Happy Hallowe'en!

Tonight the Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers had their annual Hallowe'en Party! This year, we did things a bit differently and challenged the girls to gather clues (and curses) in order to solve a mystery. We used the "Clues, Spells, and Curses Scavenger Hunt" from PartyPlus (www.queen-of-theme-party-games.com/scavenger-hunt-clues.html) (I found this activity somewhere online for free, but I'm afraid I can't remember where!)

As everyone arrived, they showed off their costumes to each other and some girls talked while others played a game of tag. We skipped our usual opening and started the program off with reading the letter from the wicked witch. This set the tone for the evening, and everyone was eager to get started. After going over the rules, the girls were divided up into 5 teams (one of Pathfinders/Rangers and four of Guides).

Before the meeting, we had gone outside and hidden 10 Clue Cards (1 of each per Group), 10 Curse Cards, 10 Cure Cards and 10 Magical Objects. The girls were set loose outside the church to gather as many of these items as they could. As Curse Cards were found, groups acted them out! Once everything was found, we headed back inside for the second part of the game.

Each group went through their findings and sorted out the Clue Cards. They then shuffled any Curse and Cure Cards and took turns turning them over. Anyone turning over a Curse Card had to take on that curse until they group cured them. In order to cure someone, you needed both the appropriate Cure Card and any Magical Objects that were listed. For example, here is the set of cards for the Frog Spell:

Each girl was given a supply of play money and the groups got right into swapping and selling Cure Cards and Magical Objects! Once the Curses were broken, the groups turned their attention the Clue Cards. Each card provided a pair of letters to spell out the name of the wicked witch. With a few hints along the way, two groups came to the answers at the same time and shouted out the name three times to break the final curse! The 'money' everyone had collected would be used later to bid on items.

Before we moved on to our auction, one of our leaders had made an amazing Hallowe'en mystery box where the girls put their hands in to feel four different "body parts". We had teeth (popcorn kernels), fingernails (sunflower seeds), hair (steel wool), and a dead hand (glove filled with water and cooled in the freezer). The girls had to guess what each 'body part' was and also what was actually in the box.

Our final activity of the evening was the auction. We had a variety of items from the dollar store and out of the prize drawer (sparkly notebooks, hardcover notebooks, giant pencil, relaxation colouring books, sewing kits, craft kits, body wash and lip balm). The girls had a great time bidding on items - and then trading among themselves until everyone was happy with what they were taking home.

We closed our meeting with reminders for next week and distributing newsletters and camp forms. As each girl left she received two small treat bags to take home.

Fun with the Promise & Law

This week we focused on learning about the Promise and Law and worked on the Understanding the Promise, Law and Motto section of the program.

As the girls arrived, anyone we distributed uniform orders and had everyone try on their shirts so that any exchanges that are needed can be done quickly. The girls then worked on creating displays for the artwork they created at our "Arts in the Outdoors" meeting.

We had a brief opening and talked a bit about what we were going to be doing during the meeting, followed by an active game.

Our first activity was to talk about Patrols and Patrol Leaders. After a short discussion, each girl was given a ballot where she could vote for 4 girls to become Patrol Leaders, indicate who she would like to be in a patrol with, indicate if there was anyone she would rather not be in a patrol with (we don't promise to make this one happen), and also say who she would like for her Patrol Second if she was elected as a Patrol Leader. As there wasn't time to go through all the ballots at the meeting, the girls will find out about their new Patrols next week!

One of the Guides had requested a hat craft for her new camp hat, so that became our next activity. Each girl coloured and folded a mini-booklet of the Promise and Law (adapted from the 2nd Kingsbridge Guides Tiny Guide Promise Book). The booklets were then put into a craft baggie. We then had plastic lacing, which was folded in half and a knot tied to make a loop at the end. The girls then strung on beads to represent the Promise (a special bead), and each law: Be honest and trustworthy (orange), Use my resources wisely (yellow), Respect myself and others (pink), Recognize and use my talents and abilities (light blue), Protect our common environment (green), Live with courage and strength (red), and Share in the sisterhood of Guiding (dark blue). This pieces was then attached to the baggie with a safety pin.

We then had an active game to get everyone moving again. To work on remembering the Guide Sign and Handshake, we played freeze tag, where in order to be 'unfrozen', someone had to come and do the proper sign and handshake with you.

After the game, we had a bit of extra time where the girls could choose to continue working on their artwork, play another game, or just talk.

Our final activity was Law skits. To prevent arguments about who would work with who, we put numbered slips into a bowl and each girl drew a slip. They then had to find the other girl with the same number (we had 14 girls present, so there were 7 pairs). The girls with #1 did a skit on Be honest and trustworthy, those with #2 did Use my resources wisely, and so on.

