04/10/19
I returned to my old unit to help Mum with her pack holiday this year along with my husband. The theme for this years pack holiday was Civil Engineering and we did the 'AMEY Guiding Girls Into Engineering' Challenge badge (unfortunately not available any more). Me and my other half were in charge of running the activities as he is a Civil Engineer, Mum and the other leader cooked, and we had 1 more leader and a DofE student to help out.
On the Friday night, we all arrived earlier than the girls to the house we stay in so that we could set up posters, activities, and the food. We also had to pitch a tent outside for my husband as Girlguiding rules are that men must have separate sleeping arrangements when on an overnight stay with Girlguiding members.All the leaders also had a quick microwave meal for dinner so we had the energy for what was to come!
The girls all arrived at around 6:30 and hurriedly found themselves a bunk to share with their friend. It was absolute chaos for half an hour and the newer parents faces were a picture when they were helping their daughters bring in their stuff and set up their beds! Once the parents had all gone, we sat the girls all down and explained all the rules to them, such as not leaving the house wihout an adult, not leaving the paths in the woods, and not running down the corridors, especially past the kitchen door.
Then it was time for the first activity - a wide game that my husband had created. The aim was to teach the girls what a typical day in the life of a civil engineer was. He had bought a load of his work PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) - high-vis jackets and trousers, hard hats, safety specs, and gloves and we split the girls into their three sixes. We also had one leader with each six who had a torch so the girls could see what they were doing as, by this time, it was dark. The girls started in their 'office' with a design for a shape, made up of several flags that they had to mark and the distances between them. One at a time, they had to run up to the middle, the 'locker room' where the PPE was, put all the items on, pick up a flag and a tape measure, and then run to the 'site' where there was one flag already placed. They had to measure out where their flag needed to go, and put it in the ground before running back to the 'locker room' to take off the PPE and then returning to the 'office' for the next girls to have a turn. We explained to them that this is what my husband spends a lot of his time going between his office and site to set out the next thing which the workers are going to build. He then went and measured each of the sixes creations and awarded the winner to the most accurate design who finished quickest - his explanation being that if you do it wrong in the real world then you have to repeat yourself which loses more time. The girls got quite into the game, although they did need some help using the tape measure - we had kept the measurements to 0.5m, 1m, 1.5m but some of them couldn't even manage that. A few girls complained that it was too dark and they were a bit cold (they were all wearing coats) until he explained that he can sometimes be doing this at 2 in the morning! I'm not sure if we impressed them or put them off with that comment!
After we had finished the wide game, which took a bit longer than we anticipated, the girls all went in for a snack tea. They should all have eaten a proper dinner before they came but we make a few pizzas so they can warm back up after being outside in the dark. We also made the place name cards which we use to jumble up all the girls at the table each time we eat. They then had some hot chocolate and mini marshmallows before going and changing into their pyjamas and brushing their teeth ready for bed. They took a very long time to settle, but that usually happens as they are excited and there are a lot of them in one room. Brown Owl went in a few times to get them to settle down and clam the girls who were a bit homesick and they eventually fell asleep just after midnight.
It was a good first evening to pack holiday this year, and the girls seemed to enjoy the game my husband had created.
Showing posts with label pack holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pack holiday. Show all posts
Monday, 14 October 2019
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Penny Hike
11/10/18
We had read about penny hikes on various Guiding facebook pages and wanted to give it a try so we thought the autumn term would be perfect - light enough to see as we left the hall but dark enough for them to find it exciting as we finished. We picked this week as the Scouts that meet in the small hall at our church have their annual AGM and so we offer up our significantly larger hall and do something either out of the hall or in the smaller one.
When we arrived at the meeting, one of the girls who had come on pack holiday came up to us and handed each of us a chocolate with a thank you note stuck on the back! She even gave me one to give to my other half. It was entirely unexpected and made the whole weekend (and the following week after little sleep) worth it.
We then got out the hi-vis that Specsavers gave us a few years back (Brownie sized!) and got all the girls to put one on, as well as their coat. We then split the unit into 2 and set off, one group followed by the other. Our group decided that TaiLs would be Left and therefore Heads was Right. At each junction, we picked a different girl to toss the coin and decide which way we would be going. There was a lot of throwing the coin into the air and letting it land on the ground! We also added coin tosses for crossing at the pedestrian crossing and going into the park for 5 minutes. Surprisingly enough, the coin landed Tails, meaning we went into the park! The girl then 'confided' in Brown Owl that she had done it deliberately! We knew she had but we didn't really mind spending a few minutes in the park if it meant the girls had a good time. We then continued on our penny hike until 6:50 when we turned and headed back to the hall so we were there for about 7.
We then sat the girls down in a circle and handed out all the pack holiday crafts and posters which we had forgotten to do on the Sunday as they all went home. As we got to the end, a cry suddenly went up "there's a bear in the foyer!" and all the girls immediately got up and ran to the door to see. We calmed them down and got them out of the way of the door so the bear could actually get in. The bear was Winston Bear from Winston's Wish - the girls had raised money for them in the summer term (when I wasn't there) and he had come to collect his cheque. We had got hold of one of the giant cheques and had Winston and the Brownies pose for a photo. One of the girls announced proudly to the Mum from Winston's Wish that we had raised £14,637 so we had a good laugh and then corrected her - we had actually raised £146.37! We took a second photo with just me and the daughters of the Mum who works for Winston's Wish (who was there) and one of the other leaders, as we knew we had photo permissions for all of them to go on the Winston's Wish website if needed.
Winston Bear then left and we finished off the meeting quickly and then let all the girls go. We then had girls coming back in dribs and drabs because they had forgotten their coats! By the time they had all gone, we only had one left, and a Brownie hoodie. I think the girls enjoyed this meeting - they loved the fact that the penny was choosing where they went and that they had a really lucky penny because it took them to the park! We did however realise on the way home that we hadn't actually given Winston Bear the cheque that can be put into the bank (as opposed to the giant one!) so we'll have to slip it to the Mum next week...
We had read about penny hikes on various Guiding facebook pages and wanted to give it a try so we thought the autumn term would be perfect - light enough to see as we left the hall but dark enough for them to find it exciting as we finished. We picked this week as the Scouts that meet in the small hall at our church have their annual AGM and so we offer up our significantly larger hall and do something either out of the hall or in the smaller one.
When we arrived at the meeting, one of the girls who had come on pack holiday came up to us and handed each of us a chocolate with a thank you note stuck on the back! She even gave me one to give to my other half. It was entirely unexpected and made the whole weekend (and the following week after little sleep) worth it.
We then got out the hi-vis that Specsavers gave us a few years back (Brownie sized!) and got all the girls to put one on, as well as their coat. We then split the unit into 2 and set off, one group followed by the other. Our group decided that TaiLs would be Left and therefore Heads was Right. At each junction, we picked a different girl to toss the coin and decide which way we would be going. There was a lot of throwing the coin into the air and letting it land on the ground! We also added coin tosses for crossing at the pedestrian crossing and going into the park for 5 minutes. Surprisingly enough, the coin landed Tails, meaning we went into the park! The girl then 'confided' in Brown Owl that she had done it deliberately! We knew she had but we didn't really mind spending a few minutes in the park if it meant the girls had a good time. We then continued on our penny hike until 6:50 when we turned and headed back to the hall so we were there for about 7.
