* 1. Find out about strong bones.

With your troop leader or other scouts, find out about bones by looking up "bones" in the dictionary, encyclopedia, or any other reference source. Find out why it is important to have strong bones and what can happen if your bones are not strong. Look at the skeleton. Name 5 bones. What can you do to keep your bones strong? How many dairy servings should you have in your diet each day?

Relay the information about osteoporosis to the scouts mostly by pictures and simple concepts. You will want pictures of the calcium-containing foods, such as cheese, milk, broccoli, etc. You can hold up a picture of cookies and milk to show a calcium-containing snack and take away the milk to show a snack that does not contain any calcium. Refer to "Bone-Building Foods" for calcium requirements.

* 2. Calcium counts: Make a placemat

Make a placemat for you and your family. Draw or glue on a piece of construction paper pictures of high-calcium foods such as broccoli, milk or chocolate milk, cottage cheese, pudding, cheese, ice cream, etc. Count the total number of items containing calcium that you have identified on your placemat.

Supply construction paper for the mats, crayons, glue, scissors, and magazines. Refer to "Bone-Building Foods" to help the scouts select appropriate food pictures.

* 3. Bone Busters and Builders Poster

Learn the difference between Bone Builders and Bone Busters. Some foods and drinks are good for your bones. Some are not. Some activities help your bones. Some activities do not. We call things that are GOOD for your bones BONE BUILDERS. Things that are NOT GOOD for your bones are BONE BUSTERS. Cut out (or draw) pictures of the following things: Sunshine Dark Leafy Vegetables Jumping Rope Milk Alcoholic Beverage Soda Yogurt Running Coffee Cheese Vitamin D (or an ad for a multivitamin) Fractures (someone wearing a cast) Smoking (or a pack of cigarettes) Someone falling (or tripping) Couch potato (a girl watching TV or a TV) Calcium (or calcium fortified juices) Talk about why these are GOOD or NOT GOOD for your bones. Separate the BONE BUILDERS and BONE BUSTERS pictures. Make a poster with BONE BUILDERS on one side and BONE BUSTERS on the other side.

See the Leader Resource - Bone Busters. This discusses why some of these items are good for bones and why some are not. Review these reasons with the scouts. This is an important opportunity to teach the scouts that their actions can have good or bad results for their bodies.

* 4. Talk about physical activity

Discuss your favorite games/sports with a parent or troop leader. Which games/sports involve physical activity. How is physical activity good for you and your bones? What favorite games/activities do you do each day?

Discuss weight bearing activities and the importance of these activities with the troop. Discuss their favorite activities and encourage weight-bearing activities daily. List the favorite activities on a poster and the scouts names by their favorites. Discuss the most popular activities. Encourage scouts to try new weight-bearing activities. Refer to the "Leader Resource - Bone-Building Activity" for information on weight-bearing exercise. It is intended to help you communicate these important concepts to the girls.

* 5. Bones beware - drink less soda

Bones are made of CALCIUM and other things. Bones need calcium. You get calcium from your food. Calcium is in DAIRY PRODUCTS. Dairy products are milk and things made from MILK. Calcium is in other foods, too. Soda can keep bones from getting calcium. Pretend a piece of white chalk is a bone. Get 7 glasses and seven pieces of white chalk. Put water, milk, apple juice, a diet cola, a cola, a clear soda and root beer in different glasses. Write down on a piece of paper what is in each glass and put the paper under the glass. Put a piece of white chalk in each glass. Get a piece of paper with lines. Write each soda on a different line. Check the glass in 30 minutes and in 60 minutes. What happened to the chalk? Write down what happened to the chalk on your piece of paper.

You need 7 glasses, 7 pieces of white chalk. For drinks you need water, milk, apple juice, a diet cola, a cola, a clear soda and root beer. You also need lined paper and pencils or pens.

* 6. Make a healthy snack

Make a Mini Pizza (project 36 in The Guide for Daisy Girl Scout Leaders, page 112.) Change this recipe by adding turkey pepperoni and mushrooms. Look at the Food Guide Pyramid. See how many food groups are in this healthy snack. This requires an English muffin for every 2 girls, a jar of pizza or tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese (grate it before the meeting), (diced turkey pepperoni and mushrooms), spoons, small cookie sheet and oven. Each girl gets 1/2 muffin, spoons a little sauce over the muffin, sprinkles on some cheese (and turkey pepperoni and mushrooms) and puts it on a cookie sheet. The adult or troop leader (a) puts the sheet in the oven and removes it when the cheese starts to melt and (b) makes sure the "pizzas" have cooled before the girls start to eat them. While you are waiting for the pizza to cook, complete the Food Guide Pyramid. Put in each item from the pizza. Put in each food had to eat yesterday and today. Did you eat a food from each food group?

This is pretty easy to do. You may be able to use a big toaster oven. Pineapple is a fruit! If you add turkey pepperoni, mushrooms and crushed pineapple you have something from every food group in your pizza. Congratulations! Remember, as with any activity involving the oven (even a toaster oven),be sure to point out how important it is to work with an adult. Be sure the girls do not reach inside the oven themselves.