Between Earth and Sky - Clover Award

It's Your Planet - Love It!: A Leadership Journey
Girl Scout Daisies

Another Journey completed! I can hardly believe it. We had so much fun with Between Earth and Sky that it felt like it took no time at all. After following ...3 Cheers for Animals! nearly to a tee, it was refreshing to break away from the suggested activities in the leader guide this time around. Instead of feeling mentally and physically exhausted, I feel happy and inspired to tackle our final Journey. Stayed tuned. We will be starting Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden very soon!

The activities Tessa completed to earn her Clover Award are outlined in Days 3 & 4.

Between Earth and Sky - Clover Award

Girls earn this third award as they team up to protect a natural treasure in their region The award is named for flower friend Clover, who helped preserve the natural habitat of Alaska by convincing her cousin White Sweetclover to leave the state so that its natural vegetation can flourish.

To earn the award, the girls:

• learn about and commit to protecting a natural treasure in their region.
• educate and inspire others in their community to join with them to protect the local treasure, too.

Day 1

• Read “A Salty Lake and the Smell of Pine" (pages 52-65) from Between Earth and Sky girls’ book. Completed associated questions and activities orally along the way.
• Continued mapping the Flower Friends' journey across the US. (See Firefly Award, Day 2 for a picture and more information.)
• Conducted "Salt Water Experiment" from Brilliant Beginnings Preschool blog. (Similar to "Salt, Water, and You!" (page 61) from Between Earth and Sky girls’ book.)
• Conducted "Growing Salt Crystals" experiment from Mama Smiles: Joyful Parenting blog.

Tessa found it fascinating that an egg placed in super salty water floats!

Tessa created a mini aquarium for her salt crystals to grow on and then squirted super salty blue tinted water all over it to get the process started. I cut a fish shape from a standard dry sponge ahead of time. The coral is a curled pipe cleaner and the pebbles pompoms.  

Tessa's salt crystal aquarium exactly two weeks later. Pretty cool, eh? If I can ever remember to buy some blank slides, we are going to look at a sample underneath our microscope.

Day 2

• Read "Toward the Coast of California" (pages 66-77) from Between Earth and Sky girls’ book. Completed associated questions and activities orally along the way.

I considered growing fungus for this chapter but felt that was too similar to our salt crystal experiment above...a lot of waiting involved. It would have been fun to taste piñon nuts, but they are too difficult to come by where we live. In the end, we simply read this chapter one day when Tessa was sick with a fever.

Days 3 & 4

• Read "North to White Sweetclover" and the rest of the book (pages 78-back cover) from Between Earth and Sky girls’ book. Completed associated questions and activities orally along the way.
• Finished mapping the Flower Friends' journey across the US. (See Firefly Award, Day 2 for a picture and more information.)
• Read and discussed Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America by Kathi Appelt.
• Created wildflower seed bombs using the recipe from "DIY | Seed Bomb Wedding Favors" by Something Turquoise blog. Our tags were a freebie from "Seed Bomb Labels" by Paper Ballroom blog. 

I had a couple of grandiose ideas for Tessa earning her Clover Award...ones that involved a lot more learning, input and planning on her part. While I really liked one idea in particular, which was doable on our part (although, it would have cost a good bit more and taken a lot more time), I decided to hold onto it for later. It would have a greater impact if implemented in a troop setting at the Brownie, Junior or Cadet level.

To keep Tessa's Clover project simple and affordable for the two of us, I went ahead and planned it out. Tessa made smaller decisions within the project and did a good chunk of the work.

Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America by Kathi Appelt was the perfect complement to Tessa's seed bomb project. More so, it's about a real girl who grew up to make a real difference in America. I love that Tessa's project celebrates Lady Bird Johnson's legacy and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's mission "to educate people about the environmental necessity, economic value, and natural beauty of native plants."

The cost of Tessa's Clover project was about $12-$15. We bought the Crayola air dry clay from Hobby Lobby with a 40 percent off coupon. The compost mix (around $2) and wildflower seed mix (around $6) came from Lowe's. We could have gotten away with a smaller bag of wildflower seed mix. The little flowered Chinese takeout containers were just a dollar for a pack of eight at Dollar Tree. They are a seasonal design, but Dollar Tree carries others throughout the year. We already had the green cardstock, yarn, crinkle paper and a few other minor items on hand at home. Our mixing containers were recyclables.

After scooping and measuring the ingredients of the seed bomb recipe, Tessa mixed them all together. I had to add a little water and finish up the mixing. The clay is stiff!

Tessa pinched off half-dollar sized pieces of clay/compost mix and then generously dabbed them into wildflower seed mix.

Afterward, she folded over her clay/compost bits and shaped them into balls.

The seed bombs need 2-3 days to dry before packing them up. Tessa placed a bit of green crinkle paper and then five bombs into each container.

After folding the containers shut, Tessa cut yarn to length while I tied on the tags.

Tessa will pass out her completed seed bomb packets to the other girls in her troop this week to "educate and inspire" them to help protect our country's native plants. Tessa said this will help make the world a better place!