Welcome

Introduction

I. Patch Requirements

13. Bones are Building

BONES are alive. Bones are made by tiny parts of your body called CELLS. Some of these cells are osteoblasts and osteoclasts. These cells are the real bone builders. Osteoblasts - are CELLS that BUILD BONES - B for Blasts - B for Build. Osteoclasts - are CELLS that carve away bone - C is for Clasts - C is for Carve. Osteoclasts carve away bone so the osteoblasts have a place to build new bone. Draw osteoclasts carving away bone and osteoblasts building bone. Do these bone builders use shovels, hoes or wheelbarrows? Use your imagination.

Reinforce the fact that bones are growing parts of the scout's body, just like her hair. The Daisy Scouts will need paper and crayons to create their imaginary bone builders. The scouts could pretend to build the bones from a pile of calcium. They could have sunshine (representing Vitamin D) helping the bones grow.

14. Bones Are your Beams

BEAMS are big wood or steel sticks that hold up buildings. Find a picture in a magazine that shows the beams of a building. The beams are sometimes called the building's SKELETON. Bones are your beams. They are like sticks inside people. Bones keep you standing up tall. Bones are your skeleton. Use your imagination. Fold a piece of paper in three parts and draw three pictures of a girl: 1. The first picture should be of a girl whose bones are strong standing straight and tall. 2. Draw your second picture of a girl whose bones are like a rubberband. Can she stand as straight as your first picture? 3. Now draw a picture of a girl without bones. Can she stand up at all?

Supply crayons and construction paper for the girls to use to make these drawings. Refer to the "Skeleton" to assist scouts with their drawings.

15. Visit the grocery store (Brownie Girl Scouts only)

Take a field trip to the grocery store with a parent or troop leader. Bring a pencil and some paper for note taking. Look through several aisles of the grocery store and make a list of all the calcium-containing foods you can find.

Point out the food groups on "The Food Guide Pyramid". Encourage scouts to eat at least one food from each group at every meal.

16. Make a mobile (Brownie Girl Scouts only)

Make a hanging mobile of a balanced meal. The mobile should include one food from each of the five food groups. Demonstrate and explain to your troop or classroom how missing one of the food groups in a meal can cause the meal (and the mobile) to be "off-balanced". By eliminating part of the meal it is unbalanced. How does this relate to our diets?

Supply string, a hole punch, posterboard, scissors, magazines, empty food boxes, and anything else you might want to use for the "mobile" parts.

17. Make a fruit shake (Brownie Girl Scouts only)

Make a fruit shake under an adult's supervision. You need 2 cups of orange juice, 1 ripe banana, 1 cup of fresh or frozen strawberries or other fruit (such as peaches), 1/2 cup of plain or vanilla (lowfat) yogurt and 6 ice cubes. The adult should slice the banana and other fruit or have the scouts do this, if the adult feels they are able to do so safely. Measure the ingredients and put them in a blender. Blend in the blender until the ice and the ingredients are finely chopped and the mixture is smooth. Pour into cups and serve with straws. What food groups have you used? How could you change ingredients to make a shake with more calcium.

This is an easy snack the scouts will enjoy. Adult supervision is required. Skills utilized include measuring, slicing (if allowed) and using a blender. You can point out to the scouts that they could use calcium-fortified orange juice or dry non-fat milk to add additional calcium to the shake.