Read everything or scroll down to particular information: WTD patches, 2011 WTD theme, GSUSA 2011 focus countries, past themes. or GSUSA past focus countries, Or, look at our Ceremonies page for some appropriate to World Thinking Day (perhaps a Trefoil ceremony).

in Parsippany. . .

Travel the world with each walk to your mailbox, attend or run a workshop, earn Girl Guide/Girl Scout award from other WAGGGS countries, set up or attend a school-wide World Thinking Day event. It all can happen in town! If you want other troops to research a country and bring a display, please get them dates for the event by November/December. What else do you need to do to organize? Sign up for the school gym, check that there are no duplicate countries, and file a "troop trip" for everyone. You may want to invite some troops from outside your school too, check the roster to find leaders' names and phone numbers. Each troop should take are of their own permission slips.

In 2007-2008, over 80 Parsippany GS earned Girl Guide awards from South Africa through "Badges for Thinking Day". It's Australia for WTD 2010, and was South Korea for 2008-2009. Karen's our Service Unit order coordinator, although you can do it on your own too. Orders are due in late September or early October which can be challenging but I know troops that would not miss it! (Thank you Karen!)

A number of troops have also been exchanging postcards with troops and Scouts around the USA and world for Thinking Day. mythinkingday.com has been helping to set up WTD postcard exchanges for over 10 years, and Parsippany Scouts have been participating for at least 2 of them. Both of these are set up by GS leaders elsewhere in the USA. They are volunteer-run, and not associated with any council or GSUSA.

• Upcoming World Thinking Day themes:
• In 2010, girls worldwide say "together we can end extreme poverty and hunger".
• In 2011, girls worldwide say "empowering girls will change our world" as WTD focuses on gender equality.
• In 2012, girls worldwide say "we can save the planet" as WTD focuses on the environment.
Through the centenary, WTD emphasizes one Millennium Development Goals(MDG) each year. The themes help Girl Scouts make a personal commitment to change the world around them & affirms WAGGGS’ commitment to the UN MDGs. In 2012, GSUSA will host a Young Women's World Forum focusing on the MDG of the environment. (This is probably for Girls Scouts from 18 to 25 years old.)
• The World Thinking Day theme for 2009 was girls worldwide say “stop the spread of AIDS, malaria and other diseases”, linked to WAGGGS Global Action Theme of girls worldwide say “together we can change our world.” The theme encouraged girls and young women to make a personal commitment to change the world around them & affirms WAGGGS’ commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals.
• World Thinking Day (WTD) is first a special day when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world think of each other and give thanks and appreciation to their "sister" Girl Guides/Scouts. Especially for our youngest GS, it may be enough to celebrate international friendships, and remember that Girl Scouts of the USA is part of a global community — one of nearly 150 countries in WAGGGS with Girl Guides or Girl Scouts.
• Games/Activities: Most of these activities are suitable for ages five years and above. There are some which are more suited to Girl Guides/Scouts 10 years and above, although these activities may also be suitable for other age groups. Please use your discretion when choosing suitable activities for your group.
  • Run-around alphabet game. Each player has a letter of the alphabet stuck on her back. When a word is called out, players must run to the other side of the room and line up to spell out the word. Each player that manages to make a word writes it down. At the end of the game, discuss the meanings of the words: SELF-ESTEEM, INFECTION, PROTECTION, VIRUS, DISEASE, EPIDEMIC, AIDS, etc. (To make all those words you would need 22 letters, one each of a, c, d, f, m, n, p, r, u, and v; 2 each of i, o, s, and t; and 4 e. For a smaller group you may want to give each girl 2 letters. With these letters you can also spell: infect, vital, doctor, nursed, scout, camp, daises, cent, damp, dress, undress, erases, fine, cord, dice, dime, coats, mist, mops, nice, pest, radios, seaside, seeds, stops, cotton, temp, tepees, time, tines, admits, aides, ripen, tramps, faints, copier, point, finite, moist, medic, pieced, imports, incites, sensor, trio, virtual, dourness, resounds, entropic, contrite, and many others! From DISEASE (alone) you can spell: daises, seaside, seeds, sides, said, as, is, ideas, dais, die, ease, sad, ad, see, asides,
  • Unhealthy Handshake game. Give three players some small pieces of paper. This is the virus. Everyone must go around and shake each other’s hands. The players with the virus must secretly slip a piece of paper into the hand of every person they shake hands with. Each person who receives a piece of paper must pass it on. After several minutes, everyone who has touched a piece of paper must sit down. Discuss the ways that HIV can be passed from one person to another and how to prevent this. Make sure everyone knows that HIV cannot be passed by shaking hands!
  • Give each team a word associated with malaria (CLEAN WATER, MOSQUITO BITES, INSECT REPELLENT, MOSQUITO NET, ANTI-MALARIA TABLETS). Each team must act out their words in silence. The rest of the group tries to guess what the words. Discuss how the words relate to malaria.
  • Mosquito Tag. Give two players some red colored sticker spots. Give one player some green sticker spots. These players are the mosquitoes. The other players must run around trying not to get ‘stung’ by the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes try to stick the spots on the other players. After a few minutes, stop the game. Tell the players that all those with green spots have been stung by the mosquito infected with malaria. Discuss the different ways to prevent the spread of malaria.
  • Swat the mozzie game. Each player should wear a paper hat with a picture of a mosquito on it. Each player is given a long sock or stocking with a sponge in the toe. The players must try to knock each other’s hats off using their sponge ‘bat’. The last player still wearing her hat wins the game!
  • Coughs and Sneezes game. Give each participant a small handful of tiny bits of paper (confetti, hole-punch waste, etc.) which she must keep in her pocket. Stand about one meter apart. Tap two participants on their shoulders – these are the infected people. The infected people put some paper in their hands and blow them towards the other players, pretending to cough and sneeze at the same time. If the paper falls on another player, they must do the same. Continue for several minutes or until everyone is infected. Discuss how pneumonia and tuberculosis are caught and why some people are more susceptible than others.
• WAGGGS invites us to take an economic empowerment survey – with or without our girls and provides some activities to do first. What does money mean to them? What do they need for their future plans? WAGGGS Money, Money, Money! resource page

