Girls in the Lead

One of the challenges that our girls have been working on is International Day of the Girl. The girls have had the opportunity to talk about female role models, and why we need girls in the lead.  For one of the activities to the challenge, they were able to create postcards that included words and pictures on why they think it is important to have girls in the lead.   Here is some of the ideas that they have come up with.

WOW! We've been busy

It has definitely been a while since the last post.   Our girls have been very busy with lots of activities in the community, becoming a brownie and completing badges and challenges.  The past couple of months the girls have been learning their Brownie promise.  They did a fabulous job in learning it, and now all them are officially Brownies.

To recap the past couple of months here is a summary of all the activities that have been done.

One of the keys that the girls have been working is Key to the Community. The goal of this keys to teach the girls about their community and allow them to get involved.   We talked about types of things are in a neighborhood, what other types of neighborhood there is, and jobs that are in the community. The girls were able to create their own community on pieces of construction paper.   They also created posters that illustrated different types of jobs in the community.  In the Spring, we will hopefully be taking a walk to the Local Library in the neighborhood for a fun field trip and to  take a walk in our community.

Before Thanksgiving, our girls learned about diversity and how everybody has differences and abilities.  We focused of learning a little of different types of disabilities and experiencing what they can be like.  We began by passing around different paper dolls.  The girls named what differences they had and the similarities that they had with the doll.   Then, each doll went around but they had to name one thing that a person with a disability can do that they like to do.   The options were endless for them to choose from.  We discussed various types of disabilities that the girls asked about it.  Some of the activities that the girls got to do we're putting mittens on their hands and attempting to pick up as many pennies as possible for a physical disability such as Cerebral Palsy.  They read a book backwards and upside down for dyslexia.  Lastly, the girl's favorite activity was being able to blindfold a partner   The other partner had to guide and give direction.  They had fun guiding their friends and getting a small glimpse of what it is like to be visually impaired or blind.   The message that I wanted for the girls to take out of this meeting is that everybody is different and different talents that shine through.

What is a Halloween without at least one party to celebrate the only Holiday where anyone gets to dress up in any costume and get candy.  Our Sparks joined us for this event.  The girls painted their own pumpkins, wrapped a ghost in gauze and make little jack o'lanterns out of baby food jars.  They also got to have their face painted and snack on some sugary treats.

This year, we completed the International Day of the Girl Challenge. We focused on girl empowerment and what it means to be a girl for the first half of the meeting.   The girls created posters in groups about what it means to them to be a girl, and were also asked to draw anything that girls can do.  Some of the ideas were: skating, playing hockey, becoming a teacher, becoming a doctor, skateboarding and many more.   In a discussion, the talked about being able to become engineers, and construction workers when they are older. One of the girls suggested that they would like to be an astronaut.

Here are some of the posters that the girls created:

It has been a busy year so far, tonight we will be getting ready for Christmas by having a Christmas round robin of crafts and maybe a couple treats to go home with.  Stay tuned for posts about the outings that we have been on so far, and maybe some craft and games ideas to take back to different units.   There are new badges posted on the badge challenge page.  Feel free to complete the badges over the Holiday break and bring them back to present to the unit in the new year.   

Learning about Brownies and the Community

The excitement grew as each Brownie walked in the door for the meeting this past Monday. The girls were taught a game called “I wrote a letter to my love.”  The girls enjoyed walking around the circle, and dropping the puppy`s notes behind someone and be chased until she was able to sit in the empty spot in the circle.   We also learned a new song this called Canadian Girl Guides. I wrote it on a chart paper so the girls could follow along with the words.  They loved the song especially when they were allowed to yell BANG at the end of the 2^nd verse.  After our opening activities, Snowy Owl read the Brownie story to the girls.   It is a story about how two friends discover how they can be brownies by lending a hand to others and being kind.  We learned how to the grand howl.

How to do the Brownie Howl:

To do the Brownie Howl start with squatting down, knees bent, arms between your legs with two fingers of each hand touching the floor. At the same time everybody say “Tu-whit, tu-whit, tu-whoo softly. Rise a little, and then return to the squatting position.  Then, everybody rise again a little higher and repeat Tu-whit, tu-whit, tu-whoo. Rise a third time, even higher. Say only “Tu-whit, tu-whit,” but louder. Then leap in the air and clap your hand above your head as you yell, “Tu-whoo”!

One of the keys this year that we are focusing is Key to the Community.  To get started we asked the girls what country they lived in and what the flag looked like. Then, we asked them to draw it as well as 6 different jobs people can have in the community. Some of the ones that they came up with police, firemen, a paramedic, a doctor, a post woman, and a teacher. 

Congratulations to the girls that completed their smile girl badge this week.  Badges are very easy, and fun to do for the girls.  On the page that says Badge Challenges there are the requirements to complete the badge.  If you finish the requirements, bring in what you have done, and you present the badge.  

After everything was cleaned up and put away, we did our Brownie closing and said good-night for the night.

For the lyrics to Canadian Girl Guides and game description/rules of “I wrote a letter to my love” see Activities.

Key to Brownies

It was another exciting meeting this week.  The girls completed most of their Key to Brownies, and played more get to know you games. We started off with a game of Brownie, Brownie, Guide.  It is played exactly like duck duck goose, except we say Brownie for duck and Guide for goose.  

The girls learned how to do the Brownie opening around the toadstool and broke into their circle groups to choose their circle name from the Brownie program book and then, practice circle song.   They picked: Leprechauns, Fairies, Sprites, and Pixies.  

Brownie opening: Twit-twuo, Twit Twuo, We're the brownies, here's our aim. Lend a hand and play our game.   This is done twice.

 As a group, we practiced once more the whole opening by starting with their circle songs, then the Brownie opening and finished by teaching them the promise, law and motto.   The girls explained to us that a promise is something you keep; a law is something that you have to follow- such as treating others the way you want to be treated, or being honest and kind.  A motto is something you live by.  In Brownies they will live by helping others around them. 

As we were talking to the girls about the Brownie program and explaining that they could earn badges by completing the requirements in the book. One of the girls asked how hard the badges were.   Brown Owl said they were easy and then read them Pet Pals. She went around the circle so each Brownie could talk about their pet, what they need to do to take care of it and keep it healthy. She asked them if they've ever been to the humane society or the animal hospital.  After all the girls hands went up, and they all talked about their pets, she let them know that they just earned their first Brownie badge.   The girls were very excited.  All of the leaders encouraged them to work on their badges at home to earn more.  

We finished off with the Brownie closing and then said good night until next week.

                            

Start to an Exciting New Year!

Hello September and Welcome the start of another great Guiding year. 

I can not wait to see what fun adventures we have to come this year.   I enjoyed seeing all of my Brownies smiling faces running into the meeting last week.The first meeting is always chaotic, everybody is excited to see each other after a long summer break and ready to meet their new friends.

We began the meeting by introducing ourselves, and playing a get to know you game.  The girls found someone they didn’t know to partner up with. Then, they took turns sharing three things about themselves.  Then, they shared what they learned about their partner with the whole group.  Then, the girls created their own name tags, and designed a picture of themselves for their scrapbooks. After they were done, they were able to go see Ruby and Brown Owl to make an Owl pin.  They turned out so cute. 

The excitement grew when we started to talk about what were going to do in Brownies for the year. Some of the ideas were to go camping, fly to the moon, do crafts, and make your own Brownie.    Then, we announced the end of the year trip.  All of the Brownies cheered and jumped up and down when they found out that if they sell lots of cookies we will be going to Rally Day on May 31^st, 2014 at Canada`s Wonderland!  

It is going to be an exciting year, and can`t wait to see what it has store for us.