February ended with our second "By Guides, For Guides" night. We started out with our usual opening ceremony, then the Thistles led the first half of the meeting on the theme of Pets and Animals, followed by Daisies and their Culture Night.
The Thistle Patrol had planned three activities about Pets and Animals for their half of the evening:
- Big Dog Tag - In this game, "It" is the "Big Dog". The Big Dog chases other players, if someone is tagged, they sit on the floor with their legs out in front of them. In order to be un-tagged, two other players have to come and sit on the floor as well, using their legs to make a T. After counting to 5, all three players rejoin the game. Players cannot be tagged if they are squatting or if they are sitting in a T.
- Lost Pet Skits - Guides were asked to form small groups and each group made up a skit about a losing and finding a pet.
- Twag - In this game, "It" is an Owl and everyone else is a mouse. When a mouse is tagged, they become a baby owl and go and sit in the Owl's nest (a corner or section of the playing area). One player is an "Eagle" who turned the baby owls back into mice.
The Daisy Patrol had chosen Culture Night as their theme and had four activities:
- Facts About the Philippines - One Guide shared some information about the Philippines.
- Scotland Trip - One Guide shared pictures and told about her trip to Scotland to visit family.
- Luksong Tinik - We then played a traditional game from the Philippines. Two players sit on the ground with their legs out and soles of their feet touching. The other players jump over their feet. One of the seated players then places her foot on top of the other players foot, heel to toe, and the other players jump over this increased height. The height in the centre continues to be raised using feet and then hands until other players are unable to jump over it. For better instructions, visit Filipino Games.
- Tinikling - We tried 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. 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.
- Food! - The final activity was a taste test with Licorice All-Sorts from Scotland and Sausage and a Fruit and Milk Salad from the Philippines - all very yummy!
Everyone had done a great job preparing their activities and had a lot of fun trying some new activities. We ended with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.
Downloads:
This week the Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers in Caledonia got together for our annual World Thinking Day Event. The program was planned and run by the Pathfinders and Rangers, assisted by the 3rd Year Guides.
As everyone arrived, they were directed to the appropriate part of the room for their Unit. We provided colouring sheets and wordsearches, as well as supplies for Guiders to make name tags dividing their Unit into three groups. Each Unit performed their usual opening ceremony, followed by a brief introduction to the theme of Leadership. We had four activities and each group worked through them with a Pathfinder/Ranger and 3rd Year Guide leading.
Dance With Your Past
In this activity, each person is asked to think of their favourite song and dance while singing in their head. They are then asked to talk about how easy or hard they found the experience and if they would have done the same thing two years ago.
Hey, That's Not Right!
It's 1908 and your brother just got a new book for his birthday called Scouting for Boys. It's about learning life skills, camping and making new friends. It sounds really fun and you want to take part, but people say that camping and adventure are only for boys. You don't agree and get together with some of your friends to let people know that girls can do anything!"
Each group split up into smaller groups of mixed Sparks, Brownies and Guides to create posters about all the amazing things girls can do!
Spot the Leader at Kusafiri
"Kusafiri World Centre held an event in 2017 called Arts4Change in Madagascar. Participants explored ways to use creativity to build leadership skills. Leadership doesn't always have to be seen or heard, sometimes it can just be felt!"
Players stand in a circle. One person leaves the room and another is secretly chosen to be the leader. The leader makes an action, sound or movement and everyone else in the circle has to copy them. The leader can change their actions at any time. The person outside comes back into the room and stands in the centre of the circle. As the rest of the group continues following the leader, the person in the centre has three chances to guess who is the leader.
In 2119, Can You Imagine?
For our fourth activity, we asked everyone to think about what it might be like to be a Girl Guide in 2119, 100 years from now by drawing a 22nd Century Guide. The twist to this activity was that each drawing would be completed by three people. The first person drew the head and neck, then folded their part over and let the next person draw the torso and arms, this part is also folded over so only the bottom third of the page is showing and the third person draws the legs and feet.
Lost in Time Activities
As each group completed the activities on their own within the time frame of the meeting, we also planned some no-equipment activities from the Lost in Time section of the Activity Pack.
- You've encountered some Scouts from the past on their way to Brownsea Island, teach them a song for their campfire.
- Can you name the 5 World Centres? (Pax Lodge, Sangam, Our Chalet, Our Cabana, Kusafiri)
- You meet a group of Girl Guides from the future who speak a language you don't recognize. Find a way to say "Happy World Thinking Day" without using words.
- Try to say the Spark Promise backwards. (Friend A Be and Share to Promise I)
- You meet some Girl Guides from the future. What is one thing you want to know about Guiding in the future?
- Name one country you'd like to learn more about and why.
- Say a tongue twister.
