March & April with the Pathfinders

March started off with a craft night to make no-sew felt purses and to play our Murder Mystery night for the 3rd Year Guides.
The felt purses were made by cutting a fringe around three sides of two pieces of felt and knotting the pieces together.

The following week was March Break, so we didn't have a meeting. After March Break, we had a a Survivor Night. The girls were divided into two teams and each team had to come up with a name and make a team flag.

Next, we had a quick quiz on the three elements necessary for survival (water, fire, shelter), and a challenge to guess the contents of a first aid kit. Each team was then given a bucket of supplies to build a shelter, lay a fire, and put together a water filter.

April began with a Murder Mystery Night with the 3rd Year Guides. Each person had a character to play -

We used activities from the Secret Agent 007 Module and the BC CSI Challenge to solve the 'crime'.

• Lifting fingerprints using talcum powder, black paper and tape
• Comparing handwriting samples and trying to find their matches
• Extracting DNA from strawberries

Our next meeting was a planning night where the girls came up with plans for a PJ Night and an Awards Show Night. PJ Night was scheduled for the next week, however, no one remembered so one of the girl's mom's brought over the movie 'Frozen' to watch.

The next meeting was devoted to science and the Everything Comes From STEM module. We looked at the scientific method and then did some chemistry and engineering activities.
The Chemistry activities were both magic tricks:

1. Coloured Water - This trick requires a little bit of set up. You will need: 4 glasses, 4 teaspoons, water, white vinegar, food colouring, and baking soda. To prepare, fill 3 glasses half full with water and 1 glass half full with white vinegar. Place one drop of food colouring on 3 of the spoons. Fill all 4 spoons with baking soda, making sure to cover the food colouring. Arrange a tray with the 4 glasses and a spoon in front of each glass (the spoon with just baking soda is placed in front of the glass of vinegar, the 4th glass). Ask girls to come up and stir the white powder into the glass. The first 3 glasses will change colour (which is pretty cool, especially if you use different colours of food colouring), but the fourth will bubble up and overflow the glass!
2. Put a Candle Out With Air - Mix a small amount of vinegar and baking soda together in a glass. Light a candle and then put it out by 'pouring' the air out of the glass. (The vinegar and baking soda have produced carbon monoxide, which is heavier than oxygen, so it stays in the glass until it is 'poured' out and suffocates the flame on the candle.)

Our engineering activity was building catapults using popsicle sticks, tape, elastic bands and spoons. The creations were all different and very effective!
April ended with an Art Meeting to work on the Rembrandt & Co Module. We started out by talking briefly about Andy Warhol and how his art focused on mass culture items, such as packaged goods and celebrities. Each girl then made a set of 25 coloured circles using 5 different colours and created a design or pattern. This activity was based on the lifesavers art activity.

Next, each girl created a Warhal-inspired drawing. Our last activity was to look at urban art and graffiti. Each girl designed her own piece of art based on the examples we looked at.