We then sat the girls down in a circle and handed out all the pack holiday crafts and posters which we had forgotten to do on the Sunday as they all went home. As we got to the end, a cry suddenly went up "there's a bear in the foyer!" and all the girls immediately got up and ran to the door to see. We calmed them down and got them out of the way of the door so the bear could actually get in. The bear was Winston Bear from Winston's Wish - the girls had raised money for them in the summer term (when I wasn't there) and he had come to collect his cheque. We had got hold of one of the giant cheques and had Winston and the Brownies pose for a photo. One of the girls announced proudly to the Mum from Winston's Wish that we had raised £14,637 so we had a good laugh and then corrected her - we had actually raised £146.37! We took a second photo with just me and the daughters of the Mum who works for Winston's Wish (who was there) and one of the other leaders, as we knew we had photo permissions for all of them to go on the Winston's Wish website if needed.
Winston Bear then left and we finished off the meeting quickly and then let all the girls go. We then had girls coming back in dribs and drabs because they had forgotten their coats! By the time they had all gone, we only had one left, and a Brownie hoodie. I think the girls enjoyed this meeting - they loved the fact that the penny was choosing where they went and that they had a really lucky penny because it took them to the park! We did however realise on the way home that we hadn't actually given Winston Bear the cheque that can be put into the bank (as opposed to the giant one!) so we'll have to slip it to the Mum next week...
Monday, 15 October 2018
Pack Holiday 2018 - Sunday
07/10/18
This morning the girls got up slightly later than they did yesterday. We had the same for breakfast as we did yesterday and, once they had done their duties and inspection, they got their coats on ready to go to the river. One of the girls said she felt a bit sick so Brown Owl stayed with her and we all set off with the rest of the girls. Brown Owl managed to persuade her that a walk outside might make her feel better so they started by walking to the end of the drive and surprisingly she felt fine so they followed us a few minutes behind. The walk there was fairly uneventful although we did get a lot of giggles from the girls when all the cycling groups that went past actually replied to the girls when they said hello!! Luckily for us the river wasn't too deep when we got there so we drew some boundaries, laid down the rules (no splashing or pushing or you get out), and let the girls in. A few people walked past and commented on how nice it was to see the girls enjoying themselves outside. After a while, we got the girls to get out and dry off. We then set off back to the house. For once, I ended up at the front of the group (I usually end up with the slow walkers at the back!) and we were walking along having a nice chat. Two of the leaders set off ahead of us on their own to make sure lunch was started before we got back (we had enough adults to cover our ratios like that!). Shortly after they had gone, one of the girls from further back appeared next to me saying she really needed a wee and what should she do. I told her she would have to wait as there weren't any toilets nearby and she spent the rest of the walk back constantly telling me how much she needed to wee! She kept asking if she could run ahead because she knew the way and I kept saying no because then she would be without an adult. As we got closer to the house, her walk turned more and more into a waddle/dance! We then got to the back of the house and I told her she could run from there to the toilet and she was off like a rocket! We came round the corner and the front door was flapping in the wind slightly and she was nowhere to be seen! She reappeared a few minutes later looking much happier.
The girls all got back and changed out of any damp clothes they were wearing and then sat down for a very late lunch - spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. It went down an absolute treat - the girls all ate in silence, finished everything that was on their plate, and many went back for seconds! Definitely more of a hit than the chicken nuggets and fish fingers with chips that we used to do!
After lunch there was only really enough time to pack up their bags (and shove sleeping bags into miniscule bags) and then do a speedy tuck shop before counting up the points. The girl with the most points gets to choose her keep-sake first (this year we had a selection of different games and things from the shop Tiger). We gave out badges and leaders presents and then let all the parents in to collect their daughters. There was absolute bedlam for a bit and then, just like that, they were all gone for another year.
We stayed for another hour cleaning the whole house and then we went home for a much need sleep! This year was a slightly odd one in that our whole timetable got tipped on its head by the rain on Saturday but it went well regardless. We didn't manage to finish either of the badges we were doing, but we can do the last few bits at meetings later in the term. And the girls enjoyed themselves which is the main reason we do this, even if it does take it out of all the leaders.
This morning the girls got up slightly later than they did yesterday. We had the same for breakfast as we did yesterday and, once they had done their duties and inspection, they got their coats on ready to go to the river. One of the girls said she felt a bit sick so Brown Owl stayed with her and we all set off with the rest of the girls. Brown Owl managed to persuade her that a walk outside might make her feel better so they started by walking to the end of the drive and surprisingly she felt fine so they followed us a few minutes behind. The walk there was fairly uneventful although we did get a lot of giggles from the girls when all the cycling groups that went past actually replied to the girls when they said hello!! Luckily for us the river wasn't too deep when we got there so we drew some boundaries, laid down the rules (no splashing or pushing or you get out), and let the girls in. A few people walked past and commented on how nice it was to see the girls enjoying themselves outside. After a while, we got the girls to get out and dry off. We then set off back to the house. For once, I ended up at the front of the group (I usually end up with the slow walkers at the back!) and we were walking along having a nice chat. Two of the leaders set off ahead of us on their own to make sure lunch was started before we got back (we had enough adults to cover our ratios like that!). Shortly after they had gone, one of the girls from further back appeared next to me saying she really needed a wee and what should she do. I told her she would have to wait as there weren't any toilets nearby and she spent the rest of the walk back constantly telling me how much she needed to wee! She kept asking if she could run ahead because she knew the way and I kept saying no because then she would be without an adult. As we got closer to the house, her walk turned more and more into a waddle/dance! We then got to the back of the house and I told her she could run from there to the toilet and she was off like a rocket! We came round the corner and the front door was flapping in the wind slightly and she was nowhere to be seen! She reappeared a few minutes later looking much happier.
The girls all got back and changed out of any damp clothes they were wearing and then sat down for a very late lunch - spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. It went down an absolute treat - the girls all ate in silence, finished everything that was on their plate, and many went back for seconds! Definitely more of a hit than the chicken nuggets and fish fingers with chips that we used to do!
After lunch there was only really enough time to pack up their bags (and shove sleeping bags into miniscule bags) and then do a speedy tuck shop before counting up the points. The girl with the most points gets to choose her keep-sake first (this year we had a selection of different games and things from the shop Tiger). We gave out badges and leaders presents and then let all the parents in to collect their daughters. There was absolute bedlam for a bit and then, just like that, they were all gone for another year.
We stayed for another hour cleaning the whole house and then we went home for a much need sleep! This year was a slightly odd one in that our whole timetable got tipped on its head by the rain on Saturday but it went well regardless. We didn't manage to finish either of the badges we were doing, but we can do the last few bits at meetings later in the term. And the girls enjoyed themselves which is the main reason we do this, even if it does take it out of all the leaders.
Friday, 12 October 2018
Pack Holiday 2018 - Saturday
06/10/18
The girls were up fairly early this morning - 6:30 by the other leaders' accounts! I popped out to wake up my other half in his tent while the girls got dressed and then we had breakfast - cereals followed by eggy bread, bacon, and toast. Once we were done eating, the girls all had duties to do - the Hostess six cleared everything off the table, the Cook six went and helped the leaders dry up the dishes, and the Health six wiped the tables, swept under the table and checked the toilets had loo roll and were clean. Once they had all finished, they had a short amount of time to tidy their beds and then it was inspection time. We introduced an extra sticker for the neatest bed (which we didn't tell them about) and surprised even ourselves with the girl we gave it to - she's usually a bit messy and scatty but she had really made an effort making her bed! We made her day by giving her the second sticker.
Once we were done with inspection, we started our first set of activities. One group made book folding hedgehogs (and decorated them with glitter glue and googly eyes), another made bookmarks and the third made posters to advertise the Brownie Olympics we are holding tomorrow. I sat with the girls making bookmarks and chatted with them. The girls started off in their sixes doing one of the three activities but could then move round once they had finished the one they were on (the only bottleneck was the number of seats to do the book folding).
