The New Daisy Program: Some Comments From Long Term Leaders

Over the twenty years I have spent as a Girl Scout leader, I've had Daisies for at least six of them.  Today I spoke to Gail, who is also a long term leader.  Gail has led Daisies for five years. 

What brought about our conversation is that in connection with its current bid to raise the registration fee from $25 to $85, GSUSA put out a list of priority spending goals, one of which was to better support new leaders via, among other things, "Experience Boxes".  This year all new Daisy leaders are getting these boxes so I put out a call on some Facebook groups asking for leaders to interview, as I do not have Daisies this year and therefore have not seen these boxes.  Gail responded and I appreciate the time she took to speak to me.  

Gail said that while she might take an activity from VTK, she did not regularly use it and tended to use Google and Pinterest to help her plan meetings.  

After speaking with Gail, I remembered that GSUSA came out with new Daisy programming this year to replace the Flower Friends found in the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting, so I headed to VTK to take a look at what was there.  

Welcome to Girl Scouts

Experience Box

According to Gail, the first box was for your first "Welcome to Girl Scouts" meeting.  She sent me some pictures

The box also contained a script for the leader.

Gail told me that the meeting included learning the GS Promise, going over the GS Law and learning the GS Handshake and GS Sign and Quiet Sign.  She thought it was a bit much talking for the first meeting.

There was also a get-to-know you game where girls were supposed to tell other girls things about themselves.  She felt they needed more direction so she told her girls what to tell the partner--such as tell them your favorite color.  

The beads for the craft came packaged for each girl, and included letters that said "Friends".  While they had some difficulty with getting the letter beads in the right order for all the girls, and of course we all know you can't do a bead craft without some ending up on the floor, in general the girls were able to do the craft and enjoy it.  Everything they needed for the craft was in the box, which is a real help to Daisy troops that have not accumulated supplies yet.  

The scripted meeting ended with a friendship circle and singing Make New Friends and that is how Gail ended her meeting.  

Gail told me that the meeting as planned with the box was not enough activity for her 1.5 hour meeting.  Her experience and expertise made her adapt the introduction activity given, and she added additional activities to fill her meeting.  

In general, Gail believed the box would be helpful to a new leader and believed the activities were appropriate, though she believed covering the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law in one meeting created too much leader talking, so she chose to wait to to introduce the Law.  When asked to give it a grade, she gave it a B-.  

VTK Plans

Since VTK is supposed to have plans for all awards, I checked for the Promise Center, as that was the award earned via the first Experience Box.

At the first meeting in VTK there are simultaneous parent and girl meetings.  The girls start off making name tags, and then during the opening circle, the girls learn the Girl Scout Promise, the Girl Scout Sign, the Girl Scout handshake and the Quiet Sign, and the methods of teaching them are the old reliable ones leaders have been using for  years.  They offer a virtual option which is having the girls talk to their families about what the GS Promise and Law mean.  

Next, the plan calls for a "Daisy to Daisy" game where girls pair up, touch each other as told ("elbow to elbow" for example) and then tell the partner something about themselves.  

The final pre-clean-up activity in VTK is a Concentration/Memory game with cards of the Flower Friends.  However, there is no real discussion of the Girl Scout Law, or the Flower Friends. Then after a clean-up song and session, there is a closing friendship circle and singing of Make New Friends

New Daisy Handbook 

GSUSA has come out with a new Daisy Handbook this year. I haven't seen it, and there is not much of a preview available online, so I can't say how it coordinates with VTK or the Experience Box.  

Honest and Fair

Experience Box

Gail told me that she hasn't gotten a chance to really dig into the "Honest and Fair" Box, but that it includes some type of pom-pom craft. 

VTK 

After opening circle, VTK has the troop pick between playing "Truth or Lie" where girls tell the group one true fact about themselves and one lie, and then the group tries to guess which is which, or to play tag, where at first the person who tags them says "out" when they tag someone and later where they don't--the girls are just supposed to remove themselves if tagged.  Then you discuss being honest and fair.  

