencil the girls hand with fingers pointing towards bottom of the shirt. The hand becomes a ghost. Trace outside of ghost handprint with puffy paint or glitter paint. Make the face with thumbprints or whatever you like and in the magazine they used a button for the mouth.
Our troop just hosted the Julliette Gordon Low Birthday Party. We let everyone know ahead of time to decorated a shirt with their troop number and when they came to the party we had perminent markers at various station and had a shirt signing day. While they waited to play the games they signed each others shirts, it was great because the girl got to meet many people including adults from other troops. We had a face painter at the event and that also contributes to this try-it.
This idea was from March 2000 FamilyFun. We took shirts and I painted 15 little round circles on everybodies shirt before the meeting (one circle for each girls face. Then the girls painted their faces(added hair, eyes, nose, mouth, etc) on each shirt and signed their name underneath their face.
We bought boys undershirts and puff painted them for our T-Shirts. I let the girls do the front and then on the back I puff painted: Brownie Troop #1194 2002-2003 and then each girl picked a color and I wrote her name in the middle with that color and wrote all the other girls names in black around the center name.
We also did papier-mache balloons, mask making at Thinking Day, and face painting for this Try-It.
I wanted to make bracelets the girls would like wearing. I've got a small troop of first year Brownies.
I purchased some leather strap, 1/2" wide. (36" was $1.79 at the craft store). I cut it into 6" pieces and punched two small holes at each end. The girls used the new, colorful Sharpie markers to draw patterns on them. Then, we laced a short piece of elastic cord through the holes. This gives just enough stretch for the girls to put them on. They were easy, look great, and the girls LOVE them!
Sparkly and shiney is the way to go. Use our "Badge in a Bag" for easy, economical projects the girls will really love. More info is here:
http://www.makingfriends.com/scouts/badge_bag_sparkle.htm
I'm going to take a digital picture of the troop and then enlarge it. Then you print out the picture on iron on transfer paper (find this at your office shop) and then iron it on the t-shirt. You can include the troop number too. Make sure the t-shirts have been washed first. I hope the girls will enjoy wearing them!
take a pair of mens boot socks and some fabric paint and let the girls make their own designs on the bottom, then they have a pair of slipper socks to wear.
Our troop made "Friends" bracelets. I purchased gold beads and silver (cube-sized) letter beads from a local hobby shop. The girls spelled F-R-I-E-N-D-S out of the silver cube beads and then filled in with the gold beads. The girls wear them a lot and it's a good reminder to "Make new friends, and keep the old". Have Fun!
We did hand prints of each girl in different colors on off white sweatshirts, we also had the girls draw a picture then I took them home scanned them into my computer and printed them out so they were about 1 1/2 X 2 inches and we decoupaged them and made them into pins for their moms. Then we had each girl decorate a triangle (tryit size) of shrink plastic enough for one for each girl in the troop, then punched holes and shrunk and put them on a charm bracelets. We finished up with a face painting exercise. The girls loved them all!!!
We are making earings, necklaces and braclets.I am having a lady come in to teach the girls how to make real jewerl for Mothers Day gifts. I needed to buy the type of hook we want to use for the earings(I bought the french clasps). Then I bought about 10 bags of glass beads and filler beads of different colors. Then the pins and eyehooks. We will make about 24 pairs of earings when then are done. The girls are looking forward to giving them to their Mothers.
The girls will be drawing pictures on regular white paper. I will then scan the pictures on the computer and print them out on iron-on tranfer paper and put it on a t-shirt along with our troop #. We are probably going to give them the final product at the end of the year party as a present.
I got a plastic slinky and with long nose pliers cut them to made a circle. Than I put a press bead on one end to use as a stopper then the girls used pony bead on the slinky circle and then another press bead after all the pony beadswere on to make a bracelet. I also did this at a week of the young child event with my autism group.It easy , cheap and the kids love making these braceles or can be put over the ankle for an ankle bracelet.Diana
Flip Flops are all the fashion these days. We tied colorful, fluffy strips of fabric around the front part of flip flops. Next, we shaped beads out of air dry clay and poked holes with toothpicks. After they dried, we painted them and then painted flowers and other designs. String them up and tie knots in between for a necklace. Next, we tie-dyed socks. Just use thick rubber bands and space about 1 inch apart down the lenth of the sock. The last thing we did was use fabric paint on painter's caps found at the craft store. Since the Flip Flops did not take much time; we shaped our beads and poked holes right after. Then, at the next meeting, our beads were ready to paint. If you need more time for paint to dry, have the girls start putting the rubber bands around the socks for the next meeting.
Instead of tshirts, we decided to get small tote bags from a craft store and decorated them with glitter, paint and other fun things. This became their official Brownie Bag to tote their wares to and from meetings.
For our Art-To-Wear try it we made turkey handprints on different colored t-shirts. The girls painted their hands and then pressed their handprint on the shirt and made a "turkey". They added their name and the year and we wore them as a troop to a thanksgiving event. The shirts were FANTASTIC and were loved by our service unit.