GSUSA and Council Resources
Volunteer Toolkit (VTK)
VTK is GSUSA's online leader's manual. Most if not all councils give their leaders access via the "My GS" tab on the council website. Yes, VTK can be clunky but it does seem to have improved since it was first implemented.To use VTK you first have to create a year plan. I recommend choosing the create your own option, and then adding the meetings for a handful of badges that interest you. Honestly, I don't think it works well as a planner so I don't use it for that, but as a resource, I think it has some good ideas.
Once you have the chosen badge or journey in your year plan, click on the name of the badge, meeting 1, which will take you to the plan for meeting 1. At the top are the requirements, and below that, links to the meeting overview, activity plan and materials listand below that, an agenda, with amounts of time listed.
If you are doing one of the Journeys or Progressive Badges, click on activity plan and read through it to see if you want to do that badge/those activities. If so, you may want to read the rest of the material; if not, move on to something else. Repeat the process with subsequent meetings for that award (I'd read all the activity plans for the badge or journey before starting it). Decide which activities you want to use, and which you do not. If you want to use VTK as a planner, seek advice elsewhere.
If you are doing other badges, scroll down to the agenda and see if there are options offered. If not, you can read the activity plan as above. If options are offered, you can click on them to see what they are.
Girl Scouts River Valleys
Girl Scouts River Valleys is a council in Minnesota and Wisconsin which did a great job in putting together resources for leaders before VTK was on the scene. Their meeting plans for the badges and journeys that came out when the current program started are available on their volunteer site. On the left side of the linked page is a list by levels and if you click the one for your level, you will be taken to a page with meeting plans. These plans lack the scripts provided in VTK, but are quick and easy to read. They are often my go-to starting place, especially with Daisy Petals--no Flower Friends stories. As a matter of fact, none of their Journey plans involve reading the stories.Girl Scouts of Black Diamond
Almost all councils have patch programs and if you are looking for something different, surf around a bit, you may find something interesting. However, some councils have particularly good/popular programs and Girl Scouts of Black Diamond is one. They are particularly known for their "Because of Her" and "A Year in the Life of Juliette" year-long programs.
Girl Scouts of Colorado
Girl Scouts of Colorado has meeting plans for Daisies and Brownies that they say are adapted from the River Valleys plans. I have not compared the two to determine any differences.
Girl Scouts Virginia Skyline
Girl Scouts Virginia Skyline is another council with a good patch program.
Girl Scouts Farthest North
From their Council Patch page, Farthest North Girl Scout Council makes available the badge insert downloads for the newer badges. It also allows anyone to access the VTK plans for the STEM Journeys at all levels, no signing into VTK required.
Girls' Guide to Girl Scouting
These age-level binders come with that level's "Legacy Badges". Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes and Seniors may purchase three additional packs that have five badges in the pack. Girls at all levels can, for a fee, download some STEM and outdoor badge brochures that were developed after the current programming materials were first promulgated. Except for the new "progressive" badges (mechanical engineering, robotics, cybersecurity and coding for good), the format of the badge brochures is to offer a choice of three activities per badge requirement.
Facebook Groups
There are a plethora of Girl Scout Leader Facebook pages and unless you hate Facebook I'd recommend that all leaders sign up for a group or two at your level. Here are some to which I subscribe:
Pinterest
- Daisy Scouts-GS
- Daisy Troop Leaders
- GS Daisy Leaders Think Tank
- Brownie Leaders
- GS Brownie Leaders Think Tank
- Girl Scouts Gab
- Green Blood Gab
- Multi-Level Girl Scout Troops
- Girl Scout STEM
- Girl Scout Journeys
- GS Journeys
- The Outdoor Girl Scout Project
- Girl Scout Convention Chat
- Girl Scout Service Project Opportunity
The leaders of most of these groups as you to abide by their guidelines, and while some are more particular than others, for the most part they ask you to obey the GS Law and to avoid plagerism and copyright violations.
Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is a website on which individuals can upload learning materials they have developed and sell them to others. There are some free resources; others cost up to about $10 for a packet of printables to use for a badge. One key to using this site is to pay attention to the seller's name and to read the reviews. If no or few reviews exist for the product you are considering, then check the creator's other products.
Honestly, I debated about including Pinterest here. Unless you are not at all into the online world, you know that Pinterest is a visual search engine/bookmarking/social media site. Users "pin" images across the internet and organize them into "boards", so that they can find them again later--and they can share those boards with others. Even more exciting, they can view boards or pins of those they "follow"
I think Pinterest used to be a better source than it is now. While Pinterest started as a place where I could save things that interested me, and where I could follow other people's boards--presumably people I knew, or at least people I knew I shared a common interest, the professional bloggers and content developers found that Pinterest was a great way to drive traffic to their sites and developed all sorts of auto-pinning programs. Like other businesses, Pinterest has to make money and "sponsored" pins are one way they do that. Suffice to say that these days, searching Pinterest is likely to get you to a site that it trying to sell you something, rather than one that is trying to teach you something. Yes, I get some traffic from Pinterest,and maybe you have more luck with it than I do but I get tired of having to click three or four times to get to a site that is trying to charge me too much money for what they are selling.
Making Friends.com
Making Friends not only has downloads, it offers kits with which a troop can complete a badge or Journey. They also have some pretty cool patch programs.
Badge Fairy
The current Girl Scout program materials are about ten years old. The programs before it had a much bigger variety of badges and many leaders are still seeking old program materials. Badge Fairy sells retired badges and gives leaders the requirements for those badges.
Reader Supplied Resources
Girl Scout leaders love to share and in sharing this post on Facebook groups, I was given these resources:
Becky's Guiding Resource Center: A website put together by a leader that gives links to songs, games, science experiments and more.
Do you have a "go-to" that I didn't mention? Share it with us in the comments.
*Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
*Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
I find the Girl Scout Trax spreadsheets indispensable. They list requirements for all badges, journeys, bridging, etc. You can also add Council Own patches, fun patches, attendance, dues, parent info, etc. They are fantastic.
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