Next they do a treat-splitting activity to practice being honest and fair or they do a scavenger hunt where the leader talking points talk about whether it is easier to work by yourself or with a team. 

For the final activity, girls either play a game (after the leader talks about being honest and fair) or they makes signs saying honest, dishonest, fair, and not fair. These are hung in the space and then the leader gives examples and the girls move to the proper sign.  

VTK provides the list of examples for the final game, a sheet with the "Daisy Promise and Law", a sheet showing the girls what to find in the scavenger hunt, and an "Equality vs Equity" handout which VTK has you discussing with the treat-sharing activity.   

My Comments

When I gave my opinion on the increase in membership fees, two of the things I said were 

1. I didn't trust GSUSA to improve programming and
2. Putting bad programming in a box and mailing it to new leaders doesn't help

I'm still not in favor of the large increase in membership fees, but I think that on the Daisy level anyway GSUSA is getting close to where they need to be programming-wise.

I remember when I started.  I went to two different training classes and learned all about whatever it was GSUSA was basing the program on back then--processes, learning outcomes and of course, girl-led.  What I did not learn in those classes and what I could not find in the books I bought was what a Girl Scout meeting was supposed to look like.  The scripted meetings in the Experience Box and VTK solve that problem though personally I'd prefer more of an outline and less of a script.  I realize you do not have to read the script or follow it word-for-word but it just turns out to be a lot to read especially for leaders who have reading disabilities or otherwise do not read well.  There are just so many better ways to present that information than in those pop-up boxes or in the walls of text given in VTK.  

Since I have Cadettes this year, not Daisies, I am not going to take the time to look at all the Petal plans but my impression of the meetings I reviewed is that they are on the right track.  I thought the offered activities were engaging and age-appropriate.  I do not think the VTK activities are going to get you through an hour-long meeting, and I think the plans are a little heavy on the leader talk.  

I am all for having a variety of activities and ideas for meeting goals.  Still, I'm curious why the Experience Box has different scripts and activities than VTK does.  Are the petal plans in VTK just the Flower Friends plans minus the stupid stories?  Especially for relatively simple concepts like the petals, I'd rather see GSUSA develop and publish a variety of activities on the theme, leaving it to leaders to pick the ones that work their troop, location, timeframe etc.  In other words, instead of writing one script for VTK and another for the Experience Box give me a list of 10 "Honest and Fair" crafts, games and activities.

As noted above, I have no idea what is in the new Daisy Handbook or how it coordinates with the other materials.  I'd love to hear from someone who has reviewed it and/or used it.  

I'm glad GSUSA is realizing that we have to support our new leaders if we want them to stick around, and if well-done, I think these boxes could be a help.  I'd be more apt to make them a paid subscription (but at a reasonable price) as opposed to a "freebie" supported by general membership dues.  For one thing, everyone tends to value things they pay for more than they do freebies.  For another, some people don't need the boxes and won't use them and it is not using resources wisely to ship what ends up being trash to people. 

Daisy Maker Badges: Survey Results

 I recently asked members of a variety of Facebook groups for Girl Scout leaders to respond to surveys about the Maker badges released in the summer of 2023.  This post is one in a series that review and comment on the results of those surveys.  In particular, this post will focus on the responses of Daisy leaders. 

Who Responded

Only 21 people responded to the survey, and of them, only 15 had done one of these badges.  Therefore I absolutely do not claim the survey is representative of the thoughts of most Daisy leaders today.  12 of those who responded led Daisies only, 9 had multi-level troops. 28% were first year leaders, 38% had been leading for 1-3 years and 33% had been leading for three or more years. 

Did Their Troop Earn the Badges?

As noted above, 15 of the respondents' troops earned one or more of these badges this year.  I asked those who did not earn them if they had reviewed the badges and rejected them or whether there was another reason.  All had other reasons.  

