Our last meeting of of January was spent earning the Weather Badge. We did not follow the badge requirements exactly, substituting a drama activity and learning about weather emergencies in place of weather experiments. The meeting began with our usual opening, followed by a quick discussion about "What is Weather?"
We then played an active game called Four Winds. The game leader is the weather forecaster and she tells the girls which walls are North, South, East and West. The weather forecaster then calls out "The wind is blowing from the ..." and the girls then have to run to the wall towards which the wind is blowing. For example, if the wind is blowing from the North, the girls would run to the South wall.
Our next game was a Cloud Identification Relay. Before starting, we talked about the different types of clouds and looked at pictures. Each girl had a card with a picture on one side and a fact on the other. The girls held up their cards one at a time while reading out their fact or description. Once everyone had shared their information, we split up into patrols and each patrol had to race to the other end of the room to pick up cards with pictures of clouds and titles. Once the patrol had all of their cards, they had to match the pictures to the correct names.
Next, we learned how to read different types of weather maps using instructions and print-outs of maps from the internet. Some of the maps we looked at included radar, satellite, precipitation, and temperature.
This was followed by a discussion about weather emergencies. We focused on extreme heat, thunderstorms and winter storms, as these are things that all of the girls have experienced. After our discussion, each group took a fact sheet and created a weather forecast, including what people should do to prepare for oncoming weather and to stay safe once it arrived.
We ended the meeting by creating our own rainstorm. The song leader starts each action and walks around the inside of the circle. As she passes each person, they start doing the action:
- 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
January 21st was our pre-camp meeting for our Winter Camping trip on January 31st to February 2nd. Once again this year we will be camping at Camp Teka in Paris, Ontario. [Note: Our camp was cancelled due to a problem with the water system at camp - there was no running water! We were able to reschedule our camp for February 14th to 16th, with the Pathfinders and Rangers.]
The arrival activity was for each patrol to make a list of things they would like to eat at camp and things they would like to do at camp. This is very helpful in planning the menu and activities for the weekend.
After our opening and an active game, we started an experiment to see which fabrics are the best to wear when outdoors. This would also lead to a discussion about layering and staying warm in cold weather.
There are a number of ways to do the fabric experiment. How we did it was to give each patrol a bucket of water, a pair of pants, a sock and a mitten. They set up their bucket with the three clothing items hung over the edge and just touching the surface of the water. The buckets were they left for about half an hour.
Our girls love drama, so we did a dramatized version of "A Day at Guide Camp". As a leader called out the different activities, the girls had to act them out. Everyone starts out lying on the floor with their eyes closed. We used following basic instructions with some more details added to make it more 'real':
- It's time to wake up! Sit up and stretch
- Get up out of your sleeping bag and get dressed
- Roll up your bedding and put it by the wall
- Eat breakfast
- Wash your dishes
- Put on your outdoor clothing
- Go outside for a hike
- Come inside and take off your outdoor clothing
- Now we're going to do some indoor activities
With the last instruction, we moved into a Packing Relay game. Girls lined up in patrols and one at a time ran to the far end of the room to get a slip of paper with an item on the kit list. The patrol had to decide which category the item belonged in (Bedroll, Bag, Toiletries, Outdoor Clothing, Leave at Home) and the first patrol to get all the items into the right categories was the winner.
Next, the girls made up skits - one group showing what to do if they got lost, another showing why we use the buddy system at camp, and the third showing how to get help in an emergency.
After this, it was time to go back to our fabric experiment. We made a chart to record the results - how far the water had wicked up the fabric, how much heavier the wet item felt compared with a dry item, and how much water we could wring out of the wet item.
Once we had finished recording our results, we discussed the types of clothing that are best for camp and about layering.
Finally, there was just enough time to finish our dramatization of "A Day at Guide Camp":
- Eat lunch
- Quiet Time!
- It's time to do a craft - let's paint!
- Put on your outdoor clothing
- Play tag in the snow
- Come inside and take off your outdoor clothing
- Eat Dinner
- Sing-Song
- Roll out your bedroll
- Put on your pyjamas
- Go to sleep
Our second meeting of 2014 was our annual trip with Zoe to a country in another part of the world. This year's challenge was Zoe Goes to New Zealand.
This week were were upstairs in a smaller room as there was a dinner being held in the hall where we usually meet. This meant that we had to be quiet and couldn't play running games.
We started the evening off with an activity and colouring sheet, followed by our usual opening.
After opening, we played a game that is played in New Zealand called "Lighthouse". In this game, one person is a ship, one person is the lighthouse, and all the other players are rocks. The ship is blindfolded and stands at one end of the playing area. The lighthouse stands at the opposite end of the playing area and the rocks sit scattered in the space in between the ship and the lighthouse. The lighthouse makes a beeping noise to guide the ship through the rocks. The ship tries to walk through the rocks without hitting any. The rocks make a swishing noise if the ship gets too close. This game was very popular and the girls would have keep on playing it!
Next we talked about New Zealand, where it is, what the country is like, and why New Zealanders are known as "Kiwis".
Our first craft was very simple sheep cards. The girls glued white cotton balls onto black cardstock to make the sheep's body and then drew in a head and legs using a white pencil crayon.
The next activity was called "Pass it on Mime". This game is similar to Telephone except that the girls are passing on actions instead of words. Players sit in a circle with their eyes closed. The first player is given a slip of paper that she has to act out. When she is ready, she taps the next player on the shoulder to get her to open her eyes and then acts out the instructions. The second player watches, then taps the next player on the shoulder to open her eyes, and then repeats the actions of the first player. Play continues this way until the last player is reached. The last player tries to guess what the actions are. Actions we used were: finding your way through a cave without a flashlight; tying your shoe, zipping up your coat and putting on your mitts; slipping on a banana peel; and kayaking over a rapid. This game was also very popular - and very funny!
Next came our second craft - mini Koru designs. The koru, or spiral is a symbol of energy in Maori art. This symbol is said to have been carved on the early voyaging canoes and today can be found in many places. Our designs were very simple and were done with pencil crayons on small pieces of white card stock. The cards will be laminated so that the girls can pin them on their camp hats.
Our last activity was from the challenge resource pack - Indoor Surfing. This activity is intended for younger girls, but the Guides had fun with it. Basically, the girls act out going surfing in 5 steps:
- Paddle out to catch your wave
- Standup and ride the wave
- Lose your balance (gently fall off your board)
- Jump over a giant wave
- Swim into shore
We ended the evening by learning about bit about Guides in New Zealand and reading the History of Guiding in New Zealand participation story.
Games, Crafts and Information About Guiding in New Zealand:
http://azmetro.com/nzthink.html
http://www.girlguidingnz.org.nz/
http://www.kinderart.com/multic/koruart.shtml
http://www.newzealandsigns.co.nz/designs.html
January for the Guides started off with our rescheduled holiday craft night. (Our last meeting of 2013 was cancelled as there was no power at the church - or in most of the town that evening!)
We had three crafts planned for the evening: a candy sleigh, a mini-plant pot snowman, and a melted snowman. The girls divided into their patrols and rotated through the three stations.
The candy sleigh is made using a Kit Kat bar as the base, candy canes as the runners and mini chocolate bars as the presents. A ribbon is tied around the whole sleigh at the end.
The snowman is made from a mini-plant pot painted white, a styrofoam ball for the head, felt for the hat and scarf, ribbon or cord to tie around the hat and tiny buttons for the front.
The melted snowman is made with a base of stiff black felt, white fun foam as the melted snow, pipe cleaners for stick arms, felt for the scarf and hat, and a styrofoam ball for the head.
The girls had a good time and everyone completed all three crafts to take home.
