Girl Guide Day 2017!

Friday, April 28th was a PA day for area schools, so we held a Girl Guide Day! 6 Guides took part in the program day, and later on 5 3rd Year Guides and 1 Ranger had a bridging sleepover.

Our morning started off with sanding and painting wooden plaques for making string art later, and then moved on to perler bead creations.


We then had a snack (popcorn) and talked about some of the items in the Hiking and Outdoor Adventures Badges:

• How to behave on public and private property
• What information should be left with someone when you set out on an outdoor adventure
• What you should take with your on an outdoor adventure (and why)
• Minimum impact/leave no trace hiking and outdoor adventures

After drawing templates for our string art, we headed outside. We decided to have lunch right away, and ate on the front steps of the church, watching the people arriving at the fairgrounds for the dog show on the weekend. Once we had all eaten and cleaned up, we played a massive game of hide and seek, followed by Crows and Cranes. In Crows and Cranes, there are two teams - one is crows, the other cranes. The game leader calls out one team, dragging out the crrrr... part. The team that is called, chases the other team to the end of the playing area. Anyone tagged joins the other team.

We had a bit of a STEM experiment afterwards, seeing if plastic eggs can really be used in place of film canisters for rockets. While the rocket part was unsuccessful, we had lots of fun making the chemical reactions with baking soda and vinegar!


Going back inside, we finished up our string art projects by hammering in nails using the templates made earlier, and using embroidery floss to create the designs.


Clean-up followed, and then we headed into the kitchen to make a fruit salad for snack - apples, oranges, plums, grapes, pears, pineapple and berries. We then headed back outside. While we ate, we learned a bit about Guide History and looked at some artefacts from Guiding history, including Michelle's youth awards and camp blanket, a 1970s uniform, program books, brochures, cookie cutters and pins. As we were already sitting in a circle, we also learned how to make a braided blanket and completed a blanket to be donated to a women's shelter as part of the Action on Poverty National Service Project. The day ended with final perler bead projects and a game of Everybody's It tag.

Tech & Nature Challenge

This week we started the Canada 150 Challenge during Patrol Time and worked on the Quebec Tech & Nature Challenge for the remainder of the meeting.

We started off with 30 minutes of Patrol Time where each Patrol worked on their first set of chosen activities for the Canada 150 Challenge:

• Daffodil - Planned to start off with Beadwork (making beaded Canadian Flag Pins) but an incident with the beads ended this activity early; they then moved on to Puzzles & Quizzes (wordsearches, crosswords, mazes and fill-in puzzles about Canada)
• Trillium - Planned to start off with Beadwork (making beaded Canadian Flag Pins) but an incident with the beads ended this activity early; they then moved on to Canada-themed Games Great-Grandmother Played (Patrol games from the 1920s and 1930s)
• Pansy - Started out with Hockey Night in Canada (making sticks and a puck from paper and playing hockey with them), and then moved on to Northern Games (a series of Inuit games)
• Rose - Started with the 150 Challenge (getting active with 150), followed by the Trivia Challenge (Canadian trivia quizzes)

After cleaning up, we had our usual opening, followed by a game - Squirt.

Our first activity was Starburst Geology. Each Patrol was given 9 Starburst candies, tinfoil and wax paper and had to make up three packages of candies, numbered 1, 2 and 3. Package 1 was squished with their hands, package 2 was heated for 3 minutes and then squished, and package 3 was cooked for 10 minutes and left to cool until the end of the meeting.

We attempted to do a round-robin for the remaining four activities, but were unable to complete everything. The activities we worked on were:

Balloon Rockets (Physics)

For this activity, girls work in pairs. The straw is threaded onto the string. One girl holds one end of the string. The other girl brings the straw to her end of the string and inflates the balloon and tapes it onto the straw. When she lets it go, the force of the air moving out of the balloon will shoot the rocket along the string to the other end! The more you blow up the balloon, the faster and further it will go.

