Food Pyramid Magnets!

This is a project that I came up with, with the help of my awesome co-leader, to take the place of option #5 for the "Eat Right, Stay Healthy" Try-It. These are also a great recycle project for the girls! Start with 6 tops and bottoms from frozen juice cans. It's important to use this type because they are nice and smooth and have no risk of cutting a little one's fingers.

Using E6000 glue on some strong magnets, I prefer to just pay a little more to get a good quality magnet so they actually stay on the refrigerator. Glue them on the night (or sooner) before your meeting. The glue has toxic fumes and not good for pregnant women or children to breathe. Please, don't use hot glue, it is sure to pop off over time.

At the meeting, each girl should cut out pictures of food from ads and magazines for each of the six food groups; fats and sugars, proteins, veggies, fruits, dairy, and grains. Have the girls glue them into their lids and on top of the pictures glue the number of suggested servings per day.

Voila!

My Hair Pretties

This is a craft that can be as simple as you'd like, or a little more complicated. One that pretty much all little girls will love! It's a hair accessory organizer!


Years ago, I found a dozen of these picket fences at a yard sale for $0.50 each. Originally, I was going to make them professionally and sell them at craft fairs. Since I never got around to making them before I closed my business I figured I'd let the Brownies go ahead and make them.


I've never seen the picket fences before or after I bought them so I don't know where you might find some. BUT you can easily use a simple wooden plaque instead.



I had found all the flower and bug wooden pieces at Dollar Tree, some of them were already painted, some not. You can pick up really nice pre-painted flowers at Michaels or Walmart even.



I let the girls decorate the pieces with glitter glues and rhinestones (rhinestones are a 'must have' for Brownies!) and color the wooden fence with markers. They each also got to pick three pre-cut grosgrain ribbons. I hot glued the ribbons on the back and the hanger on top (they got to choose which ones to put where).



After the meeting you need to spray the fences with a matte finish spray otherwise the marker ink with smudge and run (make sure you do this in a well ventilated area) Be sure to use matte and not glossy, glossy will make it run when it hits the marker. Also, the glossy takes a lot longer to dry and is harder to appy evenly.


At the next meeting hot glue clothespins to the front of the fence, or plaque, and then let the girls show you where they want the pieces to be. Once you glue those on you're done!

Not only could this be used for hair things but also to display favorite swaps from girl scout events!

Decorated Hair Ribbons

One of our recent craft projects was decorating hair ribbons. I came across some extra wide shoe laces at the flea market and my mom was so sweet as to give the troop her old fabric paints! Awesome!!!

Prep for this craft; cut cardboard or card stock into strips and tape them together end to end. Next, take some regular tape and roll it up on itself (you're basically wanting to make double sided tape) Stick the tape on the strip of cardboard and press the shoelace down on the tape. This makes it easy to move the shoelaces when they're still wet.

Then, let the girls decorate them with fabric paint.

Try-Its: Art to Wear

Tooth Fairy Box

Years ago, I was the Creative Activities Leader for a MOPS group when the theme was "Twinkle". Naturally, stars were the first thing I thought of. I combed the shelves of craft stores in my area and came upon these wooden star boxes at Michaels for $1.00! What a perfect box for a tooth!

Start by taking the lid off, if you paint it with the lid on it will be stuck shut forever.

Give it a couple good coats of yellow paint (I like Americana). Here comes the fun part! Get an old toothbrush, dip the bristles in the cream colored paint, and pointed the bristles at the star, run your finger over them. This will splatter paint the star giving it a little more interest. Then, using the end of a paint brush, dip it in some cream colored paint and apply polka dots all over top of the lid.

Now for the wand. Take a toothpick and cut it in half, and then paint it with the cream colored paint. Once dry, coat it in a bit of white glue and dip in a fine clear glitter. Use a star bead for the top. Apply a dab of glue in the bead and slide it onto the pointed tip of the toothpick. It's hard to see but I also took a bit of a pink feather and placed it behind the star. Then glue a tiny bow where the star and toothpick meet. Glue your wand in place on the box lid.

Once everything is dried thoroughly, use a Zig pen (an outlining pen used for toll painting, some scrapbookers use these as well) to write "My Tooth" To give your letters a more finished look, make dots on all the tips.

Another way is to use a liner brush and paint the letters on, I prefer doing it this way as it gives it a more artistic feel. Then use a stylis to apply the dots.

Some tips for prepping this craft for a crowd; I found that I could get 4 star boxes painted from a 2 oz bottle of yellow Americana (Americana is thicker, so if you go cheaper you won't have very good coverage and end up using more), also you will need to pre-tie all the little bows. Make sure you have the disposable foam brushes, they work GREAT! for this project.


Total cost of project: $2.00

Here is one packaged for a gift! The irridescent grass and ribbon makes a cute touch!