Reindeer are better than people

To end the year, the Brownies had a pajama and movie night watching their current favorite movie, Frozen. They sang along with Anna, Elsa and Olaf and shouted, "He's a liar!" when Hans came on the screen. 

One of the best things about the end of the year is the sweet Christmas cards I receive from the girls. One of the handmade cards I received even included a drawing of a new badge. Isn't it great?!

Drawing dragons

Approximately half of the Brownie Guides are currently working on their Junior B.P. award, the peak achievement award for girls aged 7 years and older.

The award requires 12 challenges to be completed, two from each of the seven Fundamentals of the Australian Guide Program:

• Promise and Law
• Guiding Traditions
• Service
• Outdoors
• World Guiding
• Patrol System
• Leadership Development

One of the Promise and Law challenges is to "think about something you are good at and share your talent with your Patrol. It may be music, cooking, writing or something else."

Not every girl selects this particular challenge, however those who have completed it over the past few years have chosen a great range of talents to share, including telling jokes, craft, baking and playing hockey. 

The latest talent that was shared was extremely unique and you may have guessed by the title of this post that it was... drawing dragons!

Miss 10 years (with a little Leader prompting), led her Patrol through a dragon conversation, discussing appearances of dragons in books and movies and the various types and their features, strengths and weaknesses. She then went on to teach the Patrol how she draws dragons and then assisted them to create their own. It was definitely an original topic and her Patrol had a great time working together for 40 minutes, before I finally had to stop them to do other activities. I was really impressed with how they worked together - it was the most cohesive i've even seen them!

There were over 20 dragons drawn, here are the few I managed to capture in a photo.

Bath bombs

Last week we made coconut scented bath bombs using chocolate moulds and ice cube trays. They take a minimum of four fours to set, so the girls took them out of the moulds this week. They looked lovely, especially once they were placed in glass jars wrapped with ribbon and a printed label. 

You may notice the flower shaped bath bombs in the photo below are the same shape as the melted crayons we made for our craft stall. Those moulds were definitely a great purchase!

If you are interested in making your own, we used this recipe from Bakingdom. 

Crafting up a storm

The girls have been working extremely hard all term to make Christmas crafts to sell at our annual market stall, which raises money for a charity that the Guides have nominated. This year more than one organisation was chosen, which resulted in the older and younger Guides joining forces to create as many crafts as possible.

The weather on the day of the stall was gorgeous, resulting in many people out and about. All the customers were lovely, praising the Guides for their hard work. By the end of the day, the girls had raised over $800 by selling their crafts along with homemade cakes. A tremendous effort!

Below are some of the crafts the girls made. I'll be posting tutorials for many of them over the coming weeks as Christmas approaches. They are all very simple and able to be created by girls aged 7+.

Paper hearts

Cardboard roll reindeer

Gift tags and Christmas cards. These were our best sellers!!

Woven string ornaments

Salt dough ornaments

Rosette book ornament (made with an old dictionary)

Origami paper cranes

Pom-pom Christmas pudding

Candy cane felt mice

Crayons - made by melting leftovers scraps of used crayons. Instructions HERE.

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Have you made any of these crafts before?

Let it snow!

Now that December has begun, it is getting impossible to go anywhere without hearing carols sing of dashing through the snow and a winter wonderland. With all these reminders of snow, I though that I would recap on our camp this past winter.

We were lucky enough to be invited to a camp (organised by another Leader), which just happened to be at the snow. Despite being a country largely covered in desert, almost every Australian state has at least one city that experiences snowfall annually. The bus ride to and from the snow was extremely long - the longest any of the girls had experienced. Looking back, we were very fortunate to have only had one issue with a girl getting travel sick!

The camp was just a long weekend away during the school term, but we packed a lot of fun into every minute of those three days. Each morning the girls took skiing lessons, giving the Leaders time to enjoy the snowfields. The Brownies were in the beginners ski class but by the end of camp were taking the same trail as I was! Many of the girls had never even seen snow before, so it was really an amazing experience for them and they were so proud to have conquered the ski lift!

In the afternoons, we built snowmen, slid down snow hills and the girls proudly showed off their new skills by holding skiing races.

Everybody went home with huge smiles and wonderful stories to share. The girls that didn't attend are dreadfully envious and are always asking if we will be able to return next year!

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Have you even taken your Guides skiing or on a snow camp?

BINGO!

One of the Brownies created this Human Bingo game as a challenge for her Junior BP award. The girls had great fun playing and learning more about each other, although it took them much longer than I anticipated - almost 25 minutes!

Despite receiving the same instructions it was interesting to observe how each girl went about filling up her game card.