52% of those who responded plan to do at least one of these badges next year.  38% may do so but 9.5% said they were not interested.  

If you review the plans for these badges across different levels, it appears the plans were created in order to allow multi-level troops to work on the badges together.  53% of those who earned one of these badges on the Daisy level had Daisies only.  20% had a multi-level troop and had all the girls do the same thing before awarding them the badge for their level.  13% have a multi-level troop where each level works independently and 13% did some of the work as a whole group and split by levels for other things. 

Art and Design

Of the twenty people whose troops earned one of these badges, 10 earned Art and Design. Of those, 2 attended a program, two created plans based on the steps in Badge Explorer and 6 said they reviewed the plans in VTK or the badge insert but created their own plans for the badge.  No one said they followed VTK or the badge insert pretty closely.  

The plans in VTK call for it to take two meetings of about an hour to earn this badge.  Three people said it took their troop one meeting of an hour or less, three said it took one meeting over an hour, two used two meetings of an hour or less and two used two meetings over an hour each.  

Both VTK and the badge insert list vocabulary words and the "Explore Art and Design" step in VTK works on learning those words via a guest speaker or field trip, or by a discussion.  Four troops had guest speakers, three did a vocabulary discussion, one did a field trip and two did not do any of these. 

"Explore Your Medium" in VTK begins with a discussion about shapes, colors and various media.  Three troops had that discussion. Four leaders tried to work the words into the directions for the craft, one said she might have used a few of the words and two chose "no" as the response.  "Be Inspired by a Subject" also began with a discussion.  Three people said they did not have the discussion, three tried to use the words but did not follow the script and 4 said they had the discussion.  

VTK provides opening activities for meetings--things for the girls to do as they arrive that do not directly meet a badge step.  For this badge the opening activities are drawings.  One troop did this because of the VTK plans, four always draw when they come in, and five did not do the drawing.  

If you follow the VTK plans you will do a craft and a drawing at each meeting.  None of those responding did that.  Four did one drawing and one craft, two did one craft , one did two crafts and one drawing and one did one drawing and three crafts.  

For "Be Inspired" the troop has to choose between a design activity or an art activity.  Six leaders made that choice, four let the girls pick. Nine troops picked art. 

I asked people to rate the badge and gave three choices.  The responses:

• GSUSA and Stanley did a great job with this badge--5
• We skipped all that talking and enjoyed our crafts--5
• My troop did not like this badge--0

Create and Innovate

Of the fifteen people who earned one of these badges, only two earned Create and Innovate.  One created a plan using the steps on Badge Explorer and one attended a program. Both did it in one meeting, one was an hour or less and one, more than an hour. Neither did VTK's suggested opening activities of building a tower from cups or tossing a ball around while naming objects that could be useful to a particular user.

Discussion topics for this badge included the vocabulary words and problems crafts solve. Both troops had those discussions. Both also discussed user-centered design and the design thinking process as well as the problems solved by their craft and how they could improve it to better solve the problem.   

The VTK plans call for doing two crafts, one at each meeting. One of the responding troops did one craft, the other did three.  Neither did the paper mache piggy bank for which directions were provided. One of the troops did a VTK-suggested craft. VTK also has the girls sketching their improvements to the craft but neither troop did that.  

Both troops enjoyed the badge and both leaders said they tried to accomplish GSUSA's goals for this badge. 

Craft and Tinker

Of the fifteen troops who earned one of these badges, eleven earned Craft and Tinker.  One attended a program, two used Badge Explorer to come up with plans and eight looked at VTK or the badge insert before coming up with their own plans.  Two did in in one meeting of an hour or less, four had one meeting of more than an hour, one had two meetings of an hour or less, three had two meetings of an hour or more and one took three meetings of an hour or  more.  

