The Caledonia Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers got together at the end of February to celebrate World Thinking Day! This year's theme was "Connect", so the Pathfinders and Rangers led a variety of activities to help everyone connect with Myself, Friends, WAGGGS, and the World.As the girls arrived, each Unit gathered in their assigned corner of the room and handed out name tags, which were colour co-ordinated to form 3 mixed-age groups later in the evening. Each Unit added their pinwheels to our wall as part of our service project, the Healing Classrooms Challenge from Student's Rebuild. By making and submitting photos of our pinwheels, $215 will be donated to the International Rescue Committee's Healing Classrooms Program, working with Syrian refugees in Iraq and Lebanon.
Our program began with a welcome to all Units and a brief overview of the World Thinking Day "Connect" theme. We then had the Spark opening, Brownie opening, and Guide opening, before forming one large circle. The first activity, Connect With Friends - Bingo, was explained and the girls sent back to their leaders to get bingo cards and pencils. The girl had to mingle and find other girls to initial their cards based on the statements (i.e. likes chocolate, has a brother). The Guides were not allowed to get initials from other Guides, and it was pointed out that one of the Pathfinders likes unicorns, which helped to break the ice and get everyone started!
The next part of the meeting was spent in mixed-age groups, rotating through 3 stations.
Connect With Myself - Beaded Bookmarks
At this station the girls used twine and beads to make a beaded bookmark. They were given green beads for Connect With Friends, Pink beads for Connect With Myself, Blue beads for Connect With WAGGGS, Yellow beads for Connect With the World, Silver beads for New Friends, and Gold beads for Old Friends. This station also became our 'photo station' and individuals/pairs/trios of girls had their pictures taken with the #connect10million frame!
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Connect With WAGGGS - World Centres Games
Here the girls learned facts about the 5 World Centres by playing two games. The first game was a variation on the compass points game. Each corner of the playing area and the centre were named as the World Centres. A picture card was held up and described (i.e. picture of the Alps, Our Chalet Pin) and the girls had to go to the corner for the World Centre they thought the picture represented. The second game was a matching game where the girls had to work in teams to sort a set of cards by World Centre. For each World Centre, the cards were: Name, Year Opened, Country Map, Logo that appears on the Participant Pin, Photograph, and a Cultural/Geographical Photograph.
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Connect With the World - Chilean Games
For this station, we celebrated our Twinning partnership with Chile by playing two Chilean children's games. The first game was "Atrapar la Cola" (Catch the Tail). In this game, players form two teams. Each team then makes a chain, linked by each player holding the hips or shoulders of the player in front. The goal is to keep your chain from falling apart while trying to link up with the opposing chain before they link you with you! The second game was "Help!". In this game, one player is the chaser who tries to tag the other players. If a player is in danger of being caught, they can should 'Help!'. If someone else comes and holds their hand before the chaser tags them, they are safe and the chaser goes on to another player. Players may only hold hands for 3 seconds - BUT the chaser cannot stand and wait for them to let go. When a player is caught, they become the new chaser.
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After finishing the stations, we gathered to take a group photo using our #connect10million frame, and then made a big circle in the centre of the room, and the Pathfinders led a campfire. Songs included: Fire's Burning, Kookaburra, and the Penguin Song. We then closed with Spark Closing, Brownie, Closing, and Taps.
