amuse: a crash course
The junior journey aMUSE is about finding something that inspires you (your muse), and embracing that role and trying it out in your life.
earning the journey awards
Every Girl Scout Journey has three sub-awards. Each of these have different criteria. Below are some ideas and suggestions.
reach out: find your role
- Have the girls bring in a thumbnail photo of themselves and create a sheet for each girl called All About Me. Include statements like...
-My favorite food is ___________
-I absolutely hate ___________
-I absolutely love __________
-My favorite activity is __________
- Have each girl share their All About Me sheet with the troop. You might learn something you didn't know about your friend!
- Have each girl bring in a small bag of trinkets or items that mean something to them or represent who they are. Have each girl share their bag at a meeting.
- Make a shadowbox which contains these items or trinkets, arranged in a fun/decorative way. This represents a snapshot of who they are.
- Ask the girls to think of a role model, somebody they admire or want to be like, and explain why this person is significant to them.
- Invite a guest speaker, like a parent with an unusual job, to talk to your troop about what they do and how they got into it. You could even host a career fair and invite several people to share their work/life experiences.
Speak out!
- Talk about stereotypes. What does that mean and how can this limit you from becoming who you want to be?
- Ask the girls to list 3 examples of stereotypes. Talk about these and how they can mislead you away from the real-ness of a person.
- Make a mural that addresses issues like stereotypes, standing up to other people for what you believe, and how to achieve your goals. Find inspirational sayings to include in your mural.
- Allow the girls to write a play about a situation where some stereotype or misperception of somebody has taken place and create a solution so that nobody feels ostracized. Have the girls present this skit at the next meeting. (You may want to split the girls into groups for this activity)
Try out!
- Have a few troop mothers come in and talk about their occupation to the girls. Have a group discussion about the many different paths the girls have to choose from and how their gender does not make a difference.
- Refer back to the All About Me sheet and talk about skills that may be useful in a future profession. Have them draw a picture of themselves in that profession.
- Put all of the pictures together and make a collage to hang up somewhere in the school.