We took a pretty big break from Girl Scouting… or at least it was big for us. For a full month, we didn’t work on any badges or fun patches, but now it’s back to school and back to Girl Scouts after two weeks on sickness in our home and taking some time to rest. (And then even more time during the challenge period because motivation was waning…)
STEM Sisters Outdoor Challenge
This quarter, STEM Sisters has been all about getting outdoors or learning about careers and activities that have to do with being outdoors. As a Daisy, Juliette was required to complete four of the potential activities. She will be doing more than four within the challenge period, but here are the four we submitted.
Career Exploration
Juliette decided to learn about Oceanographers. Apparently she saw an episode of Peppa Pig that included this topic so she was interested in learning more. Instead of looking it up in an encyclopedia like I would’ve done as a kid, we asked questions in Google to learn about what oceanographers do, what education is needed, about how many are in the US and how many are women, and what skills are needed to be an oceanographer. We also went to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to learn about notable women oceanographers.
Women in Outdoor STEM
Instead of just learning their names, Juliette also used that site to learn about Dr. Nancy Foster and NOAA Corps Captain Maureen Kenny’s accomplishments and impacts on the field to complete a second requirement. Dr. Nancy had a lasting impact on coastal sanctuaries and Captain Maureen was the first woman officer on one ship (and also the only woman aboard during some of her time on it!) and was the first woman commanding officer on another ship, breaking barriers and paving the way for future women and girls.
Sun Prints
When GSWP sent the Outdoor Challenge, they included cyanotype paper to make sun prints. I explained the task to Juliette (reading the background of cyanotypes and what we needed to do), then I took Juliette and Cub outside. They each grabbed flowers and leaves and bits of nature and placed them in a plastic container I took out with us. We live in a very windy area so everything still tried to blow away, but they were able to choose a lot of items. When we came back inside, I was pleasantly surprised to discover we had two pieces of the paper to use. I put down plastic and placed the paper on top. The kids created their masterpieces then covered them with the plastic wrap and taped them shut (in hopes that nothing would fly away). They then taped them to a table. We worked on the next project, then brought the sun prints back inside after 30-ish minutes of sun exposure. We rinsed the paper a few times and voilà, Sun prints!
Complete at Least Two Activities from the National Weather Service
Although Juliette wanted to earn a badge for the outdoor challenge, there were other activities she could easily fulfill, so we chose to explore weather today and work on a badge another time. There are a lot of cool experiments and activities in the National Weather Service packet, but two stuck out to me as being more easily doable with Juliette and Cub. Based on their ages, I knew I’d be doing most of the work, so I chose activities where they could help. Creating fog was a really cool experiment. You pour hot water in a glass jar, pour out most of the water after a minute, then put ice cubes in a strainer resting on the jar. We tried with faucet water, but had to do it again with boiling water. The jar started out as normal, but then it started to steam up (like a mirror during a shower). We also did the weight of air experiment. The kids helped attach balloons to a dowel and then center a string so that the balloons balanced either side of the dowel. Then Cub added a piece of tape to a balloon and Juliette poked a hole through the tape/balloon. As the air comes out, the balloon with more air theoretically shows that it’s heavier. I say theoretically because both kids kept touching the hitting the balloons so they were no longer balanced. But Juliette predicted the correct outcome so it’s a win! And the challenge is complete!
