Updated April 2023
If you have read this blog for any length of time, then you know that I have never been a fan of the Girl Scout Journeys program. From the time I first looked at the Daisy Journey book when my troop started in kindergarten, my experienced teacher self thought, “This is age inappropriate!”.
My most commented on blog post in the past 6.5 years has been about the Journeys program (you can read it here). I followed it up last year with a post about Councils and leaders having a Journey in a Day program . The bottom line for me is if it this program is so important, why can it be done in a day? What have you learned in a day that was absorbed completely?
Image created on Canva
Leaders who need to do a Journey but dislike the program have flocked to this concept. Since it is so popular, I have decided to place all of the Girl Scout Journey in a Day resources for you in one place. Then you can pick and choose what you want to do!
Of course, before you make any plans on your own, check your Council’s website to see what they are offering for a Journey in a Day. When searching for resources for you, the events often came up at the top of the list.
Photo from Haute Chocolate #hcstyledstock
Daisy Girl Scout Journey in a Day
One Year of Daisy Scouts (two documents with HOW to do a Journey in a day or sleepover event)
Welcome to the Girl Scout Flower Garden (from Making Friends)
Between Earth and Sky (from Making Friends)
3 Cheers for Animals (from Making Friends)
3 Cheers for Animals (from Plant, Plant, Electro…What?)
3 Cheers for Animals (from Girl Scout Troop 2214)
Brownie Girl Scout Journey in a Day
Wonders of Water (from Girl Scout Troop 2214)
Brownie Quest Sleepover (from A year in the Life of a Girl Scout)
A World of Girls (from Girl Scouts of Nation’s Capital)
Junior Girl Scout Journey in a Day
aMuse (from I am Girl Scouts)
aMuse (from Girl Scouts of Nation’s Capital)
aMuse (from Girl Scout Leader 101)
Get Moving (from I am Girl Scouts)
Get Moving (from Girl Scout Leader 101)
Agent of Change (from Girl Scouts of Central Texas)
Have you done a Journey in a day? Did you plan it or attend a Council event?
Hi there, I am the troop leader for Troop 2214. Your active link for our Get Moving journey (Juniors) is incorrect. Takes readers to someone else’s (equally amazing!) blog 🙂
Thanks for finding that for me! It is now corrected.
Like you I am not fond of the Journey’s, at all. I would like to know if someone has developed a Journey in a day for the Cadette’s, Senior’s and Ambassador’s?
I am not sure. You may want to join the Facebook groups for older scouts and ask there. They may resources for you.
This is my second year as a Daisy troop leader. The first year we focused on earning the petals. This year, we decided to wade into the Journey badges. We are going to complete the 3 Cheers for Animals and Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden.
We were told the 3 Cheers for Animals Journey was “the one to do”. In fact, it was out of stock and the lead time for shipping was 6 weeks. I was able to find a copy on Amazon though. After digging through the leader guide I was simply amazed at what was expected for this age level. The leader guide suggests taking a whopping 10 meetings to complete this Journey. Almost half of the Journey is planning to earn the Red Robin Award. As an adult I was overwhelmed just reading the leader’s guide!
I started tweaking things so they were more appropriate for my girls and I cut the amount of meetings in half. We are also going to take a tour of our local animal shelter and then to earn our Red Robin Award the girls are going to collect supplies to be donated to the animal shelter.
I feel like Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden journey is a bit more age appropriate. It also seems like the meetings are more coherent versus 3 Cheers for Animals which at times to me, feels disjointed.
The Flower Garden journey also seems to be more hands on for the girls and I feel will hold their attention more. Luckily for our troop, we will start the Garden Journey in late winter / early spring and the church I attend has decided to start a community garden so all of our plants, worms and possibly Labybugs will be donated to the community garden.
I have zero experience with anything other than the Journeys so I cannot compare them to what was done prior to the Journeys. I do think some changes need to be made so they are more age appropriate.
The Journey In a Day seems overwhelming as a leader and for the girls. It seems like that would be information overload and I am not sure how much the girls would absorb. And how in the world would you the Gardening Journey in a day?
Anyway, sorry for the long comment!!
I appreciate comments both long and short! I did not believe in the Journeys program since I felt it was age inappropriate and required too much overhauling, therefore never did one until I was forced to for my troop to earn the Bronze. Anything that needs that much tweaking to make it work tells me that it is not working! We are volunteers and the program should not have to be modified, which takes up so much more of our time. You may want to join the Daisy Girl Scout Facebook group. They have amazing resources and can help you answer how to do the Journey in a Day. You really do not have to do it, so I would not stress over it.
The irony of Journeys is that they were originally designed to accomplish two goals: (1) provide girls with the specific experience and background skills needed to tackle higher quality Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards since too many girls simply had no clue how to approach a quality project; and (2) to give leaders the type of “turnkey” program they were begging for to reduce the amount of time they were spending coming up with ideas and resources for troop meetings. After struggling for years in a love/hate relationship with Journeys, I have come to appreciate the good parts and I simply ignore or modify the rest.
As an educator for over three decades, I know how to make a program work for my students. The Journeys was a complete disaster, in my opinion, because leaders could not figure out what to do. They had to redo the entire thing and use other resources to get it done. Plus it took forever!
Back in the mid 1990’s, my school district adopted a new math program. My two co-teachers and I had the teacher guides over the summer to go over them, and then we met to see how to approach it. We all agreed it was a poorly written program. It took five years and abysmal test scores, plus a consultant who cost $5000, to finally get rid of a program we teachers had been saying all along was bad. We had to rework the entire thing and use outside resources to teach.
The Journeys Program reminded me of that experience. Leaders disliked them. And in my opinion, if you can do a Journey in a Day, what is the point of the program?
Don’t forget the Girl Scouts of River Valleys. They have amazing Activity Plans for EVERY level (including Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador) which break down the Journeys into two 3-4 hour blocks, plus the final Take Action Project.
girlscoutsrv.org
(Not my Council, just a big fan of their resources!)
They do have amazing things! Thanks for the reminder!
I think it’s interesting that the VTK has shortened the journey plans for the original journeys from 10 meetings to six. I’ve tried journeys as they were intended, and by the time the year was over they had forgotten what they learned at the beginning. More successful was one I did over two long days on two different weekends, with the TAP being decided on but accomplished later. I do think it’s possible to plan a JID but it needs to be a long day, and especially for older girls the TAP likely would be done later. But when I saw a program being advertised to do the outdoor journey virtually in 4 hours I was really irritated.
Deborah, I have been irritated by the Journeys program since 2008 when I first discovered it as a new leader of kindergarten Daisies. As an educator, it felt so age inappropriate the way it was written. Sixteen years later, leaders are still complaining. I have always been of the opinion that Journeys were a way for the GSUSA to make money. Since you need to do one to earn the metal awards, then the program must be purchased. There are Facebook Buy and Sell groups that do virtual Journeys and then your troop only has to do the TAP. It took a few months for my troop to earn their Bronze Award, we never completed the Silver Award, and we did two Senior Journeys for my girls to earn the Gold Award. Those two were done over the summer over the course of three days.