Home for the Christmas party

18/12/14

Tonight was the last meeting of the term for my unit back home and I was home from university so I went to the Christmas party. This year, instead of having each girl bring an item of food, as we usually do, we used up a lot of food that was left over from various other events (biscuits and sweets) and bought some grapes, melon and pineapple to go with them.

When I arrived, I helped set up all the food with the two Young Leaders and spoke to a few girls who were happy to see me! I was also introduced to the 4 new girls who've joined since I left.

The evening was run, as it usually is, by a group of the older girls who has organised a game of pass the parcel, wrapping up a girl as a snowman in toilet paper, and a game of Honeypot (instructions here). The game of pass the parcel didn't go particularly well because the CD player they had brought wasn't loud enough for us to distinguish between the end of a song and it actually being paused.

While the girls wrapped a couple of girls up in toilet paper, the Leaders took it in turn to go into the kitchen and sign the Christmas cards for the girls. I then sat in there putting them into the envelopes while catching up with a Young Leader for a bit.

We then had the food and so I stood by the table, making sure the girls weren't taking more than their fair share and eating some food myself! I also ended up on spillage duty as 3 girls spilt their drinks (one right next to me while I was cleaning up her friends'!).

We ended the meeting with our circle and gave out cards to the girls and a few presents for the leaders before wishing them a Merry Christmas and letting them go.

It was a very relaxed evening and meant I could catch up with some Leaders and a couple of girls and I am looking forwards to the meetings and trips I am going to be able to go on in the New Year as my 2nd semester timetable still doesn't allow me time for Brownies at university.

Look Wider - Independant Living

It's been so long since I posted anything on here. I'm really hoping my timetable for next semester gives me time to find a Brownie unit to help at; I'm really missing it. But I'm home in time for the party with my old unit which will be nice.

However, with my extra time, I have finally managed to complete an Octant of my Look Wider qualification; the Independent Living one. Below I have detailed what I did for each phase so you can get some ideas if you're planning on doing this octant but are stuck for ideas. I found that starting university really helped me to find things to do for it as I was living independently for the first time in my life so if you're moving out soon or have already done so you will probably find you've done enough to get this one without really trying too hard.

Phase 1

• Improve cooking:
• I had to learn pretty quickly about cooking for myself after moving out. I knew the basics but wasn't particularly confident about actually cooking decent meals.
• It took me a while to get used to the idea of preplanning meals and remembering to defrost things before I needed them.
• I learnt the usefulness  of a microwave in these situations!
• I am getting more confident when it comes to timing everything to be ready at the same time.
• Update CV:
•  I hadn't updated my CV in over 2 years so I decided finishing school was a good time to update it, ready for looking for jobs at university.
• I added in all my GCSEs, AS levels and A levels as well as updating the paragraph about me to make it more relevant.
• I also created accounts on 3 websites to help me find jobs:
• LinkedIn - connect yourself to professionals in fields you want to work in.
• Mahara - create an online portfolio to show off your work to future employers (this was done as part of my degree course so it may not be open to non-students).
• Intern Avenue - find internships and summer placements in various fields.
• Research Equal Opportunities and their impact on yourself:
•  I am an Academic Rep for my course and I did a training where one of the sessions I attended was on equal opportunities but it's fairly easy to research yourself.
• I included some facts and figures and then added my own opinion and a little about my goal in life - to get more women involved in STEM subjects, starting with educating young girls on what is out there.

Phase 2

• Keep accounts for some time:
• I kept the Brownie unit accounts for a term as part of my ALQ.
• I also keep my own personal accounts which I included for this too.

Phase 3

• Pass driving test:
• I passed my driving test 6 months after I turned 18, having had weekly lessons and driven Mum's car a lot in between (which I think helped immensely).

I hope you find this helpful and I will get back to working on other Octants (or possibly my coursework - may be a little more important!).

Detective Pack Holiday Activities

This post is about our pack holiday and the activities we did surrounding our theme: detectives.

During the weekend, the girls were working in their sixes to solve a mystery - which leader had stolen the cookies from the cookie jar on the Friday night. There were six activities for them to do over the weekend which would eventually lead to them being able to deduce which leader it was. The activities were cookie testing, fingerprint analysis, footprint analysis, map reading, chromatography on inks, and pets. Below are full descriptions of what they had to do for each one. The girls all had a table in their booklet with all the leaders names down the side and the 6 activities across the top so they could mark in their predictions after each activity.

Cookie Testing

Each six was given a bag containing some cookie chunks which supposedly were found at the scene of the crime and 3 different types of cookie - white choc chip, milk choc chip, and Rolo. They could look at and taste all 3 options and the evidence to decide which flavour it was. They also had a sheet which told them what cookies each Leader preferred so they could put crosses in the relevant box.

Fingerprint Analysis

All the leaders had provided fingerprints for the girls to look at. Brown Owl then gave them 5 which had been found at the scene of the crime for them to match up. Some of them were quite obvious as they were noticeably larger or smaller than the rest but some of them were quite hard for the girls to match up, although they all had fun trying.We then gave them the fingerprint paint so they could look at their own fingerprints and try and work out of they had arches, whorls, loops or a combination or all three. They all enjoyed that too, although a few of them did get a bit carried away and started doing whole hand prints and making pictures from their fingerprints so we had to put a stop to it.

Footprint Analysis

One of the YLs had gone round school and taken rubbings of some of her friend's shoes. The girls were then given a few that had been found 'around the house' and they had to compare them to all the leaders ones to decide who had been in the area. They managed this quite quickly - it was far easier than the fingerprints.

Map Reading

The girls were given a map of the area surrounding the house which had a few points marked on it. Each point had the name of a person and the time they were seen there. The girls had been told that the cookies had been stolen between 5 and 6pm and they could then deduce from the times on the map who was around when the cookies had been stolen.

Chromatography with Ink

The girls were told that some ink had been found at the scene of the crime. They were given some pieces of paper with spots of each leaders favourite ink on them. They then held the bottom of the strip in some water. The water was soaked up through the paper and carries the ink with it, separating it out into its separate colours. Brown Owl had chosen a pen which separated nicely into pink, yellow and blue (technically magenta, yellow and cyan) as the evidence pen and then a couple of the leaders had the same pen, some had a permanent pen (which doesn't separate at all) and some had other pens that only split into two colours. Some of the girls were really good at getting it to work but some others held it too deep in the water and got the whole thing wet, ruining the effect. One six had ruined one of theirs but had somehow done two of another one with the same pen so Brown Owl slyly changed the name on the paper before calling them over and saying she thought they'd missed one! They didn't seem to realise what she'd done and dutifully put a cross in the corresponding box.

