Sun Safety

Did you know that the deadliest form of skin cancer - melanoma - is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in their late twenties, or that the sunburns you have as a child can affect your skin's health as an adult?

These are two of the reasons GSCNC has created the Sun Safety patch program for Girl Scouts of all ages. Through the patch program activities girls will learn early about the steps they can take to protect themselves from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, and pledge to educate others about practicing smart sun behavior.

There are two Sun Safety programs - one for Daisies, Brownies and Juniors, and one for Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors. Both programs can be found in the same flip booklet.

sunsafetybookletcover
The Sun Safety patch program is a flip booklet to keep age-appropriate content for teens and younger girls separate.

Download the Sun Safety patch booklet (2MB)
(For online viewing ease, the Sun Safety Teen pages are provided right-side-up here.) (2MB)

Activities in the younger girl program include:

creating a UV Index display
making a bracelet out of UV-sensitive beads
building a solar-powered oven

Girl Scout Teen program activities include:

redesigning a space to provide additional shade
researching indoor tanning legislation
visiting buildings that use solar panels to provide power

GSCNC Girl Scouts are already getting the word out about skin cancer. In 2010, two teen girls earned their Gold Award - the highest honor in Girl Scouting - completing projects that focused on skin cancer education through the creation of a youth-friendly website and informational brochure. The year before, another teen received her Silver Award by putting in more than 100 hours toward developing a skin cancer awareness program.

What will you pledge to do?

sunsafetypledgecard

This program was made possible thanks to The Gendell Family Foundation.

Additional sun safety programming through day camps is made possible by the generosity of the Purple Promise Foundation.