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!
Monday, 19 October 2015
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.
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Board Games and Chocolate
17/09/15
This week there was a picnic to celebrate the 50 birthday of the local primary school, which most of our girls attend. As such, we only had 10 girls. We had asked the girls the previous week who was going to the picnic so we already knew it was going to be a depleted meeting.
We bought 2 board games for the girls to play in groups of 2 or 3. The first was a version of snakes and ladders, called worms and fleas. You jumped up the fleas and slid down the worms. There was also the added complication of pills (don't slide down the next worm you land on) and flea drops (move forwards to the next flea and jump up it). The other was a Paddington Bear game. Each girl had 2 slices of bread and a jar of marmalade (as tokens) which they placed on any square on the track. Each time they rolled the dice they had the choice of going forwards hat many, or backwards (not both). By the end of the track, they had to have collected 2 slices of bread and a jar of marmalade each (not necessarily the ones they had put on the board), so that Paddington could make himself a marmalade sandwich!
At the same time, we decorated chocolate disks. Our Young Leaders melted some chocolate, and spread it in thin disks on greaseproof paper. They let it set a bit and then the girls came in to decorate them with all the left-over decorations we had from various other cooking evenings. We had white chocolate buttons, smarties, and various shaped sprinkles. All the girls were really good at only taking a few, and not just loading it up with as much sugary stuff as possible (as we've had in the past). Can't quite say the same for us Leaders after the girls had gone though, and we were left with some bars of chocolate and a tube of smarties!
When they were all done we played a game of Chinese Charades. We found that it was a good game with fairly short lines of girls; we added in a few leaders and had 2 lines of 6 girls. The girls seemed to enjoy it too. We also sang a couple of songs: 'There Was an Old Man', and 'Cookie Jar'.
Finally we let the girls go home, which was far less complicated with a small number! Sometimes it is nice to have a meeting with a few girls as you get to spend some time with them more one-on-one, however I wouldn't want to do it every week - there are some things that are designed for more people.
This week there was a picnic to celebrate the 50 birthday of the local primary school, which most of our girls attend. As such, we only had 10 girls. We had asked the girls the previous week who was going to the picnic so we already knew it was going to be a depleted meeting.
We bought 2 board games for the girls to play in groups of 2 or 3. The first was a version of snakes and ladders, called worms and fleas. You jumped up the fleas and slid down the worms. There was also the added complication of pills (don't slide down the next worm you land on) and flea drops (move forwards to the next flea and jump up it). The other was a Paddington Bear game. Each girl had 2 slices of bread and a jar of marmalade (as tokens) which they placed on any square on the track. Each time they rolled the dice they had the choice of going forwards hat many, or backwards (not both). By the end of the track, they had to have collected 2 slices of bread and a jar of marmalade each (not necessarily the ones they had put on the board), so that Paddington could make himself a marmalade sandwich!
At the same time, we decorated chocolate disks. Our Young Leaders melted some chocolate, and spread it in thin disks on greaseproof paper. They let it set a bit and then the girls came in to decorate them with all the left-over decorations we had from various other cooking evenings. We had white chocolate buttons, smarties, and various shaped sprinkles. All the girls were really good at only taking a few, and not just loading it up with as much sugary stuff as possible (as we've had in the past). Can't quite say the same for us Leaders after the girls had gone though, and we were left with some bars of chocolate and a tube of smarties!
When they were all done we played a game of Chinese Charades. We found that it was a good game with fairly short lines of girls; we added in a few leaders and had 2 lines of 6 girls. The girls seemed to enjoy it too. We also sang a couple of songs: 'There Was an Old Man', and 'Cookie Jar'.
Finally we let the girls go home, which was far less complicated with a small number! Sometimes it is nice to have a meeting with a few girls as you get to spend some time with them more one-on-one, however I wouldn't want to do it every week - there are some things that are designed for more people.
Monday, 14 September 2015
Friendship Bookmarks
10/09/15
This week we did a craft which was suggested to us by Brown Owl's sister, who did it at a District event with her Brownies.
Each girl was given a printout of her name in bubble writing. They coloured in the letters and decorated round the outside. Then they cut it up so all the letters were separate. We then tasked them with finding people to swap all of their letters with, so they could still spell their own name but with letters that someone else had coloured it. Most of them managed it, we had a 'u', 'z', and 'j' left that we couldn't swap anywhere! We then gave them a piece of coloured card that they could stick their letters to, to make it into a bookmark.
