Teamwork & Active Games

As some of the girls have been having difficulty working in small groups, we decided to spend the evening practicing our teamwork skills along with some active games!

As the girls arrived, the Patrol Leaders took attendance and collected dues. We started with a Horseshoe and the Guide Promise, followed by a game called "Germinator Tag" led by one of the Guides.

Our three Patrols then moved through four activities that challenged them to work together as a team.

(1) Trust Walk - Guides work in partners. One girl is blindfolded and her partner has to direct her around the room and different obstacles. The partner giving directions can only use her voice!

(2) Tarp Games - In the first tarp activity, the Patrol stands on the tarp then gets off and folds it half. They keep repeating this activity, making the tarp as small as they possibly can while still getting every one on it. In the second tarp activity, the Patrol stands on the tarp and then has to turn the tarp over without getting off.

(3) Pick Up and Carry -  The girls have to use an elastic band and some string to move and stack 6 cups in a pyramid.

We then tried two group teamwork activities. The first was a Beach Ball Pass. The girls lay on their backs in a circle and has to pass a beach ball around the circle using only their feet. The second activity was a game called Islands where there are islands (mats) spread around the playing area. Everyone moves around and at a signal has to find an island. Each round, an island is removed and the girls have to share until everyone is standing on a single island!

After spending several weeks playing Everybody's It Tag, we've decided that we need to teach the Guides some new active games!

Our first game was "Captain's Coming". To play, everyone starts in the middle of the playing area and practices the commands (see below). Once everyone has an idea of what to do, the game leader calls out commands and everyone follows them. The Guiders prefer to play this just as a fun game, but the majority of the Guides wanted to play it as an elimination game. For eliminations, it is the last person to reach a spot or perform an action (often it is too close to tell, so there isn't someone out after every command).

• Captain's Coming - everyone lines up, stands at attention and salutes
• Bow - players run to the front of the room
• Stern - players run to the back of the room
• Port - players run to the left side of the room (left when facing the front of the room) 
• Starboard - players run to the right side of the room (right when facing the front of the room)
• Man Overboard - players lie on their backs and 'swim'
• Submarines - players lie on their backs with one leg in the air like a periscope
• Man the Lifeboats - players find a partner and join hands
• Torpedoes - players lie on their stomachs with their hands clapped together above their heads

Our second game was suggested by one of the Guides - Blog Tag - however it seems there are a lot of different versions of this game! The one we settled on is that when 'It' tags someone, they link arms and keep adding people as more players are tagged. The blob has to stay together and if they break apart, they have stop and reform before catching anyone else.

Our final activity was to design Be Prepared Kits. Each Patrol had to choose a theme (we had Camping by two Patrols and a trip to Canada's Wonderland by the third) and then decide what would be in their kit. They also had to create a short skit or commercial to advertise their kit to the rest of the Unit. After clean up, we closed with reminders for next week and Taps.