New Girlguiding Programme - an index of skills builder cards and unit meeting activity cards

With the launch of the new programme comes a plethora of 'activity cards' for the prescribed Unit Meeting Activities that must be done, as well as for the prescribed Skills Biulder Activities.

With 12 UMA cards per pack (3 packs available), and 5 Skills Builder Activity Cards per level, per topic, per theme, we have a LOT of A4 cards to 'scan' through when planning.

Skills Builders:

There are 6 stages (levels) -
* Rainbows = 1,2
* Brownies = 2,3
* Guides = 3,4,5
* Rangers = 5,6

Each of the 6 themes has 2 topics at each level, and 5 activities to complete at each level

This means for Level 3, we have 6 themes x 2 topics x 5 activities = 60 cards at level 3, and the same at level 4, and level 5.

OR if you think if it in themes, we have
Express Myself theme, has 2 topics "Communicate" and "Innovate"
* Communicate stage 3 has 5 activities
* Innovate stage 3 has 5 activities
* Communicate stage 4 has 5 activities
* Innovate stage 4 has 5 activities

* Communicate stage 5 has 5 activities
* Innovate stage 5 has 5 activities

On top of that there are compulsory Unit Meeting Activities (a guide must do 5 hours of these per theme, in order to get the theme award, as well as the SB level and an interest badge).  

So, all in all, a LOT of different activities to try and fit in over a 2-3 year rolling programme. It feels like a planning nightmare, trying to ensure that 24 girls at 3 different stages, cover all elements required for the badge, as well as ensuring the programme is sufficiently girl-led (despite the prescriptive approach of the new activities), varied, and caters for the individual.

To try and help with this, i've collated key information from each activity card into a summary index spreadsheet which tells me what the activities at each level and topic are, the timing/duration, what resources are required, what space (indoor or outdoor) is needed, and any comments or concerns I have. 

If you want to have a look at my efforts, you can download the SB and UMA Index spreadsheet from here - be warned, it's not pretty and contains many typos.

Over the coming weeks and months, I will be adding information about the minimum number of girlrs required to run each activity, and whether a leader is required (many activities DO need leader input and DO need larger numbers, despite the blurb on the GG website telling us these are brilliant for small groups, and designed to be self-led.  

If you've got any suggestions or corrections, plesae do let me know!


DOWNLOAD LINK: SB and UMA Index spreadsheet 

New Girlguiding Programme - record sheets for girls older guides, and for those who lose their badge books

So, Girlguiding has launched a new programme For Every Girl, from Rainbows up to Rangers. Here is the official overview. 

Guides will now all have to buy  a new Badge Book which contains all of the clauses for the interest badges, and to record all of their progress.  However, I know that most of these will get lost/mislaid within the first couple of weeks of owning them, and at £8 a shot, I can't see parents replacing them very often.  

So with help and inspiration from another guider, i've put together a record sheets on which girls can record their progress on a single page. These will be left in our patrol boxes in the hall, so less chance of losing them. Also means i can take them all home a the end of term and update the GO records accordingly.






Guides who complete a Skills Builder level in all 6 themes, plus an interest badge in all 6 themes, plus 5 hours worth of unit meeting activities in all 6 themes, are eligible to start the Guides Gold Award Challenge. If they complete this, they are awarded the Gold Award.  

It is intended that with the new programme, it will take girls 2-3 years to achieve the Gold Award. With this in mind, girls who have achieved 2 Guide Challenge Badges (ie. been in guides for at least 2 years), and have less than 2 years left in guiding (i.e. aged 12 or above) have some alternative ways to achieve the Gold Award.

For girls who have completed 10 (or nearly 10) of their BP clauses by July 2019, they can then do the Gold Award Challenge instead of a BP Adventure, and be awarded the Gold Award (instead of the BP Award).








For girls who have not started the BP, or don't want to continue with BP clauses for the next year, they can do 2 skils builer stage badges (in different themes), plus new interest badges (1 in each of 3 themes), followed by the Guides Gold Award Challenge.  They will then be awarded the Gold Award.










DOWNLOAD LINK: Doc and PDF versions of these files are here, if you want them.