Pets

The final activity involved pets. The girls were given a sheet which had 5 different 'animals' on (they were really weird alien creatures) and another one with an identification key on. They could then follow the key to find out the name of the animal that had been seen in the woods around the time of the theft, and thus which leader had been around (as all the Leaders had a different named pet). They found this very easy too. 

At the end of the weekend, each six announced who they thought had stolen the cookies. It had been planned that, during the weekend there could be a few possibilities but at the end there would only be one person who had ticks (or crosses) across the board. That person was Cruella de Vil - one of the YLs who had come up with the idea in the first place - which we thought was fitting. All the sixes had got the correct answer.

I thought it was a good idea to do a theme like this where we could have something ongoing during the weekend, as it made the girls feel more engaged and made them feel special as they were investigating the leaders.

Pack Holiday 2014 - Sunday

 12/10/14
The girls woke up at about 7 this morning. I was first up, once again, and went in to see them as I did yesterday. It was one of the girls' birthdays today and a group of them were having a mini party for her in one of the bottom bunks with some jammy dodgers! I went down to the kitchen to get a drink and then one of the YLs woke up too and came into the girls room with me to help entertain them. The cooks surfaced pretty quickly this morning and made breakfast. It was the same as yesterday, although we ran out of cereals and some girls had to share a small box between them but no one seemed to mind. 

Once we'd eaten, we did some more activities, in three groups once again. One six was was making paper aeroplanes, one six was writing invisible messages with lemon juice and the third group were doing more detective work.

The aeroplanes were from Baker Ross. The planes themselves were made from polystyrene and covered in paper so the girls could colour them in with felt tips or pencils. A couple of them were peeling a little bit but that was easily fixed with a little bit of prit-stick. The girls all seemed to enjoy colouring them in and then throwing them around the living room and down the corridor (with permission because it was raining outside). They actually flew much better than I thought they would; some of them were getting some distance on them and they were testing the different shaped one to find which went the furthest!

The second group were in the craft room with the YLs, writing messages on paper with lemon juice. We then had loads of pieces of paper lying around the house as they had to be dry so they looked blank before you heated them to reveal the message. Unfortunately, I don't believe they worked terribly well as I never saw one after heating.

The final group were working on more of the detective activities. Again, a full post is coming shortly (it should be the one after this one) but the girls were doing footprints and maps in this session.

We then had some cakes that one of the YLs had brought with her (they were amazing!) and then the girls went back and carried on with anything they hadn't finished (mostly owls and paper aeroplanes) as well as the last two parts to the detective work; chromatography and pets. While the girls were doing this, the YLs all did the scrapbook for this year. Each year someone fills in a double page spread in the scrapbook for the house and the girls really enjoy looking through the old books and finding all the times we've been here (every year since 2002 now!).

Several of the girls then asked if they could make bead geckos; a staple craft for our unit since an ex-YL introduced them way back when I was a Brownie! Brown Owl got out the beads and most of the girls sat on the floor in the lounge, making them. Most of the older girls know how to make them and they were teaching the younger ones so we didn't actually need to do anything!

Three girls also asked if they could go outside and so I went and sat on the bench by the door and watched them run around for 5 minutes until they decided that actually, it was a bit cold and they were going to go inside again.

We had to do a speedy tidy because lunch was suddenly ready and the girls were so engrossed in gecko making that no-one had set the table. Lunch was roast chicken, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, stuffing (for those who wanted), carrots, broccoli, sweetcorn, and gravy. Hardly any of the girls had stuffing but that was fine with the Leaders! We encouraged the girls to eat at least one of their vegetables - we knew that it would be too complicated to try and send out plates specific to each girl (I know I hate broccoli but I was sat next to a YL who does so I swapped it for some of her sweetcorn) so everyone got everything on their plate. They then had jelly and ice cream for pudding. The girls got really excited because the jelly was 3 layers: red, orange and green all in one bowl! They could choose if they wanted one, the other or both. When everyone was done eating, the cooks announced that they'd made far too much jelly and that anyone who wanted could have some more. They bought out another giant bowl that hadn't even been started and several girls (including two YLs) got out spoons and started eating it from the bowl!

After lunch, the girls all went to their rooms to pack their bags ready to go home while a couple of the YLs set up the tuck shop again. I left the girl to it for a bit and then went in to make sure things were neat. One of the girls was in tears because another Leader had told her that she had to put her sleeping bag in a bag but it didn't have one and her Dad was just going to carry it. I reassured her that it was fine; I think it was just tiredness that caused her to get upset about it. Another girl then came up to me and told me she couldn't find her purse and she wanted to buy something from the tuck shop when it was her sixes turn. I helped her look in her bag and around her bed but we couldn't find it anywhere. I could see she was getting close to tears so I went had had a quiet word with Brown Owl who said that she could buy something and we would write it down as a IOU for her to pay next week at Brownies if she couldn't find her purse by the end of the day. She cheered up immediately and forgot all about it. 

After the tuck shop, we gathered all the girls in the lounge for the final part of the weekend - souvenirs! Each girl gets a resin bear from the Girlguiding shop and a badge to say they've stayed at Campwood House. Some years we;ve given out stickers for completing various crafts and helping out around the house but this year we didn't so we pulled names out of a hat to see who got to choose their bear first (instead of it being the girl with the most stickers). The Leaders all got a present too, as a thank you. We sang Brownie Bells and then I went out to let the parents know they could come in and collect their girls. We ask them to wait in their cars until we are completely done because it would get too chaotic with girls wanting to hug their parents while we finish off and parents milling around in the house. Once we open the door, all hell breaks loose for a while as parents carry bags around and try and fit them out the door while other girls and their parents are trying to get in to pick up stuff! Eventually, all the girls had gone and it was left to us to clean up and pack away our stuff. 

We have a check list which means we don't have to think too hard about it, we can just follow the list so I got the hoover out and started on the girls' bedroom which always takes the longest. I had to lie down by each bed and make sure there were no sweets or wrappers under there as the hoover can't reach all the way under. I found quite a few, including a sweet I thought was an M&M but it turned out to be wet and sticky - not very pleasant... We found quite a few clothes left on radiators and drying racks as we were tidying but luckily all of them were named so they can be handed back at next weeks meeting. Finally, we locked up and left for this year.

It was a really enjoyable pack holiday, if a little tiring as per usual! The girls all seemed to enjoy themselves and we didn't have any massive falling outs (always a worry with 15 tired girls in one house for a weekend). It was also really nice to see how much the girls had missed me and I'd only been away for 3 weeks - I dread to think what the reception will be when I go back for Christmas and have been gone for 9 more weeks! Once again, it brought back good memories of people I haven't seen in years and people I will sadly never see again but they are all happy ones and I hope I have created some lasting memories for this group of girls - after all, that is why I do this. Bring on next year!