- When you do something which inspires other people you're practicing leadership. Ask if anyone can share something they did in the last week which inspired someone.
- Who can come up with the most inventive upgrade for their time machine?
- If you were given one wish to change your community for the better, what would it be?
We ended with Spark Closing, Brownie Closing, and Taps, before saying goodnight to everyone.
Links:
This week we did our pre-Thinking Day activity and learned about memes with the Forget-Me-Not Patrol.
We started with our usual opening ceremony, and then moved straight into our three activities for the evening. First up, each Patrol had to finalize their plans for their "meetings" (each Patrol will be running half a meeting or about 45-60 minutes of activities for the rest of the Unit).
Our second activity was to make time machines for Thinking Day! Each girl has been given a cassette case and a template to make a mini-girl to put inside the case. We used sharpies to decorate the time machines.
Finally, at 7.30pm, we turned the meeting over to the Forget-Me-Not Patrol and their Memes and Glow-in-the-Dark Meeting. The Patrol had planned four activities for their meeting, which filled up the second hour of the meeting.
- Meme Tiles - Each Guide created her own meme using markers on a half-sheet of cardstock.
- Manhunt - In their version, two players are it and the game is played with the lights off. (Basically a big game of tag as we were indoors, the game is usually played in a wooded area where there are lots of places to hide and outfox the players who are it.)
- Mama Bear - A game made up by the Patrol: One player is the bear and they hide in the dark. Everyone else waits for the bear to hide and then comes into the room and say "I'm not scared of bears tonight; my daddy got them all last night". They then try to find the bear in the dark and when someone finds her, they say "Beep" and run to the door. Play continues until most/all of the players have found the bear.
- Charades: Meme Edition - The Patrol came up with some different memes and the slips of paper were drawn by small groups and used to create a charade for the rest of the group to guess.
Everyone had fun and the Forget-Me-Nots did a great job leading their activities!. We ended with reminders for next week (Pets/animals with the Thistles and Culture Night with the Daisies) and closed with Taps.
From our planning session, we discovered that the group had lots of ideas for painting activities, so we devoted this week's meeting to painting!
We started with set up and our usual opening ceremony. Once all the tables were set up and covered, we introduced the five activities for the evening:
- Painting on Canvas - We provided stretched 5" x 7" canvases, acrylic paints and brushes or all different shapes and sizes. Canvases were 2 for $1 at the dollar store and paints and brushes were from our Unit supply.
- Watercolours - We used the 3 watercolour paint sets in our paint box and provided blank card stock as a base. This is better able to handle the water than regular paper.
- Splat Painting - Girls were provided with cardstock, cotton balls and small amounts of washable paints in small tart pans. Although the suggestion had been splat painting, most of the girls used the cotton balls to dab and smear paint when creating their designs.
- Finger Painting - This was a request we hadn't expected, but were able to provide washable paints and glossy paper for this activity.
- Tile Painting - We did this activity earlier in the year and it was popular. Tiles were from the Habitat Reuse Store and we used the same acrylic paints and brushes provided for painting on canvas.
Girls were able to choose what they wanted to work on and spend as much or as little time on each piece of art as they wished. Some did only one or two activities, while others tried out everything.
There was lots of clean-up from this meeting, but we had allowed 30 minutes for clean-up and closing - and it was needed! We ended with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.
For our second meeting in January we didn't have access to our usual meeting space, so we held a board game night across two smaller rooms. The first and second year Guides stayed in one room and played King of Tokyo, Labrinth, and Clue. The third year Guides went with the Pathfinders and Rangers and played Settlers of Catan and Mexican Train Dominoes. Everyone had a good time. We ended the evening with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.
Our first meeting of 2019 was spent brainstorming and making plans for our meetings until March Break - and also playing some active games!
As the girls arrived, they were asked to fill out a slip of paper with four questions for ideas for Guide activities:
- Something I would like to do ...
- Somewhere I would like to go ...
- A topic I would like to learn more about ...
- A theme I would like to explore ...
This generated some really good ideas, and encouraged the Guides to come up with their own ideas rather than copying or agreeing with other people's.
We had our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game led by one of our Patrols.
Each Patrol was then given two sheets of paper with four broad themes, based on their earlier suggestions:
- Girl Guides Go Tropical
- Girl Guides in Space
- Art-tastic
- Build. Create. Invent.
Patrols then brainstormed ideas for activities related to those themes.
We then had a break for an active game, then sent the Patrols off to separate parts of the room to come up with a theme for a partial meeting to be run by the Patrol. Once their theme was checked out by the Guiders, the girls came up with activity ideas to fill 45 minutes of meeting time. Working back and forth, with Guider input as needed, each Patrol came up with a unique plan for their program time, including activity instructions and supply lists. In February, we will be exploring memes with the Forget-Me-Nots, pets and animals with the Thistles, and global cultures with the Daisies.
