The God is Love award was created by and is promulgated by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. It is aimed at kindergarten and first grade students and the award pin can be worn on the front of the Daisy Uniform.
To earn the award, Daisies complete a workbook that has three chapters, and they do three activities for each chapter. The book moves from recognizing that God loves us to realizing that we have to share that love with others.
Our area is heavily Catholic and most troops in my area are Catholic school troops. Each year our archdiocese holds a scouting awards ceremony when Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and American Heritage Girls are presented with awards. I am on the committee that oversees the girls' participation, and I facilitate a yearly retreat day for girls working on the God Is Love Award. I share my plans hoping that others may find them useful. I've done this program with 6 girls and with 40, so I can tell you it scales well.
The God is Love book seems to be written for family use, and that is a great option if a girl is the only one in her troop that wants to earn the award, particularly if her family is very supportive. However, most leaders will tell you that parents don't like Scout homework and sometimes the amount of effort put into the assignment is less that what was called for.
With a group retreat day, I know the material was covered. It turns out to be a fun day for the girls, and it makes doing it as a group possible for girls who aren't in Catholic school troops.
Girls are asked to bring a camera of some sort, a lunch, an item for the food bank and to dress appropriately for the weather.
My Retreat Day Plans
Each chapter in the book begins with some introductory material about the topic and then offers a selection of activities on that topic. Girls are supposed to pick three. In picking the three for the group to do, I looked for a variety of activities (not all drawing ) and I tried to minimize writing. I tried to look at the day as a whole, as well as at the activities for each chapter.
To prepare for the day, I had sufficient copies made of all my handouts and I put each troop's in a folder for the troop leader. That folder included directions for the leader, directions for the parents, the handouts for the girls and a copy of the application for the award, with my signature on it as Counsellor.
At one time our parish hosted Girl Scout Day Camp and so we have a very generous supply of scissors, crayons, glue, and other similar supplies, which I am able to use. Each troop's table had their supplies on it when they came in.
The first chapter is about the things God made, and one of the activities is to make a collage of things God made. I have a stash of old textbooks (mostly religion but some others too) and magazines which are on the table when the troops get there, so they can get started on this activity right away. Troops or girls who get there early have bigger collages than those who get there later, and it allows me to keep everyone busy until I'm ready to start.
We start at 10 a.m. and once everyone has arrived, we start with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and the Girl Scout Promise (if AHGs are there, we let them say their oath too). I welcome everyone and then sit the girls down and read/tell the introductory material from Chapter 1. Following that, we go outside for a nature walk. Girls take pictures of things God made. They also stop along the way, point out something God made and thank Him for it. If the group is large we break up into smaller groups and go about the church property or around the block. Everyone is asked to be back ten minutes before the hour, which generally gives about 20 minutes for a walk. When they get back, they can use the restroom or get water.
I then read the material for Chapter 2 which is about the love God has for us. One of the activities we do for Chapter 2 is to learn "His Banner Over Me Is Love" and we do that in the group. Then we sit down, put the names of those we love on hearts and glue them in our books . Our final activity for Chapter 2 is to find images of Jesus in the church. While the book says to make a list, I have the girls take pictures--it is more fun for them, less work for me, and they can actually see them when they go through the book with their parents.
After taking pictures, we sing grace and go outside for lunch and playtime. I schedule lunch for an hour but can expand or contract it, depending on how things are progressing.
At 1:00 p.m. we head back inside to start Chapter 3 which begins with the story of the Good Samaritan. When the girls come inside, their food bank donations are on the prayer table. After telling the story of the Good Samaritan and going over the other introductory material, I send the girls back to their table. With their group they make a list of ways to show God's love to others. They then trace their hand in their books and put one way to show God's love on each digit. They also list one person to pray for each day of the week. Finally they draw a picture of how to show love to God and one of how to show love to others.
We finish with a friendship circle and "Make New Friends".
The girls are sent home with an instruction sheet for parents which tells them to print 3-4 pictures of things God made and 3-4 pictures of images of Jesus and to have the girls paste them in the book. Girls are then to turn to the books in to their leader if the troop did the award, or to the parish designee if they were the only one. The leader gets the books signed by the parish designee and turns the application form in to the archdiocese.
This year over fifty girls attended this day, and, as usual, I got a lot of positive feedback.
Note: These awards have to be ordered through your diocese. This page will give you the contact information.
Note: These awards have to be ordered through your diocese. This page will give you the contact information.
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