VTK's opening activity for this badge is to supply a variety of craft materials and to allow the girls to make whatever they want.  Eight troops did this; three did not.  None used the opening activity for meeting two--looking at items brought in by the leader and then sketching another use for the item other than its usual use. 

Step one is "Learn the Basics". The VTK plans have the girls using rulers to measure things, and then discussing whether certain things are tools or materials.  Three troops practiced measuring, seven did not.  Ten discussed tools and materials, one did not. 

Six of the troops  used one of VTK's suggested projects for the first meeting; five did not. 

For meeting two, VTK has the girls sketching another use for a useful item.  No troops did this. 

For the second step, VTK gives a choice between Solve a Problem or Make a Gift. 64% chose to make a gift; 9% did not do either.  27% chose solve a problem. 

As with other badges in this series, there is a lot of discussion modeled in VTK. When asked if they had the discussion about crafts being art with a purpose, users, and features, 54% said they did.  18% said they tried to cover the basic concepts but did not have a direct discussion.  27% said they did not have such a discussion.  

As VTK suggested, 64% of troops brainstormed problems they have seen that could be solved with crafts. 36% did not.  Before doing the craft, VTK said girls should discuss the purpose of the craft, the parts it needs to fulfill that purpose and any features that could make it more useful.  54% of troops had that discussion, 45% did not. 27% of the troops did one of the crafts suggested in VTK for the second meeting, 72% did not. 

For the step "Make a Gift" the VTK script tells girls to pick a user for the craft before making it, and to imagine how that person would use it.  73% of troops did that, 27% did not.  45% of troops used one of the VTK suggested gifts; 54% did not. 

The final step for this badge is "Tinker with your craft".  It begins with a discussion of the word "Tinker".  54% of troops had that discussion.  The rest did not have a real discussion but the leader told them that Tinker meant to change something to make it better. VTK has the girls sketching how they would change the craft to make it better or more useful.  Only 9% of the troops did that. All the troops had the girls show off their crafts and identify the purpose, parts, features, user, tools, and materials.  

Of the eleven troops who did this badge, two did one craft, three did two crafts and six troops did three or more. Eight troops tried to accomplish GSUSA's goals for the badge and used the crafts as carriers for information.  Two said they had a craft they wanted to to and this badge seemed like the best fit and they skipped most of the discussion.  One was mainly interested in teaching the girls how to do the craft, not in all that design talk. 

When asked if the girls enjoyed the badge, 72% said they did, and that they did most of the discussion/non-craft activities.  One said they enjoyed it but skipped all that discussion and two said the crafts were fine but that they lost the girls with all that talking.  

Family Connection

VTK provided family handouts for this series of badges.  Of the troops that worked on Art and Design, nine did not send those handouts home; the other troop made paper copies for everyone. With Create and Innovate, one troop sent it home and the other did not.  With Craft and Tinker, one answer they could pick is "I didn't know it was there" and that's what 8 of 11 of people said.  1 saw it and didn't send it home, 1 emailed it and 1 copied it.  

My Comments:

When I first saw these badges (check my archives for the summer and fall of 2023 for review of them) I liked the way they seemed to be designed to allow multi-level troops to do much of the work together. 

Looking at the three badges at three different levels, they teach some terminology, encourage the design thinking process, and teach girls to sketch a plan before they do things.  They also teach that things can always be improved.  I seriously wondered what percent of troops would actually follow the processes that teach those skills, as opposed to just doing a craft and calling it good.  While the sample size for this survey is very small, I'll admit that more people were discussing more things than I thought  would. We'll see if that holds true when I look at the other levels.  

I agree with what was said over and over in my comments section, both on the Daisy level and on the other levels that these badges are fine, but GSUSA should have introduced them and not retired the individual craft badges.  

This post is one in a series about surveys about these badges.  The plan is to have, at each level, one post of comments (not yet published as of this writing), one of projects and one with survey results like this, per level.  Click the "Maker Badge Survey" label below to find all the posts written as of the time you are reading this.  

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.