| MISS SPIDER'S TEA PARTY (Recruiting event for Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts) |
| "Miss Spider's Tea Party" is a simple, easy book written by David Kirk. It should be readily available at your local library or even your local school library. Your local bookseller will be happy to order if they are out of stock. Remember when you make a flyer to state "Bring a parent or guardian". This event is meant for the parent to stay during the entire meeting. Make sure there is a seating area for them. |
| While "Miss Spider" is very cute, girls this age can become very frightened of real looking spiders so make sure what you make is cute and fun. |
| NAME TAGS Have a table in the entry area to your room set up with a Name Tag and greeter. Make sure each girl gets a name tag and be sure everyone calls the girls by name. Parents don't have to have name tags but it wouldn't hurt to have plain, sticky tags for them so the adult recruiter knows their names. Please don't have parents wear the "girl" tags. Most will be reluctant to wear a plain one, don't make it worse. Try non-spider themes for the tags. These can be Miss Spider's "friends" since they are all coming for the party. |
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| Click the bug for a few "friend" name tags |
| Once girls have their name tags, direct them to a waiting area. This should have something to keep the girls interested until all the girls have arrived. Make sure there is a Girl Scout (in uniform) at this table. Daisy and Brownie age girls really like to see Juniors or Cadette/Seniors in uniform especially if they have lots of patches and badges. Some ideas for this table would be simple coloring pages or an easy puzzle. If you do coloring pages, make sure you have the girls bring the page to their parent before you start activities or write their names on the page to assure them they can leave the picture and still get their coloring page when they are ready to leave. |
| Welcome/Game Play a name game type welcoming. For this age, try sitting in a circle and saying your name and have them say their favorite animal or food. Don't have them match the item with the first letter of their first name. Or, try a fun "Spider web" introduction. Have the person running this section start with a ball of yarn. (Have the yarn in a ball -- not in the skein it comes in from the store) The first person says their name and ROLLS the yarn on the floor to another person. She picks up the yarn, says her name and rolls to another person. Do this until everyone has said their name. Then ask the girls what they have made -- A Spider Web. (You do not toss the yarn because you don't want girls to get frustrated because they couldn't catch the yarn or have it go rolling far away when someone missed catching the yarn. |
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| READING Now is the time to read the book. Make sure you have an expressive reader. If this is not an adult, have the girl practice out loud several times. The pictures need to be seen by the girls sitting while she is reading the book. If you have two books, one girl could read while another holds the second book and turns the pages for the "future" girl scouts to see. It's a good idea to have the reader make comments along the way. "Isn't that sad? Oh! I think that's silly, do you?" so the girls become involved in the story. Have a set of carpet samples for each girl to sit on or a large carpet remnant or a blanket for all the girls. This makes them feel more settled to listen to the story. |
| WAITING AREA |
| GAME There are several games to be played appropriate to the theme. One planned by our juniors for a bronze project with this recruitment is having a cloth on the floor and decorating it with paint to be a spider web. Girls stand in a marked location and toss plastic spiders toward the center of the web. Don't have winners and losers. Give each girl a prize. Stickers to go on her name tag would be fine. We found 3D cartoon spring bugs at a local party store. Other game ideas could be: A cake walk with pictures of various bugs on the floor in a circle. Have one or more be of a spider. Play music and have the girls circle the floor only stepping on the pictures. When the music stops the person on the spider is the first to pick from a grab bag of whatever small items you have. Balloon pop. What little girl doesn't like to pop a balloon. Different variations could be attaching string to each balloon and tying to their ankles. Have the girls run and pop someone else's balloon. The last one with the unpopped balloon is the winner. Balloon pop 2. Have two or more lines set up. Give the first person in line a balloon. Have them run across the floor to a waiting chair. Put the balloon down on the chair (could just be a spot on the floor) and sit on the balloon until it pops. Then hand the next person in line the next balloon. Balloon pop 3. Have hidden messages inside each ballon. This could be words or pictures. You could have the message be some movement the popping person must do like jumping jacks or spinning. |