Our original plan for the weekend was for the girls to make a packed lunch (a clause for the Healthy Heart badge) and then walk to the river to eat it but the weather was so miserable that we decided not to eat outside. The girls each made their packed lunch and then we had a picnic on the living room floor instead! Each lunch had a sandwich (cheese, ham, jam, or marmite), a packet of crisps, a selection of fruit/veg (cucumber sticks, grapes, baby tomatoes, bananas, and apples), and a small cake (mini choc chip muffin or chocolate mini roll). The girls really enjoyed being allowed to sit on the floor and eat, and it was interesting to see what groups they formed too.
We then decided that we would postpone our river walk until tomorrow as the weather was meant to get nicer so we set up the tuck shop. We had a selection of various things from Trading which we sold, along with some sweets (they could have 2 each) and some other small trinket like items. The girls enjoy choosing things to spend their £5 on, although this year the parents hadn't listened when we asked for small change and we had to write a few IOUs and pay them back at the end of the shop, when we had some change!
We then did a few more of the crafty things, which we had planned to do tomorrow. This time, we had one six at a time designing a mascot for their sixes sport from random craft things we found in the cupboard and wanted to get rid of! The other sixes could choose to either make a poster about healthy/unhealthy food (or halfy if you're a Brownie!!) using various foody magazines we had collected or colour in a pattern only uing 3 colours. Annoyingly, a pattern can always be coloured in using no more than 4 colours but the Artist badge syllabus specified 3 so I improvised by not colouring in some sections to make it work! The girls really enjoyed this activity, and spent ages deliberating over what colours to pick (we had some really nice combinations) and then working out what parts to colour in to make pretty patterns. Mine came out fairly well, I think.
We also had some entertaining choices for the healthy/unhealthy posters, including a bottle of whiskey on the healthy side and a phone on the unhealthy side (admitted correct but not a food!).
The girls doing their mascots also had a great time - they had been given free reign over all the craft things we could find, including some big pots of glitter. We had some interesting designs and a few disagreements over what it was they wanted to make. Our YL stepped in and persuaded them to all make a part of their mascot and then combine it at the end to make a whole thing.
When the girls had finished all their craft, they had to write a song about smoking to perform at the campfire, as one of the clauses for the Healthy Heart badge. We then had dinner - the roast we would have had tomorrow but everything is all topsy turvey now! The girls seemed to enjoy it, alhtough not as much as they have done in previous years - they thought the chicken was a bit dry this year.
While the girls were doing their duties, me, our YL and my other half went outside to sort out the campfire. Unfortunately, because it had rained all night, a lot of the wood was damp. We found a few pieces which were dry and then we dragged out the bag of cardboard that hadn't been used yesterday, and was still dry too. We set up a small fire and the girls all came out to watch it be lit and then we sang a couple of songs:
The girls also performed their smoking songs - we had 3 very different styles of song and all were equally as impressive for a quickly thrown together song! We then bought out our surprise of the end of the campfire - magic dust that changes the colour of the flames! We had double checked that it was safe for an outside fire and the only thing we couldn't do was cook over them but we had forgotten the skewers for the marshmallows so that didn't matter. We were about to sing another song while the fire burned green and blue but a massive gust of wind came and blew sparks into the bushes and the girls all ran inside screaming! The three of us who were in charge stayed outside watching the pretty colours while looking for a torch that got dropped in the panic and then spread out the embers so they didn't catch again.
The girls then had hot chocolate and got ready for bed. We told them they could read quietly for a bit and then left them to it. We then spent some time chatting in the living room and then decided to go to bed. We realised we hadn't heard a single peep from them and the lights had been turned off. There was absolute silence from in their room! Success!! We had a great nights sleep ready for tomorrow, with absolutely no interruptions - I guess that's one of the bonuses of taking a fairly young group of girls.
The girls were up fairly early this morning - 6:30 by the other leaders' accounts! I popped out to wake up my other half in his tent while the girls got dressed and then we had breakfast - cereals followed by eggy bread, bacon, and toast. Once we were done eating, the girls all had duties to do - the Hostess six cleared everything off the table, the Cook six went and helped the leaders dry up the dishes, and the Health six wiped the tables, swept under the table and checked the toilets had loo roll and were clean. Once they had all finished, they had a short amount of time to tidy their beds and then it was inspection time. We introduced an extra sticker for the neatest bed (which we didn't tell them about) and surprised even ourselves with the girl we gave it to - she's usually a bit messy and scatty but she had really made an effort making her bed! We made her day by giving her the second sticker.
Once we were done with inspection, we started our first set of activities. One group made book folding hedgehogs (and decorated them with glitter glue and googly eyes), another made bookmarks and the third made posters to advertise the Brownie Olympics we are holding tomorrow. I sat with the girls making bookmarks and chatted with them. The girls started off in their sixes doing one of the three activities but could then move round once they had finished the one they were on (the only bottleneck was the number of seats to do the book folding).
Our original plan for the weekend was for the girls to make a packed lunch (a clause for the Healthy Heart badge) and then walk to the river to eat it but the weather was so miserable that we decided not to eat outside. The girls each made their packed lunch and then we had a picnic on the living room floor instead! Each lunch had a sandwich (cheese, ham, jam, or marmite), a packet of crisps, a selection of fruit/veg (cucumber sticks, grapes, baby tomatoes, bananas, and apples), and a small cake (mini choc chip muffin or chocolate mini roll). The girls really enjoyed being allowed to sit on the floor and eat, and it was interesting to see what groups they formed too.
We then decided that we would postpone our river walk until tomorrow as the weather was meant to get nicer so we set up the tuck shop. We had a selection of various things from Trading which we sold, along with some sweets (they could have 2 each) and some other small trinket like items. The girls enjoy choosing things to spend their £5 on, although this year the parents hadn't listened when we asked for small change and we had to write a few IOUs and pay them back at the end of the shop, when we had some change!
We then did a few more of the crafty things, which we had planned to do tomorrow. This time, we had one six at a time designing a mascot for their sixes sport from random craft things we found in the cupboard and wanted to get rid of! The other sixes could choose to either make a poster about healthy/unhealthy food (or halfy if you're a Brownie!!) using various foody magazines we had collected or colour in a pattern only uing 3 colours. Annoyingly, a pattern can always be coloured in using no more than 4 colours but the Artist badge syllabus specified 3 so I improvised by not colouring in some sections to make it work! The girls really enjoyed this activity, and spent ages deliberating over what colours to pick (we had some really nice combinations) and then working out what parts to colour in to make pretty patterns. Mine came out fairly well, I think.
We also had some entertaining choices for the healthy/unhealthy posters, including a bottle of whiskey on the healthy side and a phone on the unhealthy side (admitted correct but not a food!).
The girls doing their mascots also had a great time - they had been given free reign over all the craft things we could find, including some big pots of glitter. We had some interesting designs and a few disagreements over what it was they wanted to make. Our YL stepped in and persuaded them to all make a part of their mascot and then combine it at the end to make a whole thing.
When the girls had finished all their craft, they had to write a song about smoking to perform at the campfire, as one of the clauses for the Healthy Heart badge. We then had dinner - the roast we would have had tomorrow but everything is all topsy turvey now! The girls seemed to enjoy it, alhtough not as much as they have done in previous years - they thought the chicken was a bit dry this year.
