School Year 2011-2012

Welcome back Troop 419 Families!

We finally have a schedule and I think you will be pleased.  Initially we were told that we would not have access to the art room as it was a classroom for the 2/3 split.  We were told we would be able to use the cafeteria in the evening (after extended day was finished).  Fortunately for us, things changed.  The split was dissolved and the art room, while still not being used as an art room, is now a split support room and we are able to use it once again for troop meetings after school.  If you see Mrs. Smith, our wonderful principal, please share your appreciation with her.  I think she would enjoy knowing how helpful this decision was to continue our troop with the number of girls that we are used to having!

Brownie Troop meetings will be held on Wednesday's (dates listed below) immediately after school.  Pick up time will be 5 p.m.  PLEASE be on time.  Both of us leaders, have activities after the meetings.

October 12 & 26
November 9- and one Saturday of fun, date to be determined.
December 14- and one Saturday of fun, date to be determined.
January 11 & 25
February 8 & 22
March 7 and one Saturday of fun, date to be determined.
April 18 and one Saturday of fun, date to be determined.
May 2 and a Saturday for our very important Bridging to Juniors Ceremony.

Some changes for this year: 
We will be providing a snack at each meeting. 
Our troop will consist of just third grade students.
Meeting dates are Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
Meetings end at 5:00.

Any questions please feel free to call us.
Kristi  631-0692
Liz 499-8885

July Art Workshops

July Schedule

All workshops $5/person

Please RSVP  kristiwodek@gmail.com

July 15  10:00-11:30 a.m.  Clay Pinch Pots

July 21  10:00-11:30 a.m.  Make a tile and a fun & funky mask

July 26  10:00-11:30 a.m.  Paper Making:  make paper to use for cards and books

Coming in August..........  glazing the clay pieces and tie dye

4th of July Parade

BIG THANKS to the girls that were able to participate in the Cherry Festival Junior Parade. 

Not shown in photo:  Courtney and Ally Leatherman, Maddy Jenkins, Molly Gaines

The girls waited Very patiently. 

The parade started an hour late due to a truck in the parade breaking down.

We made it!!!!!!!  Treats were waiting for the girls at the end of the parade.

This is the sash that I created for the American Girl (or any similar size doll). 

I have a couple left, e-mail me if you are interested.  kristiwodek@gmail.com

Tie Dye

Tie Dye Session

Thursday, June 30

10:00 a.m. - Noon

$5/tie dyer

I will provide rubber bands, dyes, rubber gloves, instructions for rinsing/washing.

YOU provide up to two articles to tie dye (t-shirt, pillow case, leggings, handkerchiefs, socks......trust me we have dyed a lot of stuff in our time!  Check label.....you want 100% cotton or something close to 100%. 

We have had success dying things that have spandex. 

Technically the dyes will not take to anything but cotton,

but you want something that your child will want to wear again and again!)

Also, since you will be playing with "dyes" wear old clothes, it is a very messy process.

Siblings welcome!

Girls will be on their way to earning the Art to Wear Badge

....thinking about a Henna party for another activity for the Art to Wear Badge later this summer!

Bubbles!!!

I promised I would share a super fun bubble recipe and here it is.

Homemade Bubble Solution

(note:  I have researched a couple of recipes on line, tried them out and this is a good compromise solution.  You will have to tweak on your end.  Note to self....windy days make this a challenging activity!)

12 cups purified water

5 cups of uncolored and unscented dishwashing soap

(this is darn near impossible to find.  I have tried dawn and palmolive)

1/2 cup glycerin (I found a bottle for $7.99 at Meijer in their pharmacy/health section)

Bubble Wands

2 wooden dowels

2 eye screws

4 washers

Cotton String

Drill a hole in the end of the dowel.

Screw the eye hook into the hole until it is secure

Cut two pieces of string: 

For large bubble wand:  100" and 70"

For medium bubble wand:  70" and 35"

put 4 washers on the long piece of string

(this will act as a weight...it will make sense when you start making ginormous bubbles!)

put the ends of both pieces of string through one of the eye hooks and tie a knot.  Do the same on the other eye hook.  Now you should have one long string and a shorter one that runs from one dowel to the other.

Just an FYI... a neighbor has asked Davis to make a bubble wand, so he is in the business to make bubble wands.  $5 per wand if you would rather just get one done.  They are easy to make, don't get me wrong, we just have a neighbor that doesn't want to fiddle with it.

How to make Giant Bubbles:

Take your bucket outside (I store my solution in a smaller container and

then pour into a plastic tub for bubble making time)

Put the end of the dowels in the bucket and the string should be submerged.

Bring both ends of the dowels up from the bubble solution, together until about chest high.

Then separate the dowels by pulling them outward so the string makes a triangle...pointing down. 

The washers will weigh the center of the bottom string down.

Step backward quickly so that the air goes through the bubble solution

between the dowels and makes a bubble.

It may take a couple of times, but have no fear you will be wowing yourselves with gigantic bubbles.

Last Meeting

Wow!  Our last official troop meeting is Tuesday, May 24.
At our last meeting we completely underestimated the projects and the amount of time we had to complete them.  We will finish the projects at the last meeting.  The girls will make a total of three projects, one which we will donate to the Share Fair (Thursday, May 26)

PLEASE pick up on time, we both have activities immediately after the meeting.

We promised the girls to post the two polymer clay books that we referenced for the projects.  If you are interested in doing some polymer projects here are a few basic tools that I would recommend:  a ceramic tile (great surface to work on), a roller (you can buy an acrylic roller or cut a piece of PVC pipe), some basic tools (at local arts and crafts stores...Michael's and JoAnn's), a dedicated pan to cook in (you will not want to use this pan for food again).  Feel free to contact Kristi at kristiwodek@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

We will post the sheets from the foreign language meeting a few weeks back.  And.....some more pictures.

Meeting Cancelled

The meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 21 has been cancelled.

Our next meeting will be April 12.

Have a wonderful Spring Break!
See you next month.

Liz and Kristi