A Few Ideas For Swaps…….. You Can Come Up With More! Wooden clothespins, large and small. Painted and made to look like different animals or people. A pin glued to the back. Individual "leaves" of a large pinecone can be the head of the animal. Add eyes, then twigs for antlers and you have a deer. A small red pom-pom can turn it into Rudolph. Shells-glue eyes on to make shell critters. Or take those natural holes and string them on one end of a piece of yarn. On the other end glue a fish drawn, colored and cut from a construction paper. Nuts are great for animals, baskets and many other things. "Laminate" (with clear contact paper) nice leaf rubbings and use as swaps. S'mores from cut up sections of a box, a square of brown felt and a cotton ball. Glue all together with yarn attached to a pin. Pizza made of tan felt with red, yellow and green felt straps glued on. Construction paper and typing paper can be folded and cut to make a mini book. Selected stickers can help give it a certain theme. Square knot ribbon. Take different colors (for example, Juniors might use blue and green) of ribbon, about 6" long. Tape the ends of the ribbon to a table, and have the girls practice making square knots in them until there is about an inch and a half left. Then tie a small bell on the end. Usually they will et 4-6 knots on the ribbon, and it is a great square knot practice! Change the color to suit the season, etc. You could also do this, but braid the ribbon. Glow in the dark…. Glow in the dark stickers on black contact paper on cardboard. Make a circle with cardboard and black paper and put the star and planet glow in the dark stickers on it. Or paint wooden cut outs and decorate with fabric paint-write troop number, name of event, I Love GS, etc. Some fabric paints glow in the dark. Small scraps of leather can make tiny saddles, using yarn and pipe cleaners for the stirrups. Wooden cut outs-attach eyes, paint, etc. Campfire made from cinnamon sticks and red, orange and yellow felt. Mall, rolled logs can also be made from brown grocery bags. Pipe cleaners-cut into quarters, wrap yarn around the middle to make a spider. Twist red and white pipe cleaners together to make candy canes. Make wreaths with pipe cleaners and decorate with ribbon, pom-pom or sequins. Silk leaf with a rolled pipe cleaner in it to resemble a worm. Wrap a pipe cleaner around a thin paintbrush (pencils work but give fatter worms). Hot glue the worm to the leaf, add eyes and antenna if desired. Glue a pin to the other side. Native American-beads threaded on yarn with a small feather tied on the end. Also small strips of brown felt, glued to form headbands. Add a small feather and decorate with fabric paint. Teepee-frame formed with two toothpicks. Triangle of black felt glued to it. Then tan and cream colored felt was wrapped around to form the teepee (it was flat with only two toothpicks). Glue down- brown yarn tied at top to help secure it. Decorate with fabric pain. Tiny plastic seasonal shapes available at craft stores-have girls draw faces on them if desired. Attach string to them and to safety pin. Mini potpourri using lace, ribbon and potpourri. Mini cups of mini champagne glasses. Put several pom-poms in them, a small red pom-pom on top, and a section of plastic straw to create a sundae. Felt trefoils with troop number written in fabric paint. Pom-pom critters. Add eyes, feet and antenna if desired. Add beak an feathers for a bird, flippers for a seal, a trunk for an elephant…. Bottle caps can be glued to the flip top part of an aluminum can and spray painted black to resemble a cast iron skillet. Pin goes on the bottom, and felt can be used to put food in the skillet. Use netting and yarn to make a mini dunk bag. Cut the netting in circles and have girls thread yarn through the top to make a drawstring. Maybe you could create mini dishes to put inside. Mini baskets filled with tiny pom-poms to look like an Easter basket. Or put small flowers in it. Eyelet trim (inch and a half wide), cut into sections and glued o white ribbon makes a cute apron. Make friendship pins with beads on a safety pin. Felt pennants with activity name and date on them. Mini sit upons made from vinyl with plastic lacing. Puzzle pins painted in hot colors, sealed with iridescent colors sprinkled on them. Peanut trolls with pin on back. Fuzzy dice made from soft foam cubes with marker dots hung from a pin. Prismatic Mylar, cut to make CDs, pasted onto cardboard. Octopus-pom-pom with two wiggly eyes. Braid four pieces of yarn and attach to the bottom of the pom-pom in the center of the yarn so there are eight arms. Teddy Graham cookies, spray painted gold, glued onto felt strips as medals. Peanuts sprayed with polyurethane, pom-pom wig, wiggle eyes and bean nose. Magic wands-Popsicle sticks, painted black with each end dipped in white paint. Plastic canvas cut in rainbow shape, weave in colors of five worlds of Girl Scouting. M&Ms wrapped in colored cellophane. Fans from folded wallpaper border remnants, glue lace on edge and ribbon rosette at base. Felt kite, yarn for tail. Toilet paper roll-straws cut into 1 1/2" sections, cut and glue toilet paper to fit, and run a piece of yarn through it.