Girl Scout Seniors from Troop 62816 went paddle boarding this summer and earned their paddle boarding badge! All the girls had fun and no one fell in the water!
Paddle boarding Pros!
Tag Archives: Girl Scout Senior badges
Senior Sky Badge: Step Five of Five
The sky is a masterpiece. Every day it graces us with living art, whether through a glorious sunset, shifting cloud formations, or the stunning display of night stars. No wonder we take every opportunity to spend time outdoors. Girl Scout Seniors can earn their Sky badge at home with the help of GSCO’s Outreach Program.
- Step One: Watch the Skies
- Step Two: Investigate the Science of the Skies
- Step Three: Explore the Connection Between People and Flight
- Step Four: Help clear sky pollution
- Step Five: Create Sky Art
Create a Moon Phase Wall Hanging
Check out this link to learn about the moon’s eight phases.
Supplies Needed:
- String (enough for eight pieces, PLUS one longer one to hang)
- Sick/Dowel Rod to tie the moon phases onto
- Paper/Cardstock/Scrapbook Paper/Thin Cardboard from the recycle bin
- Scissors
- Glue/ Glue Stick
- Markers/Crayons/Paint/Nail Polish to decorate your moons
- OPTIONAL: Washi Tape or colorful yarn or embroidery floss to wrap around the stick for decoration. You may also want to add beads to the hanging strings.
Making the moon phase wall hanging:
- Draw and cut out the moons
- Fold paper/ cardstock/ scrapbook paper/ thin cardboard in half.
- Draw out eight circles onto your folded paper using a pencil and an empty tp-roll or any circle shape that is the size you want for your moons. Using the same template, draw over one of the two of the circles to make two crescent moons, then draw over two more to make the gibbous moons.
- Cut the moons out- to start, fold your paper in half if you didn’t do so before drawing the moon templates. You will have two of each moon phase that you will glue together (16** total). As you are cutting, keep those that you cut together ,so that when you glue them they fit together easily.
- PRE-CUT eight hanging string/ twine/ yarn for your wall hanging. Make sure you cut an extra two to allow for tying onto the stick and for ½”-3/4” to be glued in between the moons. They can be all one length, or you may choose to cut them varying lengths so that the moons will hang at graduating positions across the hanger stick. For this example, I cut my strings at graduating lengths and then played around with their positioning on the stick, so they’d all be a little bit different once the project was finished.
- Place glue across the surface of your moons. On one side, add a little bigger glob of glue for the string. Put the string on the glue glob before pressing the two sides together to sandwich the string in between the two pieces.
- Tie the strings onto the stick or wooden dowel rod.
- Once all the moon phases are tied on, add the “hanger string” onto the dowel tying it on either end of your stick.
- Hang your beautiful finished project on a door, wall or in your garden.
**Optional: IF you prefer a smaller wall hanging you can choose a smaller stick and hang only some of the moon’s phases on it. For example, make one crescent and one gibbous moon to represent both the waxing and waning of these two phases and one quarter moon to represent both the first and last quarter moons. 
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Senior Sky Badge: Step Four of Five
The sky is a masterpiece. Every day it graces us with living art, whether through a glorious sunset, shifting cloud formations, or the stunning display of night stars. No wonder we take every opportunity to spend time outdoors. Girl Scout Seniors can earn their Sky badge at home with the help of GSCO’s Outreach Program.
- Step One: Watch the Skies
- Step Two: Investigate the Science of the Skies
- Step Three: Explore the Connection Between People and Flight
- Step Four: Help Clear Sky Pollution
Air quality is an important factor to our health and the health of the earth’s plants, animals, and overall environment. When you’ve completed this part of earning the Senior Sky badge, you will be an active participant in helping to improve the earths air quality.
In the United States, cities like New York City and Los Angeles’ poor air quality is known to be a health threat to the people who live there. This is primarily due to the high levels of vehicle traffic, which burns fossil fuels resulting in a high quantity of emissions that contribute directly to air pollution.
Since the COVID-10 pandemic has tragically but temporarily halted people driving en masse in these cities, something WONDERFUL has happened. The air in those cities (and around the world) is A LOT cleaner. Los Angeles’ air is 20-30% cleaner, and LA citizens enjoyed the most “good” air quality days the city has seen since 1995. According to NASA, as of April 9 2020, New York and the northeastern region has also seen a reduction of 30% in air pollution.
