World Thinking Day Celebrations

On Tuesday, February 24th all of the units in Caledonia got together to celebrate World Thinking Day. As the girls arrived, they made World Thinking Day bookmarks to trade with
each other later in the evening.

We began our evening with the Spark, Brownie and Guide openings and a brief welcome and introduction to the theme for World Thinking Day - "We Can Create Peace Through Partnerships" and our service project for the evening. As a service project, we made bookmarks for the Student's Rebuild Literacy Challenge. By making 95 bookmarks, the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $95 to Save the Children's Literacy Boost Programs in Peru, Mali and Nepal. We will also be forwarding $55 to the Canadian World Friendship Fund.

The girls were divided into 5 colour groups and the Guiders led their groups through the 5 planned activities. Through our activities, we explored World Guiding, the World Centres, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There was approximately 10 minutes for each activity, with a few minutes at the end to finish up crafts.

Activity A - World Centres - Sangam
Craft - Rangoli Art
At this station, the girls located the World Centres on a large world map, then created their own Rangoli designs using chalk on black card stock.

Activity B - MDG 2 - Education
Service Project - Celtic Knot Bookmarks
At this station, we worked on our service project for the evening. The girls were reminded that not all children are able to go to school and that by making bookmarks we were helping to children in other countries learn to read and write. The bookmarks we made had a celtic knot design, which the girls coloured and then glued onto a piece of card stock and added a piece of ribbon as a tassel.

Activity C - MDG 1 & 7 - Poverty & Environment
Activity - Plastic Bag Ball & African Handball
At this station, it was explained that not all children have money to buy toys and electronics, and they often make their own games from scrap materials. One object that is commonly made is a ball. The girls were shown how to make a ball using a wad of newspaper and plastic bags, then used a pre-made ball to play African Handball. In this game, the players are divided into two teams. Each team tries to keep control of the ball for as long as possible by tossing it back and forth between players - at the same time, the other team tries to intercept the ball. The player holding the ball cannot 'travel' with it and must throw it to another player before moving. When a player catches the ball, the other players on her team clap their hands and stamp their feet.

Activity D - MDG 8 - Partnerships
Activities - There's No I in Team
At this station, the girls practiced working together through three team building activities. The first activity was Pass the Can - in this activity, players sit in a circle and pass a coffee can around the circle using only their feet. If the can falls off someone's foot, the group starts over. The second activity was Sardines - in this activity, all the girls in the group stand on a tarp, making sure no one's feet are touching the floor. Everyone then gets off, and the tarp is folded in half. Continue folding the tarp in half and see how small it can be before the group can no longer fit onto it. The third a activity was Tarp Turn-Over - in this activity, a group stands on a tarp and tries to turn it over without anyone stepping off.

Activity E - WAGGGS - Twinning 2020: Ontario & Chile
Game - Corre, Corre la Guaraca 
At this station, the girls located Chile on a world map and learned that Ontario will be twinning partners for 2015-2016. The girls then played the game "Corre, Corre la Guaraca". In this game, the group sits in a circle while one player jogs around the outside with a handkerchief. Trying not to be felt, the runner drops the handkerchief on a players back and runs. If she makes it around the circle before the seated player realizes the handkerchief is on her back, the runner picks up the handkerchief and goes around the circle again. If the seated player catches on, she must get up and try to tag the runner. If she succeeds, the runner sits down and the second player becomes the runner. If she fails to catch her, they play again.

After the stations were completed, the girls had a few minutes to finish up their bookmarks for trading, the bookmarks for the service project and/or their rangoli art. They then had the opportunity to trade bookmarks with another girl.

We ended the evening with a snack (cupcakes and juice boxes) and singing "Fire's Burning" in a round, followed by Spark, Brownie and Guide closings.

World Thinking Day 2014

The Caledonia Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers got together on Tuesday, February 18th to celebrate World Thinking Day.

