Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland Blog

Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland is proud to offer the Three Fires Weekend for members of Cherokee Ridge’s Ikhato, Latonka’s Osage Society and Mintahama’s Tribe of the Silver Arrow. Also invited will be those who have attended summer camp at Finbrooke Program Center for at least 4 years and are in at least [...]

GSMH Shops Holiday Open House

Saturday, December 5 9 am – 1 pm

All GSMH Shop Locations

* New holiday items & specials * Cookies & punch * Enter the Happy Holidays drawing! – $20 GSMH Shop Certificate for adults – Giant Ardella Groovy Girls Doll for girls

[...]

Weekends are about having fun, but more than 200 Girl Scouts from Girl Scouts of the Missouri
Heartland made last weekend about gaining practical life skills at the same time. In the fun,
interactive Making Cents in the City programs held on Saturday, Girl Scouts in kindergarten
through eighth learned about budgeting, goal-setting, and saving money.

Girls at the program discussed the difference between needs and wants, practiced budgeting for
those items, and made savings banks to take home and work towards a specific savings goal.
They also learned about the realities of adult budgeting with a game that taught them how to
manage their “paychecks” to pay for home expenses, living necessities, and other bills. Girl
Scout Cadettes had the added challenge of trying to budget for “want” items like cell phones
and cable service after paying for necessities – and sometimes receiving late fees and overdue
notices. “Wow,” said one participant, “I didn’t know everything that my parents had to do for me.”

Girls even had to use their critical-thinking skills during the program’s snack time; they selected
and purchased items from a “Girl Scout Snack Shack” with $2 that they were given at the start
of the program. “One of the best things about this program is that it is so hands-on,” said Girl
Scouts of the Missouri Heartland CEO Jennifer M. Orban, “By actually being given the money to
practice spending, and seeing the numbers written in front of them, the girls get to engage in the
kind of experiential learning that Girl Scouts is all about.”

The harsh reality of today’s economy makes it especially important that youth understand
budgeting and spending wisely. The money used in the games and activities may have been
cartoon-printed play money, but the skills that girls learned were very real. Said one Girl Scout
Junior in attendance, “I used to spend all my money and regret it later, but now I know to spend
my money without spending all my money.” Continue reading Girl Scouts learn financial literacy in hands-on program