While the girls were doing their duties, me, our YL and my other half went outside to sort out the campfire. Unfortunately, because it had rained all night, a lot of the wood was damp. We found a few pieces which were dry and then we dragged out the bag of cardboard that hadn't been used yesterday, and was still dry too. We set up a small fire and the girls all came out to watch it be lit and then we sang a couple of songs:
- Campfire's Burning
- Cecil is my Caterpillar
- Oh You'll Never Get to Heaven
The girls also performed their smoking songs - we had 3 very different styles of song and all were equally as impressive for a quickly thrown together song! We then bought out our surprise of the end of the campfire - magic dust that changes the colour of the flames! We had double checked that it was safe for an outside fire and the only thing we couldn't do was cook over them but we had forgotten the skewers for the marshmallows so that didn't matter. We were about to sing another song while the fire burned green and blue but a massive gust of wind came and blew sparks into the bushes and the girls all ran inside screaming! The three of us who were in charge stayed outside watching the pretty colours while looking for a torch that got dropped in the panic and then spread out the embers so they didn't catch again.
The girls then had hot chocolate and got ready for bed. We told them they could read quietly for a bit and then left them to it. We then spent some time chatting in the living room and then decided to go to bed. We realised we hadn't heard a single peep from them and the lights had been turned off. There was absolute silence from in their room! Success!! We had a great nights sleep ready for tomorrow, with absolutely no interruptions - I guess that's one of the bonuses of taking a fairly young group of girls.
Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Pack Holiday 2018 - Friday
05/10/18
It's that time of year again - pack holiday weekend! I've done the same thing this year as previous ones, and split my blogs into the 3 days which will be published on Wednesday and Friday this week, and Monday next week with the usual Monday post coming on Wednesday instead. Be prepared for some long posts too - sorry not sorry! The theme of this pac holiday was the Olympics - the girls voted to do the Artist and the Healthy Heart badges and that was the only way we could think of to combine the two!
This pack holiday we went to the same place as usual, Campwood House in Macaroni Woods near Eastleach. All of the leaders arrived at around 4:30 and started setting up. We stuck up all of the posters, organised the craft room, put away the food, and had our dinner. While we were eating dinner, the doorbell went. Brown Owl sent me to answer it and said "if it's your other half let him in, otherwise tell them to go away for a bit, they're too early". I opened the door and it was our Young Leader, much earlier than we had anticipated. I let her in and shouted down the corridor that it was her and Brown Owl shouted back "oh yeah, you can let her in too!".
At about 6:10, the first of the Brownies started arriving. A lot of them haven't been before and so the parents were all wandering around and seeing what it was like. Quite a few of them got a bit confused as to where to park too and just drove slowly around the house until we flagged them down and pointed out the parking area under the trees. Surprisingly this year, none of the parents were late - we often have one or two who get lost and are really late. We did have one say that her phone had taken her to a pub called Macaroni in Cirencester and she thought she was going to be late but then they found us. Just as the last Brownie arrived, my other half showed up too, having come stright from work. He is a Beaver Leader and came to help us out as an extra pair of hands. I helped him set up his tent as the light was quickly fading while Brown Owl did the welcome for the girls and gave out booklets and told them all the safety info
Once they had done that, we set up the first activity of the weekend for them - Olympic Village Building. We had bought loads of cardboard and plastic recycling which we piled up outside, having set up some lights. We also gave each six a roll of packing tape. They were then given two pictures of athletes from their sixes sport (Horse Riding, Gymnastics, Swimming) and then had to build a village for the athletes which would be judged on style and also how well it survived the elements. The girls really went to town on their designs, we had full on swimming pools, changing rooms, stables, and more! We took a short break in the middle of making to have a supper of hot dogs. We then gave them a 5 minute warning (which sent them into panic mode!) and then stopped them. We went round each group and rated their design out of 10. We then tested their resilience by squirting them with a water pistol (one of the ones you can pressurise) and then tipped a bit of a bucket of water over them. The girls extracted their athletes from their village and we rated them based on how dry their people were. One six managed to have one completely dry athlete and the other two sixes' athletes were completely drenched and one of them somehow ended up getting ripped in half! We then gave out stickers for their charts - 3 for the winning six, 2 for second, and 1 for last place. The girls really seemed to enjoy doing this, and we were very impressed with their ingenuity - my other half had done it with his Beavers building castles and said our Brownies were much more creative than his Beavers!
The girls then got ready for bed and had hot chocolate before all disappearing into their bedroom. We leaders sat in the living room and chatted for a while before deciding we were tired too. Brown Owl and I got ready for bed, lay down, closed our eyes, and... heard crying coming down the corridor! One of the other leaders was still up but Brown Owl went to investigate too and there were two girls who were tired and feeling a bit ill. They had a drink of water and we settled them again but by then a lot of other girls had woken up and started talking. Brown Owl gave it a bit of time to settle down but it didn't so she went in and told them to shut up and go to sleep. She came back to bed and we both fell asleep. We both vaguely remember waking up and hearing one of the other leaders going in and saying "Brownies, I am not impressed" and we found out in the morning that it was 2:30 and the two leaders in the room closer to the girls hadn't slept much at all before then!
It has been a fairly straighforward start to pack holiday this year, here's hoping the rest of the weekend goes smoothly too!
It's that time of year again - pack holiday weekend! I've done the same thing this year as previous ones, and split my blogs into the 3 days which will be published on Wednesday and Friday this week, and Monday next week with the usual Monday post coming on Wednesday instead. Be prepared for some long posts too - sorry not sorry! The theme of this pac holiday was the Olympics - the girls voted to do the Artist and the Healthy Heart badges and that was the only way we could think of to combine the two!
This pack holiday we went to the same place as usual, Campwood House in Macaroni Woods near Eastleach. All of the leaders arrived at around 4:30 and started setting up. We stuck up all of the posters, organised the craft room, put away the food, and had our dinner. While we were eating dinner, the doorbell went. Brown Owl sent me to answer it and said "if it's your other half let him in, otherwise tell them to go away for a bit, they're too early". I opened the door and it was our Young Leader, much earlier than we had anticipated. I let her in and shouted down the corridor that it was her and Brown Owl shouted back "oh yeah, you can let her in too!".
At about 6:10, the first of the Brownies started arriving. A lot of them haven't been before and so the parents were all wandering around and seeing what it was like. Quite a few of them got a bit confused as to where to park too and just drove slowly around the house until we flagged them down and pointed out the parking area under the trees. Surprisingly this year, none of the parents were late - we often have one or two who get lost and are really late. We did have one say that her phone had taken her to a pub called Macaroni in Cirencester and she thought she was going to be late but then they found us. Just as the last Brownie arrived, my other half showed up too, having come stright from work. He is a Beaver Leader and came to help us out as an extra pair of hands. I helped him set up his tent as the light was quickly fading while Brown Owl did the welcome for the girls and gave out booklets and told them all the safety info
- Don't go outside without an adult
- Don't go in the leaders rooms
- Don't touch the fire in the living room (not that we light it!)
- Don't trip over the tent guy ropes,
- And most importantly for this year, keep the bedroom door closed while you're getting dressed as we have a man here this year and we often have a few girls who run around in their undies (or nothing...) while getting dressed...
Once they had done that, we set up the first activity of the weekend for them - Olympic Village Building. We had bought loads of cardboard and plastic recycling which we piled up outside, having set up some lights. We also gave each six a roll of packing tape. They were then given two pictures of athletes from their sixes sport (Horse Riding, Gymnastics, Swimming) and then had to build a village for the athletes which would be judged on style and also how well it survived the elements. The girls really went to town on their designs, we had full on swimming pools, changing rooms, stables, and more! We took a short break in the middle of making to have a supper of hot dogs. We then gave them a 5 minute warning (which sent them into panic mode!) and then stopped them. We went round each group and rated their design out of 10. We then tested their resilience by squirting them with a water pistol (one of the ones you can pressurise) and then tipped a bit of a bucket of water over them. The girls extracted their athletes from their village and we rated them based on how dry their people were. One six managed to have one completely dry athlete and the other two sixes' athletes were completely drenched and one of them somehow ended up getting ripped in half! We then gave out stickers for their charts - 3 for the winning six, 2 for second, and 1 for last place. The girls really seemed to enjoy doing this, and we were very impressed with their ingenuity - my other half had done it with his Beavers building castles and said our Brownies were much more creative than his Beavers!
