Girls in charge

This week's meeting was the first time I have EVER sat down at a desk to do paperwork during a Brownie meeting. The girls such did a great job with the first of their Patrol nights (which they planned a few weeks ago), that while they were busy creating skits, I had a chance to sit down and sign off some badgework - a task usually done in front of the TV at home. This shared leadership thing is awesome! 

That said the night wasn’t without its challenges…

The two Patrols each had 30 minutes to run an activity for the rest of the unit. By strange coincidence, both happened to choose drama activities, but each had a slightly different spin on the idea. Having such similar activities allowed me to observe and compare how each group presented their activity and dealt with any issues that arose. 

Some things that were really great about the night were:

• The enthusiasm for creating completely original skits!
• The dress code for the night was "crazy clothes" and the Brownies did a great job with weird hairstyles, clashing colors and mismatching outfits. I wish that I had remembered to take a group photo!
• Laying down broomsticks to assign an area for the audience to sit.
• The laughter. The girls had such a fun night and while I didn't understand 90% of what was occurring during the performances, they did, and that is all that matters!
• First aid skills. It was great to see the girls putting their skills to good use, but I wonder if I should also be alarmed at the amount of skits that focused on people injuring themselves. The price of comedy...
• We finished the meeting ON TIME (this happens at best 4 times a year). Clearly they have a better control of time than I do. Or perhaps, I actually had a free moment to look at the time and keep us on task!
• Leadership. Especially when the Patrol in charge went around to the other groups to let them know how much time they had left to practice and offered assistance with scripts.
• Teamwork!! For the Patrols in charge AND those creating skits. By the end of the night even my least cohesive Patrol had created and performed together! A real achievement!

Some of the things I observed over the night were:

• Not listening. I felt the girls handled this very well. One girl implemented a clapping pattern (common in schools) but most stuck with the hand in the air and waited for silence. It was great for them to see things from a Leader's perspective and also come to an understanding that you have be in a position that the majority of the group can actually see you to hear or follow your directions.
• The first Patrol in charge gave out their activity instructions and then went immediately to create their own skit. I explained that as Leader's they needed to remember the needs of the other groups as well and to offer assistance or advice in needed. From there they were great and would periodically split up and assist the other Patrols with their planning.
• Never ending skits - i'm sure you've seen them before! The plot slowly disappears, the Leader looks completely confused, the girls on stage get the giggles and the audience members start to get fidgety (or alternately seem to think what is happening onstage is absolutely hilarious!)
• No set stage area. The audience was cordoned off which one Patrol took to mean that the rest of the hall was their stage. I had to stop them when they entered the kitchen!
• Performers speaking with their backs to the audience. Very common and not a worry until we do drama again.

And finally, here are the activities:

Patrol One:

Patrol two gave each group a folded piece of paper with a topic (aliens, ghost and witches). The girls were given 10 minutes to create a skit based around this topic and then came back together to perform in front of the group. The Patrol-in-charge then filmed the skit, creating a "short film".

When we were cleaning up I came across this script one of the Patrols had created. I especially love scene 3!

The night was definitely a worthwhile experience for both myself and the girls! Next week should be interesting as the other two Patrols present their activities - rainbow loom bands and a taste-testing challenge. 

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How do you give girls the opportunity to lead?

Sew many badges!

I firmly believe that Leaders love badges more than the girls do. Sure the girls are excited and proud when receiving a badge for completing a series of challenges or attending an event, but it's not until you become a Leader that the hoarding begins. Suddenly events are being organised based on the fancy badge everyone will receive afterwards and websites are being combed through looking for that elusive badge you misplaced as a child. Not that I know anything about either of those things... 

In all seriousness, I do love my badges and reminiscing about the fun (and often mishaps) that occurred at the camps and events I have attended/organised. I have recently begun the labour intensive process of machine sewing my Guiding badges onto my wool camp blanket. For years, my badges were hand sewn by teenage me onto the polar fleece blanket my mother made when I was a Brownie. The fleece was soft and warm, but not great to wear when leading a campfire sing-a-long.

You'd think that sewing with a machine would speed up at the process but the awkward size of the blanket and thickness of the wool actually makes it quite difficult! It is taking much longer than I anticipated (i'm only one fifth through my stash!), but i'm really happy with how the blanket looks so far. 

A pile of badges waiting to be sewn onto my blanket

Here are some of the blankets i've been using as my inspiration:

Source: One Theological Cellist

Source: Port Noarlunga Sea Scouts

Source: The Jaspers

If you are thinking of making your own blanket, make sure to visit this How to start a camp blanket! thread on Guiders.co.uk. There is great advice and plenty of photos for inspiration!

E-patches & Crests also has instructions for 9 different styles of camp blankets! Mine is most similar to poncho #2.

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What does your camp blanket look like?

Cookies for sale!