UM16 BP International Evening

Our four BP girls wanted to organise an International Evening for the unit. The Zone 2 (Global Awareness) clause says:

"With your Patrol, organise an international evening with games, crafts, food or music and dance."
Our BP Guides decided that they wanted a theme of 'International Food'. With a unit of 30, and having already done a cooperative games evening (and seen how difficult it was to get 40 lively guides to listen to them and follow instructions), they went off to plan a couple of weeks ago.

Last week they came back with their plan to have four stations, with each group visiting a station for 15 minutes, with one girl planning and running their own station. They had agreed as a group what stations (based on what they thought would be enjoyable, could fit into the time and facilities, would work with the number of girls, AND would fit well with the other stations). They did this independently away from the unit - online chat, i think - and came back with their shopping lists if need be.

We had found out during the weeks before that two local schools had school shows and parents evenings on, so we knew numbers would be down to around 22. But on the day itself, we got lots of texts from other parents saying girls were also unable to come due to parents evenings, school discos, and shows, etc....which meant we were left with only 11 girls. I will admit, I was a little disappointed at the last minute notifications (but i understand how it happens). I really don't mind that girls don't come every week, but almost all of the cancellations were down to things that were planned several weeks ago, so it would have been nice to know about these before we had done all the shopping (all edible stuff, mostly non-keepable). And i was also aware that our BP girls might be disappointed with the turnout, giving all the hard work they had put in.

On the night....well, yes, i think there was initially a bit of dismay from a two of our most 'leadery' BP girls ("where is everyone? why haven't they come?")...but that was soon forgotten once they realised that it was going to be a lot more fun and a lot less work than they had anticipated! We were able to have music on in the background, we didn't need to do any 'crowd control', and didn't once have to put our hands up to get people to listen!

We had a fantastic evening! The guides who were there had a fabulous time, and had the time (and resources available) to do extras of activities they enjoyed, and spend more time than they would otherwise have had. We were impressed the leadership and creativeness shown by our BP girls, and their ability to organise and plan. They all enjoyed running their activities, and agreed that actually, it was a lot easier with smaller numbers.

The activities they ran were

• Making and decorating (and eating!) cake-pops from America, along with an american themed quiz and colouring activity.
• Decorating German Gingerbread men
• An international blind food tasting (guess the food!)
• Mehndi from Asia, using chocolate writing icing tubes

Games - Virus Attack

Taken from the Facebook 'Guide Leader Support' Group and from here http://youthgroupgames.com.au/games/505/molecule/

Viral Attack!

From http://youthgroupgames.com.au/games/505/molecule/ & using tasks from various '20 things in 20 minutes' etc.

Premise:

There is an underground criminal organisation who are plotting a chemical attack to release a virus which will turn everyone into sheep and allow them to take over the world!  Our only chance of survival is to find and make the antidote.

The problem is the person who has made the antidote is the Mad Scientist, and she is hiding it. 
You may visit the Mad Scientist more than once but only one patrol member can see the antidote at a time, and only for 20 seconds at a time.

Your mission is to visit various scientists to get the various atoms which you will use to replicate the antidote exactly.  You get atoms by completing challenges with each scientist.

Each scientist will give you a task to complete before they can help you and you will have to visit them more than once.  Your patrol must stick together and the whole team must complete the task before your team receives their atom.


Be quick – you must assemble the antidote before the virus is released! 

Time: Roughly 2 hours including eating and clear up


Number: Any number of patrols

Roles

• Mad Scientist (holds the virus antidote)
• Other scientists (hold several challenges, each, and the 'prize' atom for each challenge)

Equipment: 

Tea bags, balloons, book, pens, paper, scissors, sellotape, satsumas, ball, sweets, cocktail sticks, names of all the Queens of Scotland, container for each patrol to put sweets collected in.


We used Sainsburys 3 for £1 sweets and bought a selection.  

• Midget Gems, 
• Jelly Beans, 
• White marshmallows, 
• cola bottles, 
• fizzy straws, 
• strawberry laces, 
• fizzy fang, 
• gummy lips, 
• gummy teeth, 
• ice cream cone, 
• dolly mixture, 
• pink marshmallow, 
• cola lace, 
• foam shrimp, 

How It Works

Leaders create the antidote by sticking sweets together using cocktail sticks to look like a chemical structure.   The Mad Scientist keeps the antidote hidden.

