Back at the end of January, I saw a post from a public group about kids’ tool boxes on clearance at Lowe’s. The clearance price was under $7 each, so I called my local store and they had them… but only the red and blue ones. Looking in their system, they checked other stores in the area and found that a store further away had pink ones. So on February 1, I bundled up Juliette and Cub and we went shopping. We went to both stores and I got 2 of each color (initially in case I couldn’t find the pink ones, but then decided to give the extras to my 10 year old niece and 5 year old nephew). Each store took a lot of searching and multiple associates to find the tool boxes, but it was worth it.
At the first store, an associate at the front saw my kids and gave us little kits and aprons… and that’s when I discovered the kids’ workshops! The first Saturday of the month is when Home Depot hosts their FREE kids workshops. Lowe’s usually hosts theirs on the third Saturday, but moved it up this month, likely due to Easter. Both stores provide aprons for the kids and a project kit. I hear that one of the stores also will provide goggles but I haven’t seen that yet. We’ve attended three programs so far (missed one while sick) and the kids have enjoyed it.
Daisy Craft and Tinker
In the kids workshop Facebook groups, I discovered that many Girl Scouts will use the workshops as a way to get their Craft and Tinker badge, and that sounded like a great plan to me!
- Learn the basics
- Craft with purpose
- Tinker with your craft
Yesterday, the kids made Globe Planters at Home Depot. The craft itself wasn’t too extensive (literally they had to hammer 12 nails to attach the pieces together, and then add in stickers), but that doesn’t mean it was easy. Juliette was able to do some hammering with guidance, and Cub only tried to hammer one nail (they had adult-sized hammers there, so I’m happy I brought the child-sized hammers from their toolkits!). The kids each painted their projects and then added the stickers. The craft came with a small flower pot and seeds to plant basil. This took care of step 2.
When we got home, I asked Juliette how she could improve her craft or what she could change to make it better. She drew some Christmas decorations in her notebook because she thought it would be better if it was Christmassy. Then she drew and cut out a Christmas hat and snowman and glued them onto her planter. That was step 3.
Later on, I grabbed the Craft and Tinker booklet that I downloaded from the VTK and shared the definitions of the crafting terms. Then I reminded her how to use a ruler and asked her to measure several things that she found around the house. Her favorite thing to measure was her head lol. Step 1 complete.
An Update on Progress
Here’s my usual update on the badges, journeys, and awards that we’re working on or have planned.
- Between Earth and Sky Journey – earned the Bucket and the Firefly and finished reading the story. We have the Take Action Project planned to do this month.
- Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Journey – we are planning to start this month as a third journey that would also earn her Daisy Journey Summit Award Pin
- Money Explorer Badge – we haven’t started yet, but it seems to go well with cookie season
- How Robots Move Badge/ Design a Robot Badge – would make sense to follow up the first robotic badge with these
- STEM Sisters Chemistry – it’s a fun patch, not a badge, but chemistry is the focus this quarter, so we’ll be doing that too. Juliette already chose the 4 things she wants to do to earn this patch, including fuzzy painting, weird science, alka-seltzer reaction, and campfire chemistry.
Badge Number 22
- 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
- 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