I spent last week at AHG summer camp. If you do not know about AHG (American Heritage Girls) you can find out more at www.ahgonline.org I had the privilege of getting to accompany my beautiful daughter, and teach the Home Care and Repair Merit Badge. I will write more on that later, but today I want to talk about SWAPS.
We did not have SWAPS when I was a young camper, but I love them. If you do not know what a SWAPS is let me attempt to explain. SWAPS stands for Special Whatchamakallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere. In short, they are little homemade items with a safety-pin attached that are traded / swapped at an event. They are a great opportunity for the girls to be able to meet other girls and have a starting point for a conversation. They also provide the girls with a souvenir / token to take home. While most adults do not participate in SWAPS, I cannot resist.
As a merit badge counselor, I opted to make SWAPS for the girls in my class and to share with other girls at camp. For each day of camp I made a different SWAPS to share with my class. I did not do it to actually trade but more as gives. There are always a few girls that are new to SWAPS and did not know to make any or did not have time to make any. This allowed them to have some to take home (usually other girls are more than willing to give SWAPS and trading is not required).
The next couple of post will highlight four of the SWAPS. For those who are not into scouts and SWAPS, bear with me, I will return to knitting and cooking soon. Here is a sneak peek at the next few posts.
Updated: Here are the links to the individual SWAPS for more information. Wrinkled Heart SWAP, Friendship Seeds SWAP, Sock Monkey SWAP, and Flip flop SWAP
