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.
