Here is how my troop earned the Girl Scout Senior Room Makeover badge in one afternoon.
Updated August 2022
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It is hard for me to believe that it is April and my troop has only met a handful of times. In October we went horseback riding and in December we once again baked for the homeless. During that meeting, I asked the girls to select a badge to work on for our next meeting, and they did.
We were scheduled to get together in February to earn the Girl Scout Senior Room Makeover badge. However, I got quite ill and missed several days of work and had to cancel. The multiple snow days wrecked havoc with our schedules as well, so with Spring Break approaching and no one going away on vacation, we picked a date and got together to earn the badge.
Photo from Pixabay and altered by the author in Canva
Girl Led and Leader Assisted
As the girls get older, they are supposed to take over the leading and planning of the meetings. While that works for some troops, for mine, it does not. Girl Scouts is important, but there are sports and other activities, as well as homework, that take a front seat. And quite honestly, at this age, parents still have to drive them to places. In order for me to get ready for the meeting, I went to two different craft stores to get the items we needed, as well as a trip to Walmart. Would teenage girls have the time to do this? And even if the girls planned it, they would still need someone to drive them.
And I still spend a lot of time researching what crafts and activities we can do that will work. Unlike Girl Scout Daisies, there are fewer online resources for leaders to use. I don’t mind putting it all together, as I have always loved doing research.
I have read in the Girl Scout Facebook groups that I am not alone. Leaders would rather have the girls tell them what they want to do and then plan it out. If this is what it takes to keep them in Girl Scouts, then I am all for it.
If you do not have time to go to different stores to buy materials, you can order what you need online at Michael’s or JOANN (and don’t forget you have your 15% off Girl Scout discount as well) and either have it shipped to your home or pick it up at the store when you are ready. Personally, I love going to craft stores and cruising the aisles for supplies. I do not find it a chore.
The Meeting Plan
I planned the meeting to take place between 11:30-5:30. I knew this was more than enough time, but I wanted to plan some down time for the girls to just connect.
We did not start quite that early…one girl had an appointment and came at 11:45 and the other girl totally forgot about our meeting! Luckily, she was at home while her parents were at work, so after some quick texting between my daughter and her, I went to pick her up.
Each girl was supposed to come with an old pillow and some fabric. That did not quite happen, but fortunately for me, a friend of mine creates memory blankets and gave me bags of fabric to use with my classes and with my Girl Scouts.
Even ten years into this, things happen! But we all just laughed about it.
The Steps to Earn the Girl Scout Senior Room Makeover Badge
Step 1 Gather Ideas and Inspiration
The first step was easy, since it was already done by two of the three girls. They had to create an “inspiration board”, aka, Pinterest!
While I was making lunch, the girls shared their Pinterest boards and started talking about the thing they had in common about what they picked. They also talked about what they did not choose as well. For example, my daughter did not put any plants on her board like the other two girls, since she could not keep her cactus alive.
When they were done lunch was still not ready, so I had them go through the Senior binder and decide what other badges they wanted to earn. Like many leaders have said, a lot of these badges have a lot to be desired. There are too many “find a guest speaker” kinds of steps, which makes it a challenge to make it girl led. But they did find a few that we can work on:
- Adventurer
- Collage Artist
- First Aid
- Locavore
- Make Your Own
Lunch was ready and they did not go back to this topic of discussion. I was fine because at least we have a start!
Step 2 Paint Something
The second step was to paint something. Originally we were going to schedule an outing at a painting place, but nothing really worked for us timewise and it was really quite expensive. We are still using the cookie money we made when the troop was larger and we sold cookies as 6th and 7th grade Cadettes. With three girls, the money in our account lasts a lot longer, but it would have used a nice chunk out of it.
Fortunately for me, I had a teacher inservice in February and one of the activities was to do Canvas Paint Pouring. I asked the girls what three colors of paint they wanted and added them to the shopping list.
Photo by Hannah Gold
Here is a video that shows the technique.
The materials were not costly at all. The most expensive item was the canvas, which I purchased at 60% off.
Some suggestions for this activity:
- Use smocks or have them wear clothing they do not care about. Even though the girls are older, there were spills on clothing. We were able to wipe it all quickly, but it did get messy.
- Have hand wipes like Wet Ones and paper towels on hand for spills.
- Line the table with two layers of newspaper, not one.
- Put newspaper or a plastic table cover under the table to catch drips.
- Add a drop of rubbing alcohol to each paint cup to get a brighter shine.
- Have the trash can next to the table for quicker clean up.
Photo by Hannah Gold
Steps 3 Sew or Glue Something and Step 4 Redo Something-One Craft For Two Steps
At first we were going to make no-sew pillows for Step 3 and something different for Step 4. However, I was stumped at what the girls could do for the fourth step. Refurbishing a piece of furniture takes time, and the girls may not have had something that they wanted to spruce up.
Then I found this fantastic idea on the Silver Pencils blog that would combine these two steps with one singular craft! We would take fabric to make a pillow…but instead of using a new pillow form, we would refurbish an old throw pillow that each girl had in her home.
Here are the results.
Step 5 Build Something
For this step, you can really think outside the box. I purchased clay for the girls to make something for their bedroom. I bought a 10 pound box, which was too much, but the girls enjoyed playing with it.
Photo by Hannah Gold
The girls each made a pot, and one of them was really good at making clay roses so she helped my daughter make this rose figurine.
The paintings are still drying in my house and I will deliver them once they are completely dry.
