Daisy Journeys and TAPs

I recently polled the members of a bunch of Girl Scout leader Facebook groups about Girl Scout programming.  While I have other posts summarizing the data as a whole, this post is looking at what they said about Daisy Journeys and TAPs--Take Action Projects.  

Do Troops Do Journeys?

GSUSA's original idea is that troops would spend most of their year on their Journey, with much of the programming tied into it.  Badges, camping and cookies were "side trips" but the year's goal was the end of the Journey.  (See the last slide in this presentation for the original Journey map).  That has never become a reality.  

My survey asked those who had Daisies last year what their girls earned, and of about 60 people who responded to one of the items (not a professional survey designer, did not put "none" as a possible response), 17 troops earned one  Journey, twelve troops did 2 and eight troops earned 3-5 Journeys.  

Are TAPs Appropriate for Daisies?

According to my read of GSUSA materials, Journeys are GSUSA's leadership curriculum and the overarching goal of the whole Journey program is to teach girls how to execute a Take Action Project--or in shorthand, a TAP.  What is a TAP?  The definition I've gleaned from GSUSA's materials is that a Take Action Project is one in which girls identify a need or problem, learn about things relating to the need or problem, preferably from people in the community who deal with it, and then design and implement a sustainable solution to that problem.  

Given that definition, 103 people did not believe they were appropriate for Daisies, 13 said they were appropriate and 29 said they might be appropriate for some Daisies.  Given that definition, 33 said their Daisy troop had done a TAP properly; 75 said they had not.  

How Are Take Action Projects Chosen?

At this time, there are three types of Journeys.  The original Journeys were developed about 15 years ago to be the backbone of a year's programming.  They used a process of "Discover, Connect, Take Action" and were correlated with Common Core.  On the Daisy level, the original plans called for reading a story about the "Flower Friends", flowers which were correlated with parts of the Girl Scout Law and the Daisy petals and doing activities based on the stories.  The leader's guide included recommended Take Action Projects, though they were called by cute names that matched the theme of the Journey like "Red Robin Project".  

The Think Like a _____ journeys each teach a way of thinking based on a STEM topic, and then, if you follow the VTK scripts, use that way of thinking to conceive, plan and implement a TAP.

Finally there is an Outdoor Journey, put in at the demand of the membership, which is simply three particular outdoor-related badges, followed by a TAP.   I looked up the Daisy Outdoor Journey on VTK and one of the provided resources was a link to the GSUSA's Take Action Guide . However, looking at the suggested TAPs there, all are far more than I am willing tackle with a bunch of five and six  year olds.  

I asked how people who did the original Journeys with Daisies picked their TAP and gave people five choices.  74% of those who replied to this question picked one of my choices.  The rest wrote in something, usually some version of "we didn't do one".  With respect to those who picked on of my answers:

• 8 said they did what the book said
• 20 said that the leader picked the project and told the girls how to do it
• 23 said the girls voted between options and then the leader told them how they were going to do the project
• 16 said that the girls voted between options and came up with ideas about how to do the project 
• 4 said that the girls came up with an idea but the leader basically decided how to do it and 
•  5 said that the girls had the idea and figured out how to do it.  

I asked the same question about the Think Like a Journeys, and everyone who responded picked one of my choices.  The responses were:

• The leader picked the project and told the girls how to do it:                            9
• The girls picked between options but the leader told them how to do it.           8
• The girls picked between options but came up with ideas about doing it         15
• The girls came up with an idea but basically executed it per leader directions  2
• The girls came up with an idea and figured out how to do it                              5

Here are the responses for those who did the Outdoor Journey with Daisies

• The leader picked the project and told the girls how to do it:                              7
• The girls picked between options but the leader told them how to do it.           12
• The girls picked between options but came up with ideas about doing it          15
• The girls came up with an idea but basically executed it per leader directions   3
• The girls came up with an idea and figured out how to do it                              14

What Take Action Projects Do Daisies Do?