Camp Fire Songs

Here are the songs we sang on pack holiday (which we would have sung round the campfire if it wasn't so wet!). They can be sung to pretty much any tune you like! You can also see them all, along with other songs we sing regularly, here.


Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar:

All girls: [Name of a Brownie] stole the cookie from the cookie jar!  
Girl: Who me?!  
All girls: Yes you!  
Girl: Couldn't have been!  
All girls: Then who?  
Girl: [names another Brownie]

Repeat until all the Brownies have had a chance-the last one 'stole the cookie'.

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!'   

If I were not here in this room:

If I were not here in this room somewhere else I'd like to be,
If I were not here in this room a washer woman I would be:
Wishy washy, hanging out the smalls,
Wishy washy, hanging out the smalls.
[move hands back and forth as if washing clothes then peg onto a line]

If I were not here in this room somewhere else I'd like to be,
If I were not here in this room a market boy I would be:
Ripe tomatoes, 10p a pound,
Ripe tomatoes, 10p a pound.
[hands round mouth and sung in Cockney accent]
Wishy washy, hanging out the smalls,
Wishy washy, hanging out the smalls.
 
Other verses include:
Bus conductor: Any more fares please, any more fares please, pass down the line. Ting! [winding motion with one hand then pull ticket out machine]
Secretary: Typing letters, typing letters, sitting on the bosses knee, ooh! [typing on keyboard then cross one leg over for 'ooh']
Doctor: Bandaging up the cuts and bruises, pulling the appendix out; plop [wrapping bandage around hand then pulling something up and dropping it]

For each verse, sing back through all previous verses too (gets harder the longer the song goes on but you can have as many verses as you like!)

Last verse:

If I were not here in this room somewhere else I'd like to be,
If I were not here in this room I don't know what I'd be!

Hole at the Bottom of the Sea:

There's a hole at the bottom of the sea,
There's a hole at the bottom of the sea,
There's a hole, there's a hole,
There's a hole at the bottom of the sea.

There's a whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea,
There's a whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea,
There's a whale, there's a whale,
There's a whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea.

There's a tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea,
There's a tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea, 
There's a tail, there's a tail,
There's a tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea.

There's a bone in the tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea, 
There's a bone in the tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea,  
There's a bone, there's a bone,
There's a bone in the tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea.

There's a nerve on the bone in the tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea, 
There's a nerve on the bone in the tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea,  
There's a nerve, there's a nerve,
There's a nerve on the bone in the tail on the whale in the hole at the bottom of the sea.

Actions for each thing:
Hole: Arms make circle in front of you
Bottom: Point down
Sea: Draw waves in air
Whale: Arms out as wide as possible
Tail: Hands together and wiggle
Bone: Hold out first finger
Nerve: Arms above head and wiggle body

As you are singing, get slowly faster and faster through each verse - it makes it far more entertaining trying to pair up the correct actions!
My Ship Sailed From China:

My ship sailed from China with a cargo of tea,
All laden with presents for you and for me,
They gave me a fan, 
Just imagine my bliss,
When I found myself going like this, like this, like this, like this

Each repeat wave another body part - we do right hand, left hand, right leg, left leg, head
Last verse say 'like this' once and slump forwards

Pack Holiday 2014 - Saturday

11/10/14

This morning I woke up at 7:30 to the sounds of the girls next door moving around. I wrapped myself in my blanket and went to keep them quiet as none of the other Leaders were awake! They were all quite excitable and hungry but I had to tell them they had to stay in their room until some of the other adults woke up. I had quite an amusing conversation with one of the older girls about going in the river:
Girl: Will we be able to go in the river today?
Me: I don't know, it depends if it is too deep because of the rain this week.
Girl: Oh... If it's too deep, will you drink the water until it's not too deep?
Me: No! That's way too much for me to drink!
Girl: *short pause* Well, buy an elephant and it can drink it all!

I then poked my head into the Leaders' room to find that one of the cooks was awake. She said she would get up and make a cup of tea and see if that would wake the others up. I went back to our room and some of the Young Leaders were up too so we let the girls into the lounge, provided they weren't too loud. I then sat in the Leaders' room and drank my cup of tea while chatting to them. 

Breakfast was finally served at about 8:30. We sat all the girls down and then those who wanted could have cereals. I spent most of the time they were eating, serving drinks! Once they were done, the waitresses cleared the tables and then brought out eggy bread, toast and sausages. The cooks had taken orders from the girls earlier so the kitchen was a bit chaotic with the waitresses being told exactly who each meal was for so that everyone got something. I'd finally sat down to enjoy my own breakfast when the doorbell went. Our Young Leader and I both ran towards the door because we knew it would be our Guide, much to the amusement of the girls! We let her in and she was attacked by a few girls before Brown Owl told them to sit down and eat. She made herself some eggy bread so the cooks could stay sat down and then joined us for breakfast.

When we were done eating, we made sure all the girls had brushed their teeth and then sat them down in the lounge to explain the plan for the morning. We had 3 activities planned and they would rotate around them in their sixes. One six would paint owl tealight holders, one six would go outside and make rafts and the third six would start on their detective work. 

The owls were bought from Baker Ross. The girls painted them with acrylic paints and the could add details with pens once they were dry. Brown Owl discovered that it was quite hard to get a neat join between colours so a line in a contrasting colour helped disguise that. I didn't use the pens though and I think mine came out OK. We sent them home with an electric tealight in (also from Baker Ross) as we thought it was safer and we were told that the paint could peel off if you used a real candle. Here is mine, with and without the candle on:

The girls outside were collecting sticks for their raft. We didn't know if the river was going to be too deep for them to get in when we got there so we thought we should take a back up plan. The plan was that each six would have a raft to race down the river. We made them from sticks and string so, if we couldn't catch them after the race, they wouldn't cause too much damage to the environment as they would decompose pretty easily and quickly. The girls all struggled to actually make their rafts though so they collected lots of sticks and our Guide made them for them while they helped the Young Leaders to collect larger sticks for the camp fire tonight. As it had rained overnight, all the sticks were damp so we had all the radiators on in our room to try and dry them out enough that they could be lit!

The final group of girls were starting on the detective work covering the whole weekend. A full post on this is coming soon but these girls were working on the first two activities; biscuits and fingerprints. 

We had a break for elevenses and then the girls rotated so, by lunch time, they had completed all three activities. Lunch was a quick meal of sandwiches, crisps and fruit. The food was put on the table and the girls could help themselves. We encouraged, but didn't force, each girl to have some fruit and I was surprised by the number of girls who did take some, even if I did end up eating most of the bowl of apple slices from my end of the table! 

After lunch, we did my wide game. I coloured in the clothes, cut them out and laminated them. I stapled some string to each one so it could easily be hung on trees and bushes, Each set had a coloured dot on the back that corresponded to the colour surrounding one of the people outlines so the girls had to find a specific colour. I took one of the YLs and we tied the clothes to trees and bushes along a path that goes round the house. We then got the girls in their sixes and gave them the outline of a person before sending them off with 2 Leaders. We told them that, if they saw something that didn't have their colour on the back that they were to leave it where they found it and they were all really good at doing so. Two groups found all their items by the end of the trail but my group were still missing one thing (I made a point of not helping them except for telling them which way to go and the junctions) so the whole unit walked back along the route looking for it. As I knew where things had been put, I knew where to look for it and I found it pretty quickly. We put the stuff back in the house and set off on our walk to the river.

Shortly after we had left, it started spitting with rain but, as we had made sure that every girl had a rain coat, we carried on. A couple of the girls complained when we came out of the woods into the open but the vast majority seemed to be enjoying themselves in the rain! I ended up at the back, as per usual, with 4 girls and 2 YLs. We were doing quite a good job of keeping up with the rest of the unit for a while but then the girls started slowing down. We tried quite a few tactics to speed them up, some of which worked briefly, but we were slowly being left behind. It didn't really matter as I know the way well but it was quite tiring for us to be continually encouraging the girls. Eventually 3 of them ran to catch up with a friend in the main group and we were left with one girl who, when told to speed up, would do so for a dozen steps or so and then slow down again! We did eventually make it to the river and most of the girls were already in as Brown Owl had decided it was safe for them to do so. They paddled around for a bit and then we got out the rafts and had a few races. We had one girls from each six stood on the bridge and then two YLs stood downstream. On the count of three, the girls all dropped their rafts into the river and the YLs caught them when they reached them so we could reuse them. We had a couple of issues with rafts getting caught under the bridge but, after quite a few races, we crowned the winner. We then got the girls out the river and walked back to the house again. 

When we got back, we had the usual fight with a few girls and their wellies as water creates quite a lot of suction. This year, however, we had a girl who wearing some wellies that were a little bit too small for her and it took 3 leaders and a lot of giggling to get them off her feet! We then had a lot of the girls wearing their pyjamas for the rest of the day because they had got soaked, including me as I'd just taken one pair of jeans because I knew I wouldn't go in the river forgetting that it could rain and soak them through... We put all the wet things over drying racks and radiators but we had to tell the girls to take their clothes off the radiators in their room because the dust on them set off the fire alarm briefly.

The girls then had rest hour. I spent the time sat in my room, attempting one of the worksheets I was set this week and the girls were in their room, being quiet. Two of the YLs set up and ran the tuck shop during that time. We sell a variety of small things the girls can take home with them to remember pack holiday, as well as (a limited number of) chocolates and sweets to supplement their midnight feasts (that, theoretically, we don't know about!). 

Once we were done, the girls then did some more of the detective work in their sixes and worked on their owls if they had more to do on them until dinner. Dinner was fish finger or chicken nuggets with chips and peas. 

After dinner, the YLs went outside and lit the camp fire. We decided though that, because most of the girls were in their pyjamas because their clothes were wet and the grass was also wet, that we would sit inside and sing songs while watching the fire outside. We sang, Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?, Cecil Is My Caterpillar, Wishy Washy, Hole at the Bottom of the Sea, Have You Ever Seen a Penguin Come to Tea?, and My Ship Sailed From China (lyrics to follow in another post but I think most of them are here anyway!). We had to do Cookie Jar because of our theme and, ironically, the last person in the song was Snowy Owl; one of the suspects in the detective work the girls have been doing. When we got to the end, one of the girls yelled "so it was you Snowy!" to which she replied "ssshh, it's a secret!", which made a lot of them laugh. 

We then started getting the girls ready for bed. We had tears from a couple of them because they were missing their parents; in particular we had a few who's parents are split up and they would normally see their Dad over the weekend but they couldn't this weekend. We normally have some girls who get a little homesick when they get really tired but they all settle down when we tell them that they'll see their parents the next day anyway. 

Eventually, they all got into bed and were relatively quiet. The Leaders all sat in the living room for a while, chatting before we all went to bed too, at about 11.

Pack Holiday 2014 - Friday

10/10/14

It's pack holiday time again! This year was a little more logistically challenging since I'm at university but we still managed it. Dad picked me up after my last lecture and we drove up to the pack holiday house (same place as last year). We arrived at 6:30, just as the last few parents were leaving. I managed to get out of the car unnoticed but was promptly attacked as I walked into the house, laden with my stuff, as the girls realised I was there! I finally extracted myself from them to go and say hi to Brown Owl and the other leaders.

Once all the parents had left, we sat the girls down and ran through the rough plan for the weekend and the rules (don't run down the corridor, don't go in certain rooms and don't go outside without a Guider, pretty much) before having a small dinner of pizza. There were vegetarian, ham and pineapple, and pepperoni pizzas which were left on the table for the girls to help themselves to. They should have eaten something before they came so this was just a quick snack to keep them going until bedtime. None of the girls seemed to like the vegetarian one (which was OK with us leaders who were treating this as our dinner because we hadn't had time to eat) and lots of them picked the pineapple off the ham and pineapple one but they all ate some and no one complained massively.

When they were done, we went outside to do some Morse Code in the dark as our theme for this pack holiday is detectives and, when we did this in the meeting place, it was quite hard to tell if the torch was flashing or not. We split the girls into their sixes and then split the sixes in half. Each half had a Leader and a copy of the Morse code alphabet. The groups then took it in turns to send messages to each other. The idea was that they would send the whole message and then the other group would say what they had seen but it turned into the groups sending each letter until the other group had yelled back the correct letter. They also ended up yelling 'space' at each other because they couldn't figure out how to send it! There was a wide variety of random words sent by other groups but the one I was with actually had a mini conversation:
Group 1 - How are you?
Group 2 - Good thanks, you?
Group 1 - Great, thank you
Group 2 - That's amazing!

We then came back inside and the girls had hot chocolate while they made their name cards for the table. Every meal we have, we muddle the names up so the girls aren't sitting by the same people each meal. They then went and got ready for bed. Once they were all changed, we left the light on for 15 minutes as some of them wanted to read. We had a bit of a fight over that as, when we had left the room, some of the girls turned off the lights because they wanted to read with their torches and other girls got upset because they didn't have a torch so couldn't read. We compromised by turning the light back on and telling the girls who wanted to use their torches that they could just put a blanket or sleeping bag over their head. They then all got really excited about doing that and everything calmed down again!

All us Young Leaders chilled out in the lounge with an iPod and played 'Who Am I?' (using the app where you hold the iPod up to your head). It got quite rowdy at one point and we had to shut the door so we wouldn't wake the girls but most of them were still up anyway! We finally went to bed about midnight and the girls were all still up. When we got up the next morning, we found that they'd been so loud that Brown Owl had to get out of bed and had confiscated their torches! She always says that she doesn't mind them talking a little after lights out (they're excited to be away after all) but if she has to get up once she's gone to bed then there'll be trouble. It looks like this is set to be a chaotic weekend!

University Update

25/09/14

As regular readers may know, I have just started university and was looking for a unit in the area to help with. I spoke to the District Commissioner recently and unfortunately they don't have any units (of any section, not just Brownies) that meet on a Friday which is the only day I can do due to other clubs and sports I do. She has left me her details so I can get in contact if my circumstances change but, as it stands, I am going to have to go without Brownies for a while. I will still be helping with my 'old' unit whenever I am at home and I am going on the Pack Holiday with them in a few weeks. I've even spent part of Freshers' Week organising the Wide Game that will be part of my Look Wider! Here's a sneak preview but a full post about it will be coming shortly:

I am also going to use this time to focus solely on the rest of my Look Wider qualification, in particular the Independent Living section, when I'm not working obviously!

Posts will probably not be coming weekly for now (unless I get really into my Look Wider) but I will keep you updated about how I'm doing.

Badges and Posters

18/09/14

This meeting we started off by playing a game. We asked one of the oldest girls, who's leaving in a few weeks, what game she would like to play and she chose Fishes. The girls were playing really nicely this evening and we managed to play two games instead of the usual one with lots of arguing. For the first game we chose the first two girls who asked (nicely) to be the sharks but for the second game, to make it fair, we had all the girls who wanted to be sharks line up and then Brown Owl turned her back and picked two numbers. We counted along the line to find the girls. It worked really well because then we didn't end up with 2 friends working as a team which is usually the cause of most of the arguments as the girls think they are ganging up on certain people.

When the girls had finished playing, we got out tables and they started making their badges for pack holiday. I had found all the pictures and printed them out and then we borrowed the District badge machine to turn them into badges. The girls who are coming on pack holiday had to colour in the badge for their six and hand it in so it didn't get lost, and the girls who aren't coming could either colour in a spare or design their own badge that they could take home that night. When they had finished, they could colour in a badge for a leader if they wanted, and there were spare ones, or they could colour in a poster to go on the wall.

While they were doing this, Brown Owl held a parents meeting for any girls who haven't been on pack holiday before so they could ask any questions and find out how we run it. We asked the girls to be quiet, which they seemed to be doing but then we noticed that some of the girls were missing. They were located by the Young Leader in the toilet, making quite a bit of noise so we had to lay down the law and say that everyone has to ask before going as opposed to trusting them to go and come back sensibly (the toilet is only down the corridor).

Other than that, it was quite a relaxed meeting though. I sat at a table with some of the girls and chatted to them about random things while colouring my own badge in. It all ended sadly though as this was my last meeting with them before going off to uni. When Brown Owl told them, the whole unit shouted 'nooo' in unison! I was given a card, signed by all the girls, and a Brownie Me To You bear!

 

I have taken both to uni and they are on display in my room, so I don't forget them (I wouldn't even dream of it!). I am returning for pack holiday in a couple of weeks and I have gone through Join Us and the 'Girlguiding - Movers' Facebook page to try and find myself a unit to help at during term times but, as yet I haven't got in contact with anyone. I am going to try and focus on my Look Wider too, as one of the sections is all about Independent Living! Hopefully I will find a unit soon as I'm not sure I can cope with too much time away from girls...

Pack Holiday Sixes and Puzzles

11/09/14

This evening we started our planning for pack holiday. On last pack holiday, our Young Leader and Guide were looking through the scrapbook and came across a detective themed weekend. They decided they wanted ours to be a detective one this year so have been planning over the Summer. Our first task was to split the girls into their sixes. We split the girls into the ones who are coming and the ones who aren't. The ones who aren't coming started the evenings activity and the others organized their sixes. We asked them to get into pairs with a girls they wanted to be with. The three oldest girls were then given the position of sixer and the other pairs were put in their sixes. We try to have a girl who's been before in each six so that the other girls know what is expected of them. The sixes worked out quite nicely this year. The Young Leader and Guide then gave them options for six names, all names of detectives. One six immediately claimed Pink Panther and the other two both wanted James Bond so we said that neither could have it and they eventually settled on Johnny English and Sherlock.

All the girls then worked on this evenings activity; puzzles from their handbooks. There was a wordsearch and a 'fit-word' (a sort of crossword where you have to fit the given words into the right places) and the Leaders mingled helping them while discussing our own names for pack holiday. All the Leaders are going to be villains but there was quite a long list for us to decide from. I think we have settled on:

Brown Owl: The Queen of Hearts
Snowy: Feathers McGraw
Me: Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West)
Cooks: Dastardly and Muttley
Young Leader: Moriarty
Guide Helper: Cruella De Vil
Leader's children: Darth Vader and The Joker

Once the girls had finished, we tidied away and played a quick game of Fruit Bowl. We started it off by just getting the girls to swap seats and then we started to remove chairs and get girls out. It was going fine, even if Brown Owl was slowly running out of things to choose from, until we got down to the last two girls. If it was me, I would have just said they were both the winner and left it at that but it was decided that the first to a third chair on the count of three would be the winner. The two girls (let's call them A and B) then got ready to go with all the other girls lined up either side. They then started cheering except it was clear that all the girls were cheering for A and not B so B got upset. Brown Owl told them all to stop yelling and counted down. A got to the chair marginally before B so B got more upset and walked off crying in a strop. Brown Owl had a quick word with both girls and then the pack in general. She picked up on the group of girls who'd started the cheering and made them all apologise to B for being mean and luckily that was the end of the matter.

We ended the meeting by saying goodbye to one of our girls and then they all went home.

This meeting was a mix, parts of it were really good and the girls were really nice, if a little hyper, and other parts are just best forgotten.

We have also scheduled a meeting for the Leaders so we can finalise the programme for pack holiday and sort out the menu before I go off to University (I am coming home for pack holiday weekend - I wouldn't miss it for the World!).

First meeting, second year

04/09/14

This week was our first meeting back after the Summer. We didn't have any new girls starting so it was a pretty straightforward meeting, even if the girls were all a little hyper as some of them hadn't seen each other for 6 weeks!

We started off playing a game to try and wear off some of their energy. We let them choose and they decided to play Wigwams (instructions here). I was surprised they didn't choose Fishes, as they did most of last term, but they all seemed happy to play this one instead. As this only really needs one Leader to run the game, it gave the rest of us a chance to catch up quickly as we also haven't seen each other in quite a while!

After the game finished, we got out the tables and let them get on with planning their stalls for a fundraiser we are doing in a few weeks. Fairly regularly (every 18 months or so) we have a sale to raise money for a different charity: in the past we've done the RSPCA and the Blue Cross. This year we are raising money for the National Star College after our visitors last term. The girls get into small groups and plan a stall together. We then invite the parents and friends along and the girls run their own stall as well as taking it in turns to go and have a go on all the other stalls. We have had a wide variety of stalls in the past; from the traditional cake sales and raffles, to the less traditional obstacle courses and fortune tellers! We let the girls choose their groups as it gives them a little more independence but we do suggest that girls who've never done a sale before have someone in their group who has, to point out things they might have forgotten about. I spent the evening going between groups, writing down their ideas and helping them resolve disputes in their groups. We have a nice mix of stalls this year; nails and spa, lucky dip, hook-a-duck, fortune telling, cakes, loom bands, among others, so hopefully we will raise a fair amount for the National Star College (usually we make £150-£200). 

We ended the meeting by handing out the Agility badges the girls earned at the penultimate meeting last term and then let them loose on their parents, still no less hyper than when we started the meeting!

I didn't end up doing much of my Look Wider Qualification over the Summer, but I am still noting down things to fill up gaps so I'll hopefully make a start on typing stuff up soon! I am also off to University soon so it may get a bit disjointed for a couple of weeks while I settle in and find myself a new unit to help at, although I will still be returning home occasionally and going to meetings, but I'll keep you updated on that as it unfolds too.

End of year party

17/07/14

This week is the last week of term so the girls had a party. It was organised by two of the older girls in the unit, as is our norm, so Snowy Owl and the other leaders are just there to help them out. They played some games and had food (each girl was given a letter last week telling them what to bring so they didn't end up with loads of cakes and nothing else!). We will return in September for meetings but I will try and put up a couple of posts over the holiday about my Look Wider.

Agility badge

10/07/14

For the first week we're away, the girls did their agility badge. They were instructed last week to wear trainers or running shoes as we regularly have girls coming in boots, flip-flops, and uggs (in the winter) which they can't run easily in. I assume they're just going to work through the different parts of the badge during the course of the meeting, possibly in a rotation with the rest of their six.

Flower arranging and games

03/07/14

Next weekend the church we meet at is having a flower display and they asked the unit if we would provide an arrangement for it. We agreed, provided someone came along and taught the girls because we all know next to nothing about flower arranging! So, this week, June from the church came along. The girls worked in their sixes and each created a replica Brownie badge from flowers. June had bought lots of yellow flowers with her which the girls put into old takeaway containers. They surrounded them with a border of blue paper and one girl in the six was given the task of cutting out a photocopy of a badge which they then balanced on the top. The sixes did this one at a time so, to keep the others occupied, we also made a banner with our unit name on. We printed out lots of little triangles each with one letter on (our full unit name is 37 letters long!). The girls were told they could colour the letter any colour they wanted but the main part of the triangle had to be pale pink, blue or yellow to match the handbook. We had a couple of the early finishers helping Brown Owl thread the onto a piece of wool and the rest coloured in the left over triangles (we don't have 37 girls!). Some of them were getting a little bored after having done a couple though so we set them to tidying up.

June had to leave before the end of the meeting so we thought we would play a few games to fill up the rest of the time. We started off with fishes (instructions here) which went surprisingly well considering the issues we've had in the past. We then tried playing the game I was planning to play at my Chinese evening a few months back. It was called 'Dragons Tails' and basically involved the girls in a long line (we split ours into two lines) and then the front has to try and catch the back of the line. It didn't really work though as some girls were holding onto each other too violently and then the lines split up and they all ended up running aimlessly around the hall so we aborted that idea and played wigwams instead!

For the next two weeks (up to the end of term) Brown Owl, our YL and I are all on holiday so Snowy Owl is running the meetings. I will still post on the Mondays what they've done but I won't be able to say exactly how the meeting went.

Stars and Promises

26/06/14

We started off this evening by decorating stars for the Big Brownie Birthday Fun Day in 2 weeks. There were two stars for the girls to decorate: one they will keep and stick a sticker on it at each station on the day and the other which will be given to a randomly selected girl from another unit. They had to write their name on both of them and then what they enjoy most about Brownies on the one that's being given away. They could then draw whatever they wanted on the back of both of them. I was talking to our Guide when there was a bit of commotion from one of the tables. It was only friendly banter but they all kept yelling "I'm gonna tell" so I decided to sit with them to try and calm things down a bit. Colouring the stars kept the girls busy for most of the evening and, after almost an hour, they had all finished and we started tidying up as our Guide was supervising the two hostesses for the Promise ceremony make tea and coffee for the parents of the girls making their Promise tonight. 

As I was helping sweep paper off the table, Brown Owl came over and said that she'd realised that she'd lost a Promise badge somewhere between home and the hall. She asked me if I'd pop home and grab another one for her. Our house is only a 5 minute drive away so I hopped in the car and nipped home. While I was gone, the girls sang a couple of songs to fill the time and entertain the parents. I believe they sang 'Have you ever seen a penguin come to tea?', 'Thunderation' and 'Cuddly Koalas' (lyrics here). When I got back, we started the Promise ceremony. We had two girls making their Promise this evening. They both did really well - one needed prompting but other than that it all went smoothly.

After the Promise ceremony it was time to hand out loads of badges - quite a lot of first, second and third year badges, some Adventure Ons, the two hostesses and two cooks to a girl who'd done them in her own time! Even with the interlude where I went to get the badge we still managed to finish exactly on time! All that was left then was to supervise the two hostesses washing up. We thought we were going to have to take the badge off the first girl ever as we saw her walking across the car park with her mum before doing her part of the washing up but then it turned out she was just taking her things to the car and then coming back! She came back and did her bit and then we could all go home.

It was quite a relaxed evening as all I had to do was sit with some girls and talk to them.

In other news, I've started seriously looking at my Look Wider qualification, now that I've finished my exams. I have done a fair few of the phases already (mostly phase 3s - YL, ALQ, driving test) but I haven't yet completed a whole octant, although I'm quite close. Now I just have some writing up to do and then I have to decide what to do to fill the blanks.

The Long Awaited Walk!

19/06/14

This week we took the girls up the local hill, as we had planned to do when we couldn't use the hall because of voting. When we told them last time that it had been cancelled, many of them were upset and several asked us when we were going to do it instead so we slotted it in to this week. 

We had a minor crisis just before as two of our leaders couldn't come due to family circumstances and that put us below the required ratio. Brown Owl put out a quick email to the parents asking if anyone would mind staying and a few said they would join us so we were covered once again! We knew that a few of the girls have dogs and their parents were planning on using the opportunity to walk the dog while we were up there so we knew it wouldn't be too much of a problem, it was just a case of letting them know. We ended up having 4/5 join us in the end!

We met the girls by the visitor centre at the top of the hill and checked everyone off on the register. When everyone had arrived, we had a brief discussion as to which way we were going to go; there were three choices from where we were at that point! There was quite a lot of shouting and pointing until we finally settled on heading into the woods. We set off with the Leaders and parents interspersed with the girls and the express instruction that everyone must stay within sight and not go through any gates without the rest of the group. At each junction in the path we pretty much left it up to the girls at the front as to which way we were going to go, except towards the beginning where the path they chose was back towards the visitor centre already! Quite a few of the girls picked up sticks to use as walking sticks and there were a few that were being carried by two or three girls that were pretty large. We're still not quite sure why they were carrying them - no one could get a straight answer out of the girls - but we let them carry on unless it was being waved around too much and in danger of hitting other girls/leaders.

We came a cross a couple of members of the public who looked at us as if we were slightly mad to be taking so many girls for a walk and then deliberately chose the path we didn't because we were making quite a bit of noise too! Our walk took us out into the open after a while and we were walking along the side of the hill. We had some wonderful views down into the town but the girls were mostly interested pulling bits of sticky weed from the hedgerows and making crowns from it! We took a break at the top of the hill and sat to look at the view for a few minutes to give the girls a chance to have a drink and sit down. We then walked back past the visitor centre into the Iron Age Hill Fort to do our circle and hand out letters as it is a nice large field (the fort is marked out by marks in the ground). 

We had absolute chaos as we walked round to the field though as there were a couple of cows grazing in there. Quite a lot of the girls panicked and thought that the cows were going to come and attack them. We pointed out that they were just grazing and were only looking over because the girls were making lot of noise but a couple of them weren't convinced and thought that they were plotting against us and were going to trap us in (one cow was walking across the only way out on its way to more grass)! We got them into a circle finally and handed out a few letters for the next few weeks and then were about to start Brownie Bells when a cow wandered too close for comfort for most of the girls and our circle collectively ran away from it! It then paused in its tracks because they were all running and screaming which made the worse as they thought it was going to come towards them. Eventually it moved on and semi-normality was returned to the circle so we could actually end the meeting. We then headed back to the visitor centre to meet the parents; quite a few of the girls ran to the gate and then were yelling at us to hurry up so they could get out of the field. Handing the girls back to their parents took a surprisingly short amount of time and finally we could leave ourselves. 

It was quite a pleasant walk, not too hot that everyone was tired and grumpy but warm enough to not have to wear a coat or jacket. I was particularly entertained by the number of girls who were scared by the cows and it made me wonder about how this generation copes with the outdoors. None of them seemed to know very much about the outdoors, whereas I, although I was keeping one eye on the cows, was perfectly comfortable walking through the field and being around them. I don't know whether its a lack of education they're getting or whether it's something to do with the fact that they spend less time outdoors - many of our girls have mobile phones, iPods, iPads and tablets whereas I didn't have any of those until I had started at secondary school and I spent more time outdoors around animals. Either way, I think we have to educate the girls in the ways of the outdoors and get them outside more so that they are not so scared of everything.

By the time you read this, I will have finished my last exam so I have the whole summer ahead of me to do Guiding related things! I am planning on working towards parts of Look Wider as I now have 3 months to kill before hopefully moving to university so I will keep you updated on my progress as I go too!

Visitor from National Star College

12/06/14

This week we had a visit from a local charity, National Star College. One of the girls suggested it as her mum works there and she came, along with a colleague, to tell the girls about what they do and do a couple of activities. They first sat the girls in a circle and told them all about what the College does. Basically, it is a college for children and adults with disabilities where they can "realise their potential as equal and active citizens in control of their lives". They asked the girls if they knew what a charity was, what it meant to have a disability and then talked about the various kinds of disabilities. I was very surprised at the answer given when they were asked what a disability is: "when someone can't do something because the part of their body that helps them do it doesn't work any more"! When I was 9, as the girl who said this is, I would never have been able to say it so concisely and cover all possibilities in one sentence... 

They then got the girls to get into groups to do some activities revolving around removing the use of a certain part of the body and trying to do basic tasks. They had to:

• Pick up a coin with a sock on their hand
• Put a sock on with one hand in a sling
• Talk to a friend while holding a lollypop stick in their mouth and see how much they could understand
• Tell a friend something by pointing at letters on an alphabet sheet

The girls all seemed to enjoy putting on the sock while wearing a sling, and the vast majority were quite good at it too. Some of them seemed to be getting a bit bored though as we only had 5 slings and 27 girls which meant that some had to wait a long time and all the other activities were quite quick to do so they didn't have anything else to do. 

They then got the girls back into a circle and discussed how they found the activities and how they would feel if they had to live like that all the time. Most of the girls said that it made them feel frustrated and they wouldn't like to live like that. They then said that any money we raise (we've had to postpone our fundraising to September because we ran out of space in the term to do it, sadly) will go towards helping the students feel more independent and less frustrated as they'll be able to buy specialist equipment to help them. 

They finished up by giving the girls some stars to colour in and said they could do it any way they liked as long as they didn't use their normal writing hand! We had some girls colouring with their non-dominant hand, some with their feet, some with their mouths and one girl who held the pen between her elbows! Some of the colouring wasn't too bad either.

The girls seemed to thoroughly enjoy the evening as it was more hands on than previous visitors we've had. Most people seem to forget what age group they're talking to and give the talk they would give to adults which just makes the girls bored and thus restless and disruptive. These two women though kept them interested by asking them questions and giving them an activity to break things up. It also gave me an insight into what the girls know about disabilities - a surprising amount!

Trip to Hobbycraft

05/06/14

This week we went to the local Hobbycraft and did some crafts. For those of you who don't know, Hobbycraft is a craft shop here in the UK. We buy a lot of our craft material from here (or just wander round and get ideas for crafts!) and they are very interested in getting involved with the local community. They run sessions for groups, providing the materials for whatever you want to do and instructing the girls. It's only £1 per girl and the money raised goes to various charities. We went last year and the girls thoroughly enjoyed it so we did it again this year. 

This year we did decoupage boxes, clay pots and bracelets. The girls were split into three groups initially and started on one of the three activities and then could move onto a different one whenever they had finished. Each activity was run by a Hobbycraft employee so all us leaders had to do was make sure no one had any arguments and escort them to the toilets. I spent a lot of the evening going up and down the stairs as we were doing the activities on the ground floor and the toilets were on the first floor. As there were members of the public in the shop too we didn't want to send them upstairs on their own (and the doors were quite heavy) so a leader had to always be with them, and it ended up being me. I'm not really complaining though, it was quite a good workout amd it gave me some one on one time with a few of the girl too! 