The girls then got ready for bed and had hot chocolate before all disappearing into their bedroom. We leaders sat in the living room and chatted for a while before deciding we were tired too. Brown Owl and I got ready for bed, lay down, closed our eyes, and... heard crying coming down the corridor! One of the other leaders was still up but Brown Owl went to investigate too and there were two girls who were tired and feeling a bit ill. They had a drink of water and we settled them again but by then a lot of other girls had woken up and started talking. Brown Owl gave it a bit of time to settle down but it didn't so she went in and told them to shut up and go to sleep. She came back to bed and we both fell asleep. We both vaguely remember waking up and hearing one of the other leaders going in and saying "Brownies, I am not impressed" and we found out in the morning that it was 2:30 and the two leaders in the room closer to the girls hadn't slept much at all before then!
It has been a fairly straighforward start to pack holiday this year, here's hoping the rest of the weekend goes smoothly too!
Monday, 1 October 2018
Pack Holiday Badges, More Traditions, and Promise Ceremony
27/09/18
This evening was another pre-pack holiday meeting. All the girls coming on pack holiday have been split into 3 sixes, which they chose a few weeks ago. They now need to make a badge to wear so we know what six they are in. Any girl who is not coming on pack holiday is given the opportunity to make a badge of her choice but the girls coming on pack holiday have to make the badge of her six. We had printed out pictures of the three sixes (swimming, horse riding, and gymnastics) for the girls to colour in. We all sat around tables colouring and Brown Owl and our Young Leader operated the badge machine. When I had coloured mine in, I went over to the badge machine and they were having issues. It is an incredibly old machine and it's starting to show its age so some badges weren't quite getting made correctly tonight. I took over from the YL and managed to coax it through the rest of the evening!
Once all the girls had made their badge, we did another clause of the Traditions badge and the Century Time Travel UMA - knowing the parts of the Union Flag. We first held up a complete version and asked the girls what it was called. One said "a flag" and then another said "the Union Jack". Brown Owl said "that's sort of correct, it's got a different name too" and then one of our newer girls said "it's only the Union Jack on a boat, it's the Union Flag on land"! We were all very impressed that she knew that!! The girls were then given the 3 parts of the flag to cut up and stick together to make the Union Flag in their sixes.
As we started that activity, the parents of a girl who was making her promise arrived. We always invite them about half an hour before we finish so they can watch us do a bit of an activity before watching their daughter make her promise. I took the girl who was doing her Hostess over to them and got their drinks orders and then assisted her in making 2 cups of tea.
Once all the girls had done their flag, we put the tables away and got into a circle. We still had a bit of time to spare so we played the original version of the Iranian Smiling Game which is the last bit of the Century Time Travel UMA. We had to stop before all the girls were out though, as they were very good at it!
Finally, it was time for our promise ceremony, and then I helped the girl doing her Hostess badge wash up and then it was home time. There were no left-over Brownies tonight, and the Mum from last week came in with a bunch of flowers, very apologetically!
This evening was another pre-pack holiday meeting. All the girls coming on pack holiday have been split into 3 sixes, which they chose a few weeks ago. They now need to make a badge to wear so we know what six they are in. Any girl who is not coming on pack holiday is given the opportunity to make a badge of her choice but the girls coming on pack holiday have to make the badge of her six. We had printed out pictures of the three sixes (swimming, horse riding, and gymnastics) for the girls to colour in. We all sat around tables colouring and Brown Owl and our Young Leader operated the badge machine. When I had coloured mine in, I went over to the badge machine and they were having issues. It is an incredibly old machine and it's starting to show its age so some badges weren't quite getting made correctly tonight. I took over from the YL and managed to coax it through the rest of the evening!
Once all the girls had made their badge, we did another clause of the Traditions badge and the Century Time Travel UMA - knowing the parts of the Union Flag. We first held up a complete version and asked the girls what it was called. One said "a flag" and then another said "the Union Jack". Brown Owl said "that's sort of correct, it's got a different name too" and then one of our newer girls said "it's only the Union Jack on a boat, it's the Union Flag on land"! We were all very impressed that she knew that!! The girls were then given the 3 parts of the flag to cut up and stick together to make the Union Flag in their sixes.
As we started that activity, the parents of a girl who was making her promise arrived. We always invite them about half an hour before we finish so they can watch us do a bit of an activity before watching their daughter make her promise. I took the girl who was doing her Hostess over to them and got their drinks orders and then assisted her in making 2 cups of tea.
Once all the girls had done their flag, we put the tables away and got into a circle. We still had a bit of time to spare so we played the original version of the Iranian Smiling Game which is the last bit of the Century Time Travel UMA. We had to stop before all the girls were out though, as they were very good at it!
Finally, it was time for our promise ceremony, and then I helped the girl doing her Hostess badge wash up and then it was home time. There were no left-over Brownies tonight, and the Mum from last week came in with a bunch of flowers, very apologetically!
Monday, 17 September 2018
Story Making and Pack Holiday Posters
13/09/18
This evening we started with a vote. Every year we do a sale (see here for a previous year's) to raise money for a charity. The last sale they did (while I was at university), we raised money for WWF so we could sponsor an animal. We have sponsored several animals in the past and always get a cuddly toy to go with it which then goes home with a different girl each week. We currently have a dolphin, a gorilla, and an elephant but the dolphin is getting a bit old and so we wanted to retire him to join the dog (they now sit under the toadstool) and get a new animal. I had looked online at the choices and chosen 5 to vote on: lion, panda, penguin, polar bear, and rhino. We printed out the picture of the toy onto paper which we spread round the room. Each girl was given 3 token, a red, a yellow and a blue. They then had to put the red token on their favourite, the yellow on their second choice and the blue on their third. I then counted up the votes - red getting 3 points, yellow getting 2 and blue getting 1. While I was counting, the girls sang 'Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar'. I then announced that the winner, who got 56 points, was the polar bear. We now just need to send off the money to the WWF and wait for the toy to arrive.
We then decided we would do another of the new programme UMAs - we chose 'Catch a Story' from the Express Myself theme. We had a small soft ball which we passed across the circle and each girl had to add a word to the story (we specified no rude words first!). Brown Owl started by saying 'Once' so that the next 3 would have to say 'upon a time' so that the girls got the idea and then we let it continue, with occasional prompting from leaders about the best word. If we did it again, we would definitely write the story down as we went along as by the end we couldn't remember the whole thing. We might also consider adding a time limit to the length of time a girl had to think of a word as we frequently got stuck waiting. We did eventually get a sort of story about a dog called Max who didn't like puppies because they were weird! I was quite impressed with some girls choice of words, we had a few say 'because' and 'however', although I would say it is an activity more suited to older girls as the younger ones were having trouble keeping up with what had laready been said and making sensible suggestions of words (we went round in circles at one point saying things the dog hated).
Once we had done that for around 15 minutes we stopped and got out some tables. We handed out various A5 pictures relating to the Olympics, there were some simple ones such as the rings, and some more complex ones like a man with an Olympic torch. These will form the decorations on pack holiday, and are also a great way to keep the noise down a little bit while we hold the parents meeting for girls who haven't been on pack holiday before. I sat on a table with some of the newer girls and coloured in my own picture, and got to know them a bit more.