The theme for World Thinking Day this year was "education opens doors for all boys and girls". 

Our evening started with the branch openings - Sparks, Brownies, and Guides. This was followed by a brief introduction to the theme and the planned program for the evening. 

Our first activity was done in branch groups, and was to make name tags showing the girl's names in Hindi and English. This was done with pre-printed labels on fun foam. The girls then decorated the name tags using peel-and-stick felt and fun foam decorations and stickers. 

We then split up into 3 mixed groups (Sparks, Brownies and Guides) to rotate through three stations.

Station 1 - Barriers to Education
At this station, the girls learned about some of the barriers to education faced by children in other countries. These included Cost (of schooling, supplies and uniforms), Distance (getting to school), Water (lack of water locally, time spent fetching water), Work (need to earn money to support family), and Being a Girl. They played a game similar to dodge ball, where the girls in the centre were the barriers to education and the other girls had to knock them out so that everyone could go to school.

Station 2 - Quality Education
At this station the girls learned that sometimes even though children go to school, the schools they go to aren't good and they don't learn even basic skills. Everyone then drew or wrote down things that make a school a good school. These were all posted on a wall display.

Station 3 - Learning for Life
At this station the girls learned about continuing their education to achieve their dreams and that many of the things they are learning now will be of use to them later in life. The girls then shared what they want to be or do when they grow up. After everyone had shared, the girls played a game from West Africa called 'Pilolo'. This game is usually played using sticks or stones (we used paper clips). All of the players cover their eyes while the game leader hides the items (one per player) around the playing area. When the game leader calls out 'pilolo', everyone hunts for an item and tries to be the first player to pick up an item and sit down.

After everyone had rotated through the stations, we took a break for cupcakes and juice. Before we started our campfire, we looked at the items that had been donated to make up school kits for the Mennonite Central Committee and everyone was thanked for their generous donations. We also had the honour of presenting Chief Commissioner's Bronze Awards to two girls (Allison & Sarah H). 

The evening ended with a campfire and branch closings. 

March & April with the Rangers

We began March by working on a follow-up activity to this year's World Thinking Day Theme. We began by researching the aspects of a healthy pregnancy and looked into what resources and services are available locally for mothers and young children. All of this information was combined into a large poster featuring an illustration of a stork carrying a baby. (Healthy Living #14 Young Mothers)

At our second meeting in March we watched the movie "Mean Girls". At the following meeting, we discussed social aggression and bullying to complete Community Connections #24.

Out last meeting in March was spent planning the 2013-2014 Sing Ontario Sing Challenge - In the Key of Guiding over a dinner of Chinese food. We decided on different categories and found songs that would fit the different sections. Our first meeting in April was spent sourcing all of the songs and activities, both online and in books and finalizing our challenge plans, ready for submission to the Program Committee. Our categories were In the Key of ... Me, Active Living, Outdoors, Our Community, Our World, Fun, Cookies, the Arts, and Leadership Skills. Watch the Ontario webpage for the challenge to be posted - www.guidesontario.org.

March and April are also Cookie Months, so we sold cookies on the Saturday of Easter weekend at the LCBO with the Guides and at Sears on National Cookie Day at Sears in April with the Pathfinders.

As part of the NSP Operation: Earth Action, we had planned out a meal using as many local foods as possible and decided to have a dinner party from our planned menu. Our meal started with bruschetta bread and punch, followed by a main course of chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots and corn, and ended with a dessert of chocolate brownies and ice cream. We are fortunate in that all of the items on the menu except for the punch and the chocolate brownies are produced locally.

The next meeting was spent planning a Guide meeting for May. The topic was camping and outdoor skills and included the following activities: Food & Activity suggestions for camp, Camp Scenario Skits, Kim's Game, Cat's Tails Game, Guess What's in the Bag - Nature Edition, a snack and campfire.