| CRAFTS After the game, direct the girls to a craft table. Decide by doing the craft ahead of time how much work must be done before hand for the craft. Many Daisy girl scouts may have not gone to preschool or nursery school and do not have the same skills as those who have been to school. The object is not to make any girls feel inadequate. |
| BUG VISORS This might be good if you have enough money in a fund to provide the visors. At many craft stores these plastic visors cost slightly less than a dollar a piece. PomPom SPIDER Remember to use colorful pieces instead of the black as shown. PAPER PLATE WEB WITH SPIDER This is a cute and fast craft. Add a magnet on the back for an instant refridgerator magnet. SPIDER BRACELET Plan to have extra help for each girl with this craft YARN SPIDER WEB Probably the easiest but could be a little messy. |
| ENDING/CLOSING/GOODBYE Once the snack is done, (remember to ask each girl to help clean up by throwing her own napkin away -- tell them that is what's done in Girl Scouting) Have a simple closing circle. I would recommend asking the girls to get in a circle and hold hands (don't do the crossed hands for this meeting). You could ask the girls to get their moms or dads to join in. Have the girls swing their hands back and forth. While they do this tell them how much fun you had and hope that they will join Girl Scouting so they can have even more fun. Tell the girls that when you count to 3 they should all say "Good Night (Bye) Scouts" and drop their hands. If you still had extra time, have them go back to the waiting area table and color or continue the puzzles. |
| SONG / MEETING STRECHERS With only the craft and snack left, now is the time to check how much time is left in your plan. If you need to add, sing some songs, if not, skip this section. Some song ideas: Itsy, Bitsy, Spider I'm a Little teapot |
| SNACK Since this is advertised as a tea party, try to get some child size tea sets, especially great if you could get plastic. Sets don't have to match. Drink and food should be simple. Snack can be set at tables, or on the floor like a picnic. Ideas for drink -- Ice Tea (most girls don't really like this) juice or milk Ideas for food -- graham crackers, teddy grahams, cookies, cupcakes, if you really want sandwiches - try pb&j or cheese -- cut the sandwiches in quarters. |
| PARENT RECRUITMENT Unfortunately, most of us don't really know how to recruit parents. So, if you have great, winning ideas, please email me and I will add them here. Have parents sit at a table where they are comfortable. Have coffee or tea available along with ice tea or cold water. Make sure you have a hot and cold drink. Have brochures, recruiting ads from your council, anything you can get. A large poster should be nearby with catch phrases -- (Hopefully, I will have one made soon and will have a picture soon), these could be "FUN", "MAKE NEW FRIENDS', 'TRAINING', 'LEADERSHIP TEAM', "HUGS' I recommend having a couple of sheets with sample meetings for the levels you are recruiting. This should be simple but self explanatory so it doesn't seem too hard for a new parent who hasn't been exposed to Girl Scouting before. When talking with the parents, stress how you need "co-leadership teams". You are not looking for A leader but CO-leaders. This is less scary. Make sure they realize the co-leadership team will be able to pick the meeting date and time convienent for them. If you don't get adults to committ, make sure you send them home with a little fun pack. Sort of like a survivor bag that are seen every where. Make yours a -- You are Special or a -- Can we Count on You? Put in an elastic because you will strech to help others, A hug because you will get lots of these from girls who appreciate you helping them, A die because girls are counting on them, etc. Also, make sure they go home with your phone number and email. If you can have this on a magnetic card this would be even better. Have a registrar at the meeting in case you do have adults committ. Have registrations and applications taken that night. For the adults who committ, give them a folder or 3 ring binder with a welcome letter, 4-6 sample meetings, names and numbers of people in the service unit, Service unit events and a schedule of service unit leader meeting dates. If you have an expierenced leader who has agreed to mentor a new leader, give the new adults this person's name and get the info to the experienced leader as soon as possible. Set up a date and time for the orientation. |
| MATERIALS NEEDED name tags with safety pins to attach to kids sticky name tags for adults marker pens for name tags puzzles coloring pages crayons Yarn (rolled into a ball) MISS SPIDER'S TEA PARTY by David Kirk blanker, rug, carpet squares Appropriate game materials Songs in mind Appropriate craft materials (extra helpers at this table) Snack and drinks Napkins, small plates, cups, pitchers, tablecloths, spoons Coffee, tea, cold drinks, cups, stirrers, milk, sugar, non-sugar, napkins Registrations, applications, bulletin boards, recruitment brochures, level books, sample meeting plans, magnets with SU manager or Recruiter phone numbers. |
| GOOD LUCK! |
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| Anyone feedback or great advice? PLEASE |
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| Click the Daisy to go back to the recruiting page |