November & December with the Rangers

November was a busy month for everyone and we were unable to meet. Two Rangers assisted at the Grace United Church House Tours & Bazaar on November 16th, one Ranger joined the Guides and Pathfinders at the McMaster Planetarium, and one Ranger and one Guider sold cookies with the Sparks at the end of November.

December started off with our annual Pathfinder/Ranger Service Project Sleepover. We made 8 dozen cookies for the church to pack into boxes for people spending Christmas alone, 5 plates full of decorated sugar cookies for an assisted living facility, and Soup-in-a-Jar and Cookies-in-a-Jar for Martha House, a Women's Shelter in Hamilton. We ordered pizza and the girls spent time crafting and socializing.

We got together again on December 21st for a movie night and watched "The Grinch" with Jim Carrey and ate sweet & salty popcorn, hot chocolate, chocolate covered almonds and lemonade.

Over the Christmas holidays, we got together on December 29th to spend time crafting. We made dry erase boards using frames and squares of card stock (in place of paint chips) and prepared the washcloths to make toothbrush/toothpaste holders at our next meeting. Both ideas are from Pinterest and can be found by clicking on the images.

November & December with the Pathfinders

We started November with a planning meeting. The girls present planed activities on different arts to share at the next meeting. We had activities covering Drama, Writing, Drawing and Art. We also did a challenge activity - list 10 body parts of 3 letters (this is harder than it sounds). The last part of the meeting was spent planning activities for our upcoming sleepover in December.

The second meeting in November was devoted to the Arts, with the girls leading activities that they had planned.

• Game with character cards, players have to interact according to the instructions on their card
• Two Truths and a Lie using character details
• Cooperative story where each person added one sentence at a time.
• Freeze - an improv game where two players start a scene and someone else calls out 'Freeze' and takes the place of one player and starts a new scene
• Bullying prevention skits
• Skits showing the best parts of Guiding
• One paragraph stories and skits

On November 19th, 5 Pathfinders joined the Guides at the McMaster Planetarium, earning the Galactic Adventures Badge - see Guide post here

Our last meeting in November was spent learning to crochet. The goal is to make a blanket that can be donated, but the first step was learning how to do it!

December started off with a meeting all about Animals. Everyone had been asked to choose and animal and bring 5 facts about it. Using the facts, the rest of the group tried to guess the animal. The chosen animals were Cat, Polar Bear, Penguin, Red Panda, Fox, Water Bear and Dog. The next activity was a memory game played with animal tracks. This was followed by animal charades and a game of Capture the Flag. The last activity of the evening was to create an animal cartoon character.

Our annual Pathfinder/Ranger Service Project Sleepover was held on the first Friday of December. We made 8 dozen cookies for the church to pack into boxes for people spending Christmas alone, 5 plates full of decorated sugar cookies for an assisted living facility, and Christmas cards for a group home. We ordered pizza and the girls had lots of time to play games, listen to music and socialize.

The second week of December was our Christmas Pot Luck Dinner. Everyone brought food and we spent the evening eating and ended by playing some active games to stay warm as the hall was very cold that night.


Our last meeting of the year was spent visiting the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA. We had a tour of the facility, learned about the work done by the SPCA, and got to visit with the therapy rabbits.

Peace Badge

Our December 3rd meeting was based on the Peace Badge. As the girls arrived, they finished off their Tasty Treats lapbooks from Friday night.

We started the meeting with our opening horseshoe and an active game then discussed what meant to each girl. We also talked about the Remembrance Day ceremonies held at the cenotaph and at the local schools that each girl had participated in.

After this discussion, the girls split up into patrols and each patrol made a list of ways to promote peace - one patrol on peace at home, one on peace at school, and the third on peace in the neighbourhood. Each patrol shared their ideas with the rest of the unit and the other patrols added any new ideas that they had.

We took a break for an active game, playing "Red Light, Green Light", a game that was popular during the 1940s.

The "it" person stands at one end of the playing field, with the rest of the players at the other end. "It" turns their back to the others and calls out "Green light!" or "Red Light! The players then run as fast as they can towards "it". At any time, "it" can face the players, calling out "Red light", and the others must freeze in place. If anyone fails to stop, they are out or must return to the starting line. Other variations include calling out "Yellow light" as a diversion, or where they must walk instead of run to "it". The first player to reach the person who is "it"picks up an "object" positioned near the "it" person and return with it to the other side of the field. Once the person who is “it” realizes the object is gone, she can chase the player who has picked it up. If that player reaches the starting line, they become ‘it’ for the next game. If ‘it’ catches the player before they reach the starting line, they continue as ‘it’ OR get to choose who will be the new ‘it’. 

