Girl Scout Kaper Chart

Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I'm a 36 year old girl scout... leader.

I have a daisy troop with 10 little, amazing first grade girls. They're full of energy, surprises, energy, giggles, energy and love.

One of the things they really enjoy doing, is helping. So for the last year and a half, I've been trying to come up with a unique and creative Kaper Chart.

What's a Kaper Chart? It's a Girl Scout term for a chore chart. It's a way of visually showing the girls who's responsible for which chore at a specific meeting or camping trip.

Why has it taken me a year and a half to come up with something?

Because as kindergarteners, they were still learning to read. I would've had to come up with pictures of the tasks the girls would need to perform in order communicate clearly. There just wasn't a lot that a 6 year old girl could help with beyond passing out materials and helping with clean up.

During last weeks' meeting, we worked on the "Responsible for what I say and do" daisy petal. (There are 10 petals in total that the girls need to earn before they bridge to Brownies in the second grade.)

It was the perfect time to introduce our troop to the Kaper chart. They responded with so much enthusiasm, that they were even disappointed when we couldn't actually start using it the same night. (I introduced it after the lesson)

As I mentioned, I've been combing Google Images and Pinterest for a while, looking for something I could easily make. I had a few requirements in mind.

1. That I not have to spend our limited troop funds (or my own money) on buying supplies. I wanted to be able to use what I had already in our craft stash.
2. That the girls be able to understand it.
3. That it be creative, fun and easily portable.

I noticed some similarities of the visual directions and general shape between the Weasley Clock, from the Harry Potter movies and the daisy petals, pictured above.  So, with those two things in mind, this is what I came up with.

My supply list:
• used cloth or canvas bag
• needle & thread, & scissors
• thin gauge wire
• random buttons (the larger the better)
• silver metallic marker
• pictures of the girls (I laminated color prints)
• hole puncher

When the girls come to a meeting, they'll need to find their picture hanging on the button next to what they're responsible for. When their chore is completed, they'll move their picture from the button and place it inside the bag. Girls who don't show up for the meeting, will have their photos hanging in the middle, where no responsibilities are assigned.

All in all, it was pretty simple to create. The only thing I've not shown above, is the piece of foam core I  cut to the size of the interior of the bag to keep it open and flat while hanging.

As the responsibilities change over time, I can either create a new one, or sew on some patches to cover up the current listings. I figure, the more color, the better. We'll see how it goes, but I'm not going to stress over what the future holds. I'm just excited to enroll each of them, even more, in the process of conducting a meeting.