The rest of the sweets are for the patrols to earn while doing the challenges.  Leaders/Scientists keep these hidden.

There are 41 challenges divided between the leaders/scientists, each challenge earns a different sweet.

Girls visit leaders in turn to do the tasks and earn sweets towards their antidote.  They don't know what they earn until after they had completed the task so some patrols ended up with more/less of a type of sweet than was needed for the antidote.

Once the girls had gained what they thought were the right sweets then they had to put them together correctly – we did confiscate one phone from a clever guide who thought 'photographic memory' was take a photo of what it's meant to look like! We just gave out the cocktail sticks but you could make it harder and make them earn them too.

Girls may have to do some challenges multiple times based on what sweet are in the antidote.

Girls must finish 10 minutes before the end of the meeting – when the virus is released. If they have accurately made the antidote they are safe. If the antidote was only part assembled then the virus takes over, they are unable to speak and have to 'baa' for the rest of Guides.

Tasks:

1. Write down the 3rd clause of the 'craft' badge – to earn a fizzy straw **pen/paper** 
2. Make a plait – to earn a midget gem
3. Draw a corgi – to earn a jelly bean **pen/paper**
4. Find out who can do the best evil witch laugh in your patrol – to earn a coke bottle 
5. Sing a song to a different tune – to earn a white marshmallow 
6. Write down four World Guiding Centres – to earn a jelly bean **pen/paper**
7. Give someone a hug – to earn a coke bottle
8. Make a party hat – to earn a fizzy straw **pen/paper/scissors/sellotape**
9. Sing the first verse of your favourite campfire song – to earn an ice cream cone 
10. Draw a bike – to earn a jelly bean **pen/paper**
11. Draw a map of the building – to earn a milk bottle **pen/paper**
12. Write down an animal for each letter of the alphabet – to earn a midget gem **pen/paper**
13. Get out a table, put it up properly and put it away properly – to earn a jelly bean **table**
14. Write down the Guide promise – to earn a jelly bean **pen/paper**
15. Peel a satsuma without breaking the peel – to earn a fizzy fang **satsuma**
16. Get half your patrol upside down – to earn a fizzy fang
17. Make a table decoration – to earn a fizzy straw **pen/paper/scissors/sellotape** 
18. Balance a book on your head from one end of the room to the other – to earn a foam banana **book**
19. Make a pyramid at least 2x the heigh of a piece of A4 – to earn a coke lace **pen/paper/scissors/sellotape**
20. Write down the Guide Laws – to earn a flying saucer **pen/paper**
21. Find the sum of the current ages of everyone in the patrol – to earn a jelly bean
22. Put the Queens of Scotland in the correct order – to earn a foam shrimp
23. Stay still and silent for a minute – to earn a milk bottle
24. Do 10 star jumps – to earn an ice cream cone
25. Name 10 Guide interest badges – to earn a jelly bean
26. Sing the National Anthem – to earn a gummy lips
27. Say “Hello, I am ______ and I like ______” in French or Spanish – to earn a gummy teeth
28. Make a cup of tea – to earn a gummy lips **tea bags**
29. Draw a portrait of the Mad Scientist – to earn a gummy teeth **pen/paper**
30. Make me laugh – to earn a midget gem
31. Say the alphabet backwards – to earn a strawberry lace
32. Throw and catch a ball 10 times at least 4m apart – to earn a dolly mixture **ball** 
33. Tie 3 bows – to earn a dolly mixture
34. Quack like a duck for a minute – to earn a dolly mixture
35. Get your patrol to form a zoo-scape – to earn a dolly mixture
36. Human pyramid – to earn a pink marshmallow
37. Draw the Guide badge – to earn a dolly mixture **pen/paper**
38. Give someone a compliment – to earn a dolly mixture
39. Sing the Narwhal song – to earn a fizzy straw 
40. Get me a glass of water – to earn a strawberry lace
41. Blow up a balloon – to earn a midget gem **balloon**

Queens of Scotland

• Joan of England
• Euphemia de Ross 
• Mary of Guelders Margaret of Denmark Margaret Tudor 
• Mary, Queen of Scots Anne of Denmark Henrietta Maria Catherine of Braganza Anne Hyde
• Mary II
• Anne I
• Sophia Dorothea
• Caroline of Brandenburg Charlotte de Mecklenburg Caroline of Brunswick Adelaide
• Victoria I
• Alexandria of Denmark Mary of Teck
• Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Elizabeth II 
• Margaret of Norway (not technically a Queen but a good place to start!!) Isabella de Warenne
• Anabella Drummond Joan Beaufort
• Mary of Guise

Games ideas - quick games

The Knot

Everyone stands in a tight circle, closes their eyes, and puts their arms up in front of them, then joins hands with TWO different people opposite them in the circle. Then they have to open their eyes and untangle themselves without breaking hands, to form a circle.  Sometimes people end up back-to-front, or sometimes with 2 separate circles - this is fine.

The Mummy

Each team of three has toilet rolls.  Two people have to wrap the third person in bandages to look like a mummy. The winning team is the best-wrapped mummy in a set time, e.g. 3 minutes.

Port and Starboard

Girls run around. Leader calls out actions – last ones out. Calls
  Port - run to the left hand side of the room
  Starboard - run to the right hand side of the room
  Climb up the rigging – pretend to climb up a rope
  Down in the hold - crouch down
  Scrub the decks - pretend to scrub the decks
  On the look out - look out through the telescope
  Captain’s coming – salute
  Dance the hornpipe - dance a hornpipe
  Ship's sinking - get into a straight line down the centre of the
room 

Beans

The leader calls out various types of beans and the girls perform the correct action.

•   Runner Beans - run around
•   Jumping Beans - jump
•   Baked Beans - lie out in the sun
•   Chilli beans - shiver
•   Frozen Beans - Stand still
•   Broad Beans - Stand with legs as far apart as possible
•   French Beans - say "Oh La La!"
  Last one doing the action is out 

Name that animal

Each girl has a sheet of paper and pen. Read out an instruction for them to draw, such as ‘has 4 large feet’ and each girl draws that, then passes her paper to the left.
They then draw the next instruction such as ‘has a long neck’ on the new sheet. Carry on passing until all clues are done.
Look at the finished pictures and identify the animal e,g, giraffe 

Sleeping Lions

All but one girl is a sleeping lion, and lies on the floor with their eyes closed.
The one who is on moves around the rest, trying to make them move or laugh. She is not allowed to touch them, but can tell jokes or try to trick them into moving.
Any that do move get up and join her, trying to get the others to move

Duster hockey
You will need: a duster, a piece of fabric or beanbag. Hockey sticks made from rolled up news paper. Something to mark 2 goals.
Split girls into 2 teams and have them line up on
either side of the 'field'. Number the girls in each
team. Place the duster in the middle. When their

number is called girls run forward and try to score a goal. The team with the most goals wins.

0. 
   

1. Fizz Buzz

 You were named after someone  You like to sing
 You prefer books to movies
 You play a musical instrument
 You like to play a sport  You prefer milk
chocolate to white Chocolate  You have travelled somewhere
on a train this year
 You want to join Guides when
you’re old enough  You like to dance

Players sit in a circle. The player to go first says the number "1", and each player after adds one number in

turn. However, any number divisible by three is replaced by the word fizz and any divisible by five by the

word buzz. Numbers divisible by both become fizz buzz. A player who hesitates or makes a mistake is out. A simpler alternative game is any number that contains 3 or 5.
For example, a typical round of fizz buzz would start as follows:
1, 2, Fizz, 4, Buzz, Fizz, 7, 8, Fizz, Buzz, 11, Fizz, 13, 14, Fizz Buzz,

16, 17, Fizz, 19, Buzz, Fizz, 22, 23, Fizz, Buzz, 26, Fizz, 28, 29, Fizz Buzz, 31, 32, Fizz, 34, Buzz, Fizz, ...

Sculptor

Girls line up in two rows facing each other.
Girls in one row are the sculptor. Girls in the other row are the marble.

The sculptor can change one part of the statue each time, and has six moves to make the marble into a funny statue. Girls then change roles.

All the same

Give each girl a sheet of A4 paper. Call out the following instructions. No one is allowed talk and all must do
the same thing.
1. FOLD YOUR PAPER IN HALF
2. FOLD THIS DIAGONALLY 3. RIP OFF A CORNER
4. FOLD IN HALF AGAIN
5. FOLD IT ONE THIRD
6. RIP OFF A CORNER

Ask everyone to unfold their sheet of paper - Isn’t it strange how everyone ended up with a different result? 

Programme planning and girl-led guiding

Last term (and last week again), we asked the girls for ideas on what they wanted to do:  Four A3 sheets pinned up around the hall, and a big stack of postit notes divided up between the patrols.  The four sheets were titled:

• Badges & GFIs
• Activities in the hall (crafts, cooking, skills)
• Visitors or Trips
• Games to play

The girls were allowed to write their ideas (individually) on post-it notes and stick them onto the appropriate sheet.  They were also allowed to write 'Not...' if there's something the didn't want to do.

We got equal numbers of 'More Craft' and 'Not Craft', and equal numbers of 'More sport' and 'not sport' - so we'll include one session of each in our term plan (and perhaps in the summer months, split the unit in two for some sessions where some can do craft, and some can do sporty things outside, if we have enough adults.

The overwhelming votes were for 'Chocolate' (appeared on all four boards, many many times), and visits to a trampolining centre.  So, we're doing the Chocolate GFI this term and will arrange a trip to one of the trampolining centres.  And, in the interests of a balanced and varied programme, (and because a very kind friend has offered to come and do a CPR and emergency first aid training session for free) we're working through the first aid badge.

As well as these our badge and GFI for the spring term, we've also got 4 BP girls who want to run various sessions as part of BP Clauses, so we've allowed time in the plan for these. They include

- an international evening

- a celebration of a festival from another culture (chinese new year)

- a 'peace and relaxation' session (good luck with that one, will be a challenge)

- a patrol cooking competition

With this lot, plus a trip out to the trampolining centre, I think we'll be covering all of our five areas:

• Healthy Lifestyles – develop your mind, body and soul. It’s all about keeping healthy and happy.
• Celebrating diversity - meet new people and get involved in things going on in your area.
• Global Awareness – make the world a better place.
• Discovery – have new experiences and adventures.
• Skills and Relationships – build on your personal and life skills.

And all of the sessions will be based upon the 5 essentials

1. Work together in small groups
2. Govern themselves and make their own decisions
3. Have a balanced & varied programme
4. Care for the individual
5. Share a commitment to a common standard

AKA

1. G - Groups - working in small groups
2. U - Uniformity in a common standard
3. I - Individual - care for the individual 
4. D - Decisions - Making their own!
5. E - Exciting - balanced and varied programme

AKA

1. M - Making Decisions (girl-led guiding)
2. A - Activities (balanced and varied programme)
3. G - Groups (working in a variety of groups)
4. I - Individual (care and choices)
5. C - Commitment to a common standard (promise, law, unit rules, etc)

Games Ideas - Large Teams

Skinning the snake

Everyone stands in a line, with legs apart. The right hand is passed between the legs and linked with the left hand of person behind. The person at the back starts to crawl through the legs of those in front, and the others follow, without letting go, until everyone is standing in a line.

Over and Under - ball passing
Girls get into lines of approx 10 girls, each line has a ball, e.g. a football or large foam ball.
Front person passes ball between legs to 2nd, 2nd passes over head behind to 3rd, third passes between legs to 4th, etc.   The last person in the line gets the ball and runs to the front, and they repeat. The winning team is the first to get their original 'leader' to the front again.

Poop the Potato.
Form two teams, with a potato for each player. 

Put a bucket or small trash can at the goal line. Each person places their potato between their thighs. The object is for each team member to hobble down to their bucket and drop the potato into it. They may not use their hands except to reposition the potato between their legs if it should fall too soon.
The first team to "poop" all their potatoes in their bucket wins.



Malteser Game

GET READY
- Buy some maltesers: you'll need a few packets becuase people eat loads of them!
- Put them in a bowl in the middle of the group
- Each person needs a straw and a cup
- You also need one dice.