Next, we looked at some common peace symbols and then the girls got creative and designed their own symbols to represent peace.

At the end of the meet, 4 girls shared information about world leaders for peace - Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Craig Kielburger, and the Dalai Lama. We ended the meeting with a song, "Peace I Ask of Thee O River" - listen here
 

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

When I learn to live serenely, cares will cease.

From the hills I gather courage, vision of the day to be,

Strength to lead and faith to follow, all are given unto me.

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

Tasty Treats Night

On Friday, November 29th we held a Tasty Treats Night to do some holiday baking and help the girls earn their Tasty Treats badge. The night was a success and we will definitely do it again! 

We divided the girls into small groups and rotated the girls through baking in the kitchen and working on lap books in the main hall.

Our Recipes for the evening were:

• Toblerone  Fudge
• Rocky Road Squares
• Stained Glass Window Cookies
• Banana Bread
• Sugar Cookies (+ icing and decorations!)

The lap books covered the other parts of the Tasty Treats badge, including substitutions for different diets (i.e. gluten free, dairy free), a recipe booklet, measuring and baking utensils, food presentation, and kitchen safety.

Right to Play!

Our November 26th meeting started off with an enrolment ceremony for Hayley who had been away for our planned enrolment night. After this, our first activity was a brief discussion about what Right to Play is. Right to Play is a global organization that uses play, games and sports to educate and empower children. The organization was founded in 2000 by Johann Olav Koss, a 4-time Olympic gold medalist in Speed Skating. More information can be found on their website at http://www.righttoplay.com/. 
We then played two games from the Right to Play website - Run For Your Rights and Crossing the River, followed by an activity from the Equitas Play It Fair Toolkit, I Have the Right to... (#28).

• Run for Your Rights - The purpose of the game is to help girls become more familiar with some of their rights. Players stand in a circle. Each has a card with one of the Rights of the Child on it (3-5 girls have the same card). One player stands in the centre, she will try to 'steal' a place in the circle. The game leader calls out one of the Rights and everyone with that right runs to find a new place in the circle. The game leader can also call out 'Run for your Rights', which means all players move to find a new spot and "Learn your Rights", which means all players pass their Right card to the player on their right. 
• Crossing the River - The purpose of this game is to help girls recognize the challenges faced by children who have their rights violated. Divide girls into teams of 4-6 players and give each team a different number of sheets of paper. The teams then have to make their way from one end of the playing area to the other standing only on the paper. (Teams with fewer sheets will likely have more problems than those with more sheets)
• I Have the Right to... - The purpose of this game is practice teamwork and become acquainted with human rights and how we can ensure they are respected. The game is played similar to Romeo & Juliet. Girls are in pairs, one is the runner and one is the actor. Depending on what is called by the game leader, they act out 4 different human rights. The last pair to perform the action is out. Rights are the Right to Education, Right to Security, Right to Express Oneself, and Right to Rest.

Next, we had each Patrol make up their own game using a simple object - the Hollies created a tag game using two sticks as 'safe' bases, the Bluebells created a guessing game using an empty water bottle, and the Violet's created a catch game using a plastic bag.
Our last activity of the evening was the game "My Little Bird" from Tanzania. 

• My Lillte Bird - In this game, one player stands in front of the group and flaps her arms. She says "My little bird is lively, lively." Then quickly calls out the name of anything he wishes, for example, "Goats ... fly!" If the thing named can fly, the other players raise their arms in a flying motion. If the thing named cannot fly, the players remain still. Should a player's arms move at the wrong call, that player is out of the game.

Astronomy Badge & Planetarium Visit

On November 19th, a group of 34 including Guides, Pathfinders, Guiders, Rangers and family members visited the McMaster University Planetarium for a presentation on space. The Guides earned the Astronomy Badge and the Pathfinders completed the Galactic Adventures Module.

The presentation began with constellations in the sky at this time of year, including locating the Dippers and the North Star. We then explored the solar system and looked at objects in the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond.

Church Bazaar

On Saturday, November 16th, 2 Rangers and 3 Guides volunteered to help with the Grace United Church House Tours & Bazaar. The Rangers came in the morning and helped to make sandwiches and serve soup and sandwiches to people returning from the House Tours for lunch.

The Guides came in the afternoon and helped to serve sandwiches and clear tables.

Everyone did a great job and the Guides especially are so proud that they can help with an event like this. Unfortunately, this will likely be the last year the girls help at the bazaar as it was indicated that only older girls are needed.