I asked for people to briefly describe the Take Action Projects their troops did as Daisies.  Here are the responses.

• Our girls planted a community garden and created a play to share their knowledge
• We made seed bombs with native grasses and flowers, distributed in bare patches in local parks or neighborhoods
• We brought ladybugs to a community garden to help the plants
• We planted a flower garden at church
• We created outdoor letterboxes
• We held an optional tree planting day with a local organization and planted a demo garden at a local nursery. 
• We volunteered at a local animal rescue
• We made a video about what an algorithm is; made a lantern fly trap (my daughter's idea!) - we had research how others had done it and find one that a 6 year old could realistically do.
• We made bookmarks
• Leave no trace stepping stones
• We made bird feeders
• We cleaned up a garden and donated and planted flowers for the butterfly and herb garden areas, and painted rocks in the community
• We made a friendship bench and a pollinator garden
• Donations were collected for a pet shelter
• For Think Like a Citizen Scientist, we did the Creek Health SciStarter project.  For Three Cheers we made care packages and brochure for newly adopted pets at local animal shelter and for Daisy Flower Garden we contributed native plants and planted in local community garden at library where we meet.
• Our project was making buttons for people to be educated about our cause and giving buttons to others to spread the word.
• We made seed balls as part of another scout’s Gold Award project
• We did regular street clean-ups. 
• For the Outdoor journey we made a bird feeder for the local park, For Think Like a Citizen Scientist we made posters to show how bugs benefit the planet, and for 3 Cheers for Animals we made flower bombs to spread at a nature center
• Our troop planted trees at a Service Unit camp
• We planted and grew plants to feed the school guinea pig
• Our projects were making native flower seed bombs and making bird houses for the community 
• We collected monetary donations for the animal shelter and made tie blankets for them
• The TAPs I've led mostly revolved around education/advocacy (posters at Metro Park nature centers, bookmarks at libraries, etc.)
• The girls decided to create a book about local animals to share what they'd learned with others and gave a copy to their teachers and school library.
• We planted flowers in a communal garden, made toys for an animal shelter, and planted pumpkins to give to others
• My troop built bee houses and they were installed in a park
• We meet at a local church so we cleaned up around the church so the outside was free of debris as well as planted flowers and trees
• In our multilevel troop the girls decided to take the education route for their projects. They each created a mini poster for different aspects of the lesson on a piece of printer paper and then glued them all to a trifold presentation board. They practiced what they were going to say for each part and then presented the information to a local veterans group and posted the information on social media to further educate.
• We visited a farm. They were Obsessed with the free range chickens. I crowd-sourced ideas for a TAP involving chickens. The girls made enrichment toys and treats for chickens and decorated a barn bird house (which helped Brownies with Pets and Juniors with Animal Helpers). I ignored the book.
• We  did a food drive around the neighborhood for our local food bank
• Our troop made animal habitats
• My troop made Kindness Rocks, can Bee Hives for a farm, and did science data collection for a website form
• We did school and immediate neighborhood activities such as a bicycle safety rodeo, collecting supplies for homeless shelter, and making up-cycled toys for local animal shelter
• Our troop planted a flower garden at school, painted and placed kindness rocks in the community, and made STEM kits to donate to a local school
• We created toys for the animal shelter and did donation drive for another school
• Our troop made bird feeders to help birds survive in winter to give to friends and neighbors, and made cat toys from cookie case boxes which we donated to the animal shelter
• We did a marker recycling programs at schools and did pollinator education including  a community event to make seed bombs
• Our girls made seed balls with instructions to help support the bees
• For 3Cheers For Animals we did educational posters and Christmas animal shelter pet donations collected at school. Girls did drop off an had dog trainer program to sum up their journey.
• We planted at local hospital
• Our TAP for 3 cheers was to make a video sharing all the things they learned about taking care of animals
• For the outdoor Journey we made kindness Wands to leave in (approved) community yards to spread acts of kindness
• We made bee houses with the GS law on them for a pollinator garden for the Flower Garden Journey
• For Tla engineer our troop made a book about what is an engineer and activity kits for local pediatric hospital
• We did posters about Leave No Trace
• Our TAP was pre-determined because we did a Journey in a day led by other troops/service units.
• All levels in our troop pitched in to clean up flower beds in a low income housing community
• We made pollinator friendly seed packs and our local library let us have a display for people to take them home along with a brochure about pollinators.
• We made "Don't Litter" signs
• Our TAP was an educational poster
• Growing cat grass, making catnip mice and educating about adoption was one, For the Outdoor Journey we made a collection can for fishing line and posters for the dock at our campground
• We planted trees for one TAP and make bookmarks about Leave No Trace to share at school.
• For the Outdoor Journey my daughter and I worked with our local park to plant flowers.  For our troop Flower Garden journey we did DIY seed bombs
• We made bookmarks to educate library patrons about taking care of the environment
• We planted flowers at the church where we meet
• We planted trees when there was a local adopt a tree program.