These improvements are the direct result of the reduction in vehicle emissions. Fewer cars on the road means less air pollution. But ,it isn’t only vehicle emissions that cause poor air quality. Electricity generation also significantly add to air pollution.
So, what can YOU do to help this trend of improved air quality continue when things get moving once again? There are many small steps each of us can take that add up to have a larger impact in the improvement of air quality.
Step One: Drive or ride in single vehicles less to reduce emissions.
As you learned above, vehicle emissions cause air pollution. Choose at least three of the options suggested below to help reduce the toxic emissions generated by vehicles.
Drive smarter and drive less.
- Organize a carpool for going to and from acitivities. Reach out to your friends and family to arrange for some of you to carpool at least three days/week. You may also want to offer a ride to friends who are all going to the same place. One adult can drop off and another can take everyone home. Explore Park and Ride options for your other family members and encourage them to carpool also.
- Walk or bike for short trips! Pledge to walk or bike for trips that are a distance of one-mile or less whenever it is safe to do so. Encourage your family and friends to join you.
- Be a good neighbor: when you do make a quick run for bread or milk or even when doing your regular shopping, ask your neighbors if you can pick anything up for them. This will reduce the amount of people making trips and help reduce emissions.
- Use public transportation when possible. Taking the bus, shuttle, or other public transport greatly reduces pollutants. In many major cities, there are thousands of people who choose not to own cars because the public transportation options are so convenient and efficient. Explore what safe public transportation might be available to you and discuss this option with a parent or guardian.
- Get in and GO! Encourage the adults in your house to only let a vehicle warm up for two or three mins before driving. Vehicles that sit idling for extended periods contribute to air pollution.
- Drive or ride in an electric or hybrid vehicle. You may not be old enough to drive yet, but when you are you can choose an electric, hybrid, and/or a fuel-efficient vehicle. You can certainly suggest and encourage the adults in your life to choose these types of vehicles when it’s time for a replacement. If an electric or hybrid is out of the question, at least encourage the drivers in your home to maintain their vehicles. Properly maintained vehicles generate less CO2 which will reduce pollution and greenhouse gases.
Step Two: Shop smart! Put your shopping dollars to work to help the planet and your community.
Every online order requires air and/or ground transportation.Getting the items you order from the online retailer to your door means that the item must travel in at least one, but likely multiple vehicles. We all love the convenience and selection of online shopping. However, this does contribute to air pollution. Consider making at least two of these swaps instead.
- Shop local. Oftentimes our local boutiques and shops have wonderful selections that are of high quality. When shopping for clothes, gifts, and accessories, consider shopping from an individual retailer over shopping online. This benefits the planet AND your community by providing a source of income to the local store owner and employees. If you don’t find what you’re looking for right away, ASK, these shop owners often have a list of suppliers who may have just the right item for you.
- Eat local. Choose produce, meat, and dairy products that are sourced as close to home, but at least within a few hundred miles of your home will have the greatest impact! The less distance goods (foods, toiletries, etc.) travel, the result is less air pollution and greenhouse gases that contribute to sky pollution. Farmer’s markets in the summer, and food co-ops that provide farm to fork selections are great options. If these aren’t possible for you, at least read labels when at the supermarket and choose the item that was grown or manufactured closest to you.
- Eat vegetarian at least one night/week. Meatless Mondays are a healthy and delicious way to reduce greenhouse gases while exploring new recipes.
Step Three: Conserve electricity.
Electricity is often generated by power plants that burn fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). These type of power plants contribute to sky pollution. Make some of these adjustments to your daily routine to help conserve energy and reduce emissions from power plants.
- Turn off devices and appliances that you are not using. If you are not in the room, turn off TV’s, lights, and computers you aren’t using.
- Unplug power cords when you’re gone during the day. One idea is to keep a power strip with multiple items plugged in, then simply unplug the power strip when these items are not in use.
- Take shorter showers. Warm showers use electricity or gas to heat water in the hot water heater. Shorter showers will use less energy, and you’ll also help the planet by saving water. Try keeping your shower to five minutes or less most days. That’s about as long as it takes for two songs to play.