Guide Enrolment & Talent Show

We held our enrolment ceremony and talent show on November 12th. The first half of the meeting was spent setting up chairs and rehearsing the enrolment ceremony. Parents were invited to return at 7.30pm and each family was given a program created by our 'back stage crew' the week before.

The ceremony began with a short "Key" ceremony. Each enrolled Guide came up, one at a time, and placed a key on a coloured board (the girls opened a door made of a folded piece of paper and placed their key inside the open doorway) and read out a short piece about one of the program areas in Guiding.
The Guiding program is based on 6 key areas. Girls in all branches of the program have the opportunity to explore, experiment, and learn through activities based on these keys.
Arts - I use my key to ope the door to the Arts. As a Guide I can explore my creativity through drama, drawing, games, crafts, dance and music.
STEM - I use my key to open the door to STEM. As a Guide I can experiment with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
Camping & Outdoors - I use my key to open the door to Camping and the Outdoors. As a Guide I can go on overnight adventures, take part in outdoor activities, and explore the natural environment.
Service & Community - I use my key to open the door to Service and My Community. As a Guide I can give back to my community and make a difference in the world.
World Guiding - I use my key to open the door to World Guiding. As a Guide I have 10 million sisters in 145 different countries and I can learn about cultures, the lives of girls, and Guiding around the world.
Personal Growth - I use my key to open the door to Personal Growth. As a Guide I can practice skills I'll need in the future like communication, leadership, problem solving and teamwork.

 We then proceeded with the enrolment ceremony and welcomed 10 new Guides to our Guiding family.

 

Following the enrolment ceremony, we began our Talent Show. Our performances were:

• Dance Routine by McKenzie
• Gymnastics by Grace
• Abstract Drawings by Sophie
• Hula Hooping by Olivia, assisted by Olivia
• Magic Tricks by Megan, assisted by Ally

 Everyone did a great job and the show was a success!

Performing Arts

Our work on the Performing Arts Badge spanned 3 meetings plus our Talent Show at Enrolment. 

Week 1 - October 15th
Our first Performing Arts meeting started with Patrol Leader Elections. Each girl had the opportunity to vote for 3 new Patrol Leaders and also to request who they would like to be in a patrol with. Our patrols this year are Holly, Bluebell and Violet. 
Our activities for the evening were intended to get everyone warmed up and using their imaginations:

• Go Loosey-Goosey - Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Shake your arms, legs, hips and head up and down. Roar like a lion, whinny like a horse and make other animal sounds. Stop and breathe in and out, slowly and calmly.
• Emotion Actions - Charades using emotions such as Happy, Sad, Confused, Shy, Tired, Sorry
• Take the Stage! - Players take turns acting out various jobs - they can speak, but not name the job - i.e. Ballerina, Detective, Painter, Dog Walker
• Imagination Walks - Have girls spread out. Call out different ways of moving and the girls then walk around the room following your instructions - i.e. As if you are an astronaut on the moon, As if you are a baby walking for the first time, as if you are walking through a room filled with Jello, As if your pinky finger weights 100 pounds.
• Rainstorm - Girls sit in a circle. A leader walks around the inside of the circle facing the girls and slowly starts one girl at a time on an action. Girls continue with their action until the leader starts them on the next action. Actions - Rub finger and thumb together, Rub palms together, Snap fingers, Clap hands, Stomp feet, Clap hands, Snap fingers, Rub palms together, Rub finger and thumb together, Stop. (The effect sounds like a rainstorm)

Week 2 - October 22nd
Week 2 was all about puppets! As the girls arrived, they made invitations for our up-coming enrolment and talent show. After our opening and an active game, we went right into creating puppets using paint stirrers and craft supplies.

Once the puppets were finished, the girls were divided into groups of 3 and each group made up a puppet play showing what happened when their characters visited an amusement park. The plays were entertaining with a wide variety of characters as the girls didn't know they were making a play together when they made their puppets.


After the puppet plays were finished and we had cleaned up, we talked about the talent show and what each girl would like to do. The meeting ended with a couple of favourite songs and taps.

Week 3 - November 5th
Our final week of Performing Arts was all about preparing for the talent show. As the girls arrived, they went into their patrols to practice the promise for enrolment next week. After opening and an active game, we divided into groups, with performers practicing their acts and our 'back stage crew' preparing programs and a welcome sign for the door.
We then did two relaxation exercises that can help our performers calm their nerves before going on stage:

• Funny Faces - Begin by opening your mouth as wide as you can to form a big "O". Then cover your teeth with your lips and make a smaller "O". Next, scrunch up your face, shut your eyes tight, purse your lips together and furrow your brow. Hold for a few seconds, then relax. Repeat.
• Breathe - Stand or sit up straight and relax your shoulders. Breathe in a full, deep breathe through your nose, feel the air fill your chest. Hold that breathe for a moment, then slowly exhale through your mouth. Repeat.