• We did the outdoor journey first, and I didn’t fully know what I was doing. When it can rot the TAP I had noticed that no other troops in the school did a flag ceremony. And girls at summer camp didn’t know what they were doing. So I asked the troop if they’d like to learn more about flag etiquette and then teach the other troops at the school. They said yes. So we went from there. I asked the American legion to come teach, took pictures, asked each scout for something important they learned, complied it into a book that we still use today for commands, planned a meeting with other school troops and just let the girls talk and show. The TLA Journey we did was citizen scientist. We did it at a local nature center who runs the whole program and included a tap. I didn’t pick. Girls didn’t pick. They voted to do outdoor activities and multiple troops in the area attended this. For our welcome to the daisy flower garden, I gave 2 simple ideas (we were virtual at the time due to covid) and let them vote. But they were so simple there was very little further instruction needed. For the 3 cheers for animals, we followed the book.
• We made animal toys for our local shelters, made posters to put up around the school to remind kids to bring a reusable water bottle, and planted pollinator friendly plants in the school’s garden.
• Did an online program that walked us through what we would be doing. Lots of creating things to educate others. Happened during Covid
• We did posters about the importance of women in engineering and then made a video to share
• We did LNT posters and a bird feeder
• Weeding a community garden, cleaning a beach, making flower bombs and distributing them with local seeds for pollinating plants, creating a petition to have animal care books in libraries
• One was at camp so they had little say they released ladybugs for the Flower Garden Journey. The next was a STEM journey and we talked about how what they wanted others to learn about the Citizen Scientist project they did. I then gave them some ideas and they wanted to make a video we used puppets and masks to encorage other to be citizen scientists. We did 3 Cheers for animals and I made suggestions as befor this time they each wrote a page of a book on how to take care of animals. They each wote a page and then made a drawing. The out door journey they worked with the older girls to make a garden. The older ones to the lead not the leaders.
• We used the ladybug project from the book
• We planted trees
• We didn't really understand the difference between a TAP and a service project so we donated food to the food pantry and animal shelter and called it a TAP.
• Planted a garden of native pollinators, A play/skit about endangered animals in Florida, and a letter to future daisies.
• Made a movie about how to protect ocean animals from trash, donated an engineering book to the library for kids to learn about engineering, and made wildflower seed bombs (taught another group of Daisies how to make them)
• My daughter created a flower garden (from planting the seeds in milk jugs in April) and maintained it through summer to hold a tea party for the other girls in the troop.
• Native flowers planting at new camp ground - youth researched native plants (lots of video) and use cookie profits to purchase the plants and then planted them.  
• We taught Leave No Trace at Day Camp, and did a skit for other Troops about the Design Process
• Our project was collecting and making animal toys for the local shelter, planting a home garden (during Covid) and sharing with neighbors with instructions
• Bookmark making to educate people on not littering at the beach and donated bookmarks to local library
• We made seed bombs
• Between Earth & Sky: We learned all about how to care for the world around us and made seed bombs using native wildflowers. We wrote a letter explaining why it's important (and easy) to grow native plants and gifted the seed bombs to our neighbors along with growing instructions. 3 Cheers for Animals: Girls made little loveys for the puppies at the Tails & Trails Animal Rescue in our neighborhood. The loveys stay with the litter until adoption, and provide comfort for the puppies when they move to their new homes, which the rescue explained to us makes it easier for the puppies to acclimate to their new situation and reduces surrenders back to the rescue. They also created written and video instructions for making these loveys and distributed them to other troops and at school to help other people learn an easy way to make a difference.
• Built a little free library
• Made bird houses
• Teaching how to make dog toys to family and friends, provide community instructions on how to make birthday bags (programmer journey), make carpenter bee homes, must have been more but can’t remember too long ago
• Made bluebird houses and installed them in school garden.
• Made bags of nesting materials and taught other first graders how to make nesting bags.
• When leading Daisies through a Journey, I am careful to keep track of what activities evoke big feelings in them. Were they SUPER excited? Frustrated? Experiencing group friction? I come up with a few relevant sustainable projects based on these girl-led feelings and let them choose which one sounds the most interesting, while I expound upon the connection and the idea of sustainability. The process evolves to be more girl-led and participant-involved as the age group rises, until Seniors/Ambassadors can comfortably do the Gold Award on their own. I'm not filling out the rest individually, as a child-free staff member, but I've led several council outreach troops of all levels, camp programs, and adult trainings on this structure and it works well and keeps participants engaged.
• Outdoor Journey - Went on Hike and painted rocks with messages about how to help environment
• We planted two trees and watered them first for a year, we created and distributed flyers about a bird seed collection project sponsored by the town, we colored positive messages and packed hygiene bags for the homeless
• We created enrichment toys for a local zoo and animal shelter

