Messy Night

Our final regular meeting of the year was our annual Messy Night! This is a night where everyone gets wet and messy with paint, shaving cream, water and anything else we happen to include!


The way Messy Night works is we provide a variety of activities, and the Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers choose which ones they want to try. The main rule of the evening is that you cannot get someone else wet/messy without their consent - meaning those who want to stay dry are able to do so. 

As it was somewhat cooler this May than in past years, we were unable to do some of our favourite activities, such as Paint Twister and the Paint-Water-Shaving Cream Slip 'n' Slide. This year's activities included:

• Shaving Cream Marbling
• Face Painting
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Hair Chalk
• Shave the Balloon
• Bubbles  
• "Pie" Eating (Whipped Cream)
• Finger Painting

Links:

• Marbled Paper From Shaving Cream

Climb or Shoot at Camp Orenda 2018

This weekend, 2 Pathfinders and 1 Guider joined up with the 5th St Thomas Pathfinders and Rangers at Climb or Shoot Camp, held at Camp Orenda near London. There were about 80 girls and a total of 105 participants for the weekend. The forecast: Rain.

The girls hit it off and all went to do crafts in Chapandale before joining the Guiders in Toadstool (where we were supposedly singing, but rather just enjoying being warm and dry!). The girls did sing a couple of songs and played quiet games before going to find an evening snack. Due to the rain, everyone drifted off to their tents early - although not necessarily to sleep. The rain continued throughout the night - letting up at times, but always returning. 

We woke up to more rain on Saturday morning, but we were hopeful as the forecast was for it to end mid-way through the morning and for sunshine in the afternoon. The picnic shelter was a great, dry space for breakfast and we stayed mostly dry through camp duties (we were on garbage patrol) and opening. At 9.30am the rock climbers boarded the bus for East Park (archery participants would leave at 10am for the Archery Hood). By the time we reached East Park it seemed like the rain had finally let up. The areas of the park we were using didn't open to the public until 11am which was nice as the girls were able to access all of the activities without long waits. We headed inside before splitting up into two groups. We were doing rock climbing first and learned all about the proper knots, ropes, safety rules, climbing techniques and belaying before actually going up the ropes. The girls each had 2-3 goes at climbing different sections of the wall before their session ended. 

The groups switched, and we moved on to the other activities until lunch time. Their first choice of activities was the Jungle Gym - a large indoor structure with tunnels, slides, bridges and a ball pit - and they said that it brought back some fond "childhood memories". Each girl was also given tokens for the arcade games and tickets for a round of mini golf, 3 rounds of bumper cards, and a go-kart session. The go-karts were originally closed due to the weather, but we were lucky to be able to get in just before lunch. 

Lunch was an outdoor barbeque, followed by drop-in activities including finishing up activities from the morning, crafts and games. Crafts were a choice of fabric string bags, bandanas, small tote bags or pencil cases to colour with fabric markers. Games were human bridge (girls hold thick dowels while one person crosses the bridge) and the game where people try to move an object using rope only. But the best part - THE SUN CAME OUT!! We left East Park about 4pm and had free time back at camp. The girls dried up any remaining puddles or wet spots in the tents and then sat in the sun until supper. 

Supper was roast pork with apple sauce, mashed potatoes, corn and salad with brownies and ice cream for dessert - very tasty! Afterwards the girls all went to the lower camp to play a whole-camp game of Capture the Flag. We ended the day with a campfire led by Kris McGee. Songs included Tall Trees, Land of the Silver Birch/My Paddle, Listen to the Earth, Here the Lively Song, Whooping Cough, Flee Fly Flo, Ach Ven de Musica (in German) and Hey Hey Superman (in Spanish). We closed with Say Why and Taps. 

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, but with some threatening clouds - though thankfully theses cleared quickly. We had everyone dressed, breakfasted, packed and the tents put away by 9.30am when the St. Thomas girls were being picked up. One of our girls left a short while later, while the two of us remaining settled in to wait for our pick-up at 11am. I think everyone enjoyed camp - we certainly made some new friends, survived the rain, and enjoyed some very tasty food. 

