She said, “At first we weren’t too sure we wanted to poke around the rotting log, but once we saw all the interesting insects and tiny plants on it, we were fascinated!” The activity can help scouts earn their Animal Habitats and Digital Photographer Badges. Her daughter, Libby, remembers doing The Fallen Log activity on a Girl Scout camping trip. Troop leader Shaileen Backman from Virginia recalls some of the fun PLT activities she’s done with scouts, including To Be a Tree and Tree Cookies. Other favorites include Every Drop Counts and The Shape of Things. She pairs PLT’s The Fallen Log activity with exploring a giant log replica during a night hike (pictured right). Katie Brkich uses many PLT activities with her Junior troop including Living with Fire when teaching fire safety for their Camper badge. The Student Page was a great reproducible resource.”

“Plant a Tree was one of my favorite PLT activities because the girls discovered the benefits of trees and the activity gave the steps they needed to do a tree planting project. “When my troop worked on their Trees Badge, I used several activities in PLT’s PreK-8 Guide to help them learn first-hand about trees and how they can help trees in our community,” said Cadette Girl Scout leader, Vicki Watson from Michigan. Project Learning Tree activities, and the background information and student pages they include, are great resources for troop leaders who want more information on specific Journey and Badge topics, such as water, air, insects, and trees. Katie Brkich, a professor of Elementary Science Education at Georgia Southern University, believes PLT activities work so well with Girl Scout programs because both programs embrace teaching environmental stewardship and contributing to the improvement of society. A few examples are gardener, camper, naturalist, trees, flowers, animal helper, healthy living, first aid, citizen, financial literacy, and digital arts.ĭr. Girl Scouts can also earn National Proficiency Badges in a variety of topic areas.

Girls explore a variety of interests along a Journey, everything from animals, cooking, and the arts, to the outdoors and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Their National Leadership Journeys program encourages girls to discover what they care about and ways they can change the world. Girl Scouts of the USA is a leadership development organization for girls, with 3.2 million girl and adult members worldwide. Scout troop leaders and volunteers, and those who provide scout programs at nature centers, parks, and community recreation facilities, can quickly identify Project Learning Tree activities that meet the requirements for Girl Scout Badges and Journeys for each level.

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