Instead of our usual meeting, this week we sold Girl Guide biscuits outside our local supermarket. Apparently the public have been craving biscuits as we sold a record number of packets! 

The Brownie Guides were in high spirits and their enthusiasm showed in their sales! I've never had so many customers compliment me on both their manners and proficiency at sales. I was really proud, especially to see how the girls that have been with me for a few years have really come out of their shell!

Guide biscuits sell for $3 per packet and the unit makes $1 from every packet sold. We should be earning a few hundred dollars with our sales, which will be used to subsidise a usually slightly-out-of-budget activity. Now it's just compromising on an activity!  I have some ideas in mind that the girls have enthusiastically received, so now it's just convincing their parents!

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How does your unit fundraise?

What's gonna work? Teamwork!

These activities have all been used as Patrol activities during Brownie Guide meetings. For more information about our Patrol activity tubs and other Patrol activities visit this post.

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Activity: Build a clove hitch ladder

Guiding Fundamental: Outdoors

Activity Challenge Card:

Equipment Provided: Knotting cord, sticks

Further Information Provided:

How the Brownie Guides reacted:
I had chosen activities for the other Patrols which would allow me to spend a lot of time with this Patrol, since I knew they would need some guidance with their knotting. At first I taught the girls the second method of tying a clove hitch as this method can be used in any situation whereas method one can only be used on a open-ended pole or stick. 

The Guides had mixed success with this, getting it right about 60% of the time. I could tell they were getting frustrated and so decided to show them method one, which admittedly is the way I was taught to tie a clove hitch. I teach this knot as 'little e's' rather than 'Mickey Mouse ears', as the 'e' method gives more direction in how to make the loop formation correctly. Just "draw" two little e's using the cord, which makes sure that the correct side of the cord appears on top. Then put loop one on top of loop two. 

Very quickly the girls success rate jumped up to 100% and they were over the moon. (Insert guilty Leader for not teaching them this method to begin with). The Patrol ended up building a ladder than was 2.5m long with about 30 rungs. A pretty impressive effort. The Patrol Leader tied her knots using method two, and the other Guides using method ones.

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Activity: Can you find the alphabet?

Guiding Fundamental: Patrol System

Activity Challenge Card:

How the Brownie Guides reacted:
I was surprised when the girls worked their way through the alphabet sequentially (although that it what the instructions imply) whereas I would have written down the letters A through Z and then filled in the blanks when inspiration hit. Two Patrols have completed this activity and both showed great teamwork, roaming the hall finding answers and discussing possibilities. Afterwards they loved presenting their favourite answers to the unit. Success!

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Activity: Guide Biscuit Shop

Guiding Fundamental: Patrol System, Promise and Law

Activity Challenge Card:

Equipment Provided: Lots of cash in different denominations, signage, packets of Guide biscuits, paper shopping bag

How the Brownie Guides reacted:
I threw this activity together quickly as this year's batch of Guide biscuits arrived just in time for our meeting. The girls love to sell things but really struggle with looking at the money handed to them by the customer and then giving correct change.

For this activity the girls had fun setting up a little table with their biscuits and displaying posters on the wall. They took turns being the salesperson, in charge of the money and the customers. They really like using real money and practicing their customer service skills. I think that they would have happily played shop all night long! 

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Activity: Patrol interviews

Guiding Fundamental: Patrol System

Activity Challenge Card:

Equipment Provided: iPad

How the Brownie Guides reacted:
Every Patrol is desperate for their turn at this activity because they just love to be in front of the camera. The girls haven't gone beyond the suggested questions provided but have given some great responses! I think their videos have an equal amount of both interviewing and dancing. It will make for a great end of year movie.

Patrol Activity Tubs

We commenced Term 2 with what the Brownies have dubbed 'Patrol Activity Tubs', because "We can't call them Patrol Boxes, that's what we keep our pencils and textas in!" 

Patrol Activity Tubs or whatever you want to call them, are the wonderful idea of a Leader in our area. The Patrol System in her unit works magnificently, due to fantastic leadership and her Patrol time activities. Her Guides have fun working and learning as a team, which is just an amazing thing! I've been wanting to strengthen the relationships between the Brownies in their Patrols for a while, so of course I had to adopt her AMAZING idea with my girls.

Each activity is based around one or more of the seven fundamentals of Guiding which are: Guiding Traditions, Leadership Development, Outdoors, Patrol System, Promise and Law, Service and World Guiding. Some of the activities teach skills and information and some are simply about having the girls work together, which is a challenge in itself!

Source: GGA Victoria

We have so many containers at the Guide hall that I am able to change the size of the tubs each week depending on the activity and the equipment needed. I just tape a picture of the Patrol emblems to the tub so that the Brownies can identify which is theirs each week. The tub includes a challenge card and any other resources necessary for their activity. I don't give the girls basic equipment such as stationary as they have Patrol boxes for those things, but if for example, they were doing knotting, I would include knotting cord in their tub.

