Time needed: 15 minutes
Materials needed:
Setup: Once you’ve enjoyed a tasty meal cooked at camp, it’s time to clean up! You’ll get the job done safely and efficiently. Using three shallow buckets filled with water and a little soap, your dishes will be clean in no-time!
Activity: Prepare your buckets for dishwashing. The first bucket holds hot, soapy water; the second holds clean water for rinsing; and the third is either for boiling water or cool water with a health department–approved sanitizing solution.
Put your dishes in the first bucket with soapy water and clean off all the food residue. Next give them a good rinse in the second bucket. Finally, sanitize your dishes by placing them in a net bag and immersing it in boiling water for one minute (or according to the directions of the sanitizing solution). Hang the net bags to air dry. Dirty dishwater should be filtered to remove food particles once the water has cooled. If you’re staying at a campsite, follow its rules for disposal of your dishwater or practice the Leave No Trace method of scattering strained dishwater, instead of pouring it into the ground.
Troop Leaders: The instructions for all badge steps are available free of charge in your Girl Scout Volunteer Toolkit.
Girl Scout Activity Zone activities have been adapted from existing Girl Scout programming.