Completing a journey with Cadettes can be a challenge. We’re finding that schedules are tighter, and it can be more difficult to get them together consistently for a project start to finish.

As we wanted all our girls to have the opportunity to earn their Silver Award, we decided that a journey campout was our best bet. We had completed a journey overnight last winter with the Amuse journey, but having added a few more girls this school year, we needed something we could accomplish quickly, so the girls could focus on Silver Award projects without leaving anyone out.

We decided of all the available Cadette journeys, Breathe might be most conducive to an outdoor setting. After all, the focus is on air quality.

There are so many Journey in a Day plans on the Internet, however, I’m seeing very few for the Breathe Cadette Journey that actually work in a camping setting. Not only do you have lack of Internet connection but also you may not have the physical space for many of the items that you may need (such as indoor plants to talk about indoor air quality).

Breathe Journey in a Camping Setting

Many of the activities proposed in the Girl Scout Breathe books are actually conducive to a camping setting, with a little preplanning. If you don’t have copies of the books already, do yourself a favor and purchase the girls book and the adult guide used on Amazon vs. paying full price at the store. You’ll need the girls book for the girls to reference and develop a summary of some of the air experts and what they learned.

Be Active

Who needs yoga? Explore the camp. Go for a night hike, a morning hike, an after-the rain hike. Explore how the air feels and smells different.

Blare in the Air

Perfect for camp! No noisemakers needed. You have girls! And we know they can be loud. 🙂

Smelly Science

Instead of the activities in the book, we took a different twist. We made homemade shoe deodorizers. Why? Because at the last campout, all the girls complained about their smelly shoes!

We also used leftover supplies from our spa badge day to make scented bath salts to take home.

Fire Science

Ever since the campout when we tested the theory that Doritos could be used as firestarters (They can!) we have joked that fire is science. But the reality is, yes, it does count as science, just in an outdoorsy way. It plays into heat, air quality, and more.

Test out various firestarters to see how they do or don’t work. Do some produce less smoke?

Explore what smothering a flame does.

You can also do the particle experiment with note cards just outside the fire pit, 10 feet away and near your building, just to see how much ash is actually distributed in the air. (Granted, we had to bring this inside our cabin due to the heavy rains on our weekend, but this can be duplicated easily at a fireplace.)

Energy Experts

This was the toughest component to replicate in a camping setting.  We referenced the Breathe books for energy experts whose stories appealed to them. We also packed a deck of Natural Inquirer Scientist Cards from the USDA Forest Service, for the girls to review and see what kinds of applications can be done with fire, science and the rebuilding of nature. (Did I mention, the card decks can be ordered for free?)

Take Action Project

We also took a different twist on the Take Action Project for our Breathe Journey. As we have a mix of multiple schools, home school students, etc., one of the typical projects in the book, such as air quality projects for school, would not work.

Our Cadettes continued the theme of “Fire” with the take action project focusing on education on what items are actually safe to burn in a campfire. We shared the information we learned with the Juniors camping with us and also made posters on safe burning and Leave No Trace to post at the Girl Scout camp cabin.

We found a terrific resource from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The 8-page research study focused on the chemicals released and residue left behind by burning items in your campfire.

To print ahead of time:

• What’s Burning in Your Campfire? Garbage In, Toxics Out
• Safety Tips for Campfires

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