Using Safety-Wise when Planning with Girls (and having fun doing it!)
Girls who learn and practice safe and healthy behaviors now are more likely to establish lifelong habits of safety consciousness.
As a leader, you can help girls by:
- Including Safety-Wise as a resource for EVERY planned activity
- Learning and practicing safety skills
- Teaching girls to listen and follow safety instructions exactly
- "Thinking Safety" and "Being Prepared"
- Identifying potential safety risks to activities and how to handle them
- Knowing how, when and where to get help when needed
Fun Activities to do with your group:
· Pick an easy activity such as Bicycling. Without leaving the meeting place, have girls make decisions from Safety-Wise such as: Can everyone ride a bike? Are the clothes girls have on now appropriate? Let each girl model and tell the group why she would or wouldn’t wear a particular item on a bike. Do they know the rules of the road? Do a skit based on what you have learned or plan a bike rodeo with the help of the local police department.
· Your troop is going camping. Bring a BIG suitcase full of items and have girls deter mine which items are appropriate and which are not. Include a curling iron, flip-flops, hair spray, candles, big stuffed animal and other inappropriate items along with clothing, a flashlight and needed items. Make sure approved items will now fit in a back pack! Or a duffle bag!
· Do your girls know how to use maps or public transportation? Show them how to use these resources and have them determine the best way to go between two sites. What safety issues are involved?
· Have girls look through their handbooks or try-it, badge, interest patch books and identify at least 5 activities where there is a safety issue. Find the appropriate Safety-Wise regulation to do the activity safely. Act out the right and wrong way to do it.
· Take a hike around your meeting place-both inside and outside. Have girls identify unsafe areas. Is there anything the group can do to make changes as a service project?
· Put the names of different activities on index cards (biking, skating, walking, playing in the park, etc). Have girls pick a card then do a safety poster about it. Use maga zines as well as drawings to get across safety messages and present the posters to a child care center, school or library.
· Using the information on pages 128-129 in Safety-Wise, have girls design a Web site ON PAPER that incorporates the safety issues listed. Choose some links and discuss why they would or would not be appropriate.
If you have a program or idea to share, please post it on the GSCB Forum.
|