Next, we did a full run-through of all our performances to make sure everyone was ready to go for next week. Our final activity was mime skits. The girls split up into small groups and each girl had to create a mimed skit showing what happened when they visited the zoo.

September & October with the Rangers

The Ranger year started off with a barbeque on September 6th. We made chicken kebabs, baked potatoes and chocolate brownies. After we finished eating, we made a list of activities to do this year and also planned the menu for fall camp.

Our first regular meeting of the year was held the following week and we reviewed the camp menu and planned camp activities (Minute-To-Win-It Activities, Geocaching, shelter building, and the Camp Orenda Challenge). We also looked into local geocaches and talked about planning a day to visit them. Later in the evening, we started planning a new cookie display board as the current one has photos from when the Rangers were Guides!

September 20th to 22nd was our Fall Camp - see this post.

October started with a planning meeting to plan meetings for October, November and December. We looked at the badges available from the UK as part of the Badges for Thinking Day program and decided to work on the Chocolate and Confectioner's Badges. One of the planned meetings is a craft night and the chosen crafts are dry erase boards made from paint chips in a frame and toothbrush/toothpaste holders made from washcloths - both ideas found on Pinterest.

Saturday, October 19th was Cookie Day at Sears and we teamed up with the Pathfinders to sell 6 cases of Spring Cookies and 14 cases of Fall Cookies.

Our last meeting of October was a Global Awareness Night where we explored strange but true laws and laws around the world that impact women. Discussion included how various laws affect women's lives - for better or for worse and what it would be like to live in a country with various laws.

September & October with the Pathfinders

Our year started off at the end of August with a barbeque and planning session. We made chicken and veggie kebabs, baked potatoes and chocolate brownies. Our first formal meeting was held on September 11th and was spent planning activities and meals for camp. At the next meeting, we went grocery shopping for camp and talked about last-minute camp preparation and up-coming meetings.

Our third meeting was devoted to the 'We're A Team' module and learning to work together

as a group. We did a number of team challenges and Minute to Win It Games. Challenges included:

• Change Over - Ask the team to stand together on a tarp. Without stepping off the tarp, players must turn the tarp over completely and remain standing on the tarp the entire time. Repeat with a smaller tarp.
• Everybody Up - Hold hands in a circle, with feet pressed against the feet of the people on either side. While keeping hands clasped and feet together, the whole group must sit down on the ground. Then stand up again!
• Pass the Can - Players sit in a circle with a coffee can on one player's foot. Tell players to pass the can around the circle using only their feet. If the can falls to the ground, they must start over.
• All Aboard - Spread out a cloth or tarp in front of the group. When "All Aboard" is called, everyone is to get both feet on the tarp (platform). Once this is done, everyone steps off the platform. The tarp is then folded in half and the actions repeated. Continue until the group is unable to get everyone onto the platform.

October started off with a meeting on "Cookies, Code of Conduct and Choosing Your Own Direction" to cover the Cookies Rising and Choosing Your Own Direction Modules. Two of the activities we did were re-writing the Promise in text and designing Cookie Selling brochures with tips for Sparks and Brownies.

At our second meeting in October we celebrated the International Day of the Girl. We learned about what the Day of the Girl is and about The Girl Effect. Activities included "Who Are the Lucky Ones?", "How is the World Divided?" (from the Equitas Play It Fair Toolkit), and "Minefield". Each girl then completed a postcard answering the question "We need girls in the lead because..."

Our next meeting was a Board Game Night. We played Twister, Checkers and Taboo, as well as active games - Blob Tag, Fetch, Arches, and Duck, Duck, Goose.

We participated in the annual Cookie Day at Sears on October 19th where we teamed up with the Rangers to sell 6 cases of Spring cookies and 14 cases of Fall cookies.

Our October 23rd meeting was "The Arts From A to Z" module. We started off with two drama games - "Emotion Actions" (charades with emotions) and "Imagination Walks" (moving in a certain way - i.e. walking as if you were on the moon, as if your pinky finger weighed 100 pounds). Next we went on to dance, with girls sharing steps from the different types of dance they have taken. Keira shared the "Coffee Grinder" from Hip Hop, Lynsey shared "Jazzy Blues" from Jazz, Taylor shared steps from Highland and Meaghan shared "Laundry" from Hip Hop. Then we moved onto music, with people sharing their favourite songs and music genres. Our final activity was crafting, making beaded spiral bracelets using coiled wire and small beads.

