A Brownie Girl Scout Journey at the Discovery Center: Learning to Appreciate and Conserve Water Resources

By Heather Lumpkin, Research and Monitoring Coordinator

In Vilas County we are blessed by abundant water resources that shape our recreation, economy, and culture.  The Discovery Center’s goal is to inspire an ethic of care for Wisconsin’s Northwoods, and what better way to accomplish this than by helping young girls develop a personal connection to the area’s water resources and empowering them to make a difference in caring for and protecting these resources?  The second and third grade Brownie Girl Scouts of troops 7309 and 7302 have been meeting monthly at the Discovery Center to work on their WOW (Wonders of Water) leadership journey which is a part of the Girl Scout’s “It’s Your Planet – Love It” journey series.  Each month the girls have been finding new ways to engage their minds and hearts as they explore the wonders of water.   What they learn, and the awe that this new knowledge inspires, will be a springboard that they can use to care for this precious resource now and throughout their lives. 

 

In October girls discovered that water can be an exciting method of transportation.  The girls practiced their strokes on land and then headed out for a canoe tour of Statehouse Lake.  It didn’t take long for them to realize that without teamwork, they weren’t going to get anywhere!

In November the girls visited the critters in the nature nook, learning about aquatic turtles, frogs, and fish.  The Discovery Center’s water specialist and aquatic invasive species coordinator, Anne Kretschmann, introduced the girls to some of the alien invaders that can cause problems in our lakes and rivers.  They girls especially enjoyed checking out the live Rusty Crayfish.  Then they took some time to meet some of the smaller critters that inhabit our waters.  To do this they sifted through muck from the bottom of the lake in search of the tiny macroinvertebrates that live there like dragonfly, caddis fly, and may fly larvae. 

In December girls played a game where they became one molecule of water, traveling around the room collecting colored beads that represented the different places they found themselves in as a water molecule (a lake, inside an animal, in a cloud, and even frozen in a glacier!).  At the end of the game the girls had some beautiful beaded bracelets that told the story of their water drop’s journey.  The girls were surprised to learn how complex the water cycle really is. The girls also made personal goals for saving water by doing things like taking a shorter shower. 

In January the girls reported on how they were doing with their personal pledges to save water.  They realized that their efforts alone might not seem like much, but together they can have a big impact.  They began planning their troop project for saving water and decided to spread the word about water conservation at drinking fountains around their schools and community buildings.  Then the girls made goals for cookie sales and played a fun game where they ate a cookie off a string while blindfolded.  

In February the girls continued planning their troop project of spreading the word about water conservation at drinking fountains.  Then they went on a snowshoe hike around the Discovery Center grounds, learning how increasing the area of their feet with snowshoes can spread out their weight and help them stay up in the deep fluffy snow just like the snowshoe hares do.  The girls had a great time looking at the tracks and other animal sign along the way.  After the snowshoe hike they all crowded into the quinzhee (a snow mound that has been hollowed out into a shelter) and experienced firsthand the insulating properties of snow.