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Sharing Yoga with Girl Scouts

Being a Girl Scout is not just about selling cookies, although this is one delicious perk of being a Girl Scout. Being a Girl Scout is about creating friendships, memories, learning valuable life skills, and becoming a strong, courageous leader in your community. Introducing yoga and meditation practices, like those from Kidding Around Yoga, to these aspiring leaders, provides them with yet another tool they can use to prepare for a lifetime of service and self discovery. 

Over 100 years ago the Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low set out to create an organization that taught girls the skills they would need to be strong independent women in society, and many of those traditions are still practiced today.

You can be a Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadet, or a Senior. It doesn’t matter what “level” you are at in your Girl Scout journey, the practice of yoga can be incorporated into your troop’s meetings or as a special event for your troop. Kidding Around Yoga offers a  fun patch that can be earned for taking a Kidding Around Yoga class or if you can find a Kidding Around Yoga teacher who has partnered with your local council, you could also earn a badge for participating in a Kidding Around Yoga class. There is a difference between a badge and a patch when speaking Girl Scout lingo. It’s always good to know that  badges are earned after achieving objectives or activities established by the Girl Scouts of America and are worn proudly on the front of your sash or vest. Patches on the other hand are considered “fun” and can be activities the troop does together but are not approved as badges by the Girl Scouts of America. 

Girl Scouts pay annual membership dues and also raise money by selling Girl Scout Cookies to fund activities like attending camps and concerts. Each troop receives a portion of the cookie sales to be used for activities for that troop. Girl Scout members can also be asked to pay for a portion of an activity, like a yoga class. Most Kids Yoga classes are taught by trained yoga instructors and do come with a small fee.

There are two examples of Girl Scout badges that can easily be adapted to a Kids Yoga class incorporating mindfulness, breathing, healthy movement, and strong positive body image. The first one is the  My Best Self Badge, a badge designed for Brownies to get to know their bodies, knowing what to do if something bugs you and learning tools to keep yourself healthy and happy. KAY has the perfect song for this badge, Yoga Makes Me Strong. A KAY class incorporates healthy eating, mindful movement and breathing activities that fulfill all the requirements of the My Best Self Badge. If you are a Junior, the badge that you could earn for taking a KAY class is the Staying Fit Badge, designed to get you and your whole family moving and to teach you how to manage stressful situations in a healthy way.

Taking a yoga class and earning a fun patch can be just as rewarding and meaningful as a more structured badge event. Every age from Daisy to Senior can earn a fun patch to be worn on the back of a vest or sash anytime, and KAY offers the perfect addition to your fun patch collection with a special Kidding Around Yoga patch.  

The friendships, the memories and the skills you gain from your time as a Girl Scout are carried with you into adulthood. Seeing our children participate in Scouts can bring back memories of campfires, slumber parties and yes, cookies. Kids Yoga programs are not just about games, dancing, singing, and laughing. They are sprinkling in those same skills, memories and friendships that girls can take with them as they grow to be future leaders. 

As our lives have shifted to a more digital platform you have seen positive pivots from organizations like the Girl Scouts of America who are continuing to provide opportunities for young women to continue to learn and grow in the digital world. KAY classes have also evolved rapidly to include a live in person virtual component. A beautiful thing about Kids Yoga is that it can be a program shared online or in-person. As we are unsure about the short term future of in-person classes, troops can feel confident that Kidding Around Yoga and its network of teachers around the globe will be here to provide those opportunities for girls to share in the practice of yoga.

Like what you read here? There’s so much MORE to explore and learn with Kidding Around Yoga. Check out our website for our live and online teacher trainings, Yoga Alliance-approved 95-hour RCYT trainings, specialty online courses, original music, merchandise, and SO MUCH MORE!

 

FREE WORKSHOP RECORDING:

Bringing Mindfulness into the Classroom

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FREE WORKSHOP RECORDING:

Relaxation & Meditation for Kids

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