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Episode 4 – Bridging

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Spring is definitely in the air, and that means it’s…bridging season! This year, GSUSA has announced a National Bridging Week, May 4-11. What does that mean for you? Stay tuned to your council. They might have special bridging events that week that your girls can participate in. If that week works well for your troop to host a bridging ceremony, that’s amazing! If not, don’t feel pressured to host one before you’re ready. But you might still benefit from some resources shared with national bridging week in mind.

In this episode, we’re going through a few of the basics of bridging. This is a perfect episode for new leaders or those who have not hosted a Bridging ceremony before.

First, what is bridging?

Bridging is the act of transitioning from one Girl Scout level to another. Girls automatically transition to the next level when they move to a new grade level in school associated with a given Girl Scout level.

Bridging is a milestone of a girl’s life in Girl Scouts.

That’s why you might like to celebrate with a ceremony. A ceremony typically has three parts:

  • An opening, when guests are welcomed and the tone is set.
  • A middle, which is meaningful to the troop. Often girls walk across a real or pretend bridge, receive a new uniform or flowers, or talk about their experiences and their wishes for the future. It’s important to let girls have a say about what you do in the middle to make it meaningful to them.
  • A closing, when you come together before going your own way. A friendship circle or song is a common ending to a bridging ceremony.

What about bridging awards?

There is an award available for each transition level. The award always has 2 steps.

Step 1 – Pass it on

During this step, your girls pass on something they have learned or done as a Girl Scout at their current level to girls at a level younger than them.

Step 2 – Look Ahead

Your girls must find out what the next level of Girl Scouts do. A troop in the level older should show them something they’ve done or learned.

You can find the exact requirements plus some age-appropriate activity suggestions in your Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting Binder and here:

For Daisies: Bridge to Brownie Award

For Brownies: Bridge to Junior Award

For Juniors: Bridge to Cadette Award

For Cadettes: Bridge to Senior Award

For Seniors: Bridge to Ambassador Award

For Ambassadors: Bridge to Adult Award



Related Article: Commonly Asked Questions about Bridging Awards

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Episode 3 – Addressing the Risk in Risk Taker

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Do girls need to experience risk? According to the Girl Scout Movement, they answer is yes. The R. in G.I.R.L. is risk-taker afterall.  Our goals is for girls to take appropriate risks, try things even if they might fail, and learn from mistakes. So how do you give a girl risk opportunities that don’t give you, as the leader, heart palpitations, and how do you make those risky moments count, so girls learn from it.

Use Safety Activity Checkpoints

Girl Scouts have already assessed risk for a ton of activities. You may have heard of a little document called Safety Activity Checkpoints. Each checkpoints covers safety guidelines for a different activity.

When girl-planning an activity, talk to your girls about risk. Whether you have them look at the actual checkpoint or not is probably based on their age. You can lead a discussion when planning about what you need to be safe. Check their list of reminders with the checkpoint. Odds are they will have come up with even more safety ideas. If they have missed something, you can introduce it and they can learn together.

Be Prepared

Ah, the Girl Scout motto never lets us down. Being prepared is all about managing risk.  

Did you make a packing list? Turn that task over to the girls. Add reminders where needed. Ask questions from time to time like, “What would happen if we didn’t bring that” so they can work out what the consequences might be.

Do you have an emergency plan? Have the girls practice the plan during a meeting, or even have them make the plan with you, especially if they have practiced one before.

Instructions and Reminders

Before an activity with safety risks, provide instructions or an orientation.

Once girls are getting the hang of it and are becoming comfortable, provide additional safety reminders to keep them attentive.

Don’t Let the “What If’s” Stop Her, or You

Yes, we want girls to learn about risk, how to reduce it, how to address it, but we also don’t want reasonable risk to paralyze them. You may find a girl who won’t do something because “what if”. What if I fail? What if I do it wrong? What if x, y, z.  A good way to address this is to walk through the “what if” with her so she can realize if the worst case scenario is really all that bad.

As for us adults, the what if scenario is good for us too. What if gets in the way for us letting our girls do things. Remind yourself of the safety you have put in place and your response plan.

Mistakes Were Made

The last piece of risk taking is accepting mistakes and recovering. Girl Scouts is a safe place to fail. We want our girls to be willing to try hard things and try new ideas, which means they will fail.

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Episode 2 – Teaching Life Skills in Your Troop

This episode is all about teaching life skills in your troop.

For today’s purposes, life skills include girls learning to:

  • Care for themselves physically
    • Example: Complete their morning routine after an overnight
  • Take care of themselves emotionally
    • Example: Having positive friendships or coping with stress
  • Be responsible for their belongings
    • Example: Keeping tabs on all their things, or repairing and up-cycling projects
  • Keeping a clean space
    • Example: Cleaning your meeting space
  • Managing finances
    • Example: Knowing how much things cost or making spending decisions
  • Expressing themselves in their community
    • Example: Knowing how to express what’s bothering them or knowing how to participate in making change
    • Extra Resources here: G.I.R.L. Agenda

If you want to see what badges and Journeys are available that focus on life skills, you can visit the badge explorer on GSUSA’s website, it’s www.girlscouts.org/badgeexplorer and sort by your level and by topic area (like Life Skills).

In this episode, Stacie gives examples of ways to incorporate life skills into your meetings and outings, even outside of badge or Journey activities.

Bonus: Download our All Things Girl Scouts Kaper Chart.

Kapers, the more fun version of chores, help girls learn to care for the space they use. We provide an example of one that works for most meeting spaces, plus a blank chart your troop can customize. Use labeled clothespins, magnets, or dry-erase to use in your meetings. Check out more cute ideas for kaper charts on our pinterest board.



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Episode 1 – Group Decision-Making

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One of the best things about Girl Scouts is that it’s girl-led, which means girls have a lot of decisions to make, both as an individual and as a group.  

Common decisions troops need to make:

  • Which badges, patches, awards or journeys to earn
  • What to do for a Take Action Project, or a Girl Scout Bronze/Silver Award project
  • How to spend troop funds
  • How high to set troop goals during the Cookie program

How to decide

  • Majority Rule/Voting
  • Consensus Building (a.k.a. Stacie’s favorite)
  • Divide and Enjoy

Checkout our downloadable Consensus Building Worksheet. Write in your troop’s options and photocopy for each girl, or print it big and decide together.

Get the Downloadable Resource:



Mentioned in this episode – Adventure Camp Overnight – www.adventurecampovernight.com/april2019

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Episode 0 – Introduction

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Officially announcing the All Things Girl Scouts media collaboration! Listen in for the quick run-down from your hostess, Stacie Simpson, with details on the partnership between Stacie Simpson Consulting and Girl Scouts of Citrus to merge the Silver & Gold Podcast with the All Things Girl Scouts Blog. Now, you’ve got lots of awesome places to find Girl Scout news and resources – all under one name: All Things Girl Scouts. Listen in!