Secret Orders

Have you stopped by Gaye Wilson's Guiding Works website? It's full of amazing resources; camping tips, program ideas, wide games and more.

One of the games I love from her website is called Secret Orders, which she has adapted from the book of games, Clouds on the Clothesline. We have that book in our unit and i'm ashamed to say that I haven't opened it in many years. Thank goodness for Gaye or i'd be missing out on a great activity!

The basic premise of the games is that Patrols need to complete a set of orders in silence. A member of each Patrol chooses a card and has her Patrol complete the order before the next player can choose a card. Play continues until all the challenges have been completed.

We have four sets of laminated cards in different colors, one for each Patrol. All the challenges are the same for each Patrol and can be completed in any order.

I played this game with the Guides (10-14 years), as a test run to see if it would be suitable for the Brownies. It worked really well but was quite a challenge for them, so I would definitely need to adapt some of the challenges to suit the younger girls. It was really interesting to watch how the Patrol's interpreted the challenges and worked (or didn't work) as a team. 

At the moment we use 12 challenges in total, listed below. The majority are straight from Gaye's list.

Be sure to check out the Guiding Works website for the complete instructions to this wonderful game of teamwork.

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What secret orders can you come up with?

Gem stones

The Discover-a-Challenge badges were introduced with the new Australian Guide handbooks and very similar in content to the old Rainbow Skills badges.

Credit: Girl Guides Australia

The badge has different levels, which are named after Australian gemstones.

• Turquoise - 5 years and older 
• Topaz - 6 years and older
• Amethyst - 7 years and older
• Garnet - 8 years and older
• Agate - 9 years and older
• Zircon - 10 years and older
• Jade - 11 years and older
• Sapphire - 12 years and older
• Diamond - 13 years and older
• Black Opal - 14 years and older

Excerpt from Handbook #2 for girls aged 7-9 years.

With so many different badges available and with the way my Brownies prefer to work on twenty badges at once rather than focusing on one at a time, means constant diligence in trying to keep up with their progression. So here's the plan to try and get girls enthusiastic about a new set of challenges and also to assist with keeping up with their progress.

Each girl has a been given gem stone with her name on it.

Every time a Brownie completes a challenge (there are 10 challenges per gemstone) she colors in a section using the correct colour for her gem (agate - pink, garnet - red etc). In some cases (ie. 7, 8 and 9 on the diagram) two sections are coloured in together because they are so small. I've numbered the picture below as an example of the ten distinct sections. This Guide would have completed 5 challenges towards her amethyst badge.

Once the badge is completed the girls get to paint over the whole thing with glitter so that it sparkles. None of the girls have completed any of the levels so far, so i'll just have to wait to see if having the physical gem hanging on the wall inspires them or not. Will keep you updated!

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Has your unit started working on the discover-a-challenge badges yet?