Most of the younger girls (7-8 years) found a partner, asked a question and if their answer was no, moved onto a new person. Whereas the older girls (9-10 years) would ask another question until they received a positive response. Some even teamed up to swap answers!

Human Bingo is a great ice-breaker to use at an event where you have a group of Girl Guides that do not know each other. Below is the game I have created to use at Guide events. Please let me know if you play this game or adapt it to suit your own unit!

Download as a PDF: Girl Guide Human Bingo

How to play:
1. Distribute a bingo card and pen to each player.
2. Players mingle with each other, asking other players if a particular box applies to them. eg. Girl A asks Girl B: Have you ever camped in a tent?
3. If the answer is yes, that girls signs her name inside the box. If no, ask a different question, until you receive a positive response.
4. Each player may only sign their name once on each bingo card. However, if your unit is small you may allow girls to assign their name to more than one answer.
5. Whoever completes their game with a different signature in each box must call out "Bingo!". This player has has won the game!

Australian SWAPs

This week a Guide Leader from Canada will be visiting, so the Brownies made some Australian themed SWAPS for her to take back to her unit. 

From the Girl Scouts of the USA website:

Swaps, the tradition of Girl Scouts exchanging keepsakes, started long ago when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides first gathered for fun, song, and making new friends.

In more recent years, some Girl Scouts describe the types of objects now preferred as swaps by calling them: 

Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere.

The finished product. A cute koala made from felt with a laminated fact card attached.

The girls had fun giving each koala its own unique look.

The cards of random Australian facts.

Some of the koalas looked more like the rare but vicious Drop Bear, a predatory marsupial related to the Koala. 

A completed pile of SWAPS ready to exchange. Mission accomplished.

Visiting Girl Scout Headquarters in New York City

If you ever find yourself in New York City with some extra time on your hands why not stop by the National Headquarters of the Girl Scouts of America? There you can visit the Girl Scout shop, the Girl Scout museum or even have a behind the scenes tour. No appointment is needed to visit the shop, but make sure to book online if you wish to visit the museum or have a tour (more information below).

The building is conveniently located in the heart of 5th Avenue, so there's a good chance you'll be close by anyway at one of many tourist attractions that are less than a 10 minute walk away (Empire State Building, Macy's, Bryant Park).

National headquarters is located at 420 fifth Avenue, however the building can only be accessed from 37th or 38th street. Either entry in fine, although the 37th street entrance is prettier, plus has a GS marble bench outside where you can pose for photos!

Entrance on 37th Street. The Girl Scout bench is located on the left where Mr Blue Jeans is sitting.

Entrance on 38th Street.

Once entering the building, walk to the security guard at the concierge desk to check in - make sure to bring photo ID!! Explain that you wish to visit the Girl Scout shop or if you have made an appointment in advance, that you are visiting the museum or have a tour reservation.

You will be passed a phone and patched through to Girl Scout reception so that they can confirm your reason for visiting. Once that is all sorted you will be given a visitors sticker (something for the travel scrapbook!) and directed to the elevators. The shop is located on the 11th floor, which uses the elevators on the right hand side.

Once you exit the elevator, turn right. Head through the glass doors to the reception desk. The shop is to the right of reception and if you are headed off for the museum or a tour you will be directed appropriately.

The shop isn't huge, but it's fun to look at the merchandise and you might be able to find a treat for yourself such as a Girl Scout shirt or perhaps this cute badge for your camp blanket!

My favorite items are these Precious Moments ornaments! Aren't they lovely? I have the design on the bottom right which stands at about 13cm (5 inches). 

As I mentioned, it's not a huge store so make sure to email ahead of time if you want something in particular, or if your time is limited, so that your items can be ready for pickup. These ornaments have been around for a few years now, so they may not be in stock at the NYC store. You don't want to turn up and find out they don't have what you have been coveting!


Other things to do at National Headquarters:

After you visit the store make sure to visit the Girl Scout Museum where you can view photographs, uniform and more dating back to 1912.

If you book online at least two weeks in advance you can also be given a tour of Headquarters and get a behind the scenes look at Girl Scouting. Tours run at 10am and 2pm, Monday through Friday with a maximum group size of 50 people. Don't forget to make a reservation!

Address:
Girl Scout National Headquarters
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 

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 Have you visited Girl Scout National Headquarters in NYC?

Jamboree on the Air

From the official JOTA/JOTI website: 

What is JOTA?  

Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA) is an annual event in which Scouts and Guides all over the world speak to each other by means of amateur radio contacts. Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared via radio waves.