When they were done, we tidied up (which took ages) and then we sang a few songs. We sang 'Oh You'll Never Get To Heaven' and 'Cecil is my Caterpillar'. The District Commissioner also made an appearance at the end of the meeting, to present one of our Young Leaders with her badge and certificate. She then told us about a trip for Senior Section members to London which the group of us who help out at Brownies are going to go on in October (so look out for that post!).
During the circle at the end, I was tasked with handing out receipts to the vast majority of the girls, which was a real test of my knowledge of their names (I only mixed up 2 in the end)!
This week we did a craft which was suggested to us by Brown Owl's sister, who did it at a District event with her Brownies.
Each girl was given a printout of her name in bubble writing. They coloured in the letters and decorated round the outside. Then they cut it up so all the letters were separate. We then tasked them with finding people to swap all of their letters with, so they could still spell their own name but with letters that someone else had coloured it. Most of them managed it, we had a 'u', 'z', and 'j' left that we couldn't swap anywhere! We then gave them a piece of coloured card that they could stick their letters to, to make it into a bookmark.
When they were done, we tidied up (which took ages) and then we sang a few songs. We sang 'Oh You'll Never Get To Heaven' and 'Cecil is my Caterpillar'. The District Commissioner also made an appearance at the end of the meeting, to present one of our Young Leaders with her badge and certificate. She then told us about a trip for Senior Section members to London which the group of us who help out at Brownies are going to go on in October (so look out for that post!).
During the circle at the end, I was tasked with handing out receipts to the vast majority of the girls, which was a real test of my knowledge of their names (I only mixed up 2 in the end)!
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.
Monday, 27 July 2015
End of second year party!
16/07/15
This week was the last meeting of the year. We go back at the beginning of September.
This party was organised by two girls who went up to Guides a few weeks back. All the girls came in their pyjamas with a teddy and a pillow. We shut all the curtains and turned out the lights to make it slightly darker (the curtains are pretty thin so it wasn't dangerously dark).
The girls started off by playing some games and the adults spent most of the time making sure they weren't anywhere near the tables of food we had set out. We only had one minor incident when they had a pillow fight and one girl got a bit close to the table and took out a few crisps! They also had a teddy competition where they lined up all the teddies and had a few leaders choose their favourite to win a prize.
When they were done playing the games, we let them loose on the food. I was quite surprised how many girls took fruit (we always make sure we have some but we don't force it on them). We managed to survive this party without having any spillages either, which might be a first!
Once they were done eating, it was time to hand out some badges and the shield (girls gain points for attending meetings and doing badges, then the one with the most keeps the shield for a term) before wishing them a good summer and sending them home.
This year has been quite bitty for me but it's been nice to see the girls when I've had the chance. I have my fingers crossed that next year my timetable will slightly nicer and I'll be able to help at a unit while I'm at university too - I've definitely been missing it!
This week was the last meeting of the year. We go back at the beginning of September.
This party was organised by two girls who went up to Guides a few weeks back. All the girls came in their pyjamas with a teddy and a pillow. We shut all the curtains and turned out the lights to make it slightly darker (the curtains are pretty thin so it wasn't dangerously dark).
The girls started off by playing some games and the adults spent most of the time making sure they weren't anywhere near the tables of food we had set out. We only had one minor incident when they had a pillow fight and one girl got a bit close to the table and took out a few crisps! They also had a teddy competition where they lined up all the teddies and had a few leaders choose their favourite to win a prize.
When they were done playing the games, we let them loose on the food. I was quite surprised how many girls took fruit (we always make sure we have some but we don't force it on them). We managed to survive this party without having any spillages either, which might be a first!
Once they were done eating, it was time to hand out some badges and the shield (girls gain points for attending meetings and doing badges, then the one with the most keeps the shield for a term) before wishing them a good summer and sending them home.
This year has been quite bitty for me but it's been nice to see the girls when I've had the chance. I have my fingers crossed that next year my timetable will slightly nicer and I'll be able to help at a unit while I'm at university too - I've definitely been missing it!
Monday, 20 July 2015
Team evening in a park
09/07/15
[First off, apologies for this being late; what with visiting the boyfriend and starting a new job, I completely forgot I hadn't written last week's meeting up!]
This week was organised by our YL as part of her YLQ. We joined forces with another unit who meet in a different hall on the same night and did several team-building games in a local field.