- Explore and choose solar. Choose retailers and suppliers of goods that have solar and other green systems in place. There are many solar products on the market, including solar lamps and solar power sources, for charging cell phones or powering other small household appliances.
Bonus
Research and compile information about schools, businesses, and homes buying into solar power and solar rebates from local utility companies. Create a presentation, then ask to meet with facility managers at your school, job, or afterschool club to see if solar might be right for them as their primary source of power.
Badge Bonus: Plant trees.
Get a school club or neighborhood group together to perform this wonderful community service project. Volunteer with your local parks department or arbor day chapter and spend a day planting trees. Trees not only beautify our surroundings; they reduce greenhouse gases by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen during the process of photosynthesis.
Consider checking out these sites for scientific information about air pollution
- NASA
- Environmental Protection Agency
- National Institute of Enviro Health Sciences: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/air-pollution/
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Senior Sky Badge: Step Three of Five
The sky is a masterpiece. Every day it graces us with living art, whether through a glorious sunset, shifting cloud formations, or the stunning display of night stars. No wonder we take every opportunity to spend time outdoors. Girl Scout Seniors can earn their Sky badge at home with the help of GSCO’s Outreach Program.
Step Two: Investigate the Science of the Skies
Step Three: Explore the Connection Between People and Flight
We have two fun videos to help you complete this step!
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Senior Behind the Ballot Badge Step Five of Five
In a few years, you will be 18-years-old and able to vote. It is also a presidential election year, and a year in which Colorado chooses a new U.S. Senator, and all the seats we hold in the House of Representatives are on the ballot as well. In American history, women and 18-year-olds have not always had the right to vote (or run as a candidate for office), but now they do, and you will. It will not only be your right to vote, but a wonderful way to honor the women who fought for our right to vote in every election. Voting is also the best (and easiest) way to tell the government where you stand on the issues and whom you think is best able to make decisions that will affect you and your sister Girl Scouts. In the Senior Behind the Ballot Badge, we will explore the way people get elected to office, and the importance of voting both here at home and around the world.
Step One: Find out more about elections
Step Two: Investigate the Ins and Outs of Voting
Step Five: Explore Voting in Other Countries
America isn’t the only place that votes their leaders into office. In this step you will take a look at what democracy looks like around the world. Complete one or more of the following activities.
Explore voting procedures abroad. Look at the voting process in three different countries on three different continents. Is pre-registration required? Do they vote on machine, paper or computers? How many polling places are there, and what are the rules? Who can vote and who cannot? Make a chart comparing the three countries voting processes.
OR
Follow a foreign campaign. Find a country that is currently undergoing an election. Who are the front-runners and what are their platforms? Follow the campaigns through election day. Who won?
OR
Learn about women voting or female leaders abroad. Track elected female heads of government abroad. How many are there? What are their roles? How much power do they have? Look through history – where do most of the female leaders come from? Alternatively, look at women suffrage worldwide. Where can women still not vote, and why? What countries have the highest level of female voter turnout?
Share what you learned on the GSCO Blog, or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Twitter and Instagram users should also use #GSColo.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Senior Behind the Ballot Badge Step Four of Five
In a few years, you will be 18-years-old and able to vote. It is also a presidential election year, and a year in which Colorado chooses a new U.S. Senator, and all the seats we hold in the House of Representatives are on the ballot as well. In American history, women and 18-year-olds have not always had the right to vote (or run as a candidate for office), but now they do, and you will. It will not only be your right to vote, but a wonderful way to honor the women who fought for our right to vote in every election. Voting is also the best (and easiest) way to tell the government where you stand on the issues and whom you think is best able to make decisions that will affect you and your sister Girl Scouts. In the Senior Behind the Ballot Badge, we will explore the way people get elected to office, and the importance of voting both here at home and around the world.
Step One: Find out more about elections
Step Two: Investigate the Ins and Outs of Voting
Step Four: Plan a Campaign
Let’s take a look at what it takes to attract voters. Do one or more of the following activities.
