Honest and Fair

Not included: For troop fairness jar: Markers, opaque cup or container to hold sticks. Remember, you don’t have to do all the activities.

Intro: Let’s make the Girl Scout sign and say the Girl Scout Promise together. Would anyone like to lead it?

On my honor, I will try: To serve God* and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

*Members may substitute for the word God in accordance with their own spiritual beliefs.

Icebreaker: Have each girl share their name, and their favorite sport or game!

Pick at least three of the following activities to complete to earn this petal!

You can do these all in one meeting or over several meetings if you wish. Feel free to be creative, and modify or supplement these ideas with your own activities around the theme of honesty and fairness.

Activity 1: Talk about it!

Ask the girls: What does being honest mean? What does being fair mean? Why is it important to be honest and fair?

Are the kids in these situations being honest and fair? Why or why not?

Everyone was lining up to pick their cupcake at a birthday party. Sally cut in line so she could be by her friend.

Kayla was passing out candies to trick or treaters. She gave every trick or treater 3 candies. Jill was passing out markers for a class project. She gave her friends all the best colors, and gave others the less popular colors.

Activity 2: Make a troop fairness jar.

Give each girl a jumbo craft stick (included) and have them decorate it with their name and any design they wish using markers or any other supplies you may have on hand. (Note: Bring a cup or jar to put the sticks in.)

Explain that this is a way to keep our troop meetings honest and fair. When we are selecting a troop member to take a turn, do a chore, etc., we can draw a stick from our fairness jar. Practice by having the girls take turns drawing a name to show off a wacky dance move.

Activity 3: Fact vs. ction!

Play a truth and a lie: Have each girl tell one thing about herself that is a true fact, and another thing that she makes up. See if her friends can guess which one is true and which is false.

Ask the girls: Is it always easy to tell a truth from a lie?

Activity 4: Play a game!

If you have outdoor space and good weather, go outside and play games such as tag, hide and seek, or duck–duck–goose. Before you start each game, ask the girls to help come up with a list of rules that will make the games fair. Write up their rules on a list, then talk about why it’s important to have rules in games. Would they be fair—or fun—with no rules?

If you don’t have outdoor space or the weather is not cooperating, you could try an indoor game (such as musical chairs or Simon says), play the following card game with the included deck of cards, or feel free to bring in a board game (or ask a girl to do so).

Concentration/Memory

Object of the game: To collect the most pairs of cards.

Setup: Shuf e a standard 52-card deck and lay them on the table, face down, in a pattern (e.g., 4 cards x 13 cards).

Gameplay: The youngest player goes rst. Play then proceeds clockwise. On each turn, a player turns over two cards (one at a time) and keeps them if they match numbers. If they successfully match a pair of numbers, that player also gets to take another turn. When a player turns over two cards that do not match numbers, those cards are turned face down again and it becomes the next player’s turn. When all the pairs have been found, the player with the most pairs wins.

Ask the girls: Were the rules fair? Did you have fun?

Activity 5: Share a snack fairly!

Ask the girls to come up with a plan to divide the gummy bears (included) so it’s fair.

Wrap-up:

End the meeting with a friendship circle/friendship squeeze. Have the girls help with any clean-up tasks. Talk about what you are doing at the next meeting, get their ideas for activities, and share upcoming meeting dates, homework, volunteer needs, etc. with parents as they arrive for pick-up. Consider sending a follow-up text with this information if needed.