World Thinking Day

Buddy up with your Girl Scout friends and a trusted adult to take a walk or a hike. It could be in your neighborhood or a city park, or on a hiking trail. Bring colored pencils or markers and a notebook or sketch pad. As you walk, draw anything that makes you think of something you’d like to change. For example, you could draw fallen branches on a hiking trail, or broken playground equipment in a park. You can draw as many things as you like—there are no right or wrong answers!

When you’re back from your walk, look through your drawings and choose one that shows the change you’d most like to make. Once everyone in your group has chosen hers, it’s time for a group art project! On a large sheet of paper, every girl should draw her picture. Talk about your project first—how do you want it to look? Will the symbols be scattered around the paper, or can they work together to make a combined picture? Do you want to use colors or make it black and white? Again, there are no right or wrong answers—you can be as creative as you’d like.

The finished picture, with all of your combined drawings, represents the impact of Girl Scouts working together. Pretty powerful, right? Does it give you any ideas for how you could take action to make changes? 

With help from an adult, go online or visit a library to read about different women who have had an impact on the world. They could be women who lived long ago, or women who are making a difference right now. If you don’t read yet, that’s no problem—have an adult read to you. Choose a favorite, then get together with your Girl Scout friends and talk about the woman you picked. How did she change the world? Does she inspire you to make changes of your own? How? 

Get together with your Girl Scout friends to try this activity, showing how your actions impact other people’s lives. You’ll need:

• A large shallow bowl or basin filled with water
• One small rock or marble for each girl in the group

One by one, each girl takes a turn telling the group how the bowl of water is a group of people she’s a part of and how the rock or marble is an act of kindness she can perform. For example, one girl might say that the bowl of water is her family and her rock or marble is giving her little brother a hug when she gets home from school. When the rock is dropped, the ripples spread throughout the family. Her little brother will be happier because of the kindness, and he’ll be nicer to their parents—maybe give some hugs of his own. And so on, and so on. Kindness travels!

Once every girl has taken a turn, come up with some ideas for working together to make an impact in your school, city or town, or even the state. After all, the more rocks are dropped, the more ripples there will be. 

Do you know what “diversity” means? If you want to make an impact in your community—whether it’s the community of your school, your town, your state, or your country—it’s important to understand and appreciate diversity. No two people in a group are exactly the same, which means we all see things a little differently. And it’s much easier to understand a person’s feelings if you make an effort to understand her background. Try this activity with your Girl Scout friends. It involves Swahili, a language spoken in parts of eastern Africa.

Kusafiri is a Swahili word meaning “to journey.” Spread out around a room (or outside). Have an adult be “Kusafiri” and read these Swahili words aloud:

Agree on a movement to represent each word. When the group is ready, Kusafiri calls out the words, one by one. As each word is read, the group makes that movement. When someone makes a mistake, she sits down. The last girl standing wins!

Make an impact on the world by going on a Girl Scout Leadership Journey! With the girls in your troop or group, design and carry out a Take Action project that addresses something important to you.

Buddy up with your Girl Scout friends and a trusted adult to take a walk or a hike. It could be in your neighborhood or a city park, or on a hiking trail. Bring colored pencils or markers and a notebook or sketch pad. As you walk, draw anything that reminds you of “power.” For example, you could draw an ant, which can carry objects much larger than itself, or a skyscraper you can see from the park, rising high above your city. You can draw as many things as you like—and there are no right or wrong answers! 

When you’re back from your walk, look through your drawings and choose a “power symbol” for yourself. If nothing jumps out at you, draw something new! Your symbol could be something that:

• Makes you feel strong
• Inspires you to make a difference
• You’re passionate about
• …Or all three!

Once everyone in your group has chosen their power symbol, it’s time for a group art project that combines them all. You could draw or paint your symbols on a large sheet of paper, or make a collage of photos or a video of each girl describing her symbol in some way. The sky’s the limit. 

Your finished project, with its collection of power symbols, represents the impact of Girl Scouts working together. Does it give you any ideas for changes you’d like to make or problems you’d like to solve? 

Team up with an adult to go online or visit a library to read about different women who have had an impact in different parts of the world. They could be women who lived long ago, or women who are making a difference right now. Choose a favorite, then get together with your Girl Scout friends and talk about who you picked and what she did. Why do you think she’s important? Does she inspire you to make changes of your own? How? Gather your group’s impactful women and showcase what they accomplished in any way you wish—maybe a video, a poem, or a collage of photos and drawings. 

If you want to make an impact in your community—whether it’s the community of your school, your town, your state, your country, or beyond—it’s important to understand and appreciate diversity. No two people in a group are exactly the same, which means we all see things a little differently. And it’s much easier to understand a person’s feelings if you make an effort to understand her background. Try this activity with your Girl Scout friends. It involves Swahili, a language spoken in parts of eastern Africa.

Kusafiri is a Swahili word meaning “to journey.” Spread out and pick one volunteer from your group to be “Kusafiri” and read these Swahili words aloud:

Next, agree on a movement to represent each word. When the group is ready, Kusafiri calls out the words, one by one. As each is read, the group makes the corresponding movement. When someone makes a mistake, she’s out of the game. The last girl left wins!

Do you have girls in your group who speak another language at home? If so, ask them to translate the Swahili words into their language and teach them to you. Try adding these words to Kusafiri’s commands and asking the group to remember which movements match each new word.

When you’re finished playing, talk about how easy or difficult it was to learn the words and movements. How can diversity help when trying to solve problems?

Make an impact on the world by going on a Girl Scout Leadership Journey! With the girls in your troop or group, design and carry out a Take Action project that addresses something important to you.

Talk to your parents or guardians about amplifying your voice and deepening your impact by becoming a U-Reporter. U-Report is a social messaging platform that allows anyone anywhere to speak out and be heard on issues they care about. More than 3 million young people have already registered as U-Reporters, including thousands of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

With permission from your parent or guardian, as a U-Reporter you can share your experiences and recommendations with world leaders and national and local decision-makers by responding to weekly polls through your cell phone. The U-Report team will write to you to let you know about the impact your voice is having—this way, you’ll see the difference you’re making in the world. We’ll also ask you to share your views with us, so that we can continually improve our work and ensure that Girl Scouting is always girl-led.

For this year’s World Thinking Day, we have created a U-Report poll to measure the impact of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides on the lives of girls worldwide. You can participate in the poll individually or as a group. All you need to do is log in to your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

• For Facebook: Visit the U-Report page and send an instant message that includes “WTD.”
• For Twitter: Visit the U-Report profile and send a direct message that includes “WTD.”

By including “WTD” in your message, the poll will be activated and you’ll start receiving the questions. After completing the poll, share the U-Report on Facebook or Twitter and invite your friends to join in, too, using the hashtags #GirlsVoicesMatter and #WTD2018.