First then girls stood in a circle. A ball was given to one girl who had to say a girl's name, throw the ball to that girl and sit down. This continued until all the girls were sat down. We didn't think it would work too well as none of our girls knew any of the other unit's girls but we did eventually get all of them sat down by getting them to ask a girl's name and then throw her the ball. They then all stood back up and were tasked with remembering who they threw the ball to last time and doing it again without having to ask the girl what her name was first. It went relatively well considering it was the first time any of them had met each other. If you are doing this in your unit where everyone knows everyone else, then you can give the ball to the last girl standing and task them with throwing it back to the girl who threw it to them.
The girls were then separated into 3 groups with an even mix of each unit for some other games. One of the games was a blindfolded obstacle course. The girls were split again into 2 teams, with an even number from each unit. One girl (usually a sixer) was in charge of navigation and the rest of her team took it in turn to be blindfolded and guided around the obstacle course (round some cones, stepping over some ropes, through a zigzag) while carrying a cupful of water. When all the girls had been down the course, the amount of water left in each team's cup was measured and a winner declared. The next was a game of charades in their two teams. The final game was a 'how well you know people' type quiz. Each girl had to write a given fact about her (something she likes, something she dislikes, an obscure fact etc.) on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. Each team then took it in turns to pull a piece of paper out the hat and guess which girl had out it in. If they got it right, they got a point for their team, otherwise it was passed over to the other team to have a guess.
Finally, the girls, in their 3 groups, played a game with a ball. All the girls stood in a line, with the one at the front holding the ball. It was then passed over her head to the girl behind, then between her legs to the next girl and so on until it reached the back. The last girl then ran to the front of the line and started again. The winner was the first team to cross a ''finish line' with their whole team. We found it quite hard to stop the girls drifting forwards while the ball was being passed down the line but they were having fun so we didn't mind too much!
Overall, this went relatively smoothly for it being the YLs first taste of planning and running a meeting by herself. We had to give her a few pointers when she'd forgotten something (like a rainy-day plan) but all-in-all she did a great job of organising it. And it was all the better for me as I didn't have to do much and could catch up with a friend who helps at the other unit who I haven't seen for almost a year!
[First off, apologies for this being late; what with visiting the boyfriend and starting a new job, I completely forgot I hadn't written last week's meeting up!]
This week was organised by our YL as part of her YLQ. We joined forces with another unit who meet in a different hall on the same night and did several team-building games in a local field.
First then girls stood in a circle. A ball was given to one girl who had to say a girl's name, throw the ball to that girl and sit down. This continued until all the girls were sat down. We didn't think it would work too well as none of our girls knew any of the other unit's girls but we did eventually get all of them sat down by getting them to ask a girl's name and then throw her the ball. They then all stood back up and were tasked with remembering who they threw the ball to last time and doing it again without having to ask the girl what her name was first. It went relatively well considering it was the first time any of them had met each other. If you are doing this in your unit where everyone knows everyone else, then you can give the ball to the last girl standing and task them with throwing it back to the girl who threw it to them.
The girls were then separated into 3 groups with an even mix of each unit for some other games. One of the games was a blindfolded obstacle course. The girls were split again into 2 teams, with an even number from each unit. One girl (usually a sixer) was in charge of navigation and the rest of her team took it in turn to be blindfolded and guided around the obstacle course (round some cones, stepping over some ropes, through a zigzag) while carrying a cupful of water. When all the girls had been down the course, the amount of water left in each team's cup was measured and a winner declared. The next was a game of charades in their two teams. The final game was a 'how well you know people' type quiz. Each girl had to write a given fact about her (something she likes, something she dislikes, an obscure fact etc.) on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. Each team then took it in turns to pull a piece of paper out the hat and guess which girl had out it in. If they got it right, they got a point for their team, otherwise it was passed over to the other team to have a guess.
Finally, the girls, in their 3 groups, played a game with a ball. All the girls stood in a line, with the one at the front holding the ball. It was then passed over her head to the girl behind, then between her legs to the next girl and so on until it reached the back. The last girl then ran to the front of the line and started again. The winner was the first team to cross a ''finish line' with their whole team. We found it quite hard to stop the girls drifting forwards while the ball was being passed down the line but they were having fun so we didn't mind too much!
Overall, this went relatively smoothly for it being the YLs first taste of planning and running a meeting by herself. We had to give her a few pointers when she'd forgotten something (like a rainy-day plan) but all-in-all she did a great job of organising it. And it was all the better for me as I didn't have to do much and could catch up with a friend who helps at the other unit who I haven't seen for almost a year!
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