Pinewood Derby: The Girl Scout Version
Gentlemen, start your engines.
And by gentlemen, we mean Girl Scouts.
And by engines, we mean your 7-by-2 inch pinewood derby blocks of wood.
Unlike Boy Scout derby cars, however, the Girl Scouts put their own style and spin on the pinewood derby—the girls have traded Batmobiles with wings and cars that speed down the track for ladybugs with antennas and snakes that slither down instead.
For three weeks, Troop 23 of Bellefonte, Pa. spent their meetings cutting, sanding, painting, gluing and glittering their derby cars into untraditional shapes and sizes for race day, where several other troops competed. Kayla Fleming, a 10-year-old scout in Troop 23, made her car into a lady bug while learning some lessons along the way.
"It's taught me that it's really hard to make a car," said Kayla, giggling, before playing with the pipe-cleaner antennas on her ladybug. ""I need to fix the antenna -- they're falling off."
Troop leader Jennifer Zeigler, of Bellefonte, Pa., said the pinewood derby is more than just arts and crafts.
"There's a sense of ownership in it," Zeigler said.
"Along the way, they learned...a little bit of engineering. They learned some money management because the pinewood derby costs them some money as well. They learned some fine motor skills [and] they learned about sandpaper," she added, laughing.
Kayla's mom, Erica Fleming, said the process of making the car was the most important lesson for her daughter.
"I think she loves the fact that they do everything themselves, other than the actual cutting portion -- which is obviously not safe. But seeing a project through from beginning to end and then with the derby itself, that whole sense of accomplishment that [they] made this thing that is then going to be in this race," Fleming said.
"Plus she just thinks its really pretty," she added with a smile.
In addition to the physical benefits, Zeigler said there were other benefits too.
"I was very pleased to see at the actual event, they really came together as a group. They sat as a group, they cheered each other on, they really behaved as a unit, even though they were competing individually," said Zeigler.
Prior to the race, the girls played amongst themselves in the back of the Howard County fire hall, entertaining themselves with backward skipping races and handclap games.
Crystal Young, one of Zeigler's scouts whose car was modeled after the platypus Perry from the Disney Channel show, Phineas and Ferb, was just happy to race at all. "I think it's exciting that I get to see some of my friends that aren't in my same troop," said Crystal.
"It doesn't matter if you win or don't win because it's just for fun."
Making a derby car, Girl Scout-style
With both a son and a daughter in the Scouts, Ron Young shares his expertise on how to make a derby car.