This was quite a nice relaxed evening and went very smoothly. I always enjoy meetings where I can just sit and talk to girls and get to know them a bit more, especially with so many girls who've joined since I went away for university. And we always end up having some entertaining conversations, such as tonight when I was asked how old I was so I said "22" and one girl said "I think you look more like you're 23"!
This evening we started with a vote. Every year we do a sale (see here for a previous year's) to raise money for a charity. The last sale they did (while I was at university), we raised money for WWF so we could sponsor an animal. We have sponsored several animals in the past and always get a cuddly toy to go with it which then goes home with a different girl each week. We currently have a dolphin, a gorilla, and an elephant but the dolphin is getting a bit old and so we wanted to retire him to join the dog (they now sit under the toadstool) and get a new animal. I had looked online at the choices and chosen 5 to vote on: lion, panda, penguin, polar bear, and rhino. We printed out the picture of the toy onto paper which we spread round the room. Each girl was given 3 token, a red, a yellow and a blue. They then had to put the red token on their favourite, the yellow on their second choice and the blue on their third. I then counted up the votes - red getting 3 points, yellow getting 2 and blue getting 1. While I was counting, the girls sang 'Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar'. I then announced that the winner, who got 56 points, was the polar bear. We now just need to send off the money to the WWF and wait for the toy to arrive.
We then decided we would do another of the new programme UMAs - we chose 'Catch a Story' from the Express Myself theme. We had a small soft ball which we passed across the circle and each girl had to add a word to the story (we specified no rude words first!). Brown Owl started by saying 'Once' so that the next 3 would have to say 'upon a time' so that the girls got the idea and then we let it continue, with occasional prompting from leaders about the best word. If we did it again, we would definitely write the story down as we went along as by the end we couldn't remember the whole thing. We might also consider adding a time limit to the length of time a girl had to think of a word as we frequently got stuck waiting. We did eventually get a sort of story about a dog called Max who didn't like puppies because they were weird! I was quite impressed with some girls choice of words, we had a few say 'because' and 'however', although I would say it is an activity more suited to older girls as the younger ones were having trouble keeping up with what had laready been said and making sensible suggestions of words (we went round in circles at one point saying things the dog hated).
Once we had done that for around 15 minutes we stopped and got out some tables. We handed out various A5 pictures relating to the Olympics, there were some simple ones such as the rings, and some more complex ones like a man with an Olympic torch. These will form the decorations on pack holiday, and are also a great way to keep the noise down a little bit while we hold the parents meeting for girls who haven't been on pack holiday before. I sat on a table with some of the newer girls and coloured in my own picture, and got to know them a bit more.
This was quite a nice relaxed evening and went very smoothly. I always enjoy meetings where I can just sit and talk to girls and get to know them a bit more, especially with so many girls who've joined since I went away for university. And we always end up having some entertaining conversations, such as tonight when I was asked how old I was so I said "22" and one girl said "I think you look more like you're 23"!
Monday, 10 September 2018
First Meeting Back - Introducing the New Programme
06/09/18
This was our first meeting back after the summer and we thought we would take the time to introduce the girls to the new programme. We are going to be running a bit of a mixture while we, as leaders, get our heads round how it all works but we wanted to get the girls enthused from the beginning and help them understand the different themes a bit more. We also had a Scouting imposter this week - my other half (who's a Beaver Leader) came to the meeting as he is coming on pack holiday with us and we thought it best he meet the girls properly before then!
We started off by explaining to the girls in the pow wow that Guiding had changed the programme, which we told them meant that all the books and badges had changed, but that we would still do the same sorts of things in meetings. We then split them into their sixes and gave each six a pack containing all of the badges (just printed onto paper and cut out) and a badge book. We got them to group them into interest badges, skills builders, and theme awards. We then asked them to pick an interest badge which sounded interesting and find it in the book to decide if they would actually do it after reading the clauses. We had a few problems with them finding the badges in the books but once we pointed out there was a contents page at the front, they were fine! Quite a few, however, didn't understand what part they had to read to see what they had to do and a lot of them said "doI really have to read all of this?!". This was something us as leaders had picked up on when we first opened the books - it is very wordy for some of the younger girls and is not as clear as the old badges what the actual clause is.
We then collected in all the theme awards and put them to one side. The leaders all handed out skills builders and interest badges randomly, one to each girl. They then had to find a partner who had the other part of the theme award (we told them about the 4 hours of activities but didn't include it in the game). Once they were in a pair, one girl with an interest badge, and one with a skills builder, they could go and claim the theme award. We encountered a lot of confusion over which theme the badges were, as there are pale pink, dark pink, and purple ones, and the badges in each theme are not a uniform colour. I had already flagged this as a potential issue, and my suspicions were confirmed in this game! If they could not find a partner, they could go and swap their badge for a different one with a leader. We ended up strategically giving out badges to the last few girls to make sure they found a partner! Once they were in pairs, with a theme award between them, we then told them the requirements for the Brownie Gold badge. We then got them to get into a group of girls who could get the award, i.e. one of each theme award. There was mass confusion for a bit, especially in needing all 6 colours, not just 6 badges, and then we discovered that no one had gained the Express Myself theme award and so no one could get the Gold!
We then told the girls we were going to play a game which was part of the new programme. We chose 'Fox, Frog, Flea', from the Have Adventures UMAs. We gave up trying to explain food webs - the girls had heard of food chains but couldn't grasp the concept that it could be a web instead. We explained the rules - essentially you have 2 teams, they choose to be one of the three animals, each team lines up facing each other down the middle of the room and does the action associated with their animal, and then one chases the other according to the rules on the card with any girls that get caught swapping teams. The game itself went pretty well, although we started off with quite a few rounds which were draws which the girls thought was hilarious. The girls really seemed to enjoy it, but we did have to put a time limit on it instead of playing until all girls were on one team.
We then needed to sort out sixes for pack holiday which is coming up pretty soon. We have 3 sixes which are different to our regular meeting sixes so we named the three sixers and then asked the rest of the girls to split themselves evenly between them. Some years we specific that each six must have a certain number of girls who have been on a pack holiday before in them but this year we only have 5 of the 18 who have been before (of which, 3 are the sixers) so we let them just choose whoever they wanted to be with. They then had to choose a name for their six which fits in with our Olympics theme. We decided to go with Olympic sports instead of countries as last year we did Around the World. Luckily they chose pretty quickly, and we now have Swimming, Gymnastics, and Horse Riding. We made a note of who was in each six and then moved onto another part of the new programme.
We chose the 'Magic Moving Postcards' from the Express Myself UMAs. We got the girls into their actual sixes and gave them 15 minutes to come up with whatever they wanted. As leaders, we moved round the room settling small disagreements and giving suggestions. We then got each six to perform their mime and all the other girls had to guess where they had been and what they had done. There were a few slightly tenuous links but we guessed all of them eventually.
We had a few minutes to spare so we decided to play a game to end the meeting. We chose Pirates but decided not to get girls out and treat it as a practice game for the new girls to learn how to play as we didn't have enough time to get all the girls out.
This was a great first meeting back, it is nice to see all the girls again, especially as I have been away at university and haven't seen them as regularly, although there are a lot of new faces and names to learn! Our first foray into the new programme wasn't too bad, but it will take time to get used to having prescribed activities to do rather than free reign to do whatever we want all the time. The girls seemed to enjoy the activities we did, although they did also seem a bit confused to start, but that will work itself out, especially once we have made our sticker chart for the new programme (we have ones for the Adventure badges and they work really well as a visual aid to the girls).