Floating Ball (Air Pressure)

Each girl cuts out a circle of paper and tapes it onto the short bendy end of a straw in a cone shape. Place a ball of foil inside the cone. Blow through the straw and watch the ball float!

Calculator Fun (Math/Technology)

We provided the girls with calculators, and they tried the Birth Date Detector and the Numbers to Words Flow Chart.

The Great Cookie Extraction (Mining)

This activity came from BC, and asked the girls to mine for chocolate chips while learning about resource extraction. 

We ended by unwrapping the Starburst rocks and talking briefly about how different types of rocks are formed. Package 1 represented sedimentary rocks (created by pressure), package 2 represented metamorphic rocks (created by pressure and heat), and package 3 represented igneous rocks (created through extreme heat).

To finish the meeting, the girls played a game with a bouncing ball, followed by reminders for Friday and Taps.

Downloads:

• Quebec Tech & Nature Challenge (GGC Quebec Council)
• Calculator Fun Sheet
• Cookie Mining Activity

Philippines Night

Tonight we explored the Philippines by learning a bit about Girl Scouting, practicing tinikling, playing traditional games, and eating yummy food as we earned the Junior Girl Scout Filipino Heritage Badge!

The meeting started out with 30 minutes of Patrol Time. This week was time to plan a new set of activities! Each Patrol was given a sheet of Canada 150 Patrol Activities and asked to make plans for 3 sessions of Patrol Time. The girls were encouraged to choose both a main activity and a back-up activity, in case they finish their planned activity early. We have a few outings planned over the coming weeks, so there are only 3 more Patrol Times remaining before we finish at the end of May.

We then had our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game - Everybody's It Tag.

Our program started out with learning Tinikling, a traditional folk dance from the Philippines. We have lots of bamboo poles for gadget making, so were able to split up into groups of 3-4 Guides with a Ranger or Guider. Two people kept the rhythm with the poles, going slowly, and the remaining girls learned to dance in and out of the poles without getting their feet caught! Download the instructions and watch a video under "Downloads" at the bottom of this post.

We then had a break and learn a bit about Girl Scouting in the Philippines. We looked at pictures of badges and uniforms, read the Girl Scout Promise, and found out that Guides would be Junior Girl Scouts in the Philippines!

Moving on, we played three different traditional Filipino games. Kapitang Bakod is a tag game for 3 of more players. One player is chosen as the Tagger and other players try to elude her, or hold onto an object made of wood or bamboo to avoid being tagged. We have a lot of wood in our meeting place, so had to adapt by setting ground rules that only certain spots could be used. Luksong Tinik is a jumping game for two teams. Two players sit facing each other with their right feet’s soles touching one another, forming the base. Each team should have a designated “mother” or leader, who should be the highest jumper. Players must jump over the base without touching it as each round becomes more difficult with hands serving as an extension to the base’s height. If a player touches the hand, the mother must successfully jump to save the player. If she fails, the teams switch places and the game starts anew. Patintero is a running game for two teams similar to 'Octopus'. A rectangular playing area is marked out, divided by a horizontal line and a vertical line. One team guards the playing area, remaining on the horizontal and vertical lines. The other team tries to cross all the lines to the other side of the playing area without being tagged. When someone is tagged, they trade places with the person who tagged them.

Our final activity was food! We had cups of Mango, the Philippines National Fruit, and Pineapple, and Maruya, which are basically Banana Fritters.

Maruya Recipe
In a bowl, sift together 1 cup Flour, 1/4 cup Sugar, 1 tsp Baking Powder and 1/4 tsp Salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat 1 Egg. Melt 2 tbsp Butter. Add 1 cup Milk and melted butter to the egg and whisk together until blended. Add flour mixture to milk mixture and stir until just moistened. Do not overmix. In a pan over medium heat, heat 1 cup oil. Slice 5-6 firm bananas in half and then lengthwise, about 1/4 inch thick. Dip banana slices into batter to fully coat and then slide into hot oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until golden and crisp. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Using a sieve, dust Maruya with sugar. Serve warm.

