As the girls arrived, they were signed in and parents were given newsletters, copies of the uniform order form and Health Form. We also provided information and answered any questions parents had.
While we were talking to parents, and for the first part of the evening, the girls were able to move through 5 different self-directed activities:
When I was a kid we called these 'cootie catchers' and I've seen them called 'crunchers', but Guiding calls it a 'Thinga-ma-jig'! This is a great piece of Guiding PR material that highlights Girl Greatness. We had enough copies so that each girl was able to make her own.
Design a Hover Car
This activity comes from the BC Girl Guides STEM-Engineering Challenge. Girls were provided with paper, straws, paperclips and masking tape and had to design a car that could be moved with only their breath.
Create a Sun Catcher
The instructions for this activity were simple, colour the outside of a clear plastic cup with Sharpies and then bake in the oven for 3-4 minutes. The cup is supposed to melt down and flatten. Well, it didn't quite work that way! We used it as a learning experience about how experiments don't always work out and talked about what did happen - the some of the cups did get shorter, the rims spread out and the bottom turned white and got really hard. What went wrong? I believe that when this craft was designed, plastic cups were made out of #6 plastic (which will melt), but they are now made out of #1 plastic (which basically turns white and gets hard).
Tie a Reef Knot
As this is a necessary knot for tying the Guide Tie, we provided instructions and ropes so everyone could practice tying a reef knot.
Girl Guide Book Club
We provided colourful sticky notes and asked the girls to tell us about their favourite book or story.
As the activities were finished up, we played Everybody's It Tag to use up some energy, and then some getting-to-know-you games to help everyone get acquainted.
The Guides were then divided up into smaller groups, with at least one returning Guide in each group. They were asked to write down ideas for activities, themes and things they would like to do this year. We'll be using these lists in the next few weeks to plan out future meetings and events.
One of the girls then led a game of What Time Is It Mr. Wolf? and we finished with some action songs and Taps.
The Guides were then divided up into smaller groups, with at least one returning Guide in each group. They were asked to write down ideas for activities, themes and things they would like to do this year. We'll be using these lists in the next few weeks to plan out future meetings and events.
One of the girls then led a game of What Time Is It Mr. Wolf? and we finished with some action songs and Taps.