The last meeting of October was a Hallowe'en Party. We had a wide variety of costumes - a Pathfinder, a Hockey Fan, a Gummy Bear, a Scarecrow, a Devil, a Zombie, a Nerd and an 80s Rock Star. We made two edible crafts - Lollipop Ghosts (lollipop covered with a napkin tied under the lollipop and a face drawn on) and Dead Surgeon's Hands (plastic glove [mine were blue] with candy corn in the fingers as nails and then filled with caramel corn). We also shaved balloons (cover inflated balloon with shaving cream and try to shave with a plastic knife without popping the balloon) - very, very messy! We created toilet paper mummies, and layed "Pin the Tail on the Zombie Unicorn". The evening ended with snacks and drinks.

Hallowe'en Party

Our Hallowe'en party had full attendance, with many interesting costumes!

Our arrival activity was a craft - Lollipop Ghosts, made by tying a napkin over a lollipop and drawing on eyes and a mouth.

We had our usual opening and then started the evening off with a costume parade - while everyone's costume's were still intact! Then we started into a series of Hallowe'en-themed games:

• Pass the Creature - Girls are in patrols and must pass the creature (a rubber toy) along the line without using their hands.
• Goblins & Ghouls - Girls are divided into two teams and line up facing each other. One team is Goblins, the other Ghouls. Call out Goblins or Ghouls, the team called chases the other team to the back of their playing area. Anyone tagged joins the other team.
• Pumpkin Ball - similar to Prison Ball. Girls are in two teams and face each other. an area behind each team is marked at the 'pumpkin patch'. Girls throw balls from opposite sides of the room and try to hit other players below the knees. If you are hit, you go to the pumpkin patch behind the opposite team. If a player in the pumpkin patch catches a ball, she frees everyone in that pumpkin patch and they rejoin their team.

Towards the end of the evening we did a creepy murder story. The girls sat around in the circle with the lights off and were told that sadly Mr. Hal O. Ween had been murdered and that his remains had been recovered (I don't recall where the original story came from - we modified some of the items). Dishes were then passed around for the girls to touch:

• This is his brain, which no more shall think (soaked torn up paper towel)
• These are his eyes, frozen in surprise (2 peeled grapes)
• This is his hair, once so fair (an unraveled piece of string)
• Some drops of his blood, the rest turned to mud (ketchup mixed with water)
• One hand alone, just rotting flesh and bone (plastic glove filled with water and put in the freeze at the beginning of the meeting)
• Worms are all that's left, for them 'twas a lovely meal (cold cooked spaghetti)

We ended the evening with another edible craft - Dead Surgeon's Hands (blue plastic gloves with candy corn for finger nails and filled with caramel corn), followed by treats.

International Day of the Girl 2013

At our October 8th meeting we celebrated the 2nd International Day of the Girl. As they arrived, each girl was asked to add to a Graffiti Wall (made using a large roll of paper) by writing or drawing her thoughts on what it means to be a girl.
After our opening ceremony, we played a game of Band Aid Tag, then discussed what the International Day of the Girl is, organizations that help girls, and how life is different for girls in other parts of the world. 
Other activities included "Who Are the Lucky Ones?", "Minefield", and "How is the World Divided?"

• Who Are the Lucky Ones? - This game uses chance cards to show how life can differ for families around the world. Cards can be found here -
  www.shurdington.org/Downloads/ChanceCards.pdf‎
• Minefield - In this game, papers are spread out around the playing area to represent hazards. Around the edges of the playing field are papers with warnings written on them (i.e. Danger, Stay Away, Keep Off Property). Players are divided into pairs and one partner stands at each end of the playing field. The players at one end are blindfolded. The partner at the other end tries to guide her partner safely across the field by giving verbal directions. If the blindfolded partner steps on a hazard, she goes back to the starting line. The blindfolded partner can't read, so she doesn't understand that she is about to walk through a dangerous area (representing the challenges faced by girls). The other partner represents education, literacy, etc. and how these can help a girl overcome challenges.
• How is the World Divided? - Activity 38 in the Equitas Play It Fair Toolkit

The final activity of the evening was to create postcards answering the question - "We need girls in the lead because..."

Promise & Law

Our first meeting in October was devoted to Promise and Law activities to get our new members ready for enrolment and to review the promise and law with everyone. As the girls arrived, they were asked to write down ideas for the Hallowe'en party at the end of the month and then each patrol was asked to imagine that they were stuck on a desert island and to decide on rules that they thought would be needed there.
After our opening, the girls played an active game and then came together to discuss what a Promise is and to go over their 'desert island rules'. At the same time, we talked about the Code of Conduct and how the rules they had chosen for their desert island covered many of the same things.
Next, we played a game - BURRPLS Laws (BURRPLS is an acronym made using the first letter of each law). Players stand in a circle and each is given a law. A leader or player stands in the centre. The players in the circle pass a ball around the circle. When the player in the centre calls out 'BURRPLS!', the player holding the ball sits down with her legs straight out in front of her and calls out her law. Play continues until all players are sitting down. 
We then sat down to come up with unit guidelines - topping the list were "No Whining!" and "Smile!".  The girls came up with a list of 10 guidelines for behaviour at meetings.
We then did an activity in small groups where each group chose colours (using suckers) to represent each guide law. This was followed by demonstrating the sign and handshake and reading a brief story about why Guides and Scouts use the left handshake.
We ended the meeting by planning the Hallowe'en party. 

Fall Cookies

Saturday, September 28th was our Fall Cookie Day! We sold 2 cases of spring chocolate & vanilla cookies and just over 9 cases of fall chocolatey mint cookies.

Urban Hike & Night Games

We ended September with a short hike in town and night games in the park. Before we set out, we had a brief discussion about the importance of leaving details of your plans with someone at home, what to do if you got lost, why we don't go swimming without a lifeguard and how to behave on public and private property (these are all parts of the Hiking Badge).

Our first activity was Find Your Tree. The girls were divided into pairs with one partner blindfolded. The girl who could see guided her partner to a tree that she then had to memorize how it felt. The seeing partner then led her partner away from the tree and took off the blindfold. The girl who was blindfolded then had to find her tree again.

We then headed out on our walk across the bridge and along the river path. Along the way we looked for signs of nature and objects that would fit on your thumb. We found different types of trees, feathers, grasses, wildflowers and moss. On the way back to the park, we did two walking activities. The first was a Blind Guided Walk. All of the girls were blindfolded and the leaders went at the front, middle and end of the line. We all joined hands and then went on our walk with the leader at the front calling out directions and information about the path and the girls trying to avoid any bumps and holes based on what they were told. Our second activity was a Circle Walk. We divided the girls into two groups, and then had each group form a circle with their arms around each others waists - and then they had to walk forward, moving as a group.

Once we arrived back at the park we had time for a quick snack and then started our night games. We had time for 3 games before it was time to go home:

The Bat - One girl is the bat and leaves the group. One of the other players is chosen as the moth, then all of the players spread out and start moving around and making noises of a chosen animal (the moth is silent). The bat then goes around the playing area trying to find the moth by listening to the noises made by the players.

Listen With Your Eyes Closed -Everyone stands in a circle and closes their eyes. Stay quiet for a few minutes and listen to the sounds in the dark. After the time is up, ask the girls what they could hear.

Sneak -  One player stands in the centre with a flashlight. The other players make a wide circle around the player in the centre. One at a time, players try to sneak up on the player in the centre and tap her on the shoulder without being caught in the flashlight's beam.

Pathfinder/Ranger Fall Camp

On the weekend of September 20th to 22nd, the 1st Caledonia Pathfinders, 1st Caledonia Rangers, and 1st Kerwood Pathfinders/Rangers camped at Camp Orenda, near London ... in the rain! We were fortunate in that the rain cleared out during Saturday morning and we were able to get in lots of outdoor activities during the day and early evening.

Friday night started with getting the tents set up and equipment put away. Fortunately, this was done before the rain began. We had a facilitator join us about 8pm and had planned to go out on the Low Challenge Course, but couldn't due to the rain. Instead, we played team-building games and made beaded critters.

Saturday started out damp and overcast, but after breakfast the sun came out. The Rangers went off on a geo-caching adventure around the camp while the Pathfinders stayed on site. After lunch cooked in pie irons, the Rangers headed off on their own to work on the Camp Orenda Challenge and the Pathfinders and Guiders went on a hike around the camp property, including sampling wild grapes and berries!

Once everyone was back on the site, we started preparing for dinner. The menu was chicken-in-a-bucket, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, caesar salad and garlic bread - with all cooking done on open fires. We had 3 fires going and everyone pitched in to get all of the food prepared.

After clean-up was finished, we headed to the Low Challenge Course for some team-building activities. The girls worked together to get a tire onto and off poles of two heights, have half the group move past the other half on a beam, guide each person over a narrow beam course, and have the entire group passed through a suspended tire.

Sunday was filled with packing up gear and supplies, taking down tents and cleaning up the site before parents arrived for pickup. After camp, each participant received a jar of wild grape jelly made from grapes at the camp by Miriam, the Guider with the 1st Kerwood Pathfinders/Rangers.

Outdoor Explorers

At our second meeting we divided the girls up into 3 Patrols. We have 5 returning Guides, 5 advancing Brownies and 5 girls who are new to Guiding.

The arrival activity was to make lists of activities that they would like to do this year. Four sheets of paper with topics and some suggested activities were placed around the room and each girl took a marker and initialed beside any idea she liked and also added any additional ideas she had. The top ideas: Visit from the Vet for the Pet Lover Badge, Baking and Cooking Night, Cookie Selling, Wall Climbing, Arts & Crafts, Talent Show, and Playing Games.

We had our usual opening and attempted to march into a horseshoe. This was followed by a Game led by our Junior Leader, Ocean-Lee.

We spent the next hour outside exploring the environment around the church with 3 outdoor activities:
1. Trail Signs - I made cards with trail signs and laid a trail with them around the church, including a 'treasure' to be found (dish of Werther's Original candies). One patrol at a time set out to follow the trail using cards with a chart of trail signs.
2. Nature Scavenger Hunt - While one patrol was following the trail, the other two patrols solved clues to make a list of scavenger hunt items. They then had to find these items on the church property.
3. Listening Post - For this game, two girls were blindfolded and stood at one end of the playing area. The other girls had to try to creep up to them without being heard and caught. If one of the blindfolded girls heard movement, she pointed in its direction and shouted 'freeze!'. At this signal, everyone had to freeze in place and if the blindfolded player was pointing at someone, that player (or players) had to go back to the start. This game is usually played with flashlights instead of pointing, and anyone caught in the flashlight's beam has to go back to the start. I think we'll try this again when there are more leaves on the ground to make a noise!

After the games, we went inside for a snack. Since we can't make a fire at the church, we made S'mores in the oven - a hit as usual! While the girls were eating, they each told the rest of the group about a hike they have taken. 

We ended the evening with a sing-song and Taps.

Welcome to Guides!

We held our first meeting of the 2013-2014 Guiding Year on Tuesday, September 10th. This year, we decided to hold an open house to encourage new members to join us. We had 4 returning Guides, 5 advancing Brownies, and 4 girls who are new to Guiding join us for the evening.

Our first activity was "Who Am I?", a game where players have a card on their back (in this case, animals) and they have to ask other players 'yes' and 'no' questions to help them guess what their animals is. (This game has several different names)

Next, we tried a little science. We tried to do the lemon powered light bulb, but were unsuccessful - we'll try this one again later in the year. The girls also wrote invisible ink messages using lemon juice.

After this, it was time for a game - Doughnut Tag! 

Our next activity took us around the world to visit Guides in 16 countries. Each girl was given one or more cards with a picture of a Guide in uniform on it and had to find the matching country on the map. We talked briefly about WAGGGS and its 145 member countries, as well as about the Canadian Twinning Project with Grenada and Curacao. This station ended with a sampling of mango.

More games were next and the girls played the Name Game with balls and Hot Potato (at their request).

Our final activity of the evening let the girls explore their creativity by making paperbag scrapbooks and decorating the front covers. We will go back to these later in the year and add pictures and embellishments inside.

The evening ended with some songs, a thank you to everyone for coming, and a hope that they would all come back next week!

Getting Ready for a New Guiding Year

Where has the summer gone? It feels like just yesterday I was wrapping up our year-end Guide camp and final meetings in June. 

I've been shopping for some basic admin supplies - new markers, pencils, my planning notebooks and have started to figure out what I'm going to need in our first order from the Guide Store (Patrol Emblems, dues books, badges/insignia, enrollment pins and certificates, etc.) Not very exciting I know, but somehow this is how I start every Guiding year and once I've done the basics, getting down to planning and arranging activities comes easily!

We've been doing some planning for Guides and have lots of ideas for Pathfinders and Rangers - of course, everything depends on what the girls want to do.

For Guides, we have an Open House on September 10th to hopefully encourage new members to join. We're planning to work on the Hiking, Performing Arts, Event Planning, Astronomy and Tasty Treats badge this fall. Activities so far include an urban hike, a trip to the planetarium, celebrating the International Day of the Girl, an Enrollment ceremony, Talent Show, craft night, and Hallowe'en party.

