Healthy Habits (Brownie Try-it)

This Try-it was introduced in 1999 and retired in 2011.

Exercise, rest, sleep, regular check-ups, and cleanliness are all important to your health. Try the following activities to learn more about healthy living.

As with all older Brownie Try-its, scouts need to complete 4 activities to earn the badge.

Community Helpers
Doctors, nurses, and dentists help you stay healthy. Visit one of them in your community and ask her or him to answer the following questions:

How often should a young person go for a checkup? What special equipment is used? What can children do on their own to stay healthy? What do they like best about their jobs?

Beautiful Smile
Keeping your teeth healthy is important. There are simple things you can do to help prevent cavities.

The best time to brush is after meals. Brushing your teeth helps remove harmful germs. Get in the habit of flossing your teeth each day.</li> Make regular visits to your dentist.</li></ul>

If you follow these three suggestions, you are doing a lot to help keep your teeth strong and your smile beautiful. Practice brushing your teeth. Keep track of your progress with the chart below:

For every time you brush your teeth and floss, draw a smile face in the box for that time of day. At the end of the week, count up your smile faces. Compare your chart with your friends' charts to see who has the most smiling faces!

Calcium Counts
Calcium is important for building strong bones and teeth. Find the different foods that give your body the calcium it needs. You can form the words forward, backward, and diagonally up and down. The first one is done for you.

For one week, write down how many times you eat food with calcium in it.

Smoking, A Bad Habit
Smoking is a very bad habit that can harm your health and the health of those around you. Smoking damages your heat and lungs and makes it hard to breath. Even being in the same room with someone who smokes can make you sick. See Girl Scouts Against Smoking to learn more about this harmful habit.

Maybe some you really care about already smokes. It may be difficult to talk to him or her about this bad habit One thing you can do is to ask him or her to do the activities in Girl Scouts Against Smoking with you. This may help him or her realize how much you care and how bad smoking can be. Use the secret Brownie Girl Scout code below to figure out one message to share with people who might smoke.

Washing Works
Germs are all around us. They can spread from one person to another. They can make people sick.

You cannot see germs. If your hands look clean, that does not meant that they are clean. There may still be germs on your hand's Germs hide on both sides of your hands, in between your fingers, and under your fingernails.

It is important to wash your hands often to prevent the spread of germs. Washing your hands is one thing you can do to lower your chance of getting sick. Here are some good times to wash your hands: Before eating</li> After going to the bathroom</li> After coughing or sneezing</li> Before setting the table</li> Before handling food</li></ul>

Here are some materials you will need: Soap</li> A sink with running water</li> Paper towels</li></ul>

First teach yourself the hand-washing song:

Washing Hands Is Fun to Do (Song to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star") Washing hands is fun to do It keeps the germs off me and you In our school or after play We need to wash those germs away After playing in the yard Use some soap and scrub real hard!

After you have learned the song it is time to practice washing your hands. <ol>Turn on warm running water.</li> Get your hands soapy. Rub your hands together until you see soapy bubbles.</li> Wash both the front and back of your hands.</li> Remember to wash between your fingers and under your fingernails.</li> Rinse your hands under warm running water.</li> <li>Dry your hands with a towel or paper towel. Use the towel to shut off the water so you don't get germs on your clean hands.</li></ol>

Tip: You should wash your hands for as long as it takes you to sing the song.

Feelings Game
****this will be completed at a meeting***

How we deal with our feelings has an effect on our health.

You will need: <ul><li>A group of friends</li> <li>A pack of index cards</li> <li>Pencils</li> <li>Crayons or markers</li></ul>

<ol><li>Draw a picture on an index card that shows a feeling and write the word for that feeling underneath. The emotions on the card should include: </li> <li>After all the cards are completed, turn the pictures face down. The back of the cards should all look alike.</li> <li>Mix up the cards while they are face down.</li> <li>Decide who will go first. One at a time, pick up a card. Share with the group a time when you had that feeling.</li> <li>Keep playing until no cards are left.</li> <li>Shuffle the cards and start over.</li></ol>