Introduction to Guiding Night

Are you ready for another great Guiding year? 

Come out and join the Caledonia Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers at our first meeting!

When: Tuesday, September 12th from 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Where: Grace United Church, Caledonia

We'll be talking about our plans for the year, trying out some fun activities, and getting to know each other!

Guides is for girls born in 2006, 2007 and 2008
Pathfinders is for girls born in 2003, 2004 and 2005
Rangers is for girls born in 2000, 2001 and 2002

Registration is now open at http://register.girlguides.ca!

Messy Night!

Our final regular meeting of the year was Messy Night, with paint, shaving cream, water, and bubbles all playing a part!
I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves this time, see the attachment below for more information on what we got up to, as well as some extra activities we didn't have time for!

Downloads:

• Messy Night Activities 

Messy Night!

One of the Facebook Groups I follow is a group for Australian Guiders. I was inspired by an activity that is very popular there, which led to the Caledonia Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers having their first Messy Night! We had beautiful sunshine and 24 degree weather, which meant everyone was ready for water games, paint twister and outdoor fun!

As the girls arrived, we had bubble solution ready for blowing bubbles while we got organized.

We started out with rules:
1. You don't have to get wet if you don't want to, BUT you can't get other people wet without their permission.
2. Keep your hands and feet to yourself.
3. Don't throw things at people unless instructed to (i.e. as part of a game)

We explained a number of different activities, and let the girls choose which ones they wanted to do. The chosen activities were Bouncy Balls, Shave the Balloon, Paint Twister, Splat Tag, Water Fight, Bubble Art, and Armpit Fudge.

Bouncy Balls
In one cup, combine 4 tbsp warm water, 3 tbsp cornstarch and 1/2 tsp borax. In a second cup but 1 tbsp of white glue and food colouring. Mix the glue and food colouring, then mix the water/cornstarch/borax mixture. Pour the water mixture into the glue. Stir. You'll see it immediately start to clump together. Stir a bit more until you have one, big slimy glob. Take the globe out of the liquid and roll it between the palms of your hands until you have a nice smooth ball. Store in a plastic container or ziplock bag. (If you're ball doesn't bounce well, play with the material like flubber!!)

Shave the Balloon
Girls work in pairs. One girl inflates the balloon and holds it for her partner while she covers
it with shaving cream. She then uses a butter knife (or razor) to 'shave' the balloon, trying not to pop it. If the balloon doesn't pop, 'help' it along with a pin - but be aware that when it does pop, shaving cream will go EVERYWHERE!

Paint Twister
Paint twister is played the same way as regular twister, except that instead of coloured circles on  mat, you make coloured circles of shaving cream mixed with paint on a tarp!

Splat Tag
Two players are IT and each has a water ball (cloth balls that absorb water like a sponge). To tag other players, they throw the balls trying to hit people below the shoulders. When a player is hit, she becomes it. Have a bucket of water nearby for re-soaking the balls.

Water Fight
Buckets of water, water balls and small squirt guns were provided, and everyone had a great time!

Bubble Painting
Mix food colouring with bubble solution in small containers. Dip a straw in the coloured solution. Place the end of the straw just touching a piece of paper and gently blow a bubble. When the bubble bursts, it will leave the colour behind. Repeat until you have finished your design, then let dry.

Armpit Fudge
This is a group favourite! Put 1/2 cup icing sugar, 1 tbsp butter, 2 tsp cream cheese, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 2 tsp cocoa powder in a ziplock bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible and seal. Smoosh all of the ingredients together until they are blended and the mixture is coming away from the bag. Use the heat from your hands, or armpit, to help mix the ingredients.

Resources
Girl Guides Western Australia - Dirty & Messy Night
PBS Kids - Super Bouncy Ball - www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-for-kids/super-bouncy-balls/