As our Unit has ongoing challenges with listening - to Guiders and to each other - we decided to spend another night working on teamwork and communications skills.As the girls arrived, they collected dues and marked their attendance books. We had our usual opening and then moved into our first activity, adapted from "Take A Vote" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007).
We asked a few girls for suggestions of games we could play, and then had everyone vote for the one they wanted. Instead of playing the chosen game, we announced that we were going to play 'Duck, Duck, Goose' and had everyone sit down in a circle. We fussed over making the circle perfect and how everyone was to be careful and gentle while playing (playing up a bit as if we were talking to much younger girls). Once the girls were thoroughly bewildered, instead of starting the game we asked how they felt. It took a few minutes, but soon the girls were expressing their thoughts - they were confused, upset, angry and wanted to know why we bothered to have them vote if we weren't going to play the game they picked. We explained that was the point of the activity, and emphasized that when we make a decision as a group, it's important to respect that decision - even if it's not what you wanted. We then played their chosen game - Wax Museum.
Our next activity was adapted from "Gagged" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007). Each girl was given a number - 1 or 2. Those with a 2 were not allowed to speak as we had a discussion about ideas for activities to do with World Guiding for an upcoming meeting. After finishing the discussion with the #1s, we asked everyone how they felt - we got a variety of responses, frustration and anger from the 2s, and a bit of superiority but also feeling bad from the 1s. We talked about how this is something we see happening, when people aren't always being given a chance to give their input to group and Patrol discussions, and the importance of giving everyone a chance to share. Of course, we then asked the 2s for their input so everyone got to participate.
Next up was a fun activity called "Play Your Part" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007), where each Patrol has to invent a new machine. The machine is then made up of the bodies of the Patrol members - each person needing to have an action and a sound as part of the machine.
We the moved onto a planning activity, adapting "Token to Talk" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007), by asking each Patrol to come up with themes and then choose one to plan activities for a meeting. Each Patrol was given a dish with 3 beads for each person. Each girl took her beads and every time she spoke, she had to put a bead into the dish. Once everyone was out of beads, they could be redistributed. The point of the activity was to ensure that everyone had an equal chance to speak and be heard. It worked quite well and as the activity progressed, the girls stopped using the beads but continued giving everyone a turn.
The last activity for the evening was Girl Guide Taboo (adapted from "Stop! You Can't Say That!" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007)). The cards had Guiding-themed words and girls played the game in small groups, with players helping the asker when needed. To play, one person draws a card and tries to get the player on her right to guess the word without saying any of the 'do not say' words. We did not use a timer and used teamwork to help players guess the word or phrase they were being given hints about.
We closed with reminders for next week and Taps.
Links & Downloads:
