21/11/13
This week we gave the girls a choice of two crafts they could do in preparation for the church's Christmas Fayre which is this Saturday. One of the leaders is attending and a few of the girls will go and help her run a stall, open to the local community. Some years we make cards or tree ornaments and other years we have some games for people to play. This year we decided to run two games, 'Fish for Stockings' and 'Where Has Santa Been?' which are two that we've done previously relatively successfully.
The girls were given the choice of colouring in cardboard stockings or cardboard houses. With the stockings we then put a paper clip on the top of each with a folded up piece of paper saying either 'win' or 'lose'. People then use a magnetic fishing rod (left over from a game I had when I was younger) to pull one out of a box and will get a sweet if their paper says 'win' on it. The houses started off flat although some of the girls asked for theirs to be stuck together to make it easier for them to see what part of the house was what. They coloured them in and then each one would have a piece of paper under it saying either 'yes' or 'no' and a prize would be given for all the 'yes's. Some of them didn't really seem to enjoy it though as we had a few houses which had to be sent back to have windows and doors added! A couple of the girls though got very engrossed in it and drew chairs and tables inside the house. One girl even drew a full set of rooms, including upstairs and downstairs, in hers which looked really nice when it was done!
Unfortunately, we had under anticipated how many girls would want to colour in stockings and therefore didn't have enough which caused a bit of friction from the girls who had been last to chose but they were then told they could make the posters advertising what the games were instead which solved the problem. One of the older girls was also given the privilege of drawing a road map for all the houses to stand on to look like they were in a village which she seemed quite proud of.
We finished off by playing a quick game of fishes (instructions here) and then all the girls went home.
It was quite a relaxed evening although I didn't get to sit and talk to the girls because I spent most of the time sticking houses together!
Monday 25 November 2013
Monday 18 November 2013
Visit from the RSPCA
14/11/13
This week a lady from the RSPCA came to talk to the girls and to collect the money we raised in June by holding a sale (which the girls organised and ran themselves). RSPCA stands for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and is a charity here in the UK which cares for animals which people abandon and also raises awareness of all animal illnesses and care requirements. In June we held a sale where the girls ran stalls in small groups, ranging from cake stalls and raffles to jumble sales and nail painting, and we raised over £180! We always invite someone to come and collect their money and talk to the girls because it means they get the chance to find out exactly how they're helping.
She gave a brief talk on what the RSPCA does and asked them a few questions on what they thought the '5 Freedoms for Animals' are (freedom from: hunger and thirst; discomfort; pain, injury and disease; fear and distress and freedom to behave normally). Then she gave the girls the opportunity to tell any stories they had about their pets and other animals they'd encountered. We ended up spending almost 45 minutes listening to various stories ranging from what animals the girls had been bitten by (mostly nibbles from small animals) to the various antics of all kinds of pets! The girls who didn't have any pets seemed to get bored quite quickly (which is understandable) and I think she could have cut it a bit shorter but the rest of the girls were very enthusiastic about sharing their stories. She did manage to fit in a few extra details, such as teaching them how to deal with a dog if it runs towards you (stand still and don't make eye contact) after one of the girls told a story about when she tried to outrun a dog at a park which I thought was quite a subtle way of teaching them things.
Brown Owl then presented her with the cheque and she gave the unit a certificate to say thank you. We then lined all the girls up so that we could take a photo of them all as a record of who raised the money (we keep a scrapbook of photos and certificates the unit has gained) and then she announced that she had RSPCA stickers and paw shaped badges for each girl which cheered up most of the ones who'd been looking a bit bored! There was then a long queue of girls all deciding what colour they wanted and then changing their mind and going back! Eventually they all settled on the colour they wanted and she left, just in time for the girls to go home.
It was a good evening, in my opinion, because I'm a huge supporter of what the RSPCA do and an animal lover on top of it but I don't think some of the girls really enjoyed the evening because they had nothing to input and weren't that interested in what was being said. I do, however, think she could have drawn the story session to a close faster than she did as even I was getting a bit fed up with the girls stories (and I'm usually pretty patient when it comes to hearing stories!).
This week a lady from the RSPCA came to talk to the girls and to collect the money we raised in June by holding a sale (which the girls organised and ran themselves). RSPCA stands for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and is a charity here in the UK which cares for animals which people abandon and also raises awareness of all animal illnesses and care requirements. In June we held a sale where the girls ran stalls in small groups, ranging from cake stalls and raffles to jumble sales and nail painting, and we raised over £180! We always invite someone to come and collect their money and talk to the girls because it means they get the chance to find out exactly how they're helping.
She gave a brief talk on what the RSPCA does and asked them a few questions on what they thought the '5 Freedoms for Animals' are (freedom from: hunger and thirst; discomfort; pain, injury and disease; fear and distress and freedom to behave normally). Then she gave the girls the opportunity to tell any stories they had about their pets and other animals they'd encountered. We ended up spending almost 45 minutes listening to various stories ranging from what animals the girls had been bitten by (mostly nibbles from small animals) to the various antics of all kinds of pets! The girls who didn't have any pets seemed to get bored quite quickly (which is understandable) and I think she could have cut it a bit shorter but the rest of the girls were very enthusiastic about sharing their stories. She did manage to fit in a few extra details, such as teaching them how to deal with a dog if it runs towards you (stand still and don't make eye contact) after one of the girls told a story about when she tried to outrun a dog at a park which I thought was quite a subtle way of teaching them things.
Brown Owl then presented her with the cheque and she gave the unit a certificate to say thank you. We then lined all the girls up so that we could take a photo of them all as a record of who raised the money (we keep a scrapbook of photos and certificates the unit has gained) and then she announced that she had RSPCA stickers and paw shaped badges for each girl which cheered up most of the ones who'd been looking a bit bored! There was then a long queue of girls all deciding what colour they wanted and then changing their mind and going back! Eventually they all settled on the colour they wanted and she left, just in time for the girls to go home.
It was a good evening, in my opinion, because I'm a huge supporter of what the RSPCA do and an animal lover on top of it but I don't think some of the girls really enjoyed the evening because they had nothing to input and weren't that interested in what was being said. I do, however, think she could have drawn the story session to a close faster than she did as even I was getting a bit fed up with the girls stories (and I'm usually pretty patient when it comes to hearing stories!).
Wednesday 13 November 2013
Games and Voting
7/11/13
This was our first meeting back after the holiday. Next year is the Big Brownie Birthday as Brownies are going to be 100 years old and there is a badge that all girls can complete to show they were a Brownie during the centenary year. You must do 9 things to get the badge, 1 compulsory and 2 chosen ones each from 3 different topics (You, World, and Community) so we decided to let the girls vote on what they wanted to do as the chosen activities. Knowing our girls as we do though, we knew that we couldn't just sit them down and do all the voting in one go; they would go crazy! We decided instead to intersperse it with playing various games, which we also let them choose.
We started off by playing fishes (instructions here) which is always requested by the majority of girls. It went well for once although we did have one girl in tears because she tripped over when she was caught out. When we were done we sat the girls down for the first of the votes.We handed out the choices for the 'You' section of the badge and then Brown Owl went down the list explaining to the girls exactly what each thing entailed. Each girl was told to mark each item with either a line through (don't like at all), one tick (would do without objection) or two ticks (really like) and there was no limit on the number of ticks they were allowed. It took a while to get through all the things (there were about 10 of them) because the girls were talking quite a bit but we eventually reached the bottom of the list and collected them all in.
Then we sang 'The Thousand Legged Worm' (lyrics here) which we used to sing when I was a Brownie but haven't done for a while so none of the current girls knew it. They seemed to quite like the song though, which is good because I really enjoy it too.
We did the second round of voting which was slightly quicker although I did notice that some girls (mainly the older ones) seemed a bit bored and were just ticking and crossing randomly without listening to what they actually meant.
The final game we played was wigwams (instructions here) which was also a request from the girls and then we did the final load of voting before the girls went home.
It was quite a relaxed evening because I didn't have to do too much beside talk to girls and hand out pens for the voting. When we got home though, I volunteered to count up all the votes which turned out to be more complicated than I first thought..! Most girls had voted in the way they had been instructed which made it fairly easy to add up their votes but a handful of girls either hadn't listened or didn't understand because some of them had put more than 2 ticks (which I counted as 2) and some of them had gone down and put 2 ticks next to every item on the list! A fair few girls had also crossed something out and then changed their mind and ticked it too which made their voting slips quite complicated. I eventually finished counting them up, after a lot longer than I had anticipated, and marked the two highest (or 3 in one case) which we will now do over the next few months so the girls can get their badge.
This was our first meeting back after the holiday. Next year is the Big Brownie Birthday as Brownies are going to be 100 years old and there is a badge that all girls can complete to show they were a Brownie during the centenary year. You must do 9 things to get the badge, 1 compulsory and 2 chosen ones each from 3 different topics (You, World, and Community) so we decided to let the girls vote on what they wanted to do as the chosen activities. Knowing our girls as we do though, we knew that we couldn't just sit them down and do all the voting in one go; they would go crazy! We decided instead to intersperse it with playing various games, which we also let them choose.
We started off by playing fishes (instructions here) which is always requested by the majority of girls. It went well for once although we did have one girl in tears because she tripped over when she was caught out. When we were done we sat the girls down for the first of the votes.We handed out the choices for the 'You' section of the badge and then Brown Owl went down the list explaining to the girls exactly what each thing entailed. Each girl was told to mark each item with either a line through (don't like at all), one tick (would do without objection) or two ticks (really like) and there was no limit on the number of ticks they were allowed. It took a while to get through all the things (there were about 10 of them) because the girls were talking quite a bit but we eventually reached the bottom of the list and collected them all in.
Then we sang 'The Thousand Legged Worm' (lyrics here) which we used to sing when I was a Brownie but haven't done for a while so none of the current girls knew it. They seemed to quite like the song though, which is good because I really enjoy it too.
We did the second round of voting which was slightly quicker although I did notice that some girls (mainly the older ones) seemed a bit bored and were just ticking and crossing randomly without listening to what they actually meant.
The final game we played was wigwams (instructions here) which was also a request from the girls and then we did the final load of voting before the girls went home.
It was quite a relaxed evening because I didn't have to do too much beside talk to girls and hand out pens for the voting. When we got home though, I volunteered to count up all the votes which turned out to be more complicated than I first thought..! Most girls had voted in the way they had been instructed which made it fairly easy to add up their votes but a handful of girls either hadn't listened or didn't understand because some of them had put more than 2 ticks (which I counted as 2) and some of them had gone down and put 2 ticks next to every item on the list! A fair few girls had also crossed something out and then changed their mind and ticked it too which made their voting slips quite complicated. I eventually finished counting them up, after a lot longer than I had anticipated, and marked the two highest (or 3 in one case) which we will now do over the next few months so the girls can get their badge.
Monday 4 November 2013
Campfire Songs
These are some of the songs we sang around our campfire on pack holiday last month. You may be able to find the tunes on the Internet but they can all work with any tune with the right number of beats in, do some experimenting! You can also see them all, along with other songs we sing regularly, here.
Campfire's Burning
This one is good as a starter (particularly if your campfire is taking a while to get going!). It can also be sung as a round with the second group coming in as the first group start the third line.
Campfire's burning,
Campfire's burning,
Draw nearer,
Draw nearer,
In the glowing,
In the glowing,
Come sing and be merry!
Cecil is my Caterpillar
One of our unit's favourites! It's generally spoken although you could make up a tune if you wanted to.
Cecil is my caterpillar,
Cecil is my friend,
The last time I saw Cecil he was this big (hold fingers a short distance apart)
I said 'Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?',
He said 'I've eaten all the leaves in [insert small local area such as the name of the town], that's what I've done!'
Repeat, increasing the size of 'Cecil' gradually along with the area of leaves he's eaten. In our unit it usually goes something along the lines of campsite -> town -> county -> UK -> Europe -> world -> universe.
Final verse:
Cecil is my caterpillar,
Cecil is my friend,
The last time I saw Cecil he was this big (hold fingers a short distance apart again)
I said 'Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?',
He said 'I've been sick!'
3 Little Angels
3 little angels, all dressed in white,
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite,
But the kite string was broken,
Down they all fell,
They couldn't get to heaven so they all went to
2 little angels, all dressed in white,
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite,
But the kite string was broken,
Down they all fell,
They couldn't get to heaven so they all went to
1 little angel, all dressed in white,
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite,
But the kite string was broken,
Down they all fell,
They couldn't get to heaven so they all went to
Don't be mistaken,
Don't be misled,
They couldn't get to heaven,
So they all went to bed!
Other verses include:
3 little devils (or Rainbows), all dressed in red, tried to get to heaven on the edge of a bed.
But the bed springs were broken, down they all fell, they couldn't get to heaven so they all went to...
3 little Brownies, all dressed in brown, tried to get to heaven, but their knickers fell down,
The elastic was broken, down they all fell, they couldn't get to heaven so they all went to...
3 little Girl Guides, all dressed in blue, tried to get to heaven on the edge of the loo,
But the loo seat was broken, down they all fell, they couldn't get to heaven so they all went to...
3 Blind Jellyfish
(sadly)
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And one fell off. Oh no!
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And one fell off. Oh no!
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And he fell off. Oh no!
(very sadly)
No Blind Jellyfish,
No Blind Jellyfish,
No Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And then one jumped back on again. Yay!
(happier)
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
And another one jumped back on. Yay!
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
And the third jumped back out again. Yay!
(really happily)
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
Campfire's Burning
This one is good as a starter (particularly if your campfire is taking a while to get going!). It can also be sung as a round with the second group coming in as the first group start the third line.
Campfire's burning,
Campfire's burning,
Draw nearer,
Draw nearer,
In the glowing,
In the glowing,
Come sing and be merry!
Cecil is my Caterpillar
One of our unit's favourites! It's generally spoken although you could make up a tune if you wanted to.
Cecil is my caterpillar,
Cecil is my friend,
The last time I saw Cecil he was this big (hold fingers a short distance apart)
I said 'Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?',
He said 'I've eaten all the leaves in [insert small local area such as the name of the town], that's what I've done!'
Repeat, increasing the size of 'Cecil' gradually along with the area of leaves he's eaten. In our unit it usually goes something along the lines of campsite -> town -> county -> UK -> Europe -> world -> universe.
Final verse:
Cecil is my caterpillar,
Cecil is my friend,
The last time I saw Cecil he was this big (hold fingers a short distance apart again)
I said 'Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?',
He said 'I've been sick!'
3 Little Angels
3 little angels, all dressed in white,
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite,
But the kite string was broken,
Down they all fell,
They couldn't get to heaven so they all went to
2 little angels, all dressed in white,
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite,
But the kite string was broken,
Down they all fell,
They couldn't get to heaven so they all went to
1 little angel, all dressed in white,
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite,
But the kite string was broken,
Down they all fell,
They couldn't get to heaven so they all went to
Don't be mistaken,
Don't be misled,
They couldn't get to heaven,
So they all went to bed!
Other verses include:
3 little devils (or Rainbows), all dressed in red, tried to get to heaven on the edge of a bed.
But the bed springs were broken, down they all fell, they couldn't get to heaven so they all went to...
3 little Brownies, all dressed in brown, tried to get to heaven, but their knickers fell down,
The elastic was broken, down they all fell, they couldn't get to heaven so they all went to...
3 little Girl Guides, all dressed in blue, tried to get to heaven on the edge of the loo,
But the loo seat was broken, down they all fell, they couldn't get to heaven so they all went to...
3 Blind Jellyfish
(sadly)
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And one fell off. Oh no!
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And one fell off. Oh no!
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And he fell off. Oh no!
(very sadly)
No Blind Jellyfish,
No Blind Jellyfish,
No Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
(spoken)
And then one jumped back on again. Yay!
(happier)
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfish,
1 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
And another one jumped back on. Yay!
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfish,
2 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
And the third jumped back out again. Yay!
(really happily)
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfish,
3 Blind Jellyfi-ish,
Sitting on a rock.
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