Madagascar camp: activity booklet

I always create activity books for the Brownies to use at camp. It's great for the girls to use during free time or if they just need a break from the excitement. Some barely get further than the first few pages, but many complete the whole thing from cover to cover and ask for a copy to give their siblings. I try to include a range of activities to appeal to the different interests and abilities of the girls. 

The back page is usually a challenge specifically about the campsite we are visiting. It's always funny to see when different girls reach the last page. You know because they are walking around the camp with a booklet in their hand studying old photographs to get dates and other random information.

Maybe this is something you can do at your next camp. If you don't know the campsite, that's alright, just keep the questions very general!

Example questions:

1. How many words can you make using the letters in the word (name of campsite)?
2. How many doors are in (name of campsite)?
3. How many people can sleep inside (name of campsite)?
4. What colour is the flagpole?
5. Draw a picture of your favourite thing at (name of campsite).
6. How many people can sleep in (name of campsite)?
7. Name the different wildlife you spotted outside.
8. How many lollipop steps does it take for you to walk around the cottage?
9. Count the trees on the property? (I used this at a campsite that had over 100 trees, it was pretty funny to watch the girls count them all)

If you actually have an opportunity to visit the campsite, make sure to ask more specific questions such as the dates on photographs, the colour of chairs etc.

In case you were wondering, the Brownies favorite pages in the book were the campfire song scramble (they delighted in pointing out errors I had made, so beware) and adding afro wigs to the Madagascar characters (final image)!

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Do you have any quiet time activities you use at camp?

Clipart

I love cute cartoons and graphics and wish there were more available for Girl Guides or alternatively, that I was blessed with the ability to draw! Unfortunately this is not the case, so I often use clipart from Girl Guides Canada as their uniform is similar to the Australian Guide uniform. Their pictures also show Guides and leaders participating in a wide range of activities such as camping, canoeing, craft, and first aid. 

Look at this adorable Girl Guide! 

Girl Guides NSW has a few new characters available on their online Leader's Support website, although you have to search through the pages to find them.

Here are some links for other clipart websites from other Guiding countries:

• BOGUK's clipart - Girl Guides UK
• Cherokee Scouting - Girl Scouts USA

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What websites do you use for graphics?

Scribble Party

A scribble party is something that I have wanted to use as a meeting for a long time, but there has never been any time in our term program.

However, this year we chose to give our usual Halloween party a miss, which gave me the perfect opportunity to give it a try. It also doubled as a farewell party for one of the Brownies that was bridging to the Guide unit. A scribble tshirt doubled wonderfully as a memory tshirt and at the end of the night the girls covered her tshirt in lovely farewell messages.

Photo credit: http://drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/time-capsules-and-memory-shirts.html

The Brownies each invited a friend and every girl was told to wear a plain white tshirt that was allowed to be decorated. Most parents just purchased new white shirts, with Kmart having the best deal for just $2 a shirt!


Equipment needed:

• White tshirt per person
• Fabric markers - make sure to buy these ahead of time so that you can shop around for the best price! I purchased a 10 pack of crayola fabric markers for $8.50, but in most shops they cost well over $10. The price adds up quickly depending how many packets you need to buy.
• Instructions on how to set the fabric markers so that they don't run - one per girl. For Crayola the instructions were located on the back of the box and involved ironing the shirt while it was inside out.

Activities:

• Whistle Game - we play this often as an ice-breaker, and it is simple to add the drawing element. Give each girl a fabric marker. The Guides move around the room at random as instructed (e.g. skipping, hopping) until the whistle is blown signaling they need to form a group. The number of whistles dictates the number of girls in each group. 3 whistles = a group of 3 girls. Once in a group, sign the shirt of everybody in the group. Play continues with the stipulation to find new people for your group each round.

• Whispered drawings - much like Chinese whispers. Everybody sits in a circle and the first girl passes on a simple message of something that can be drawn eg. A cat wearing a hat. The message is passed around the circle, to the last girl who then draws the picture on the back of the first girl. The answer and drawing is then revealed and laughter ensues. Play continues starting with the next player. The girls loved this so much that it ran for much longer than anticipated!

• Drawing relay races

• Free Draw!

These are some of the designs that ended up on my shirt. I also have many signatures and some lovely messages!

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Would you consider having a scribble party at your meeting?