I then spent the rest of the time keeping an eye on the few girls who'd finished first - they hadn't rushed, they're just quicker than the others. The first girl to finish was our newest member (so new she's not even made her Promise yet!) and the two of us walked around the shop looking for a bouncy ball as all girls were allowed to bring money and that was what she wanted to buy with hers. Unfortunately, after asking an employee, we found out they didn't sell any so I helped her look for something else. It was really nice to get to talk to her as her older sister has just left us but they're completely different. I like that you can get two siblings who are so different as it reminds me that, just because girls are related, doesn't mean they will be identical (and it reminds me of my sister and me!). A few other girls then joined us and I was keeping an eye on them while the other leaders helped the others finish and started helping to tidy up. It is quite hard to keep track of 25 girls in a shop the size of Hobbycraft as there are so many different aisles they could be down and it's really easy to lose track of them. Our main focus was just that they were not allowed to leave the shop; at least that way we knew they were inside somewhere and not too far away. At one point they found the princess aisle and we had a couple of them with crowns and hats on and two others having a mock sword fight with some foam swords! I didn't interrupt except to tell them to be careful with the swords or they'd have to pay for them (they weren't actually making contact but I just thought I should warn them) and it was quite entertaining to watch!

All in all it was a very enjoyable evening, as it was last year. The girls all seemed to be having fun and we didn't lose any of them! The only comment we had about it was that there wasn't much for the ones who'd finished to do - we would have given them something to colour or a wordsearch if we were in our meeting place - and it's quite hard for a single leader to keep track of lots of girls in the shop. 

I apologise if these posts are later than usual; I am in the middle of my A level exams so don't have as much time to sit down and write a post but I will try my best to keep them coming as regularly as possible over the next 3 weeks. 

Cancelled meeting... :(

22/05/14

Every year we have to relocate a meeting because of local elections (and, this year the Europeans too) using our usual meeting hall as a polling station. Some years we go to the local campsite and go grass sledging, some years we've gone rock climbing and other years we've been on a walk up a local hill. This year, because the weather was forecast to be really nice, we decided to do the latter. The plan was that all the girls would meet us up the hill, we would go for a walk that would last about an hour with a couple of stops for a rest/look down on the town and then we would meet the parents back at the car park. However, when we woke up on the Thursday morning, it was raining. We had told the parents that we would let them know by 4pm by email if there was any change to the plan so we crossed our fingers and hoped it would stop soon. At 3:45 we took the decision that, as it was still raining, it wouldn't be particularly enjoyable for the girls so we called it off. As it turns out, we would probably have been fine because it was only slightly spitting between 6 and 8 but it would have been really muddy and we would probably just have had complaints all the way which would have made it tiresome for both the girls and the leaders so I think we made the right decision. 

Next week is half term so we have a week off but I'll be back the week after (unless of course I hear from the Team Digital people, in which case I'll let you know what happened).

Promise activity, games and songs

15/05/14

This week we started by doing an activity from the new adventure badges. We split the girls up into the three badges (based on which badge they were on previously) and gave them a different activity to complete. The younger group were doing a page from the handbook on keeping the promise and doing good turns and the two other groups were doing a quiz on how they would act in different situations to find out how well they keep their promise. I was helping the middle group which basically just consisted of explaining a few things and then discussing with the afterwards their answers to some of the questions. The vast majority of the girls had put mostly 'b's (which was the 'keeps promise well' section) and there were one or two 'a's and 'c's. The most common 'c' was the one which said "you watched too much TV last night and didn't do your homework, what do you do?" and almost all the girls selected 'c': "get my friend to help me with it quickly in the morning"! I found that quite amusing.

We then thought we would let them run off some steam and, as it's been really nice weather, we decided to make use of the grass outside the hall. The girls played stuck in the mud for quite a while, with a few stops to change over who was 'it' (including, at one point, our Guide running in yelling "I'm 'it' too now" and tagging several girls in quick succession!).

Finally we came back inside and sang two songs, "Cecil is my Caterpillar" and "Oh, You'll Never Get To Heaven" (lyrics here) before sending the girls home.

It was a nice relaxed evening tonight, as quite a few evenings have been recently.

Dragon Boats and my ALQ badge

08/05/14

This evening we finished the dragon boats the girls had started last week. Our first challenge was getting the boats back to Brownies as we couldn't store them there and there was only just enough room in the car for them as us! We managed it, with a little help from a parent at the other end to get them into the hall.

We did show-and-tell and then told the girls that they had until 7 (about 45 minutes at that point) to finish their boats before we raced them. They had just spread themselves around the hall in their sixes and were getting stuck in when the District Commissioner came in. She asked if she could have a few minutes of the units' time as she couldn't come at the end of the meeting so we got the girls into a circle. That took some time as they didn't want to stop so soon but they did all eventually get into the circle. She then presented me with my Adult Leader Qualification! I was quite surprised that it all went through so quickly, but I'm not complaining!

We then let the girls go back to their boats. It was absolute chaos with glitter, paper and pens absolutely everywhere but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. We floated around and helped by cutting sticky tape and settling minor disagreements but we left them to their own devices when it came to the actual making of the boats. 

I had one girl come up and ask me what my badge actually meant. Our conversation went something along the liines of:

Her: Does your badge mean you can be Brown Owl if you want?
Me: Yes, it does.
Her: So you could be Brown Owl and Brown Owl could be your helper? (Brown Owl was within earshot and smiled at me)
Me: Yes but I don't want to just yet.
Her: Don't you want to be a Brown Owl?
Me: I do, but I want to get university out of the way first.
Her: Oh... *runs off again and Brown Owl laughs*

Around 5 past 7 we stopped them and did a quick sweep of the hall with a broom to get most of the mess out of the way. We lined the girls up at one end of the hall in their dragons (and did a fair amount of rapid repairs where they were falling apart!). We invited in a few parents who were waiting outside to watch and then we started the race. The race itself went well with no major problems but then we said they could run back to the other side of the hall. Most of them took this as the cue to run pell-mell back across, ripping the dragons to shreds as they went! It was all done in good humour and all the girls got involved so it was a good way of quickly breaking it down into pieces we could put in a bin bag and in the large bins outside. They all helped fish the pens and glue out of the piles of rubbish that had been swept to one side and then put all the rubbish into yet more bin bags. 

All in all I was very impressed by our girls this week. They worked well together and there were no major disagreements (and only one or two minor ones about what colour it should be). There were no objections to being asked to tidy up either and everyone chipped in and made the job far easier and quicker. It's times like these when I really enjoy being involved in Brownies.