My Comments and Questions

Ok, you've probably figured out I'm not a fan.  First of all from what I've seen of them, the book Journeys are just plain awful as written and I don't have the time nor the desire to re-write GSUSA programming. 

I don't think many leaders really "get" the concept of TAPs from reading the VTK plans; in fact I just reviewed the plans for Welcome to the Flower Garden which is the Journey I did with my Daisies when it first came out.  Nothing in the planning materials for this Journey talks about TAPs--they just say to do one.  While the Think Like a journeys and Outdoor Journey plans on VTK come with a link to a Take Action Guide, the plans for "Welcome to the Flower Garden" don't include a link to it.  I did not check the VTK plans for the other two book journeys. 

What I remember from the leader's guide for "Welcome to the Flower Garden" is that we did a group garden, which we were supposed to water at each meeting and discuss how it was growing.  The leader's guide said specifically that this was not supposed to be an individual botany experiment but rather, a group garden. It also said it would not be a problem to haul this thing on public transportation.  About the TAP I remember that the options were a garden, ladybugs or worms and that the leader had to find someone to do it for who would maintain it going forward--in other words it wasn't a one and done.  

I have a degree in elementary education, I have been a Girl Scout Leader for twenty years and I've taught religious ed for years.  In other words, I know how to write a lesson plan.  Step one is to determine your objectives and reading the VTK plans for "Welcome to the Flower Garden", I can't figure out the objectives.  Am I teaching about gardening?  About the countries the girls came from?  About the G.S. Law?  Maybe the original book, which long ago hit the trash, had more direction about what a TAP was but if teaching girls to do a TAP is at all a goal of this program, it doesn't show in the provided materials. 

I think the projects listed above are Daisy-appropriate projects but clearly most of them weren't the girls' ideas.  

So, what do you think of the Daisy journeys?  Have you have a good experience with them?  Did you pretty much follow directions or did you pretty much do your own thing?  Was learning to do a TAP your goal?