It has been great fun being a Community Event Provider for the Girl Scouts! I recently did a Flower Badge for a troop at a school in Milwaukee, WI. The class was a great deal of fun. At the end of the class, the members were able to earn their Flower Badge and add it to their sash or vest. For this class, we first talked about the various parts of a flower and identified the function of each part and then the troop all choose different parts to imitate to recreate a "living" flower in the classroom.
Different girls became parts such as sepals, petals, stamen with pollen and the central stigma. The troop took to the task with great enthusiasm! After that, we discussed what healing properties flowers possess such as the healing qualities of calendula. This lead to the discussion of how to infuse those properties into olive oil which can then be combined with beeswax to make a salve. The girls were really excited when I announced we were going to make our own salve in the classroom and everyone would go home with one!
Everyone was able to pitch in and help make the salve. There were a lot of "oooo's" and "aahhhhh's" when the salve solidified and they were each able to pick up a tin and test it on themselves.
It is a great feeling to be able to pass on the amazing healing capabilities that plants have!
