Happy Lunar New Year 2017!

Tonight we had a Chinese New Year Party hosted by our Pathfinder and 4 3rd-Year Guides to earn the Chinese New Year Challenge created by the 12th Swindon Guides in the UK - Download the Challenge Pack. The girls did a great job and completed their Event Planning badge and part of the Learn How to Plan section of the program.
We started out with our usual opening ceremony and then moved right into the program for the evening with an active game - "Dragons, Roosters and Dumplings" (similar to 'Wizards, Giants and Elves') - explained and led by one of the 3rd Year Guides. While the group was playing, we finished setting up for the first craft, painting Chinese symbols on stones. Our Pathfinder explained this activity, and showed examples of stones she had painted at home.

As the girls finished their craft, they were directed to signs at the back of the room that identified the different animals in the Chinese Zodiac. They had to find the animal for the year they were born, taking into account the different New Year dates. We had found some information about common traits for each animal, lucky numbers, famous people, and things people should focus on this year. We have Tigers, Goats, Snakes, Roosters, Dogs, Monkeys, and Pigs in our group! (Guides, Pathfinders, Rangers, Guiders) Download our Chinese Zodiac Posters (pdf file) - information derived from ChinaHighlights.com

We then played two more games, each led by a different 3rd Year Guide, Rooster Tag (when you are tagged, you have to make wings with your arms until someone frees you) and Hawk Chases Roosters (where one player is the Hawk who tries to catch the Rosters, when a Rooster is caught, they become a Hawk).

The Guides were then given the choice of two different dragon crafts, each led by a 3rd Year Guide - they could either make a dragon puppet or a dragon mask.

The Dragon Puppet Template can be downloaded from Kids Activities and the Dragon Mask Template is part of the Challenge Pack.

Our final activity was food sampling! We served dumplings, spring rolls, breaded chicken, and breaded pork with plum sauce, oranges, and fortune cookies. We used a red table cloth, red plates and red napkins to make our feast as lucky as possible!

We closed with Taps and each girl received a Red Packet with chocolate coins as she left.

The activities we chose to completed this challenge were:

• Discovery - Year of the...; Red Envelopes
• Decoration - Dragon Mask or Dragon Puppet
• Entertainment - Our Own Games (Dragons, Roosters and Dumplings; Rooster Tag; Hawk Chases Roosters)
• Cuisine - Dumplings, Spring Rolls, Breaded Chicken, Breaded Pork, Plum Sauce, Oranges, Fortune Cookies
• Celebration - Our Party!

Go For It! Be A Good Sport

Tonight we shifted our focus to Active Living and worked on the UK's Guide Go For It! Be A Good Sport. Activities helped the Guides to work on the "Stay Fit & Healthy" section of the program and our Pathfinder to work on the "Beyond Baseball" Module.

After our opening ceremony and an active games, the girls made up small groups and were able to choose from 8 different activities.

How Do You Play?
Supplies: Paper, Pencils
Look around your meeting place and think about the games you play.
What do people need to do to stay safe while playing games?

Sport in the Community
Supplies: Paper, Pencils, Pencil Crayons
A new sports team is being set up in your area. What sport do they play?
Design a uniform for the new team!

Up, Up and Away
Supplies: Balloons, Newspaper, Tape
How about balloon volleyball, passing a balloon between your knees or balloon hockey using rolled up newspapers as hockey sticks?
Improvise a range of sports that you can play with balloons.

Sports From A to Z
Supplies: Paper, Pencils
Can your group come up with a sport for every letter of the alphabet?

