Girl led activity nights

Our past two meetings have been focused on girl-led activities. This was not part of the original plan for the end of term, however circumstances changed, which allowed time for last minute requests by the Brownie Guides to run longer activities. Usually I have to tell the girls that we'll schedule time in the following term, so it has been great to be able to say "Yes, tell me all about it, so we can make this happen next week!"

At each meeting, three stations (tables) were formed for the Brownie Guides to move between in rotation. The girls ran the activities by themselves and I monitored the movement between tables, so that there weren't too many girls at any one activity. Definitely two easy nights for me - a lovely bonus of girl led Guiding!

Here are the activities that the Brownie Guides organised and ran. Activity one was led for both weeks, which is why there are only five activities listed. 


1. Activity led by Miss 8 years - making origami ninja stars

Miss 8 came to me about a month ago and told me she had learned to make an origami ninja star and that she wanted to use it as a challenge on her Arts Create-a-Challenge badge. She's a new member and this is her first independent badge, so after discussing what a challenge meant and what would be a challenge for her, I suggested that she could take her new skills a step further and teach her Patrol to make the star. 

At this point, Miss 8 told me that she had only made the star once and did not remember all the steps. We decided that therefore it would be an appropriate challenge for her to learn to make a star and practice until she felt comfortable in teaching others. When she reached this stage we would then make time during a meeting for her to teach her Patrol.

Two weeks later we were at our unit camp, and during free time one afternoon, I happened upon Miss 8 teaching a small group of girls to make the stars! I was thrilled that she had taken my advice and practiced the origami until it was a learned skill and had then had the initiative to teach others when the opportunity arose. 

She has since gone on to teach this origami project to every girl in our unit over our two activity nights. I'm really proud of the effort Miss 8 put into this challenge and can't wait to see what she comes up with for the remainder of the challenges for her badge.

Origami star made by one of the 7 year old Brownie Guides

2. Activity led by Miss 10 years - making paper chatterboxes

It was surprising to see how many girls were not familiar with this activity! What is the world coming to?! I made these all the time when I was young. Miss 10 had brought an array of craft supplies and had the girls making animal faces as well as more traditional chatterboxes (also known as fortune tellers).

3. Activity led by Miss 9 years - finger knitting
Miss 9 years found leading her activity a little tricky as she had forgotten to bring her supplies. She was able to use the wool we had at the Guide hall but there was only one ball so unravelling it and cutting it up cut into her teaching time. It was a good learning experience in being prepared!

4. Activity led by Miss 10 years - making origami boxes

Miss 10 was excited to teach origami after having been taught to fold ninja stars the previous week. However, the other girls weren't as excited by boxes as they were ninja stars. Miss 10 was great though and persevered, adapting her activity by suggesting other designs in her origami book and allowing girls to try and recreate these themselves (a flower and crane was attempted) while she taught others to make the boxes. It's difficult to have an distracted group and she did a great job at bringing back their focus.

5. Activity led by Miss 9 years - felt flowers for a Junior BP challenge

Miss 9 created cardboard templates and then gave step-by-step instructions so that each girl could create her own flower. Aren't they lovely? These felt flowers are badges and are going to be worn by the girls on ANZAC Day in a few weeks time. I'll be making a more detailed post about this Junior BP challenge with further photos and templates (if I have Miss 9's permission!)

One of the other activities we did last week was a teamwork challenge that I haven't used for a few years. As a Patrol, the girls had to get from one side of the hall to the other, without falling into the "lava" (touching the floor). They were given a few sheets of newspaper to use to travel on and had to work as a team to figure out the best strategy to get the Patrol to safety. It was great seeing the different strategies the girls used. Stepping stones (as pictured below) seemed to prove the most successful.

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How does your unit give Guides the opportunity to take the lead?