We closed our meeting with reminders for next week and Taps.

Downloads:

• Girl Scouting in the Philippines
• Tinikling Instructions 
• Filipino Cultural Dance Troupe (YouTube Video)
• Canada 150 Patrol Activities 

First Aid

Tonight we worked on the Guide First Aid Badge and Learn About Safety section of the program, and finished off the Pathfinder Safe at Home or Out and About Module.

The evening started out with 30 minutes of  Patrol Time, and each patrol worked on a different activity:

• Trillium Patrol - " " - brought the supplies to cook an egg in ashes, but hadn't considered that we have no where to light a fire at our meeting place, so they learned how to cook scrambled eggs and clean-up afterwards
• Rose Patrol - "How Fit Are You?" - took a fitness quiz and played active games
• Pansy Patrol - "Bear Necessities" - attempted to build a structure from bamboo poles, string, newspaper, tape and straws that would hold food up off the ground
• Daffodil Patrol - "Date To Dream" - talked about their hopes and dreams for the future, and worked on an article about self-esteem

After tidying up, we had our usual opening followed by a lively game of Everybody's It Tag.

Our first program activity was a discussion about first aid. A number of the girls had learned a bit about first aid either in Brownies or through a course, such as babysitting or staying home alone.

We then played a relay game to test their knowledge of what to do in different situations. Each patrol had a question sheet and had to run up and get the colour-coded answer cards from the opposite end of the room. One person would run up and get a card, then the patrol had to decide which question it answered before going up to get another card. The game was won by the Trillium Patrol, followed by the Rose and Pansy Patrols, who also had all the correct answers.

The next activity was to make personal first aid kits and talk about what each item would be used for. We used pharmacy pill bottles that were washed and had the labels removed - they were even blue! In each kit we put: 2 Q-Tips, 1 sterile gauze pad, 12 inches of paper tape (wrapped around a straw), 1 alcohol wipe, 3 safety pins and 4 bandaids. 

Our final activity was to act our different scenarios. Our Pathfinder and Ranger came up with a set of scenarios and the Guides were divided into pairs and showed the rest of the Unit what to do in different situations.

We closed with Taps, and handed out newsletters and Easter treats as everyone went home.

Downloads

• First Aid Discussion Information
• First Aid Relay Game
• Scenario Sheet 

Be An Inventor!

This week the Guides used their creativity to make their own inventions as part of the Inventing Badge!

The evening started out with 30 minutes of  Patrol Time, and each patrol worked on a different activity:

• Trillium Patrol - "Starry, Starry Night" - realized that it wasn't dark enough to go stargazing and substituted an activity on finding directions using the sun and shadows
• Rose Patrol - "Stretching" - did individual and group stretching and yoga exercises
• Pansy Patrol - "Poptastic" - attempted to pop popcorn in tinfoil dishes over tealights (they were unsuccessful - but we popped the popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave later on)
• Daffodil Patrol - "Quizzes" and "Fashionista" - worked on quizzes about health and laundry, and then created their own newspaper fashions

The main part of the meeting started with our usual opening, followed by a game of "Rose Tag" - invented last week by the Rose Patrol.

Our first activity was the Inventing Jeopardy Game from the Quebec Inventing Badge Instant Meeting. The game has questions in four categories - Inventors, Communication, Travel and Other. We had fun playing the game and the questions had a good balance of easy to more difficulty - some of them really challenged the girls to think!

The remainder of the meeting was spent inventing and building prototypes! The girls were provided with a variety of craft supplies, recyclable materials, newspaper, tape, scissors, rulers and markers, and let their imaginations go! At the end of the evening, the girls shared their prototypes with the rest of the group. We closed with reminders and Taps.