Council Patches & New Program Badges

Price: $2.00
Order as many as you like.

Alaska Gold Panner Badge
Price: $2

Complete 6 of the following activities:

• There’s Gold In Them Hills. Gold rushes took place in Dawson City, Yukon; Chisana, Chicken and the 40-Mile Country of Alaska. Pick one of these and learn the history.
• Extraction. What ways do miners use to recover gold from the ground and creek beds? What other minerals can be found with or near gold? Can you also find precious stones?
• Pans and Nuggets. Learn the basics of gold panning. What help is using a grizzly in your pan? Are there advantages to a plastic pan with ridges vs. a smooth metal pan?
• Your Smiley Face. Pan a shovel full of material. Wash it down, swirl it around, again and again, find the smiley face in your pan.
• Chicken Nuggets. There are many types of gold found, specs, flakes and nuggets. Would a miner get the same price for all these types? Is there a better price for jeweler quality nuggets and museum pieces? What is the largest nugget found in the 40-Mile country
• Paycheck. How is gold weighed? What determines the price of gold? Besides being used for jewelry, what other industries utilize gold? What other qualities of gold make it such a valuable metal to aerospace and electronic industries? Go online and find this information.
• Pan Vs. Machine. Visit a working gold mining operation. What style of gold mining is being done there? How does this operation differ in yield from just panning the material?
• It’s Not An Orange Vegetable. What is a karat? Is a higher karat softer than one of a lower number? Check some of your mom’s gold jewelry to see what karat was used in each piece.
• Creating A Masterpiece. Visit a jeweler that works with gold. Does the family operate a mine or do they purchase their gold? See if they have nuggets from more than one area and check out the variety of color and texture.
• Methods of Moving Material. If possible, visit a museum that has gold mining artifacts or take a tour of an old dredge in Chicken, Alaska or Dawson City, Yukon. How did the miners move all that material?

Alaska Heritage Badge
Price: $2.25

Requirements:

• Visit an Alaskan museum (preferably the one at the University of Alaska)
• Learn an Alaskan song or dance
• Make an Alaskan craft
• Learn about arctic survival by going through a training (older girls) or inviting a visitor to your troop to talk about arctic survival (younger girls)
• These requirements are to be used as guidelines for the troop leader. The age levels of the troops earning this patch will determine the proficiency levels of the activities participated in. If you have any questions about earning this patch, please give the Council office a call and we will be happy to talk to you about ideas and resources.

Arctic Survival Skills Badge
Price: $2

Do six of the following activities, including the starred requirements.

• * Find out what hypothermia and frostbite are. Know the steps to prevent them in different weather and water conditions. Know the procedures to take if either of these occur. Demonstrate them.
  Know basic compass and map skills, and demonstrate them by following an orienteering course.
• * Invite a Wildlife Specialist to a meeting to inform you about such things as bear protection and wildlife awareness (as appropriate to each area).
• What is stress? How can stress interfere with survival? Discuss feelings such as fear and loneliness. How do you deal with tensions like thirst, hunger, and pain?
• Shelter, food, water, warmth, and clothing are basic survival necessities. Show how you can provide these for yourself and consider their order of importance.
• Arctic wilderness provides its own challenges. Think about and discuss characteristics of water, plant life, geographic conditions, and weather of the arctic that would help or hinder you.
• Make a basic survival kit. Know how to use each item properly.
• Plan and carry out an overnight camping trip to implement the survival skills you have learned. (Remember to turn in your troop trip application and a list of what your survival kit consists of.)

Do-Dad Badge

Price: $2.25

Requirements:

Must be registered with GSUSA
Must perform a service to the troop or to the Service Team on at least 4 occasions during the course of a registration year

Choices of Service include:

Serve as a Troop First-Aider
Serve as a Troop Outdoor Resource
Assist troop in a special activity or project
Attend Council-level training
Provide transportation for a troop outing
Accompany troop on an outdoor activity (camping or hiking)
Be a Service Team member
Help at the Council Day Camp
Take part in an inter-troop, Service Unit or Council activity or event (Brownie Event, Junior Event, Older-girl Event)

Awarding the Badge

The badge will be awarded to any father who meets the above qualifications.
Troop Leaders are able to purchase the patches from the Farthest North Girl Scout Council office.
Badges are awarded for the 1st year that the qualifications are met.
A "Do-Dad" continuing in the program for a second or consecutive year will be awarded a star to be attached to the patch.
If a father has daughters in different troops, the activities are cumulative. He does not have to duplicate the activities in order to earn the badge.

