Decorating Easter Eggs

04/04/19

This was our last meeting before Easter so we decided to do one of the girls favourite Easter activities - decorating Easter eggs. We had been out and bought a Cadbury's Buttons egg for each girl and then provided them with various sprinkles and writing icing with which to decorate their egg. They always have great fun doing this (although we do say that they cannot eat anything until they have got home and their parents say they can!). It is always interesting to see how the girls choose to decorate their egg - the leaders circulate to make sure no one is just putting as much as they possibly can on to their egg but usually they come up with some really interesting designs. The eggs usually have a pattern on them so some girls choose to go over the various patterns and pictures with the icing pens and other girls design their own scene using the sprinkles and mini buttons.

This year we stopped them after about 50 minutes as a few girls had got bored and started squirting writing icing over the top of everything. We had them put all their eggs safely on the window sills and tidied up a bit before playing 2 games, chosen by the girls (we pull lolly sticks with names on out of a pot and that girl can choose what we play). We started with a game of Pirates and then played the Iranian Smiling Game (Alternative version).

The girls were all slightly hyper tonight as they break up for the holidays tomorrow so we spent a lot of the evening asking them to stand still and listen, but that is understandable at their age! It did make me smile though that one girl was upset she couldn't come to our sponsored swim because she was going to be on holiday...in Malta!

As it is now the Easter holidays, we have 2 weeks break from our regular meetings. I have 2 blogs lined up for you over the holidays though, one on the process of organising our Thinking Day trip last month and the other on a Scout and Guide survival weekend that I volunteered at recently.

Easter Bookmarks and Promises

14/03/19

One of our older Brownies has been asking for a while if she can run an activity so she can tick off the last part of her More Adventures badge before she turns 11 in May. This week we finally had time to slot that in and she chose to make Easter Chicken Bookmarks.

The Brownie showed everyone how to fold the main shape (you can also find the instructions online) and then the girls went and did that bit while the Brownie handed out all the extra bits that she had pre-cut for them to stick on. Once they had finished their chicken bookmark, she had also bought some patterned paper so they could make fortune tellers.

Tonight we also had 4 new girls making their promises, so about 30 minutes before the end, any members of their family who wanted to watch showed up - there were loads of them this time! Some girls just bring one parent, tonight we had grandparents, siblings, and lots of parents! We always ask the parents to come a bit earlier than they need to so they can watch us doing an activity - this time we chose to play 2 games of Pirates, at request of the girls. We did have to remove Starboard as that is where all the parents were sat, and we banned hiding under the tables with tea and coffee on too!

We then proceeded to enrol all 4 new girls and then sang two songs to finish (for once we finished early!) - we sang Hole at the Bottom of the Sea, and Cecil is My Caterpillar.

This was a great evening - the girl who ran it is very mature for her age and was very good at explaining the steps to the girls and going round helping them all.

Easter Baskets and Guide Visit | University

22/03/18

This meeting, we had a parent come in to do a craft with the girls. I arrived and got all the material she had requested out of the cupboard and then we occupied the girls while she set up. While the girls were arriving, we played a game that they call ‘the chair game’ which they constantly request. Once all the girls had arrived, we also played a quick game of Chinese Whispers to keep the noise down while we had a quick chat as leaders. The games went well, although we did have uproar for one round of Chinese Whispers because a girl had said a rude word! It transpired that the rude word was ‘poo’ and the original message was about ‘guinea pigs’ so I’m not quite sure where that came from!

The girls then bought their chairs over to the tables and the parent ran through the craft. They were making Easter Bunny Baskets so she showed them the templates and all the decorations she had bought for them to use. We had a brief moment of panic as we realised one of the girls had somehow (accidentally or otherwise) cut a chunk of her hair off. The other girls said she had done the same thing at school so we tidied up and made a note to alert her Mum at the end of the meeting. The girls then started making their baskets – I spent most of my time helping one of the girls cut out her template and then holding together flaps as they all stuck them together. They then had free reign with pompoms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, glue, and pens with which to decorate their baskets. We had some very interesting looking ones and even a chick made out of one of the remaining pompoms!

Once the girls had finished their baskets, we had a drink and biscuit and then sat them in a circle. Two Guides had come to visit to talk to the girls about Guides as part of one of the other Leaders ALQ so we left them to it (with a small amount of prompting) while we tidied up the bombshell that was the tables after the craft! The Guides then ran some games that they play at Guides while us Leaders chatted about plans for next term.

We ended up having to stop the games as we had run out of time. After we had ended the meeting, the girls collected their baskets, picked up a piece of tissue paper and then came up to a Leader who gave them a handful of Mini Eggs as an Easter gift. We spoke to the Mum of the girl who had cut her hair and she confirmed that she had done it at school too and she wasn’t cross with us as none of us were aware at the time but was furious with her daughter. We will be keeping a closer eye on her every time we have scissors out now!

This was a fairly nice and relaxed meeting, especially the second half, and the girls seemed to really enjoy decorating their baskets and definitely enjoyed the eggs at the end! This was our last meeting before Easter and, as we meet every other week, we now have quite a long break before the next meeting, although I am going home and hopefully visiting my old unit next week.

 

Last meeting of the term

03/04/14

This evening was run by two girls who are leaving this term. We like to give girls the option of running their last meeting (not all do) as it leaves some lasting memories and gives them a taste of leadership.

The girls all came dressed as famous people. There were some which we could easily guess (Cleopatra, Michael Jackson) and some that were much harder (Taylor Swift, Beth Tweddle, J.K. Rowling). I went as the Fourth Doctor (complete with 16 foot scarf!) but none of them knew who I was (although most knew of Doctor Who) so it was a bit lost on them, sadly...

We did our usual circle and show and tell at the beginning and then, after a brief word from Brown Owl about listening to as they girls had put in a lot of effort, we handed over to the two girls. They started off playing Lighthouses (rules here). The Leaders all tried to stand back and let the girls run it themselves but we did have to step in once to get the girls to listen so the game could begin. The two girls didn't move the game on very quickly so the other girls were getting bored which didn't help.

Next they judged the fancy dress competition. They had all the girls line up and they looked at all the costumes. They had printed off 4 certificates which they then wrote the names of the winners onto. It took a while for them to decide and write them out and the girls, once again, were starting to get a bit bored so Brown Owl had to hurry up the two who were writing.

They then played fishes (rules here) which worked surprisingly well for the first time in ages. We only had one dispute about whether a girl was out but Brown Owl had seen them get caught so that was resolved quickly. 

In the final circle, we gave the girls an Easter egg each - which pleased them no end! Brown Owl had managed to go and buy 32 of them all in one go (although not without some odd looks and a double check with the manager that she was allowed to...)!

The meeting was generally a success, particularly as it was the girls' first try at running a meeting. It shows them all quite how hard we have to work to keep doing this week after week and, hopefully, they will appreciate the work we've put in for the 3 years they've been with us! 

This was our last meeting for this term (now time for a well earned break!) so no posts for a fortnight. I'm hoping to finish my Adult Leaders over the holiday too - most of what is left is just tying up loose ends - so a post on that may be following shortly! 

Happy Easter everyone!