After the girls had presented their skit, one girl led 'Herman the Worm' and another led 'My Aunt Hoover'. We closed with details about next week's Hallowe'en Party and Taps.

International Day of the Girl 2016

Tonight we celebrated the 5th Annual International Day of the Girl!

In honour of this special day, Girl Guides of Canada produced an Instant Meeting focusing on Girls and Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) that had lots of interesting activities. As our unit regularly runs STEM-related activities, we decided to work on the WAGGGS #TeamGirl Challenge instead.

Download the GGC Instant Meeting
Download the WAGGGS #TeamGirl Challenge

As the girls arrived, they played a tag game, after which we practiced forming a Horseshoe. One of the Guides led a game of Hot Dog Tag before we started our evening's program.

The #TeamGirl Challenge is divided into three parts: Team Discover, Team Build and Team Action. We completed Team Discover and Team Build, and began work on the Team Action section.

Team Discover
To begin our program, we talked briefly about the 17 Global Goals set by the United Nations in 2015 to end poverty, fight climate change and tackle all forms of inequality by 2030. We explained how Guiding members around the world were taking part in the #TeamGirl Challenge to learn more about these issues and make a difference in their own communities. We then introduced the NSP: Action on Poverty and talked about how through this project, Canadian Guiding members are addressing Goal #1 No Poverty.

Our first activity was Factors Leading to Poverty from the GGC NSP Instant Meeting.  We divided the girls into 3 colour groups - 70% yellow, 20$ red and 10% blue. Everyone then lined up across the centre of the room and we read out a series of statements from the meeting plan. For each statement, the girls had to take a certain number of steps forwards or backwards, depending on the colour of their card. Once we had finished, we had a reflection discussion about what the girls thought and felt during the activity and what statements stood out the most to them.

Our second activity was What Is Poverty Like? from Together We Can (Girlguiding UK, 2011). For this activity, the girls were divided up into groups of four and asked to describe poverty using their senses.

• Sight - How do others see you? What are your surroundings?
• Sound - What do others say to you? What background noises surround you?
• Smell - What kind of food is cooked around you? What is happening around you?
• Taste - What kinds of food do you eat?
• Feel - Where do you live? What is it like there? What emotions do you feel?

Although not an entirely successful activity, it did get everyone thinking about how poverty could affect a person's environment and living situation.

Team Build
For the Team Build section, we tried three of the activities from the #TeamGirl Challenge Pack. First up was Crocodile River. In this activity, girls are divided into teams and provided with newspaper. Their challenge is to get their whole team across a river full of crocodiles! The only way to get across the river is by stepping on floating logs or stones (the newspaper). Only one person may stand on a log or stone at a time. The logs and stones can be picked up and moved, but not thrown. The instructions said to provide each team with a number of pieces of newspaper equal to 1/3 the size of the group - i.e. 3 squares for 9 people, however, in order for this activity to work, the group needs a minimum of 3 squares regardless of the group size. We had four groups of four so that the activity wouldn't take too long (where girls might get bored).

The second activity was In Balance, where everyone stands in a circle and holds hands. The idea is that they can then lean backwards and the circle will help everyone stay upright. The second part is to have alternate girls lean inwards and outwards, and, again, the circle will help everyone stay upright. I have to label this activity as USE WITH CAUTION. If your girls are different sizes and strengths, they may hurt each other as the strain placed on hands and arms can be too much. It may work better if the girls linked arms rather than holding hands - but we didn't try this.

The final activity was the most popular - Tallest Tower. Each team was provided with straws and tape and given the goal of creating the tallest possible free-standing structure in the allowed time.


Team Action
To end our program, each group of girls was asked to use the last five minutes in order to come up with a list of ideas of how we could take action on poverty. The ideas were varied and we will use them going forward to complete both the #TeamGirl Challenge and the NSP: Action on Poverty.

The meeting ended with reminders for next week, distributing forms for the Planetarium trip on November 1st, and we closed with Taps.

Arts in the Outdoors

This week we took advantage of the good weather to explore the arts in the outdoors. As the girls arrived, they played tag in the hall.

We started out by having another go at forming a horseshoe - much better this time! The girls who went to Fall Frolic on the weekend then shared what they enjoyed about the event, and the Guiders explained the plan for the evening. Outside, the Guides had a choice of a variety of different activities:

Leaf & Bark Rubbings
We provided paper and crayons and let the girls explore the different textures found in nature - leaves, bark, acorns, stones, etc.