We finished with a final active game, reminders for next week, and closed with Taps.
We started 2019 off with a weekend of winter camp at Camp Teka in Paris, Ontario. This year, we were joined by the 1st Tillsonburg Pathfinders which meant we had almost equal numbers of Guides and Pathfinders! Our theme was Survival Skills and Winter Outdoors, with the majority of our program based on two activities from the Girls First Platform - "Emergency Strikes-Trapped Indoors" and "Emergency Strikes-Lost Outdoors".
On Friday, we started out by dividing everyone up into mixed-age Patrols and did some getting-to-know you activities to get everyone talking. Our first program activity was making personal first aid kits. We used small square containers and filled them with gauze pads, bandages, tape and gloves.
We then began "Emergency Strikes - Trapped Indoors" using the scripts and instructions on the platform. To start out, each Patrol had a list of supplies to divide up into those that should definitely be in an emergency preparedness kit and those that might be in one. They then had to choose 5 items from the maybe list to leave out of their kit. Each Patrol was then provided with an emergency kit, less any of the items they had decided to leave out. We did not provide every item on the list, just those that would be used during the scenarios. (Bottle of water, can opener, first aid kit, tea lights in cans, matches, toilet paper, knife, garbage bags, food for snack). Interestingly, 3 out of 4 Patrols decided that they didn't need a can opener in their kit...
The scenario uses an extreme weather emergency and all activities were done by flashlight (simulated power outage) as we worked through the following activities:
- Preparing the Shelter - Learn how to set up a safe space to weather the storm.
- Staying Calm - Practice techniques for staying calm during an emergency.
- Food Preparation - Girls had to prepare and eat a snack of cheese, crackers and canned fruit salad using only the supplies they had in their kit. (Those Patrols without can openers were allowed to sing a song as a group to receive this important item!)
- First Aid Skills - Find out how to bandage a cut and how to put on an arm sling and then practice on each other.
- Contacting EMS - Find out ways to alert EMS that you need help when phone lines and cell reception is not available.
- Relieving Boredom - Come up with, and practice, activities you can do in a small space with no equipment to keep your group positive and entertained.
After finishing the scenario, we cleaned up and then set up the mattresses for bed. Some time for quiet activities was planned, followed by lights out and sleep - for most of us!
Saturday morning started a bit later than expected, but we still enjoyed a breakfast of waffles, fruit, bacon and tater tots. After cleaning up and putting the mattresses and sleeping gear away, we headed outside for our second scenario - "Emergency Strikes - Lost Outdoors". Each Patrol was provided with a survival kit and a set of activity cards to work through. Their survival kits contained a bottle of water, duct tape, matches, fire starters, garbage bags, toilet paper, whistle, twine, tarp, rope, newspaper, compass, snack (granola bars), first aid kit, tin can and a magnifying glass.
- Survival Kit List - Rank a list of items in order of importance in a first aid kit - Patrol members needed to agree on rankings.
- Shelter Building - Build a shelter using tarp, rope and natural materials that your entire Patrol can fit inside.
- Preparing for a Storm - Review survival priorities and what you can do to prepare.
- Fire Building - Light a fire and boil water in a can.
- Staying Calm - Practice techniques for staying calm during an emergency.
- First Aid Skills - Find out how to treat a burn and how to bandage and splint a wrist and then practice on each other.
- Breaking Camp - Pack up all of your supplies and return natural items to the bush.
After finishing these activities, we used some outdoor cooking skills to make lunch - grilled cheese on buddy burners, soup in large can on the fire, and box oven cupcakes. We ran into some challenges getting the burners lit, but everyone eventually was fed. After cleaning up, we went inside for some free time. Later, the Pathfinders set up tents and did a first aid scavenger hunt.
For dinner we had taco salad made with doritoes, along with veggies and dip. Desert was the cupcakes from lunch, with frosting and sprinkles.
Our evening program included make a hat craft - a girl in a sleeping bag, followed by a campfire. We then made and sampled the contents of an MRE - Cheese Tortellini in Marinara Sauce, with lemonade, oatmeal cookies, crackers, trail mix and candy. After cleaning up, we set up the mattresses for bed and the girls sleeping out in tents got ready to head outside.
Sunday morning breakfast was left overs and toast, and nearly everything was eaten! After packing, cleaning up and doing a short camp evaluation, it was time to go home.
Links:
February ended with our second "By Guides, For Guides" night. We started out with our usual opening ceremony, then the Thistles led the first half of the meeting on the theme of Pets and Animals, followed by Daisies and their Culture Night. 
