Your Turn to Talk: Comments on Daisy Maker Badges

This is one of a series of posts derived from a survey about the Daisy Maker badges that I promulgated on leader Facebook groups.  I hate it when I take a survey and, after I'm done  honestly answering the questions, feel like my voice has not really been heard because of the way the questions were asked or because of what was asked.  Therefore, I end all my surveys with a "say what you want about this" question.  Here is what people had to say about the Daisy Maker badges.

• We had an expert come and teach the girls how to sew button bracelets, so she also talked a bit about owning a craft/sewing store. They enjoyed designing their own bracelets and chatting with the expert while crafting. We earned this badge with our 1 brownie as well, so some if the requirements were merged with the brownie requirements. Our Jr/Cadettes in the troop did not earn these badges.
• The series felt too repetitive after the second one. That’s why we didn’t do the third one.
• I've been a Daisy leader for 40 years and always keep in mind that the badges are guides for introducing concepts.
• Attention span for talk after school is limited we did most of the talking while girls hands were busy
• The biggest issue with this series is that they got rid of everything else. If a troop wants to learn about ANY art form they have to cram it into one of these. Also, the booklets and requirements in general are problematic. There is always a gap between what they say is the requirement, what the pamphlet has on the peripheries, and what is actually important to learning. For example- Yes, there are vocabulary words in the booklets, but no none of the requirements say the girls need to learn them
• The discussion point for the age of Daisies are a bit much on these badges. Their attention span is short and they don’t always have a response. I don’t want to spend our meetings talking at them like it’s school so we cover the big ideas pretty quickly and move on to hands on.
• We used real building materials (wood, nails, screws) whenever possible for our crafts.
• We implemented the discussions as we built. We tied into our animals journey.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my survey.  Come back soon to read what Brownie and Junior leaders have to say.  If you click on the Maker Badge Survey label below you will be able to read other posts in this series. 

Daisy Maker Badges: What Crafts Did You Do?

This is one of a series of posts created from the results of surveys I did on the "Maker" badges GSUSA released this year.  There are three badges:  Art and Design, Created and Innovate, and Craft and Tinker.  Rather than being focused on how to do particular crafts, these badges are very open-ended as to what crafts can be used, and instead focus on general artistic, design or creative principles.  While the VTK plans offer a variety of suggested crafts and even give full-fledged instructions for some, in general, according to my surveys, leaders chose to do their own thing.  

Twenty people responded to the Daisy survey, and of them, fifteen had done one of these badges, so the sample size of this survey is very small and should not be considered representative of much of anything.  

Survey Results: Daisy Math in Nature Badges

This post is the result of a survey I did of members of a bunch of Girl Scout leader Facebook groups.  I wanted to look at two things: 

1. The Math in Nature badges--did people like them, and how did they do them
2. Related to that, what did people think was required to earn them.

I think (at least hope) that all of us would agree that looking outside for round things and then counting them is not enough to earn these badges.  I doubt there are many, if any, people who would say that you have to read the VTK scripts to the girls and do activities exactly as planned there.  However there is a wide gap between these two, and I wondered what most people thought was actually required to earn a badge.  

You can read the survey from which this post was derived here, but obviously there is no point in responding at this time.  

Daisy Create and Innovate

 If you look at the previous posts on this blog, you will see that this year GSUSA introduced three "Maker" badges for Daisies, Brownies and Juniors.  All these badges focus on planning and conceptual concepts, not on the skills to do particular crafts.  The third badge in this set is Create and Innovate and this post will look at the Daisy version of the badge.

Daisy Craft and Tinker: My Review

 During the fall of 2023, GSUSA released three new "maker" badges for Daisies, Brownies and Juniors.  This post will take a look at the Daisy Craft and Tinker Badge.

Requirements:

According to Badge Explorer, Daisies find out how how to make objects and then tinker to make them better.  They:

1. Learn the basics
2. Craft with purpose and
3. Tinker with your craft

When you've earned this badge, you'll know how to craft and tinker to make useful objects.

Opening Activity

As an opening activity for meeting 1, VTK recommends having a variety of craft supplies available and asking the girls to make anything they like from those supplies.  These creations can be discussed in opening circle.  

Review: Art and Design for Daisies

GSUSA released new "Art and Design" badges for Daisies, Brownies and Juniors as part of the new program material for the 2023-2024 year.  This is the first in a series of posts looing  at the badge for each level, using the VTK plans as my source.  I have not seen the new badge inserts published by GSUSA and have no intention of buying them.  If you have them, I'd love to hear your comments.

What Do Girl Scout Leaders Think of the Daisy Program

 

One part of Girl Scouts that has changed a lot in the last 15 years is Daisies.  Originally it was a one year program focused on learning the Girl Scout Law.  The only "badges" were the petals and since it was often October or November before troops were up and running, they were really enough for the year.  

When my sixteen year old was in kindergarten, the current program started and Daisies became a two  year program.  The awards expanded to include the leaves and the three original Journeys (actually one was added per year for three years so my daughter could have only earned two).

A few years later GSUSA went though a couple of years of "girls' choice" badges and added Buddy Camper and Outdoor Art to the Daisy portfolio.  Then they substantially expanded badge choices at all levels focusing on STEM, and Daisies got even more badges, an Outdoor Journey and three STEM Journeys.  