This was our first meeting back after the summer and we thought we would take the time to introduce the girls to the new programme. We are going to be running a bit of a mixture while we, as leaders, get our heads round how it all works but we wanted to get the girls enthused from the beginning and help them understand the different themes a bit more. We also had a Scouting imposter this week - my other half (who's a Beaver Leader) came to the meeting as he is coming on pack holiday with us and we thought it best he meet the girls properly before then!
We started off by explaining to the girls in the pow wow that Guiding had changed the programme, which we told them meant that all the books and badges had changed, but that we would still do the same sorts of things in meetings. We then split them into their sixes and gave each six a pack containing all of the badges (just printed onto paper and cut out) and a badge book. We got them to group them into interest badges, skills builders, and theme awards. We then asked them to pick an interest badge which sounded interesting and find it in the book to decide if they would actually do it after reading the clauses. We had a few problems with them finding the badges in the books but once we pointed out there was a contents page at the front, they were fine! Quite a few, however, didn't understand what part they had to read to see what they had to do and a lot of them said "doI really have to read all of this?!". This was something us as leaders had picked up on when we first opened the books - it is very wordy for some of the younger girls and is not as clear as the old badges what the actual clause is.
We then collected in all the theme awards and put them to one side. The leaders all handed out skills builders and interest badges randomly, one to each girl. They then had to find a partner who had the other part of the theme award (we told them about the 4 hours of activities but didn't include it in the game). Once they were in a pair, one girl with an interest badge, and one with a skills builder, they could go and claim the theme award. We encountered a lot of confusion over which theme the badges were, as there are pale pink, dark pink, and purple ones, and the badges in each theme are not a uniform colour. I had already flagged this as a potential issue, and my suspicions were confirmed in this game! If they could not find a partner, they could go and swap their badge for a different one with a leader. We ended up strategically giving out badges to the last few girls to make sure they found a partner! Once they were in pairs, with a theme award between them, we then told them the requirements for the Brownie Gold badge. We then got them to get into a group of girls who could get the award, i.e. one of each theme award. There was mass confusion for a bit, especially in needing all 6 colours, not just 6 badges, and then we discovered that no one had gained the Express Myself theme award and so no one could get the Gold!
We then told the girls we were going to play a game which was part of the new programme. We chose 'Fox, Frog, Flea', from the Have Adventures UMAs. We gave up trying to explain food webs - the girls had heard of food chains but couldn't grasp the concept that it could be a web instead. We explained the rules - essentially you have 2 teams, they choose to be one of the three animals, each team lines up facing each other down the middle of the room and does the action associated with their animal, and then one chases the other according to the rules on the card with any girls that get caught swapping teams. The game itself went pretty well, although we started off with quite a few rounds which were draws which the girls thought was hilarious. The girls really seemed to enjoy it, but we did have to put a time limit on it instead of playing until all girls were on one team.
We then needed to sort out sixes for pack holiday which is coming up pretty soon. We have 3 sixes which are different to our regular meeting sixes so we named the three sixers and then asked the rest of the girls to split themselves evenly between them. Some years we specific that each six must have a certain number of girls who have been on a pack holiday before in them but this year we only have 5 of the 18 who have been before (of which, 3 are the sixers) so we let them just choose whoever they wanted to be with. They then had to choose a name for their six which fits in with our Olympics theme. We decided to go with Olympic sports instead of countries as last year we did Around the World. Luckily they chose pretty quickly, and we now have Swimming, Gymnastics, and Horse Riding. We made a note of who was in each six and then moved onto another part of the new programme.
We chose the 'Magic Moving Postcards' from the Express Myself UMAs. We got the girls into their actual sixes and gave them 15 minutes to come up with whatever they wanted. As leaders, we moved round the room settling small disagreements and giving suggestions. We then got each six to perform their mime and all the other girls had to guess where they had been and what they had done. There were a few slightly tenuous links but we guessed all of them eventually.
We had a few minutes to spare so we decided to play a game to end the meeting. We chose Pirates but decided not to get girls out and treat it as a practice game for the new girls to learn how to play as we didn't have enough time to get all the girls out.
This was a great first meeting back, it is nice to see all the girls again, especially as I have been away at university and haven't seen them as regularly, although there are a lot of new faces and names to learn! Our first foray into the new programme wasn't too bad, but it will take time to get used to having prescribed activities to do rather than free reign to do whatever we want all the time. The girls seemed to enjoy the activities we did, although they did also seem a bit confused to start, but that will work itself out, especially once we have made our sticker chart for the new programme (we have ones for the Adventure badges and they work really well as a visual aid to the girls).
Monday, 26 October 2015
Pack Holiday 2015 - Day 1
09/10/15
Today was the first day of Pack Holiday! Our theme is Superheroes, and the sixes are called 'Bat Girl', 'Wonder Woman' and 'Hulk'. This year we took 17 girls and 11 leaders (5 Adults, 3 YLs, 2 Guides and an extra Leader's daughter), so we were full to capacity!
We arrived at about 4:30 to set up. We put up all the posters that the girls had made and sorted out all the food. A couple of us then did some school work before the girls arrived, to get some of it out of the way.
The girls arrived at 6pm. Unusually, most of the girls arrived just before then, as they had travelled in convoy as a large group of friends. We only had a couple who were later than that, and no-one got hopelessly lost, which is pretty easy to do since the house is in the middle of some woods!
We got the girls settled in their beds and then started hinting to the parents that now would be a good time to leave. We had one of our newer girls who, once her mum had walked out of the door, started crying. Her mum came back in to comfort her, which possibly wasn't the best idea in the world. It transpired that her torch didn't work and the one mum had offered her instead wasn't good enough for her. I went and got my torch, because I knew I was unlikely to need it, since I have one on my phone too. This made her happy and we could finally start the evening as planned.
We did the usual safety talk about wearing slippers indoors and not running etc, and then gave out the booklets to the girls with some activities that they could do if they were bored, including a colouring page, a wordsearch, a page for all the girls to sign, and a space to write a diary of the weekend, if they wish to do their Brownie Holiday badge, as this is the only part they won't cover just by staying for the whole weekend.
We had a dinner of hot dogs, and the girls made name labels to put on the table. We always make name labels and then, for each meal, we shuffle them up and put them out randomly so that girls are sat next to someone different each meal.
Finally, we let the girls get ready for bed and attempted to get them to go to sleep. They were all really excited though, as usual, so took a long time to settle down. We had a couple who came out of their room because they were feeling unwell (probably the amount of sweets they had eaten!) and the girl who has my torch got a little homesick at one point. When the majority of us leaders went to bed at about 10:30, the girls were still talking a bit, and Brown Owl had to go in and tell them that enough was enough and go to sleep. After that, they were significantly quieter, and went to sleep!
Today was the first day of Pack Holiday! Our theme is Superheroes, and the sixes are called 'Bat Girl', 'Wonder Woman' and 'Hulk'. This year we took 17 girls and 11 leaders (5 Adults, 3 YLs, 2 Guides and an extra Leader's daughter), so we were full to capacity!
We arrived at about 4:30 to set up. We put up all the posters that the girls had made and sorted out all the food. A couple of us then did some school work before the girls arrived, to get some of it out of the way.
The girls arrived at 6pm. Unusually, most of the girls arrived just before then, as they had travelled in convoy as a large group of friends. We only had a couple who were later than that, and no-one got hopelessly lost, which is pretty easy to do since the house is in the middle of some woods!