What is JOTI?  

Jamboree on the Internet, or simply JOTI, offers an alternative to the direct radio contacts in JOTA. Through JOTI, Scouts can “meet” and share information with other Scouts from around the world using Internet technology.

This past weekend the Brownies attended our local JOTA-JOTI event. It is held on the third weekend of October every year and over one million Scouts and Guides from countries around the world participate.

This year we had a bit of trouble connecting internationally and ended up chatting to a Scout Leader in Australia (one of our Leaders joked that was probably somebody stationed in the tent next to ours!). 

The girls were a little thrown at first to be connected with a Scout Leader as they had been coming up with questions to ask based on somebody their own age! Suddenly they were too shy to ask his favorite colour and what outdoor activities he liked. However this Leader was absolutely amazing and kept the girls engaged by asking great questions and even getting them to respond with more than monosyllabic answers!

For participating in JOTA each girl (and Leader!) received this lovely cloth badge. I just love the bold colours and design this year.

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GONE HOME: Founding father of Jamboree on the Air 

Les Mitchell, G3BHK, silent key October 2014

Photo credit: JOTA/JOTI

Girl Guide Taboo card game

Last term the Guides held a board game night bringing out the classics such as snakes and ladders and my personal favourite, Taboo. The girls had a great time playing Taboo (the game of unspeakable fun!) so I decided to make them a Guiding version that they could play during Patrol time.

If you have never played this game before, don't worry, the rules are very simple!

Preparation:

Print and cut out the Taboo cards (download available below). Make sure to laminate them so they will last!

Equipment needed:

Timer/stopwatch

Taboo cards

Aim: To provide your Patrol with relevant clues so that they guess your taboo word (the word in blue at the top)!

How to play: 

1. Have a Guide select a Taboo card.

2. Her aim is to have her Patrol guess the word at the top of the card (in blue section). She must do this by providing clues about the word, without using this word nor any of the taboo words (the ‘do not say’ words at the bottom of the card).

3. Variations of the words listed are also not accepted eg. If the word is camping, you may not use the word camp in your clues.

4. Set a timer at 1 minute and have the girls do their best to provide clues.

5. The other Patrol members may call out their guesses. 

6. If anyone correctly guesses the word, she earns that card as a point.

7. Move clockwise around the group so everybody gets a turn, not just those good at guessing the answer.

Example of what you could say if you drew the Thinking Day card (see card below):

"This is a special occasion celebrated by our unit and our fellow girls in uniform all over the globe. It is an annual event and gives us the opportunity to reflect and remember people in other countries. Sometimes we hold a party, perform a flag ceremony, dress up or even raise money to donate to others on this day. The date of this occasion is early in the year and happens to be an anniversary for two of the most important members of our organisation."

As you can see, this game is perfect for someone like me who always uses too many words and tends to babble! You need to say everything you can think of, hoping that your Patrol will be able to guess what you are talking about! Remember you cannot use any of the words listed on your card - this includes the words in the acronyms once they are expanded. 

For more detailed instructions and variations of play go to: http://www.chesapeake.edu/students/activities/TabooRules.PDF

The cards are available as a download at the bottom of the post. There are three files - a generic Girl Guide edition (example above) along with two other versions with terminology specific to Girlguiding UK and Girl Scouts of America (see examples below). I have also included two blank pages of cards on the first download so that you can create your own cards!

Example cards Girlguiding UK edition:

Example cards Girl Scouts of the USA edition:

Download: Taboo Card Game: Girl Guide edition

Download: Taboo Card Game: Girlguiding UK

Download: Taboo Card Game: Girl Scouts of the USA

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for new cards or see anything that needs to be edited! Thank you and enjoy!!

Special thanks to Sunny2nd, ker-stee and akl on the Guiders forum for their input in creating this resource! 

So long, farewell

Last week we went to the park to practice activities for an upcoming Guide and Scout regatta. We also said goodbye to one of our Patrol Leaders who is moving up to the Guide unit. The girls gave her an ear-piercing BRAVO (for being awesome) and then a giant group hug. 

Whenever a girl moves up to Guides, I give her a card with a photo on the front from when she first joined the unit. As most of my Brownies are with me for two or more years there is usually a dramatic change in their appearance during the time they are with me - from a baby-faced seven year old to a mature young lady, almost ready for high-school!

The card was filled with goodbye messages from her friends and  I caught her reading them over the course of the night. She also seemed pleased with the bunch of flowers i'd picked from my garden. I still recall how grown up I felt the first time I was given flowers as a birthday present from my friends so I though i'd pass on the feeling.