Create a sample campaign budget. We are about to head into election season and elections cost money. Find out how campaign money is spent by creating your own sample budget. Include the costs for polling and travel, staff salaries, and don’t forget the buttons, bumper stickers and lawn signs! TV and radio ad costs differ depending on region. Take a look at the Federal Election Commission’s website to see how much your local representative raised and spent and take that into account when creating your budget.
OR
Create a campaign ad. Most people these days are tired of seeing the same old campaign ads on TV. Take a look at three different ads from three recent elections. Are the ads negative or positive? Truthful or misleading? Do they feature the candidate, or their opponent, or someone else? Make your own ad, one that’s not like any that are on TV these days. Keep in mind the following: Who are you trying to attract? Young voters, new voters, voters from a different background? Don’t forget your campaign slogan!
OR
Find a platform and write a speech. Every campaign begins and ends with a speech. Read or watch campaign speeches by three winning candidates. What do they care about? What do they want to protect by seeking office? Do they use clichés or slogans in their speech? Decide what you care about and why other people should, and write a passionate speech as if you are running for a local office or student council.
Share your work on the GSCO Blog, or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Twitter and Instagram users should also use #GSColo.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Senior Behind the Ballot Badge Step Three of Five
In a few years, you will be 18-years-old and able to vote. It is also a presidential election year, and a year in which Colorado chooses a new U.S. Senator, and all the seats we hold in the House of Representatives are on the ballot as well. In American history, women and 18-year-olds have not always had the right to vote (or run as a candidate for office), but now they do, and you will. It will not only be your right to vote, but a wonderful way to honor the women who fought for our right to vote in every election. Voting is also the best (and easiest) way to tell the government where you stand on the issues and whom you think is best able to make decisions that will affect you and your sister Girl Scouts. In the Senior Behind the Ballot Badge, we will explore the way people get elected to office, and the importance of voting both here at home and around the world.
Step One: Find out more about elections
Step Two: Investigate the Ins and Outs of Voting
Step Three: Get Out the Vote
The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowered the legal voting age from 21 to 18. Yet, in the 2016 election, less that 50% of voters under 30 cast a ballot. While this is the only age group to have election turnout increase since the 2012 election, it is still the age group with the lowest turn-out by far. Choose one or more activities to help increase the voter turnout of young Americans.
Research and create a poster. Explain the voter registration process you learned in Step Two, including the motor voter registration, which makes it easier for any American with a state issued driver’s license or identification card to register to vote. Include the other ways there are to vote, including a link to online voter registration.
OR
Make a Voting Calendar. It can be paper, electronic, in app form, or to be integrated into social media. Please include local, state, and federal elections for your county. You might also include nonpartisan websites and references where any voter can get truthful and unbiased information about candidates and issues.
OR
Educate! Get a sample ballot from a recent election, and use it as a tool to show young voters in Colorado how easy it is to fill out and return a ballot, who won in the last election, and how their vote is important. Include data on the winners, and how many people voted for each candidate or issue.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Girl Scouts at Home: Senior Collage Artist Badge Part Four of Five
Earn the Senior Collage Artist badge at home with the help of GSCO’s Outreach Program team! This badge is an opportunity make art as unique as you are, so get ready to see the creative possibility in everyday objects.
- Step One: Explore Collage
- Step Two: Focus on Composition
- Step Three: Create with Color
- Step Four: Use Found Objects- Watch this video for a fun activity to do just that!
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Girl Scouts at Home: Senior Collage Artist Badge Part Three of Five
Earn the Senior Collage Artist badge at home with the help of GSCO’s Outreach Program team! This badge is an opportunity make art as unique as you are, so get ready to see the creative possibility in everyday objects.
- Step One: Explore Collage
- Step Two: Focus on Composition
- Step Three: Create with Color- Watch this video to learn how to make a monochromatic magazine collage.
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.
Girl Scouts at Home: Senior Collage Artist Badge Part Two of Five
Earn the Senior Collage Artist badge at home with the help of GSCO’s Outreach Program team! This badge is an opportunity make art as unique as you are, so get ready to see the creative possibility in everyday objects.
- Step One: Explore Collage
- Step Two: Focus on Composition- Watch this video for an activity to help you do just that!
We want to hear how your girl is using her Girl Scout skills by taking initiative, caring for the community, and Girl Scouting at home. She can send in her story here.