We got the girls settled in their beds and then started hinting to the parents that now would be a good time to leave. We had one of our newer girls who, once her mum had walked out of the door, started crying. Her mum came back in to comfort her, which possibly wasn't the best idea in the world. It transpired that her torch didn't work and the one mum had offered her instead wasn't good enough for her. I went and got my torch, because I knew I was unlikely to need it, since I have one on my phone too. This made her happy and we could finally start the evening as planned.
We did the usual safety talk about wearing slippers indoors and not running etc, and then gave out the booklets to the girls with some activities that they could do if they were bored, including a colouring page, a wordsearch, a page for all the girls to sign, and a space to write a diary of the weekend, if they wish to do their Brownie Holiday badge, as this is the only part they won't cover just by staying for the whole weekend.
We had a dinner of hot dogs, and the girls made name labels to put on the table. We always make name labels and then, for each meal, we shuffle them up and put them out randomly so that girls are sat next to someone different each meal.
Finally, we let the girls get ready for bed and attempted to get them to go to sleep. They were all really excited though, as usual, so took a long time to settle down. We had a couple who came out of their room because they were feeling unwell (probably the amount of sweets they had eaten!) and the girl who has my torch got a little homesick at one point. When the majority of us leaders went to bed at about 10:30, the girls were still talking a bit, and Brown Owl had to go in and tell them that enough was enough and go to sleep. After that, they were significantly quieter, and went to sleep!
Monday, 19 October 2015
Posters
Apologies for these being a bit behind - life has really got in the way these last few weeks. Stay tuned over the next short while though as I will be getting up-to-date which will involve Pack Holiday and another exciting adventure!
01/10/15
This week the girls coloured in posters for pack holiday. It was a fairly relaxed evening as all I needed to do was to sit with some of the girls and colour in my own picture.
When they were done, we played a quick game of 'Trains' and then sent them home - a nice easy meeting!
01/10/15
This week the girls coloured in posters for pack holiday. It was a fairly relaxed evening as all I needed to do was to sit with some of the girls and colour in my own picture.
When they were done, we played a quick game of 'Trains' and then sent them home - a nice easy meeting!
Monday, 28 September 2015
Badges, Parent's Meeting, and PowWow
24/09/15
I was slightly late to the meeting today so I don't know what they were doing for the first 20 minutes or so but, once I had got there, we handed out their badges for Pack Holiday for them to colour in. I sat on a table with one of the sixes and coloured in my own badge. We then used a machine to turn them into 'proper' badges, which the girls as usual thought was absolutely amazing!
When they were done, we invited the parents in for the parent's meeting for Pack Holiday and we attempted to keep the girls occupied but quiet. One of our Young Leaders ran a PowWow for them, as it was the only thing she had left to complete for her YLQ. She asked them which badge they would like to do over the next term, and had them suggest and then vote on a few activities that they could do as part of it.
Finally, we handed out the teddies to go home with girls, gave a few seconders badges out, and sang Brownie Bells before sending the girls home. It was a fairly peaceful meeting today, which was nice.
I was slightly late to the meeting today so I don't know what they were doing for the first 20 minutes or so but, once I had got there, we handed out their badges for Pack Holiday for them to colour in. I sat on a table with one of the sixes and coloured in my own badge. We then used a machine to turn them into 'proper' badges, which the girls as usual thought was absolutely amazing!
When they were done, we invited the parents in for the parent's meeting for Pack Holiday and we attempted to keep the girls occupied but quiet. One of our Young Leaders ran a PowWow for them, as it was the only thing she had left to complete for her YLQ. She asked them which badge they would like to do over the next term, and had them suggest and then vote on a few activities that they could do as part of it.
Finally, we handed out the teddies to go home with girls, gave a few seconders badges out, and sang Brownie Bells before sending the girls home. It was a fairly peaceful meeting today, which was nice.
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
First meeting, third year!
03/09/15
Apologies that this was a bit late, completely forgot I needed to write it..!
This week was our first meeting back for the new school year. As always, the girls were slightly hyper so we didn't plan on doing anything particularly strenuous! We let them all have a turn for show-and-tell this week (usually we do one six a week) and told them they had to be quick or we'd miss them out.
We started off by playing a game to try and get rid of some of their energy (and to give the Adults and Young Leaders a chance to catch up themselves!). We played the game where you sit in a circle, with one girl in the middle and you call out something such as 'who has a brother' or 'who's wearing blue shoes' and anyone who fits that description has to swap chairs with someone else, and the girl in the middle has to sit down somewhere.
We then split the girls into those who are going on Pack Holiday in October, and those who aren't. The ones who aren't were given some wordsearches and puzzles to do together. We took the ones who are going and split them into sixes. We chose three girls who had been before to be the sixers and then spread out the other girls so they were with friends but we also had a fairly even mix of girls who had and hadn't in each six. They were then tasked with choosing a name for themselves, around our theme of superheroes. Once they had done that, we got them to sit in their sixes and asked the older ones to tell the younger ones what Pack Holiday is like and what things we do, as we have a lot of younger girls who've never been before. The girls got bored discussing that though, and started having their own conversations. I joined in one with a few of the newer girls, which resulted in two of them tying my shoe laces to prove that they could (it took me a while to undo them again later on!).
To end the meeting, we sang a few songs because we realised that we haven't done that in a while and we have a lot of new girls who don't know the songs that we will be singing on Pack Holiday around our campfire. We sang 'Cecil is my Caterpillar', 'Cookie Jar', and 'Three Little Angels' before letting the girls go home.
It was a chaotic meeting, as is usually the case with the first meeting back, but I enjoy those kind of meetings because the girls seem a lot chattier than at the end of a term which is the part I enjoy about Brownies.
Apologies that this was a bit late, completely forgot I needed to write it..!
This week was our first meeting back for the new school year. As always, the girls were slightly hyper so we didn't plan on doing anything particularly strenuous! We let them all have a turn for show-and-tell this week (usually we do one six a week) and told them they had to be quick or we'd miss them out.
We started off by playing a game to try and get rid of some of their energy (and to give the Adults and Young Leaders a chance to catch up themselves!). We played the game where you sit in a circle, with one girl in the middle and you call out something such as 'who has a brother' or 'who's wearing blue shoes' and anyone who fits that description has to swap chairs with someone else, and the girl in the middle has to sit down somewhere.
We then split the girls into those who are going on Pack Holiday in October, and those who aren't. The ones who aren't were given some wordsearches and puzzles to do together. We took the ones who are going and split them into sixes. We chose three girls who had been before to be the sixers and then spread out the other girls so they were with friends but we also had a fairly even mix of girls who had and hadn't in each six. They were then tasked with choosing a name for themselves, around our theme of superheroes. Once they had done that, we got them to sit in their sixes and asked the older ones to tell the younger ones what Pack Holiday is like and what things we do, as we have a lot of younger girls who've never been before. The girls got bored discussing that though, and started having their own conversations. I joined in one with a few of the newer girls, which resulted in two of them tying my shoe laces to prove that they could (it took me a while to undo them again later on!).
To end the meeting, we sang a few songs because we realised that we haven't done that in a while and we have a lot of new girls who don't know the songs that we will be singing on Pack Holiday around our campfire. We sang 'Cecil is my Caterpillar', 'Cookie Jar', and 'Three Little Angels' before letting the girls go home.
It was a chaotic meeting, as is usually the case with the first meeting back, but I enjoy those kind of meetings because the girls seem a lot chattier than at the end of a term which is the part I enjoy about Brownies.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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.
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.
Monday, 27 October 2014
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!
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!
Friday, 24 October 2014
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
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
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Pack Holiday 2014 - Saturday
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.
Monday, 20 October 2014
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!
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!
Monday, 22 September 2014
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...
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!
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