All levels have similar requirements. Find the projects that appropriately challenge your troop (don’t let high schoolers get away with doing kindergarten crafts!) and have fun outdoors.
This Activity List covers: Outdoor Art Maker (Daisy); Outdoor Art Creator (Brownie); Outdoor Art Explorer (Junior); Outdoor Art Apprentice (Cadette); Outdoor Art Expert (Senior); Outdoor Art Master (Ambassador)
Activity Ideas
Listed under each requirement
Step 1 – Explore Nature
Daisy: Explore colors in nature; Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, & Ambassador: Observe and record what you see in nature OR talk to an artist that makes nature art.
RECOMMENDED: Nature Scavenger Hunt
- Alphabet Hike
- Compare indoor and outdoor performances
- Color Race
- Create a new creature adaptable to your area
- Draw the same scene in different seasons
- Exhibit of outdoor environmental art
- Explore colors in nature (art or color race/hunt)
- Five Senses Walk
- Host art gallery outside
- Nature Detective Hike
- Nature Scavenger Hunt
- Observe and sketch three or more public artworks outdoors
- Paint or draw what you see
- Spot 3 things and write 5 observations
- Texture Scavenger Hunt
- Use a Guest Speaker (Talk to an artist that makes nature art)
- Use a Guest Speaker (Talk to an artist that makes nature art) and create something inspired by their work
- Wildlife inspired art
Step 2 – Nature Inspired Art
Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, & Ambassador: Make something nature inspired.
RECOMMENDED: Leaf Rubbings and Leaf Drawings
- Pick any Nature Inspired Art Project
Step 3 – Nature Sounds
Daisy: Explore sounds in nature; Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, & Ambassador: Use nature inspiration to make music or dance.
RECOMMENDED: Human Rain Storm
- Animal mimic card game
- Create a playlist inspired by nature
- Playlist of five songs to listen to when you’re doing something fun outdoors
- Playlist of songs that have lyrics about nature in them
- Soundtrack for a specific walk/hike
- DIY band for an outdoor performance
- Explore sounds in nature (Make a Maraca or Sound Hunt)
- Hike to a song
- Human Rain Storm
- Make instruments with nature
- Nature’s Symphony
- Rap or poem inspired by nature
- Record natural sounds and human-made ones
- Bird Song
- Record natural sounds and human-made together and share to see who can detect what
- Record outdoor sounds & mix and layer to create a song
- Recreate Nature Sounds
- Sing Songs in a Round
- Song creation
- Sound Hunt
- Soundtrack for a specific walk/hike
- Teach younger girls three camp songs about nature
- Nature Dance Game
- Teach how to Connect with Nature
- Wind Chimes
Step 4 – Nature Photography
(Daisies do not need this step) Brownie: Take photos OR draw or paint like it’s a photo; Junior, Cadette, Senior, & Ambassador: Take photos.
RECOMMENDED: 20 Steps
- Create a documentary film or photo series about an issue
- Draw or paint like it’s a photo (Option for Brownies)
- “No camera? No worries! – Go outside to draw or paint a picture of what you see. Use a magnifying glass to see details: You might see the parts inside a flower or a pattern on a shell. Or make a square using your fingers to see how it might look as a photo. You can also draw a picture of your backyard and add something that’s not there, like a unicorn, bird, or butterfly-use your imagination!” – GSUSA Outdoor Art Creator Booklet
- Draw your backyard and add something imaginative
- Cyanotype Paper print
- Hike journal
- Create journal or presentation of a series of photos taken along a hike, showing the hike highlights
- Use the iNaturalist app
- Make a square with your fingers and capture what’s in the frame
- Outdoor music video
- Shoot an outdoor music video with a song about nature
- Pattern/texture close-ups
- Play with filters/modes
- Experiment by using different filters offered
- Play around with different modes
- Photo Scavenger Hunt
- Group effort – Photo everything to start each letter in the alphabet (goes well with the alphabet hike in Requirement 1)
- Photo only creatures (animals or insects)
- Presentation of photos taken of a space over a few days/weeks
- Take a photo of the same landscape in all four seasons.
- Pretend to shrink and take up-close images
- Get one object in focus with a blurry background
- Pretend to be tiny and take photos like an insect or fairy would.
- Take close ups of patterns and textures in nature
- Series of photos closer and closer until you can’t tell what it is anymore
- Take a series of photos where you get closer and closer in on an object until it’s difficult to tell what it is
- Shoot panoramic
- Get a Rule of Thirds landscape shot (horizon in the top third of the photograph, while the landscape takes up the bottom two thirds of the shot)
- Find an app that can help you shoot panoramic
- Something blended into its surroundings
- Find and photograph things that have blended into their surroundings
- Have a friend wear something with a camouflage pattern and take pictures in outdoor places where they blend in
- Take photos at 3 different times of day
- Take photos at multiple times during the day of the same object to compare.
- Take pictures outdoors from unusual perspectives
- 20 Steps
- Challenge for interesting colors, textures and angles in nature
- Find a line to lead the eyes (road going off in the distance, a fence line, line of trees)
- Ground shots (lay on the ground and photo landscape upwards)
- Shoot your feet when standing somewhere interesting in nature
- Use magnifying glass for details
- Visual comparison of nature and non-nature structure
- Take a picture of one structure that you think works well with nature, and one that doesn’t
- Time-lapse project
- Stop Motion (PremierRush, Instagram Reels, or VideoLeap to link photos for video)
- Take pictures of an object outdoors in a single frame at a time over a period of time—a day, week, or month.
Step 5 – Art with Nature
(Daisies do not need this step) Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, & Ambassador: Make art with nature
RECOMMENDED: Suncatcher
- Pick any Art with Nature Project.
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For pre-planned meeting plans by others – see the appropriate badge page:
- Outdoor Art Maker (Daisy)
- Outdoor Art Creator (Brownie)
- Outdoor Art Explorer (Junior)
- Outdoor Art Apprentice (Cadette)
- Outdoor Art Expert (Senior)
- Outdoor Art Master (Ambassador)
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For More Fun Ideas and Plans
for Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Scouts
Join the Girl Scout Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Leader Help Facebook Group
(Not an official GSUSA Group)
This is a supportive Facebook community for Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Girl Scout leaders. Whether you’re seeking advice, fresh ideas, or meeting plans, you’re in the right place! Let’s inspire each other, share our experiences, and make every troop meeting a memorable adventure.
for Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Scouts
Join the Girl Scout Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Leader Help Facebook Group
(Not an official GSUSA Group)
This is a supportive community for Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl Scout leaders. This group offers solutions to keep older scouts engaged in scouting amidst their busy lives. Share strategies, tackle challenges, and exchange ideas for fun, meaningful activities that resonate with teens and build lasting connections.
Find out how you can support The Badge Archive!
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- Return to the Daisy Badge List.
- Return to the Brownie Badge List.
- Return to the Junior Badge List.
- Return to the Cadette Badge List.
- Return to the Senior Badge List.
- Return to the Ambassador Badge List.
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The Badge Archive 