Let’s face it, most leaders really do NOT like the new Journey program.
And unless you do some thinking, and planning, and make a point of turning it into an extreme hands-on exercise, the girls do NOT like them either. I’ve heard them compared to school, class, and homework. And they are BORING. Well, to be fair, they can be boring, or they can be really interesting and exciting. It all just depends on how you decide to present them.
3 Tips For Painless Girl Scout Journeys
- Make the Journey as hands-on as possible. That means field trips to various places, like a water treatment plant for Brownies in the Wonders of Water Journey, and a trip to a TV or radio station for a Cadette Media Journey.
- Find subject matter experts and have them come and speak to the girls. You may have to call around a bit for this one, but every time we’ve done a program and brought a speaker in, the girls have eaten it up.
- Rack your brain and find ways to make it interesting to the girls, and less school-like. Let’s face it, these girls are already in school several hours a day, and making things less obviously academic and “school-like” will engage the girls more. As the girls get older, give them particular activities to plan, and let them lead portions of each meeting. Run relay races, find pertinent movies, visit community gardens.
The short point is – engage the girls on their level, and focus on their interests. Going on a Journey can be fun and relatively painless if you approach the problem creatively.
What about you? What are your best tips for painless Girl Scout Journeys?
— Haley Gray