Sketching
This was the most popular activity! We had pre-cut paper from a sketch pad into quarters and provided sharpened pencils, erasers, and clipboards as the girls went out to draw what they could see in nature.




Watercolour Painting
Painting proved a hit and we have some talented painters in our Unit! We pre-cut white cardstock into quarters and provided watercolour palettes, water, brushes and clipboards for the girls to create nature-inspired paintings.

Drama & Dance
For those girls looking for a more active way to express their creativity, we offered the option of creating nature inspired dances, using creative movement to recreate nature, or

Music & Creative Writing
Three groups wrote original songs about nature and one girl wrote a poem - and all were brave enough to perform them for the Unit!

Shortly before 8pm, we cleaned up and moved back indoors. One of the Guides led a game of Blob Tag and then the girls had an opportunity to share what they had been working on. We have some talented artists, singers, songwriters and poets!


To end the meeting, we learned two songs - Five Green and Speckled Frogs and Land of the Silver Birch - before closing with Taps.

Fall Frolic 2016: Healthy Harvest

On Saturday, October 1st, 3 Guides and 2 Guiders joined 250 other Sparks, Brownies, Guides and Guiders at Camp Teka in Paris, Ontario for the annual Fall Frolic Event. This year's theme was Healthy Harvest, and the Guides completed the requirements for the Farming Badge.

Although we had heavy rain early in the morning, and it was overcast, there was only a bit of light rain during the day - something we were very happy about! We met at the High School and walked into camp. The participants were divided up into branch groups and then into smaller groups - we were with 2 other Guide Units and had a group of 28 girls. The day was arranged as a rotation of 6 different activity stations.

Everyone also received a bag full of 'freebies', including a pen, key chain, sling bag, activity sheets, information sheets, wipe-off menu planners, and recipes. These items were provided courtesy of Zehrs' Markets, Egg Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Berry Growers Association, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Ontario Pork, Beef Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Cattlemen's Association, and Farm & Food Care Ontario.



Zehrs' 3 Stars
At our first station, Elyse, a Dietician from Zehrs', talked to the girls about healthy foods, eating the rainbow, and played a game. In the game, the girls were divided up into smaller groups, and a large coloured die was rolled. The groups then had to come up with as many fruits and vegetables as they could that matched the colour (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple).

Agri-Fun
Next up, we learned all about farming and cattle from Sandy, who raises beef cows. The girls learned about the differences between different cattle breeds and the care of cattle, worked on a giant puzzle about local crops, explored different products that are made from different parts of a cow, and tried different puzzles.

Crafts
We were able to warm up a bit while we did crafts inside the Longhouse. We made shrink art tags and beaded corn. After this session, we had a break for lunch.

Games
After lunch, it was of to Games (my favourite session!). Our group was divided into three smaller groups to tackle the different games:

• Hoops - Each girl had a small hoola hoop. They had to roll the hoop using only one hand from the starting point, around a pylon, and back to the start. They had to let go of the hoop (not hold onto it the whole time) and get it to roll along. If the hoop fell over, they had to start again.
• Sack Race - A traditional sack race using soya bean sacks!
• Rubber Chicken Games - One game was like Over-Under, where the girls had to squeeze the chicken twice before passing it to the next player; another was a relay where the chicken started at the back of the line, each person had to squeeze it twice before passing it forward, and then the person at the front had to run to the end of the playing area and back - squeezing the chicken the whole time!
• Ball Passing - This was my favourite game - it was also the most challenging - and it would be a great teambuilding activity. Each girl had a foot-long piece of PVC pipe (the pipe had been cut in half length-wise, so each piece was a trough). They stood in a line, with their pieces of pipe touching. A small ball was placed in the first girl's pipe, and it rolled along - once the ball left the first girl's pipe, she had to run to the end of the line and place her pipe beside the last person's (the idea was to create a continuous trough for the ball to roll along). Ideally, the group would make their way to a metal pail, and the ball would drop into the pail. Both groups made it to the pail, but didn't quite get the ball into it.

Drama
For our Drama session, the Guiders had to get involved as living scarecrows. Yes, the girls were split into teams and had to dress a Guider (there are no photos of this...). They also did other activities, including acting out a day on a farm.

Music
Our final session of the day was Music. Here, we sang some old favourites and learned some new songs - all with the common theme of food!

• Pizza Hut Song
• Knife, Fork, Spoon, Spatula
• Lu La
• All I Want for Breakfast
• One Bottle of Pop/Fish and Chips and Vinegar/Don't Throw Your Trash in My Backyard
• International Grace

The day ended with everyone singing Lu La and Daylight Taps. We then walked out of camp and back to the High School to meet parents.