Question from a Girl Scout Leader: I need help with Silver Award ideas…
Miranda writes:
I need some help with the Silver Award: My daughter is a Cadette, but she is also a Juliette. I have been looking for ideas for things for her to do so she can earn her Silver Award, but unfortunately everything I have found requires a troop. So now I feel stuck. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Answers From Other Girl Scout Leaders compiled from our Facebook Page
“Silver projects are not troop projects. Google Girl Scout silver projects and you can find ideas. Use her interests. If she likes animals have her contact a local animal shelter to see what they need. My niece made animal rescue bags. Another girl made beds. Check with a nature center or children’s hospital. They all have needs. It just depends on her interest.” Linda
“Why do you feel she needs a troop? Most of my troop earned their Silver, but they worked on their own for their projects. We only did the prerequisites as a group. It should be up to her, not you, what she does. What is her passion? What interests her? Learning to find a need in the community is part of what they’re supposed to learn. One of my girls lost an uncle to cancer and was blindsided so she created a program for kids during a Relay for Life, teaching them about cancer. One is super artistic and worked at a home similar to a Ronald McDonald house, created decorate tiles with the residents and made a walkway through their garden with them. My whole family is involved in animal rescue so one of my daughters digitized all the past issues of the rescue’s newsletters and made a searchable database on their website. My other daughter is fascinated by the local wildlife refuge and saw that their turtle habitat was rundown. She worked with 2 friends to rebuild it. There are projects all around you. Kudos for both of you staying as a Juliette! It’s harder without a troop, imo.” Tracey
“What is her passion? One of my girls loved to sew. Another preferred crafts. They met a nurse who worked pediatrics and their projects just blossomed. One was to make 30 pillowcases in kids fabrics (donated, thank goodness by a local quilting guild). The other was to make beautiful fabric covered composition books. Check out places you love to go – any favorite state or national park? See what you can do to help.” Kristen
“You can easily incorporate petals into fields trips as well!! For example courageous and strong/respect authority could be a visit to the police/fire station. Being a sister to every Girl Scout could be a Christmas book exchange between your troop. Honest and fair having the girls divide snack evenly among themselves.” Tiffany
“My daughter did hers over the summer without her troop. She organized a baby item drive for a local pregnancy center.”Heather
“As a Juliette parent (also for my younger daughter), there are times when your daughter comes to you wanting to do something, but the ideas just aren’t there. So my job as a parent is to help jump start the flow and help her decide what projects she is capable of! My older daughter’s troop kinda tossed them in with little guidance, so DD and I tossed ideas based on her interest back and forth for nearly a year!.” Lynne
“I have found Cadettes love to work with technology. Is there an area of need where you could create a website which is geared towards getting information out to people? And with this need she could also find a way other than her informational site to help. Maybe she could put together a blood drive at her school and bring awareness online to how her community can help and why their help is needed. Perhaps she could start a babysitting ordeal for parents who are trying to go to school in the evening and then present information on babysitting creating positive outcomes for those who take on the task and for those in need. Just a couple ideas maybe they will spark something.” Carmen
” Our troop each did individual projects! Mine researched bats. She raised money to buy supplies and built bat houses which she (with approval) hung in a local park. She also helped a Daisy troop earn a journey focusing on bats! Two others ran book drives and shelf drives, separately then donated them to women shelters! One worked to change a law affecting our community ! Another is aiming to provide toys and supplies for an animal shelter and build a cat house for this shelter ‘s new cat rescue! Have her find something she lives and try to embellish from there! We’re trying to brainstorm gold ideas now!!” Lynne
” is there confusing in “needing a troop” because of the team part of the application (which I am assuming is same everywhere?) My understanding is that is not necessarily girl scouts, it’s the people she will do her project with. Silver is to show leadership, so who will she lead? (For example, if her project was to make birdhouses, maybe some other kids in her class would stay afterschool to help hammer them together. They are on her “team”. Or adults who part of it {not her advisor}. Maybe she had to talk to a carpenter to learn how to use tools, he is part of her team, too. Team members don’t have to be GS.)” Michelle
