Basic Meeting Plans are designed to have minimal supplies and still hit the GSUSA Requirements. Most meetings can be done in a 90 minute time frame.
Items needed:
- Printed and cut out heart for every scout.
- A Smiley Face and a Frownie Face you can place on either side of the meeting room.
- (Optional) One copy of the Responsible Actions list. (Note to Leaders – We recommend you print this out and write a few other actions that are not responsible on it so you don’t have to make it up as you go during the meeting.)
- Pipe cleaners (at least 6 per scout) and pony beads for Pipe Cleaner Beads Friendship Bracelets
Note to Leaders – If Friendship Bracelets cannot be done, doing Thank You cards for those who have helped with your troop can be used instead.
Wrinkled Heart
Action Needed: Hand each scout a heart and tell them to crumple them up. Tell them that when we say unkind or mean words to each other, this is what happens to our own hearts.
Ask scouts to uncrumple the hearts and try to smooth out the wrinkles. Let them notice that they cannot make it go back the way it was before they wrinkled it. Tell them that when you say you are sorry, it helps. It does not fix everything back the way it was. When mean words are said, it cannot be taken back.
(Requirement 1 Earned)
Note to Leaders – For more activities you can do with the Wrinkled Heart see this mini lesson.
Smile and Frowns
Action Needed: Place the Smiley Face on one side of the room and the Frownie face on the other. Have the scouts stand in the middle of the room. Use the Responsible Actions to call out an action. Make some up that are not responsible. Each time the scouts must run to the side of the room that is appropriate (smiley for responsible, frownie for not responsible). Scouts return to the middle of the room before the next line is called.
(Requirement 2 Earned)
Friendship Bracelets
Info Needed: When you are friends it is important to always be responsible for what you say and do. Friends should not hurt each other with words. Friends should always follow through on what they say. If a friend wants to meet after school, it hurts when they don’t show up. A symbol of your promise to always be a good friend is a friendship bracelet. Make a pair of bracelets that look exactly the same. You keep one and give one to a friend as a symbol of your friendship and your promise to try and be a good friend.
Fun Activity: Make two Friendship Bracelets for each scout by braiding three pipe cleaners together and adding a pony bead to the middle every other braid.
(Requirement 3 Earned)
Meeting End
Scouts can continue to make additional friendship bracelets or play another game of smiley/frownie with new actions until it’s time to go home.
General Notes
Note to Leaders – No Basic Plan compiled by The Badge Archive will earn multiple badges in one level. Part of being budget friendly is not costing more than the price of one official GSUSA badge per meeting.
Some badges will take two meetings to finish. This helps scouts enjoy activities and keeps the troop budget in mind by only needing one GSUSA badge for every two meetings. Troops may choose to get a fun patch for one of the meetings if scouts want a badge/patch for every meeting. Scouts can earn the fun patch if they only attend one meeting and get a fun patch and the official badge if they go to both.
The Badge Archive 