Daisy Snow or Climbing Adventure
Juliette was planning to earn the Daisy Snow or Climbing Adventure badge to complete her STEM Sisters Outdoor Challenge, but we did the weather activities instead. She still wants to earn every badge so we’re doing it anyway! Here are the requirements:
- Choose your outdoor adventure
- Prepare for your adventure
- Go on your outdoor adventure
Since there’s no snow outside over the summer, Juliette chose the climbing adventure part of this badge. Everything I found said she was supposed to go bouldering. From what I read, that seems to mean using an indoor rock-climbing wall without a harness, but only climbing up to 6-feet up the wall. Since there’s no harness, there are cushions or other soft things to fall on below it. For the second step, I asked her what she would need to do in order to be ready for climbing or bouldering. Juliette realized that she’d need to wear a shirt and pants instead of her dress. If she was doing it outside, she’d need socks and sneakers instead of her crocs. She would also need to have her hair up in a ponytail or bun so it didn’t block her vision as she was climbing. Additionally, it would be good to bring a filled water bottle with us since she’d likely get thirsty. One of our local trampoline parks showed a climbing wall on their website, so we made a plan to go there (and planned for non-slip or grippy socks instead of sneakers). Before going, I made sure she knew that they had other climbing things that she could do in lieu of bouldering in case she didn’t meet the height requirements. Unfortunately, the climbing wall was blocked off so she couldn’t use it, but she and cub had a lot of fun there anyway. Juliette was able to conquer a lot of fears, climbing across and down rope areas, as well as sliding down the highest slides she’d ever successfully used. Although bouldering didn’t happen, she definitely had a climbing adventure! And I promised her that we would try to have her go bouldering in the future if the opportunity comes up.
An Update on Progress
Here’s my usual update on the badges, journeys, and awards that we’re working on or have planned. Currently it’s not much with the end of the school year, but I’m planning to check in with Juliette to see what she wants to do:
- I was planning to work on more outdoor badges, but, between sickness, heat and lack of motivation, we didn’t do them yet. The temperatures are coming down so hopefully that will make going outside more bearable in the coming weeks and we can work on some of them.
- Non-badge related – I’m still working on starting a troop for homeschoolers in September/October so we’ll see how that goes. There were a bunch of moms interested in their daughters joining but the potential coleader only responded to messages on the first day we were speaking, so I’m not sure if it’ll happen. Even if she does join a troop, I plan to continue to work with Juliette outside of meetings so she can earn everything, but I think she’d enjoy having meetings and doing activities with other Girl Scouts. I sent some stuff to our local Girl Scout Council and will have to wait for their response before I proceed.
Badge Numbers 30 & 31
- Promise Center (and Home School patch)
- Democracy for Daisies (and 2024 Election patch)
- Make the World a Better Place
- Honest and Fair
- Space Science Explorer (and Mars patch)
- Friendly and Helpful
- Animal Observer (and fun patches: Girl Scouts of Hawai’i, Queen Liliʻuokalani, WWII Remembrance, I Love to Travel, Cruise Ship, Hawaiian Luau, STEM Sisters, Space Science)
- Considerate and Caring
- Courageous and Strong (and My Promise, My Faith Pin Year 1)
- Responsible for What I Say and Do (and Daisy Global Action Award Year 1)
- Think Like a Citizen Scientist Journey
- Respect Myself and Others
- Robotics 1: What Robots Do (Robotics fun patch and Total Eclipse)
- My First Cookie Business (GS Council CEO, GS Council, and Cookie Rally fun patches, and Cookie Entrepreneur Family Pin Year 1)
- Respect Authority (Safety Award Pin and World Thinking Day Award 2025)
- Use Resources Wisely (Techie, Booth Sales, Gift of Caring, 200+ bar, Embrace Possibilities, 2025 Year bar, Charm patch with Embrace Possibilities charm, My First Cookie Sale 2025, STEM box)
- Be a Sister to Every Girl Scout
- Good Neighbor
- Automotive 1: Design
- Automotive 2: Engineering
- Automotive 3: Manufacturing
- Craft and Tinker
- Cybersecurity 1: Basics
- Cybersecurity 2: Safeguards
- Cybersecurity 3: Investigator
- Eco Learner (Chemistry, Weird Science, and Meet-the-Pro Chemistry, Robotics, Space Science)
- Between Earth and Sky Journey
- Robotics 2: How Robots Move
- Robotics 3: Design a Robot (Stall Catchers fun patch)
- Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Journey (Daisy Journey Summit Pin)
- Money Explorer (2025 Lunar New Year – Year of the Snake, Big Sister, Police Department Visit)
- Daisy Snow or Climbing Adventure (Outdoor)