Dog Mushing Badge
Price: $2

Complete 6 activities, including the two starred (*) requirements:

• * Interview a dog musher. Learn how sled dogs are trained, which dogs are best for each type of mushing, how and when they are disciplined and when they are retired. Learn what happens on the train: What dogs eat, what the musher wears, what is carried on the sled and what first aid might be needed by the dogs.
• * Visit a kennel. Learn what is involved in the upkeep of a kennel, what the dogs eat, how they are housed, what it costs to keep a sled dog. Learn how to act around dogs, how to harness a dog, how to ride a sled. Learn the commands. If possible, drive the sled yourself.
• Find out about groups in your community who share an interest in mushing.
• Learn the parts of the sled and mushing vocabulary.
• Make a model of a dog sled.
• Make an illustrated booklet of mushing dog breeds. Describe their distinctive features and uses.
• Read a book about mushing (Examples: Dogsong by Gary Paulsen or Call of the Wild by Jack London) or watch a movie about mushing.
• Learn about the Iditarod, Yukon Quest or other local sled dog races.
• Draw a map of the Yukon Quest train, label the check points.
• Research and map the Serum Race to Nome, Alaska.
• Watch a sled dog race. Cheer for your favorite team.
• Sponsor a dog team entered in the Yukon Quest or do a service project for the Yukon Quest. (Make posters and have them displayed, etc.)

• * Serve as a troop leader, assistant leader, or co-leader.
• * Serve as a troop product sales manager.
• Provide transportation for troop outings and/or meetings.
• Help with troop telephoning.
• Assist with a troop project or special activity.
• Care for the leader's children during training or troop functions.
• Assist with paperwork or record-keeping.
• Locate resource people for troop programs.
• Accompany the troop on an outdoor activity (camp-out, cook-out, hike, etc.)
• Share a skill, talent, or hobby with the troop or service team.
• Take part in an inter-troop, service team, or council activity or event.
• Act as a troop or service team public relations liaison.
• Help at area day camp.
• * Be a member of a service team.
• * Serve on the board of directors or standing committee.
• Serve on a board task group.
• Help in council fund raising activities.
• Contribute to the council's annual giving program.
• Special help the troop leader needs.

• Think of ways that you could use technology to gather traditional foods. Write down the methods that you come up with and share them with your family and community. How does technology make gathering food easier? Could it make it harder?
• Write down all the traditional foods you gather or eat, then find out the scientific name, common name, and any names in other languages in your region.
• Using a G.P.S. (Global Positioning system) unit, map places in your community focusing on traditional food gathering places and the traditional name of that place.
• Estimate how much traditional food you or your family eats in a week. Then go to the grocery store and find out how much it would cost to buy similar foods in a grocery store.
• Learn a dance or song about traditional foods.
• Plan a menu using only traditional foods.
• Organize a potluck with your troop; have everyone bring a traditional food dish to share, make a pretty label for your dish.
• Use a traditional food to make an art supply. Do an art project using the new supply.
• Pick another country or culture. Find out what food this culture eats and why it is a traditional food for that culture. Now pick out a recipe from that culture and prepare it in a traditional method.
• Challenge your troop or family to have a “pick your own” picnic. Spend time picking or catching your food. Prepare it and have a tasty picnic.
• Contact a local food preservation expert and ask them to help you learn how to preserve your traditional foods.

• Ask an elder or another community member that knows about gathering foods to help you learn the difference between poisonous and edible berries, plants, and greens.
• Pick pony beads in the colors of the berries you’ve picked. Make a bracelet.
• Find out why traditional food is important to your culture.
• In Inupiaq culture, when women and girls finish picking berries they will sit down in a circle to eat lunch. By sitting in a circle they can all see if any danger is coming toward the group. Plan a trip with your troop or family to go berry picking. When you are done with your picking sit down for a lunch, remember to sit in a circle.
• Organize a potluck with your troop; have everyone bring a traditional food dish to share, make a pretty label for your dish.
• Draw a map of your favorite traditional food-gathering place.