  Money, Money, Money! activities for girls... >http://www.worldthinkingday.org/en/grab/2869/1/Planactivities.pdf
  and the survey form >http://www.worldthinkingday.org/en/grab/2870/1/Plansurvey.pdf

• Making passports for World Thinking Day? You may want to consider some of these sites: Passports for Thinking Day, WTD passports , ABCTeach.com's Country passports, or PrintMini.com's passports. (Although someone told me there were at least 17 sites that had something!
• GSUSA has more ideas at World Thinking Day Website. WAGGGS information on contagious diseases and activities linked to the theme.
• Badges for World Thinking Day: For 2009, it's South Korea! Each year troops/scouts have to commit & order in October, your girls can complete the South Korea Guides/Scouts requirements, and receive the physical awards. They are sharing selected badges for Daisies, Brownies, Juniors and Cadettes. Karen's coordinating the SU order for WTD 2009. (Thank you!)
• World Thinking Day Postcard Exchange: It's time to start creating the list for the 2009 Thinking Day Postcard Exchange! It's their 12th year. Last year they had 2961 US troops and 1057 International Units (from 49 countries) participating. The exchange will begin the first part of September. Postcards need to be mailed so they arrive no later than early February. To learn more about the program or to sign up, please visit www.mythinkingday.com. It has been up to 5 international exchanges and unlimited domestic ones.

  If the site shows a blank page it is because the site is busy with so many trying to access it, so please keep trying.

  After you submit the form, you will receive an invitation within a day or two asking you to join the Yahoo TD Postcard Exchange group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TDPostcardExchange/. You must 'ACCEPT' the invitation. Also, to join you must have a Yahoo Account...its free!

Juliette Low World Friendship Fund

Please encourage Girl Scout members to contribute to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund (JLWFF). This year, a portion of the funds raised will go to Haiti disaster relief. Specific projects will be chosen by Haiti and WAGGGS.The purpose of the Fund—to extend Girl Scouting and Girl Guiding to girls around the world and to support international friendship through service, training events, and exchange visits—is more important than ever.

To honor Juliette’s love of travel and celebration of different cultures, Girl Scouts of the USA created the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund in 1927. Donations support the WAGGGS World Thinking Day Fund, which helps sustain efforts to encourage the development of Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting around the globe.

As of Feb. 5, 2010, the 2009 report is not done yet but you can check out the 2008 one to see how your council did supporting this fund... https://ocn.girlscouts.org/SupportingDocuments/2008_JLWFF_Report.pdf

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