A is for Acro, Acrobats
B is for Baseball, Basketball, Bocci Ball, Ballet
C is for Curling, Canoeing, Cricket
D is for Dancing
E is for Eating Corn, Egg Race
F is for Football, Fan Dancing
G is for Guitar, Gymnastics, Golf
H is for Horseback Riding, Hockey
I is for Ice Skating, Ice Hockey
J is for Juggling, Jazz, Jogging
K is for Kite Flying
L is for Lacrosse
M is for Minor Hockey League, Mat Boxing
N is for NHL, Net Fishing
O is for Octopus, Organized Baseball
P is for Polo, Pilates
Q is for Quarter Finals, Quail Hunting
R is for Ringette
S is for Singing, Swimming, Soccer
T is for Tennis
U is for Underwater Race
V is for Volleyball
W is for Water Skiing, Water Polo
X is for Xylophone Playing
Y is for Yak Riding, Yoga
Z is for Zebra Riding, Zumba

Getting Ready
Supplies: None
Before any physical activity, make sure you warm up to prevent muscle pulls and strains.
Create a warm up routine to stretch your muscles before your favourite activity.

Cheer Them On
Supplies: None
Cheerleading is both a recreational activity and a competitive sport involving organized routines, dance steps and gymnastics.
Make up a song, chant or dance to support your favourite team or sport.

Invent a New Game
Supplies: Paper, Pencils, Equipment
With your group, invent a new game. You may want to adapt an existing game or create something completely original. Don't forget to give it a name!
Create a set of rules for your game and don't forget to think about the safety aspects.

Poster Persuasion
Supplies: Paper, Markers
Design a poster to encourage others to be more active, eat healthy, or try a new sport.


Our meeting ended with a campfire and Taps.

Zoe Goes to France

Our first scheduled meeting for 2017 was cancelled due to the weather, so we started back on January 17th with our annual 'Zoe' Challenge. This year, we traveled with Zoe to France!

We had our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game, and then the 3rd Year Guides and our Pathfinder went off to plan a party for the Chinese New Year. 

Our first activity was to learn a bit about Guiding in France. We found out that there are 5 separate organizations(!) who are represented in WAGGGS by a federation called Scoutisme Français. Download "Guiding in France" (pdf)

We then moved on to an active game - Boules, which is similar to Lawn Bowling or Bocci Ball. Boules is played between teams of up to four players on grass or dirt. We had to make some modifications to the game, and played with two teams of four girls each (with larger groups, set up more than one game). For each game, you will need a coloured ball (the cochonnet) and 2 balls per player (the boules). We used brightly coloured foam balls for our cochonnets and newspaper to make our own boules. The cochonnet is placed at one end of the playing area, the players stand at the opposite end. Players take turns throwing their boules towards the cochonnet. They may try to knock other players boules away from the cochonnet. Play continues until everyone has thrown their boules. The team with the closest boule to the cochonnet wins the round. They receive one point for each of their boules that is closer than the other teams. (For example, if Team A has 3 boules closest to the cochonnet before there is one from Team B, Team A would score 3 points.)

After we cleared up from our game, we explored French Art. A set of Powerpoint slides were used to show examples of different types of art:

• Rococo - Usually shows outdoor activities, such as picnics, happy couples and people relaxing
• Neo-classicism - Imitates the art themes and styles of the ancient Greeks and Romans
• Impressionism - Makes use of light and includes many outdoor works - landscapes, seascapes, forestscapes
• Post-Impressionism - Like impressionism, but becomes blockier, more defined
• Cubism - Focuses on shape and tries to show all sides of a three-dimensional object in two dimensions
• Raw Art - Makes use of bold lines, simple colours and may resemble a jigsaw puzzle

We then had a go at designing our own raw art. Download "French Art" (pdf)

We ended our meeting by sampling some French Butter Cookies (biscuits au beurre) and closed with a campfire and Taps.

1 3/4 cups Flour

1/4 cup Sugar

1 1/4 cup Butter

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Nutmeg

Beat butter and vanilla until creamy. Sift in flour and sugar. Refrigerate, if necessary, until firm enough to roll into balls. Roll into 1" balls, place on an ungreased cookie tray, flatten slightly with a fork. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake at 375⁰F for 6-10 minutes, or until golden on the edges.