“Build something at an animal shelter. Set up a free lending library at a community center. Anything that addresses issues she is passionate about.” Virginia
” My daughter is a Cadette Juliette working on her Silver Award. I agree it needs to be something they are interested in to keep them working on it. Everyone keeps telling her the project she wanted to do (a historical marker) would make a better Gold Award. That only makes her more determined to do it. In her process she has formed a team of local community advisors from the libraries and colleges, who are helping her collect her documentation. The hardest part of hers is the fundraising but she’s learning she has to work for the money if she really wants it to happen.” Judy
“Many girls do their Silver Awards alone…you don’t need a troop (and they *have* to do Gold alone). She should focus on something that she loves or a cause she feels strongly about, then develop something around that. My middle daughter loves to draw, so she’s thinking of making artwork or coloring books for a specific children’s program. My older daughter was passionate about LGBT issues, so she wrote an anti-bullying curriculum and started a Gay Straight Alliance in the high school. Both projects done individually, not with their troop. It really should be up to your daughter to find her passion, and then you can help her brainstorm & flesh out a project.” Leigh
“One of my girls is making crochet hats for a cancer ward and collecting items to donate for others to do the same to make it sustainable” Shannon
“My daughter worked with our local Preservation society on creating a museum scavenger hunt. In hopes to get kids interested in History. Was a big hit. One kindergartener even brought it to school for show and tell. Two girls in her troop collected winter coats and set up a shopping day for the homeless at a soup kitchen. Long day but very rewarding. Another girl taught the seniors how to make jewelry. She set up classes at the senior center. You also may want to google silver award. Could give you ideas.” Robin
“My daughter and I brainstormed for a long time and nothing seemed to excite her until I came across pillowcase dresses. We have a friend who had just come back from a missions trip to an orphanage in Haiti and it all just clicked for her. Her goal is to make 75 pillow case dresses for the girls helped by this orphanage. She has held one sewing day so far (she invited friends, and their moms, to help her cut and iron and sew) and plans to have one more. Every girl gets instructions on how to make the dresses and different organizations that accept the dresses to send all over the world.” Kelly
“Maybe find another girl working in a different troop or even team up with some girls from the local high school, and get them all involved in the project? Does your daughter have friends who wouldn’t mind teaming up with her? Maybe create honorary awards such as candy bouquets and movie passes, to get them motivated to help her?” Beckie
The Service From the Heart fun patch makes a great addition to every Girl Scout vest.
neat
This site was very helpful. Now I need ideas on how to motivate my group of Cadettes.
My DD will be leaving her troop as I end my 6 years as the troop leader. But we are going “Juliette”. My council does not have much interest in supporting the Juliette “lifestyle” so I am searching the web for information. I have found one place that suggests my DD use the rectangular patch which reads “Juliettes” in place of the troop number. My problem is where to find this patch. GSUSA.org is not an easy site to navigate and locally I am not finding it. Any info or ideas? I know I can get it made through many of the patch websites but I feel strongly about using the right one. Thanks!
I posted your question on our Facebook page check there for people responses!
She can donate tie blankets she makes to nursing homes or hospitals
Hello ladies. My daughter has earned her bronze and silver award she is now a freshman in high school wanting to finish with her gold award. She would like to be a Juliette due to activities with school etc. Also she has been on a two year break with gs. I was a leader for three years so fairly familiar with gs. Thanks for any info or thoughts u might have.
MakingFriends®.com, Inc. is a private enterprise not affiliated with The Girl Scouts of the USA. To get information regarding your daughter earning her Gold Award, you’ll want to contact your council.
Good info. Thanks!
I was having a hard time thinking of ideas for my silver award and I think I might have found an idea. Thank You!