Badge Events and Workshops

A New Junior Badge Opportunity!

THIS IS ARCHIVED MATERIAL.

Ocean Awareness is a Junior Girl Scout badge created by ARCHIVED that was designed to reach girls interested in learning more about the ocean and the animals that live in it. This badge also explores ways the girls can help conserve oceans and invites them to learn more about women involved in the field of oceanography. With these nine requirements to choose from, Ocean Awareness is a badge that can be done by anyone whether they live near an ocean or not! Girls need to complete six of the requirements to earn the badge.

Who: Junior Girl Scouts
Where: ARCHIVED MATERIAL
When: ARCHIVED MATERIAL
Min./Max.: 10/30
Cost: $8 per girl
Register: - ARCHIVED MATERIAL
Event Code:ARCHIVED MATERIAL
Contact: ARCHIVED MATERIAL

Ocean Awareness
 Junior Girl Scout Badge Requirements

1. Fresh or Salt Water Painting?
Discuss with the girls the differences between freshwater and saltwater. What type of water do they find in the ocean? Where would they find freshwater? 

Activity: Give the girls two water sources. One will be saltwater and the other will be freshwater. In doing this activity, the girls will see that as the water evaporates, the salt will not. This activity will help girls understand the difference between freshwater and saltwater.

To make saltwater solution: Measure 1/4 cup of salt into a container. Add 1/4 cup of warm water.

Painting procedure: Using q-tips, have girls paint two separate pictures using watercolors; one picture will use the water from the first container, while the other uses the water from the second. Allow pictures to dry and ask the girls what they think will happen as their pictures dry. Why? Which container contained freshwater and which contained saltwater?
  
2. Find the Oceans
Review all the oceans with the girls, making sure to include information that will allow the girls to easily find each on a map. Pass out world maps and have the girls locate each ocean. After completion allow the girls to discuss their answers with each other and make sure all the girls have correctly identified the location of each ocean.Which looks to be the largest? Which looks to be the smallest? Can you tell just by looking?
  
3. Cold Water, Warm Water
Compare and contrast life in cold and warm waters. What physical features do animals in warm water have that help them survive? What physical features do animals in cold water have that help

them survive? Have girls help make two “Mystery Gloves.” Their job will then be to determine if the glove will be better for cold or warm waters.

Activity: Make Mystery Glove
To make “Mystery Glove”: Take one baggy and add several scoops of shortening. Take a second baggy and turn it inside out.  Place the “inside out” baggy into the baggy with the shortening and “zip” them together.  

Procedure: Once the two gloves have been made, place one glove in ice water and one glove in warm water. Have each girl, one at a time, place one hand in the glove and one hand in the ice water. Which hand is more comfortable? Then, have each girl, one at a time, place one in the glove and one hand in the warm water. Which is more comfortable? The “Mystery Glove” represents blubber. What is blubber? In the ice water, the hand in the glove should feel more comfortable, while in the warm water, the hand in the water should feel more comfortable. Discuss the importance of blubber for animals that live in cold water.
  
4. Ocean Habitats
Discuss different ocean habitats (rocky coasts, coral reefs, kelp forests, ocean floor). Using play dough, have each girl create an ocean habitat. Then have the girls discuss which habitat they created and what animals they might expect to find living there. 
 
5. Ocean Animals
Discuss the different types of ocean animals (drifters, swimmers, bottom dwellers). Take a tour of an aquarium. Have the girls identify and draw at least one animal from each group. After the tour, have girls share their pictures. See how many different animals the girls were able to find for each group of animals.
  
6. Ocean Relationships
Discuss different types of symbiotic relationships between animals that live in the ocean (mutualism, commensalism, parasitism). After the girls have a good understanding of each type of relationship, play a game to identify several symbiotic relationships in the ocean.
 
7. Animal Defenses
Discuss different types of animal defenses and how each helps with an animal’s survival (body shape, coloration, senses, locomotion, defense mechanism, etc.). Visit an aquarium and find as many animals as you can that have some type of defense. Write down the name of the animal, the defense it has, and how it helps with that animal’s survival.
  
8. Women Oceanographers
Divide the girls into groups of two. Have each group read information about a specific female oceanographer. After reading the information, each group of two will tell the entire group what their oceanographer’s job consists of and how she is important to her field.
  
9. Conservation
Discuss different ways girls can help conserve the ocean. Do a community project that will have a positive impact on the ocean (beach cleanup, set-up recycle program at local business or school, volunteer at marine mammal rehabilitation facility, etc.).