Here is how I use the Patrol Activity Tubs with my unit.

The girls have about 5 minutes to chat and run around after they arrive at the Guide hall. Once about 10 girls have arrived (enough to start an activity) they break into Patrols and grab their tubs. Girls that arrive late go straight to their Patrol to join in the activity. As a Patrol the Brownies read through their challenge and decide if they will need to collect supplies and where they want to set up. Sometimes they get a table and chairs, at other times they sit on the floor and occasionally the activity dictates where they need to be.

The activities generally run for about 20 minutes but can be longer or shorter. There's no reason why it couldn't last an entire meeting if you wanted! Just make sure that each Patrol has a similar length activity so that they finish at the same time - some weeks one or more Patrols may even have the same activity simultaneously! After pack-up, my girls love to get into Brownie ring and report to the unit about their activity eg. showing a excerpt from the movie they created, performing a skit etc. It wasn't something I intended on happening, but they love it so it looks like it's part of our routine now!

Activities can be absolutely ANYTHING you like. Craft, a game, a discussion, cooking, Guiding skills or traditions. The Leader that created this idea has all her activities prepared and colour-coded aligning with each fundamental so the Patrols actually choose their activities ahead of time. I am not nearly at that stage of preparation so our activities so far are based around upcoming meetings or events in which I would like them to have basic foundations on a topic or simply a void I see in programing. However, having the girls work cohesively as a Patrol is my number one goal with these tubs. Everything else is just bonus!

Below I'm going to include a master list with links to all of the activities we have used in our Patrol Activity Tubs. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Patrol Activity Tubs - Master List (updated September 2, 2014)

Click the links below!

Guiding Traditions:

Leadership Development:

Outdoors:

• Build a clove hitch ladder

Patrol System:

• Can you find the alphabet?
• Close-up photo challenge
• Crazy critters drawing activity
• Guide biscuit shop
• Patrol interviews
• Would You Rather?

Promise and Law:

Service:

• Australian Guide Promise in AUSLAN

World Guiding:

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Do you have any suggestions for Patrol activities?

Patrol Planning

An important part of the Australian Guide Program is developing a shared leadership approach which basically means planning the program WITH the Guides. Not always the easiest endeavour! 

The Brownies are actively involved in creating our program each term with brainstorming nights where they discuss what activities and badges they want to do. The girls take turns leading songs and running games each week but usually only Patrol Leader's or the girls working on their Junior BP award run the programming for the entire night by themselves. So I really wanted to give the rest of the unit the chance to step up and have a greater degree of control in running our meetings.

Our Guide unit (10-14 year olds) runs extremely successful Patrol night's where each Patrol runs the program for the entire unit. So at our recent Leadership Training, I spoke to the Patrol Leader's and Seconder's and we decided to have each Patrol take turns running a 30 minute activity. If this is successful each Patrol will get to run an entire night in Term 3. The girls are desperate for this as increasing their activity to 1.5 hours means they can have a movie night. Apparently there is no limit to the amount of times they want to watch Frozen.

So much like GuideyDiary's unit, this week was all about the Brownie's planning activities as a Patrol. 

The Brownies split into their Patrols and began brainstorming. It was interesting to observe the different methods the girls chose for discussing their ideas. One Patrol had each girl create her own list with every possible activity she wanted to do. Another created one master list and then each girl had two votes to cull it down. The third Patrol discussed their ideas until coming to a consensus and I have no idea how the final Patrol made their decision, but by the time I made it to their group, they had their activity completely planned with equal input from each girl!

Below are the activities the girls chose to organise for their 30 minute activity.

Patrol One
Everybody dresses up (no theme, anything goes!) and brings in their rainbow looms and loom bands. Everybody can share their skills and teach others, with the Patrol members teaching specific styles of bracelets.

Photo credit: http://htekidsnews.com/rainbow-loom-mania-ask-the-creator/

Patrol Two
Every Patrol creates a skit with the title, Crazy Doctor! 

Patrol Three
Each Patrol is to create a skit with a funny twist eg. mixed up fairytales. The Patrols film their skit and then present the short film to the unit.

Patrol Four
The Patrol chose to begin the Food create-a-challenge badge. The girls planned two activities: a blind-folded taste test and the game, fruit salad. 

To make the taste test fair, they have decided to switch the dishes around so that everybody tries them in a different order. Below is the eclectic list of foods that will be used in the taste test. 

I find it interesting that dressing up and performing skits were such popular choices, especially since they weren't even brought up in our unit brainstorm! I'm excited to see what happens when the Patrols take over! Will chaos reign?

A leader is...

The Patrol Leaders and Patrol Seconds created these when asked "what makes a good leader?". These girls are 8 to 10 years old and I was so impressed with their answers (and their lovely penmanship which surpasses mine by far!)