Winter Indoor Activities for Brownie Girl Scouts
School Cleanup, Indoor Swimming, Games Get Girls Moving
Jan 1, 2009
In the winter months, Brownie Girl Scout leaders often plan afternoon troop meetings for girls who have been sitting all day. By the time the girls get home from the meeting it will be dark – too late to play outside. The solution: cheap, indoor meeting activities that will give girls a chance to release pent up energy.
Here are some activities that provide movement – but also keep the girls warm!
Hold a Schoolwide Cleanup
- A couple of weeks before the meeting, the leader asks the school principal to approve a troop cleanup of certain indoor areas.
- Gather needed materials: empty new or clean, recycled plastic spray bottles and containers, cleaning ingredients that are safe for children to use, non-latex gloves for each girl, sponges and old rags. The leaders mix the cleaners before the meeting.
- At the troop meeting, leaders assign girls into teams. The teams, accompanied by a leader or volunteer parent, clean up their areas, afterward coming back together for the end of the meeting.
- To make the activity extra special, the girls can receive the Brownie community cleanup "fun patch."
An Active Try-It
To achieve the "Playing Around the World Try-It," girls learn active games from other countries. The games from England, United States, Sudan and Zimbabwe require physical activity; the game from Japan, a version of the game "Rock, Paper, Scissors," can be used as a break activity when girls are "out" of a game.
Before the troop meeting, the leader needs to do the following:
- Request use of the school gym, and ask for help. The ideal is to have the elementary school gym teacher volunteer to help teach the games. Other options: parents who are particularly patient and/or athletic, or an athletic high schooler, such as a school cheerleader, who likes to work with kids. (If it is a teenager, leaders should contact their local Girl Scout Council for safety guidelines for one-time, non-registered volunteers.)
- A few days before the meeting, the leader distributes copied instructions for the games to all those who will teach/supervise the games.
- This Try It can be completed in one meeting, and the patches can be passed out to parents at pickup
Indoor Swimming Field Trip
- Locate a pool. There are likely to be several indoor swimming pools in the area. What better way for a girl to burn energy on a frigid winter day? The local high school or, in larger towns, the Jewish Community Center pool may offer an inexpensive one day pass for swimming. Brownie parents often belong to gyms that have pools, if so, at least one of the Brownies will go free.
- Encourage as many parents as possible to chaperone the field trip, both to supervise at the pool, and also to help with drying hair, etc. in the dressing room afterward.
- As girls are likely to be "starving" after swimming, provide a snack, such as apples, before going home.
With a little creative planning, winter Brownie troop meetings can provide a great outlet for cooped-up girls!
Source: Try-Its For Brownie Girl Scouts, pp 160-161. New York: Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., 2000.
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