I was curious what badges and Journeys Daisies work on, how they do them and what they think of them.  Since surveying Daisies is hard, I surveyed leaders who are members of various Facebook groups for Girl Scout leaders and at the time I started the post, I had 168 responses.  While I did not gather data about the leaders, in past experience with surveying members of these groups, I have found that those who reply tend to be older than the average Girl Scout leader and tend to have been leading longer than most.  Whether that is true of the respondents to this survey I do  not know.  

Democracy for Daisies: New Badge Review

 Just in time for one of the most contentious election seasons in my memory, GSUSA has come out with a series of Democracy badges, once for each level.  Here are the requirements for Daises, from Badge Explorer:

My Virtual Meetings

I have a troop of 16 girls--6 Daisies and 10 Brownies.  Generally I have very good attendance--usually no more than 2 or 3 girls absent per meeting.  This is our third weekend under a "stay at home" order and we've missed one meeting so far and will miss another this week.  We will also miss one more this month.  Our camping trip was cancelled and who knows when or if we'll have a summer cookie event.  On the plus side, our cookies were gone before this all got going, so we didn't have that to worry about.

I'm used to going places and doing things, not sitting at home all the time.  In some ways I like working at my kitchen table--though I admit it would be hard to do if I had small kids.  Since all I have is a teenager who does her own virtual schoolwork, I don't have a problem getting my work done.  The commute is great and I love the dress code.  On the other hand, even though (or maybe because?) I'm an introvert, I miss the people.  I have my own office and like it that way, but it is nice to say hi to people as I head to the restroom or kitchen or to get something in another part of the office.  Here, it is me and my computers.

Daisy Digital Game Design

The Digital Game Design badge is the second in this year's set of "progressive" Coding for Good badges.  Like the Cybersecurity and Robotics series, the badge pamphlets for these badges show three badges rather than one, and, rather than giving a choice of three activities for each requirement for each badge, they simply give age-appropriate background information on the badge topic.  The VTK plans are clearly lesson plans, not just groups of activities related to a topic.  

The badges were sponsored by codeSpark Academy and while the VTK plans are "unplugged" and do not require the use of a computer, the materials provided to the leaders include a file about codeSpark Academy and which of its games related to the various badges.  

According to GSUSA's Badge Explorer, the requirements for the Daisy Digital Game Design badge are:

Explore how video games can make a difference

• Explore tools used to develop digital games
• Plan a maze game
• Build, test, and improve your maze game

When you've earned this badge, you'll know how video games are designed.

Below are the steps in the VTK plans:

Review of the Daisy Flower Garden Journey

I can say without a doubt that the worst GSUSA programming I ever tried to do "by the book" was the Daisy Welcome to the Flower Garden Journey. While I had led my older daughter's troop through Brownies and Juniors, I had never been a Daisy leader.  While I had a lot of non-Girl Scout experience with 7-9 year olds, I had never worked with kindergartners.  When my younger daughter became a Daisy, it was the first year of the two year Daisy program and I knew I had to do more than the petals over those two years, so when the nice lady at our council shop told me to buy the new program, I took it.

I no longer have those books (good riddance) but I remember reading through them and thinking that the stories were too long, too convoluted and had too many similar characters.  I wasn't real impressed with the activities, but figured maybe that was because I wasn't used to dealing with kids who were that young.  

At each meeting, according to the plan given in the leader's manual, you would read part of this story to the girls.  You would then do some activities, none of which particularly impressed me.  Finally you would do a project, and three options were given:  raise ladybugs, raise worms or plant a garden.  The kicker was that the project was supposed to be done for someone or some organization and was supposed to be sustainable--in other words you were supposed to find someone to keep it up after you were done. 

Daisy Coding For Good: Coding Basics

This year's new badges include a series of three "Coding for Good" badges for Daisies, Brownies and Juniors.  The basic requirements are available on GSUSA's Badge Explorer and meeting plans are in Volunteer Toolkit, to which most leaders have access.  While GSUSA has published a badge pamphlet for this set, it, like the sets for Cybersecurity and Robotics, is for background information only.  It is not in the format of three requirements and three options for each requirement.

One issue people have with VTK plans is that by giving leaders a script to follow (if desired) they make the plans very wordy and hard to skim.  This post and others like it are designed to summarize the VTK plans so that leaders can get a real feel for what the badge entails, and then, if they decide to do the badge, they can more carefully review the VTK plans.  In fact, I do not recommend that you do the badge without reviewing the VTK plans because their talking points are what connect the activities to coding.

God Is Love: A Daisy Award

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.

Daisy Cybersecurity Badges

GSUSA came out with three cybersecurity badges for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors in the fall of 2018,  While most Girl Scout Badges are available in hard copy or pdf brochures that give five (three for Daisies) requirements and three suggested activities (pick one) for reach requirement, these badges have five (or three) requirements shown on the Badge Explorer, and suggested activities on VTK, the pdf for sale DOES NOT include three suggested activities per requirement.  Rather, it is a colorful magazine-type source of information on cybersecurity for that age level.

Like other VTK plans, these contain word-for-word scripts for leaders and can be hard for some people to follow.  The VTK plans are "unplugged"; they can be done without computer access, and the idea is to teach principals, not techniques.  The talking points from the scripts are where the connections between the activities and cybesecurity are made.

Let's take a look at  the Daisy cybersecurity  badges and how GSUSA recommends earning them: