Saturday, 28 September 2013
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.
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, 22 September 2013
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.
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!
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.
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
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!
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!
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