With another PL moving on, I will need to reorganise our Patrols, but not too much as I should (hopefully) have two more heading to Guides by the end of the year. I'll save the complete rearrange until then so we can hold new Patrol elections.

Floating Flowers

I spoke about floating friendship flowers in my last post so thought that i'd share my template so that you can make your own. I've used these on recent friendship themed night and also at a Guides Own ceremony. 

Make sure that the flowers are cut out carefully, especially the little white triangles in between the petals. If you don't cut these out the flowers will not fold or unfurl nicely.

Once the flowers are cut, get the Guides to write their name in the centre and decorate their flowers. Then pass the flowers around and have other Guides write messages on the petals, perhaps reasons why they are a great friend!

Fold each petals in, covering the centre of the flower. Gently drop the little bundle onto of a pool of water (we just used large tubs) and wait as the flowers open. Some will be quite fast and others will take their time. Be patient!

Download: Floating flowers

Enjoy! And please let me know if you make these flowers!

Fun with friends

Back in July, we had a friendship themed night after I was inspired by Guidey Laurie's blog post on floating paper flowers. My current unit of Brownies are a really lovely girls, but they have their little groups they always tend to fall into. The goal of the night was shaking that up a bit and having them mix with other peers they didn't know too well.

The night involved zero planning as I just grabbed pre-made activities from the cupboard or had the girls take charge! It was fun playing games and doing activities that we haven't done in such a long time. I need to remember to hold low-key nights like this more often, it does wonders for my stress levels!

The night began with a few rounds of 'Animal Sounds' led by Miss 9-year-old-Brownie. It was her first time leading a game for the unit and she did a wonderful job keeping the fun controlled, especially in such a chaotic game.

This was followed with the puzzle game, 'breakfast scramble'. The puzzles are made from cereal boxes and were originally created for our Minute-to-Win-it night. We didn't use a timer, the girls just worked with a partner to complete the puzzle. They then swapped puzzles with another group.

Floating friendship flowers were our main activity of the night. Flowers are cut from paper and then the petals are folded in, over the centre of the flower. Once placed gently to float on water the petals will open up. The girls decorated their flowers and then wrote messages on each others petals. My favourite has to be, "She is amazing, in a good way". If there was ever a time for a LOL, this would be it.

The flowers were a huge hit, although the Brownies were sad when the colours smudged in the water. Luckily I had plenty of spare templates in the cupboard as the last time I used these flowers was about 10 years ago at a Guides Own. This meant that everybody was able to take a blank flower home to demonstrate to their families. 

The final game we played was the Name Game (aka Drop the Sheet). The girls played this for 30 minutes which seems a little ridiculous looking back, but I just didn't have the heart to stop them when they were having so much fun! Again, it's been about 2 years since I pulled this game from my bag of tricks! 

A great night with lots of laughter and i'm happy to say that the girls did an amazing job of mingling with each other! Success!!

I've written up some brief instructions below on the games and activities so that you can try them out yourselves. Enjoy!

Animal Sounds

Equipment: blindfolds

The Leader chooses four different animals. We generally use farm animals as they make fairly distinctive sounds eg. sheep, cow, duck, pig. At random, secretly assign each girl one of these animals. Everybody finds their own space in the room and puts on their blindfold. On 'go', all girls begin to make their animal noise and slowly make their way around the room. The goal is to find the rest of their herd. When they find an animal the same as them they link arms. When it looks like everybody has found their group, I have everybody sit on the ground and remove their blindfolds. The girls then like to make their animal sound altogether as a group (as loudly as possible)!

Note #1: This game can be a fun way to form teams for another activity.
Note #2: Yes, girls occasionally walk into walls. Make sure to keep an eye on everybody! :)

Breakfast Scramble

Equipment: cut up the front of cereal boxes into 20 equal pieces (1 per team)

In teams of two, the girls had to recreate the front of the cereal box. Once they completed this, they chose a new puzzle to work on. 

Youtube: Breakfast scramble blueprint video

Friendship Flowers 

Click here for information on friendship flowers and also a template you can download to make your own!

Name Game (aka Drop the Sheet)

Equipment: large sheet or blanket

Break into two groups.  Two girls hold up a sheet, separating the two groups so that they cannot see each other. One person from each group sits forward, directly in front of the sheet - the rest of her group must stay back. On the count of three the sheet is dropped. When the sheet drops, the girls that are sitting forward must call out the name of the girl in front of them. The first person to correctly call out the name wins that round.

My girls get so involved in this and yet never keep score. it is amazing how many times girls say the wrong name or blank completely, even when it is their best friend sitting in front of them!