At our last meeting in April we discussed perceptions and media. This discussion was prompted by a new video posted by Dove - http://realbeautysketches.dove.ca/
We talked about what the girls thought of the video, the words people used to describe themselves and others, the demographics represented, and what was included/omitted from the video. Afterwards, we made a poster showing the perceptions and stereotypes associated with Guiding versus what we are really all about and discussed how we can change these ideas.

We ended April with our annual participation in the Great Toronto Scavenger Hunt. This year's theme was The Wizard of Oz and we spent the day travelling through the "Oz" top reach the "Emerald City". In our adventures, we visited the PATH system, Simcoe Park, Roy Thomson Hall, St. Andrew's Church, Mirvish Row, Canada's Walk of Fame, Queen Street, Osgoode Hall, Old City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square, The Eaton Centre, Yonge-Dundas Square, Ed Mirvish Theatre, Massy Hall, Elgin Theatre and Union Station.

 "We're Off to See the Wizard..." Outside Roy Thomson Hall

Sculpture in Simcoe Park

Saying the Promise at Old City Hall

Under the Clock on Queen Street

"Milking the Cow" at Brookfield Place in the PATH system

Happy World Thinking Day!

World Thinking Day is celebrated on February 22nd each year, the joint birthday of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell. It is a day when we think about Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world and also learn about important issues that affect girls and women worldwide.

Each year, all of the units in Caledonia get together for a Thinking Day celebration on the Tuesday night of Guide-Scout Week (the week in which Thinking Day falls). The program is planned and run by the Pathfinders for the Sparks, Brownies and Guides. The Rangers and Guiders help out where needed.

The Theme for World Thinking Day this year is protecting the health of mothers and children. In some parts of the world, mothers and children do not have access to health care, nutrition and basic medicines. This means that they can get very sick from things that we do not think about in Canada. At our event we learned about the spread of disease, being active, and clean water.

As the girls arrived, they were asked to write down 3 things they could do to help their mother (or other female adult) and to draw a picture to go along with this. The challenge is to see if they can do these things before their next meeting!

After the unit openings, we made a teddy bear craft out of fun foam in branch groups. They were very cute when finished.

For the main part of the evening, the girls were split into three groups of mixed ages (so, each group had Sparks, Brownies and Guides), and they rotated through three stations.

Station 1 looked at the spread of disease, and the girls played Mosquito Tag and then had an activity/colouring sheet about malaria.

Mosquito Tag

Two players are the mosquitoes and they ‘bite’ the other players by touching them. Some of the players are secretly given a bead or token which represents a mosquito net. If a player is bitten, she must leave the game, only the players with the nets, they can stay in the game. The ‘net’ should be secretly passed on to another player. The game ends when only those with nets are in the game.

Station 2 focused on physical activity, and the girls did an activity called Let's Get Active, followed by Simon Says and a Number game.

Let's Get Active

Stand in a circle with your group. One member will say “let’s…” along with a way to be active (for example, “let’s go for a swim!”), and will make a movement related to that activity.

Everyone will respond by saying, “yes, let’s…” and copying the movement. Each person will share a different physical activity until your group runs out of ideas.

Station 3 looked at safe water and included a demonstration of a Water Filter, tasting Oral Rehydration Solution, and a Water activity/colouring sheet.

Make a Water Filter

• Cut an empty pop bottle in half, remove the cap, and invert the top half inside the bottom half.
• Arrange your filter materials in the top half of the bottle in order:
• Paper towel
• Cotton Balls
• Charcoal
• Soil
• Gravel
• Make ‘dirty’ water by mixing some cookie oil, soil and small pieces of paper into a glass of water.

Pour the dirty water through the filter and see what happens

Oral Rehydration Solution 

Make the Oral Rehydration solution by mixing 1 teaspoon of salt and 8 teaspoons of sugar into 1 litre of water until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. This mixture is given to children who are dehydrated to replace the fluid and minerals they have lost.

The evening ended with a snack (cupcakes and juice boxes) and a campfire.