Thursday, January 16, 2014

Brownies: Snack Badge

My troop really enjoyed earning this badge.  To repeat what Catherine said, "What Girl Scout does not like a meeting that involves food and eating!" Straight from the mouth of one of my babes!

The Snack Badge is one of those badges with endless opportunities to have fun.  I do not have any earth-shattering activities, crafts or wisdom to share, but I can tell you what I did for this meeting and hopefully take the planning phase out of your schedule.

We also plan to tour Central Market, which is a gourmet grocery store, for our next field trip.  They plan on showing the girls some odd fruits in produce, lobsters in the Seafood Dept and breads in the bakery!  We get to end the tour with gelato!  Can't Wait!

I used the www.ChoosemyPlate.gov website for information and to help guide my troop discussion.  I passed out small paper copies of the plate and asked the girls what they observed when looking at the plate.  Kids are funny... one girl commented that green seems like a good color to represent vegetables (since most vegetables are green) on the plate and red for fruit (because strawberries and apples are red), brown for grains (because bread is often brown) and she gets why Dairy is blue since the lid to her milk is blue, but why is protein purple?  She has never eaten purple meat.  Friends, this is why I love leading!  I had to laugh, these girls can be so observant.
I had to redirect the conversation because this was not quite the information I was fishing for and finally a girl comments that Vegetables and Fruits are the biggest colors on the plate.  YES!  So with this observation I asked the girls to give examples of foods in each category.  We talked about the "Recommended Daily Plan" for each of these food categories, what constitutes a serving, how to calculate a cup of food and so on.  I did not get into a lot of detail.  I did not feel this was a big health lesson, just an awareness.  They could probably spend an entire month on diet alone in 3rd grade.  Besides they could not sit still anticipating the snacks.

I once again set-up the snacks in stations, with a large troop this makes the most sense.  Each girl was asked to go to one of 3 tables where I had a parent helper to lead the building of their snack.   We talked about how much fun food can be to make and that they are old enough to find foods they can make on their own.  The 3 station were good examples of foods they could make themselves.

Station 1:  M&M Flowers was a Birthday Snack for one of my Brownies and was a good example of a less healthy alternative for a snack, but a good chance to reinforce that not all snacks need to be healthy all of the time.  Birthdays are a great time to celebrate and be less concerned about healthy foods.
Items Needed:
    vanilla wafers
    icing
    m&ms
    pretzels

Station 2: Safari Celery - Celery is loaded in Vit C, A and K which is critical for good blood function and coagulation.  Many kids are not fond of celery, but with this combination my girls were willing to try it.
Items Needed:
     Celery (one stalk cut in half per serving and bottom carefully pre-cut to allow the celery to lay flat)
     cream cheese (to avoid possibility of allergies) OR Peanut Butter (also found Wow Butter a                               soybean, nut-free peanut butter alternative that tastes like PB alternative at Wal-Mart)
     animal crackers
     Toppers for fun: dried cherries, mini chocolate chips, icing sprinkles


Station 3:  Tortilla Pizza Wraps (FAVORITE amongst Girls) - whole grain or wheat tortillas make this snack even healthier
Items Needed:
     Tortillas
      Squeezable (a MUST!) Pizza Sauce
      Sliced Mozzarella Cheese (prevents mess)
      mini-pepperoni
I also had an alternative, although only 1girl out of 26 did not want the pizza tortilla
Ham & Cheese Tortillas
Items Needed:
    Tortillas
    Ham & Cheese combo pack (Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Combos)
    Slice American Cheese
    Pickle (Sandwich Slice)
    Mustard & Ranch May (optional)




I had the parent helpers ask the girls which food group each ingredient item was from.
Celery Snack CLICK HERE
m&m Flower Snack
Tortilla Snack
My Plate
My Plate Handouts


If you download my files please list your troop #, council and state in the comments area.  I love for readers to see all the active leaders in the area looking and sharing resources! Also this keeps me inspired to continue updating my posts!












30 comments:

  1. I'm in the midst of planning our first meeting on the Snack Badge. Your post is MOST helpful. Thanks for sharing. I'll be sure to come back for more ideas.

    Susan
    Troop 04899

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  2. Thank you for the wonderful ideas!

    Teri Jo
    Brownie Troop 40750

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  3. Are the pizza rolls heated up, or eaten cold? Thanks! Super cute ideas!

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  4. Would love hand-outs! This is awesome.

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  5. Great Ideas!

    Troop 22114, Tennessee
    Bridget

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  6. Did you heat the pizza rolls?
    Jean, Pennsylvania Brownie troop

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  7. Love this fun plan!
    Troop 51570
    Illinois

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  8. Thanks for the great ideas! Tammy, GS Troop #88176 Massachusetts

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  9. So perfect!!

    Christina Hamilton
    Troop #10369

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  10. Thank you for the ideas! Its perfect

    Angela Miller
    Troop # 50397

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  11. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. We are using this lesson for our 1st Brownie meeting!
    Nicole
    Troop 2157--New York

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  12. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. We are using this lesson for our 1st Brownie meeting!
    Nicole
    Troop 2157--New York

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  13. So helpful for our snack badge. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Diane Donnelly
    Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee
    Troop 1255

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  14. Great ideas to earn our snack badge. Thank you so much for sharing!

    Diane Donnelly
    Troop 1255
    Middle Tennessee

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  15. Going to use some of this for our badge meeting!
    Carrie
    Troop #41157 (Seattle)

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  16. Great ideas! Thank you!

    Bree J.
    Troop #40235
    Ann Arbor, MI

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  17. Thanks for the tips!
    Troop 1547
    Austin, TX

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  18. great ideas! Thank you!
    Troop #62322
    Redwood City, CA

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  19. Great Ideas thank you! Troop 155 Westfield, Indiana

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  20. TR6616 Eastern PA
    I have daisies and brownies and this just saved my life! we are working on respect myself and others and I've been trying to incorporate brownie badges alongside the daisy petals...so eating healthy is going to be the connection! Thanks

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  21. Great Ideas!

    Troop 6675
    Sherwood, Arkansas

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  22. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
    Troop 76173
    Oxford, MI

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  23. Thank you Troop 2073 Jacksonville, FL

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  24. Troop 75671, Macomb, MI. Thanks for the great ideas!!

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  25. Thank you so much for posting and sharing your great ideas.

    Troop 16506 ATL, GA

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  26. Thank you! Troop 1622- Sacramento, CA

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  27. Thank you! Troop#1622 Sacramento, CA

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  28. Thanks for the great ideas - we're working on our Healthy Snack badge today, and I'll be using your plate printout idea, and maybe making the pizza wheels.
    Robyn
    Troops 26 and 27 (Brownies and Juniors)
    Geneva
    Switzerland

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  29. Thank you for sharing this information. I will be filling in for my brownie leader and needed some quick help.
    Troop 00044 Las Vegas NV

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