Pathfinders and Rangers have a camp scheduled for September and we're hoping to be able to do the Challenge Course and Archery, along with some outdoor cooking, hiking and social time. We will also be starting to work on a service project, sell cookies to raise funds for our activities, and building team work skills.

The Rangers have a weekend in Toronto to look forward to, in addition to a start of the year BBQ, cookie sales, working on the Cookie Campaign Challenge and camping with the Pathfinders.

May and June with the Rangers

We did not meet in May due to a Guider vacation and Guide Camp at the end of the month.

On Saturday, June 1st the Rangers sold cookies during the town-wide yard sale day.

Our next two meetings were of a very "light-hearted" nature and we made made plans for our Toronto trip in the fall and discussed what to do for a year-end activity.

Our final meeting was a movie night with snacks.

Everyone is looking forward to camp in the fall and we hope to make plans to go swimming and spend a day at the beach during the summer.

May and June with the Pathfinders

May was another short month for us due to Guider vacations.

Our May 1st meeting was run by two Pathfinders with the theme "It's Magic!". The girls learned card tricks and slight-of-hand magic tricks.

Meetings on May 8th and 15th were cancelled, but on May 7th, the Pathfinders ran a Guide meeting on The Arts and Active Living.

The last meeting for May was on May 22nd and was run by two girls covering the Focus on Friendship Module.

Our last meeting of the year was held on June 5th with the theme of Music and Dance. Unfortunately only one of the girls who had planned this meeting was able to be present, so we weren't able to do the activities she had prepared.

Normally, we would have had a year-end trip/activity and camp, however due to lack of interest our year-end trip was cancelled.  Camp has been rescheduled to September and we are looking forward to a fun weekend at Camp Orenda!

June Camp - Harry Potter!

On the weekend of May 31st to June 2nd we headed to Byng Island Conservation Area in Dunnville, Ontario for our annual Summer Camp Weekend. As usual, we invited the advancing Brownies to come to camp, and 3 girls decided to join us for the weekend, making a total of 16 campers.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we had heavy rain for most of the weekend. A big THANK YOU to all of the parents who stayed to help get the tents set up on Friday night despite the rain and who came on Sunday morning to help get everything packed away.

Friday night was busy with everyone arriving, getting tents set up and equipment put away. We reviewed camp rules and talked about what to do in the event of an emergency. The girls were then sorted into their Houses and given their House scarf to be worn all weekend. We had a sing-song, snack and then a trip to the washrooms and bed.

Saturday started off with breakfast and patrol duties. We then headed over to an empty group site for our challenge event.  The girls were told that Professor Dumbledore had fallen victim to a powerful spell and the only way to wake him was to gather the items needed to make a powerful potion. To gather these items, each House had to undertake a series of challenges:
1. Find the names of three mini-fantastic beasts (use field guides to identify three bugs)

2. Gather some unicorn hair (obstacle course)

3. Get a Common Welsh Dragon Egg (follow a string trail blindfolded and then get past a troll)

4. Mix a potion (under a left-handed curse that made their right hands useless, cut up a lemon and mix water, drink mix, food colouring and lemon)

Everyone had fun doing this! After using the potion to revive Professor Dumbledore, we played Quidditch (Muggle version).

We then went back to the site to make lunch. After lunch, we were all ready for some quiet time. Some girls lay down, others read or talked quietly for nearly the full hour. In the afternoon, the 3rd year Guides were split into 2 groups. One group planned the campfire for Saturday night, while the other group planned Guide's Own for Sunday morning.

Following quiet time, it was time for a Transfiguration lesson (crafts) - which was well-timed as it began to rain heavily part-way through! We made magic wands, golden snitches, mini broomsticks and dragon eggs. 

We paused for a snack, and then it was time for our next lesson - Potions, where we made the ever-popular Slime!

Each girl was then given her very own personal potions kit containing a portable cauldren (plastic container with lid) beozar (stone), magic crystals (blue & clear gems), and magic powders (coloured glitter layered in tiny bottles). The girls also received 'textbooks' for the planned subjects - Transfiguration, Potions, Muggle Studies (camp skills) and Astronomy.

Supper and patrol duties followed, as well as more planning for campfire and Guide's Own. The girls had lots of free time to talk, play, read, etc. and later on we had a sing-song campfire while the rain continued.

Sunday morning was frantic as usual with breakfast, packing and cleaning. Once everything was packed up and most of the cleaning done, the second group of 3rd year Guides led Guide's Own and then it was time to go home!

Everyone had a good time despite the rain and we were very thankful for the on-site pavillion and the quality of our tents, which remained dry.