PLAY
Someone starts by rolling the dice. It keeps going round until someone rolls a six.
When they do, they have to try and get as many maltesers into their cup using just the straw, by sucking the maltesers.
They keep doing this until another person rolls a six and starts sucking instead.

It's so much fun because as you are trying to suck the maltesers you keep laughing at your other mates who keep trying to get a six but can't. It makes it very difficult.

Games Ideas - Full Unit Games

Zip Zap Boing!
People sit round in a circle.  One person begins by looking in a direction and saying 'zip' the next person then says zip and it continues round in a circle.

The next command is boing (difficult to type, as in the sound a spring makes.) This changes the direction of the zip and so it continues back round in the opposite direction.
Finally Zap. Zap throws the 'zip' across the circle. The person who says zap points to who they want to have the zip. The receiver then looks in the direction they wish to continue play and the zip moves on.
Here comes the fun part!You can't boing a boing, you can't zap a zap, you can't boing a zap or zap a boing you can only zip a zap and zip a boing! Simple right? 
Fantastically fun game once people have mastered it!

 Beans

Can be played with any number.

The Guider calls out various types of beans and the girls perform the correct action.

• Runner Beans – run around 
• Jumping Beans – jump 
• Baked Beans – lie out in the sun
• Chilli Beans – shiver
• Frozen Beans – Stand still
• Broad Beans – Stand with legs as far apart as possible
• French Beans – say “Oh La La!”
• String Beans – stand still, arms straight up.
• Dwarf Beans – squat down
• Has Beans – fall on the floor 

Band aid Tag

Each girl has two Band-Aids (her 2 hands). When tagged by another girl she covers the tagged spot with a Band-Aid. If she is tagged and has no more Band-Aids, she sits down.

Set the game boundaries for the group. In this game all girls with a free hand (available Band-Aid) are IT. When game starts, all players try to tag the others. The objective is to be the last standing player. You can introduce other variations (ways to administer ‘first aid’ to those sitting so they can re-enter the game, such as tapping on head, perhaps also saying the girl’s name).

Duck-Duck-Goose

Sit the girls in a circle. One girl walks around the outside of the circle, tapping each girl on the head saying “duck, duck…” At some point she changes the name to “Goose!” The “goose” must get up and chase the caller around the circle. The first of the two of them to get back to the place where the “goose” was sitting gets to sit back down, and the other then must go around the circle again, tapping each girl on the head saying “duck, duck, GOOSE!”

Frogs and Ants

This is a large group tag game. In a group of 30 or so, assign 5 frogs to be “IT” and the rest of the players are ants. Designate the playing area, including a safe zone (the ant colony). Start the game by having the ants run around the playing area. The object of the game is for the frogs to touch the ants. Once an ant is touched, it must lay on its back with both arms and both legs in the air. This cry for help signals FOUR ants to rescue their fellow ant. A rescue is successful if four ants (all arriving at the same time) can carry their fellow ant to the safety of the colony where it is reborn to play again. The four rescue ants must arrive at the injured ant at the same time and start working or risk being touched by a frog and becoming injured ants themselves. If there are four ants attached and working at the same time, they cannot be touched by a frog. The working ants must transport the injured ant to the safe area (colony) where all can then rejoin the game in progress.

Penguin Tag

Girls must keep their knees together and elbows glued to the side of their bodies. Everyone is ‘it’ – you tag others by waddling over and tagging them lightly with your flippers. Fun to watch & fun to do!

	Pass it on!
Duration: five minutesSections: allWhat you need: a ball, balloon or beanbag

Try these quick throwing, catching and relay games to fill a spare five minutes and burn off some energy! They are also a great way to develop skills.
In a circle: Throw the ball as quickly as possible across the circle, saying the person's name as you throw the ball. Use a number of balls to make this more difficult, or challenge the participants to do an action before they catch the ball, perhaps spin around or kneel down.
As a relay: In teams stand in lines and pass the ball over head and under legs as a relay - the person at the front who receives the ball last runs to the back and the winners are the team that have the original person back in front first. Alternatively get the girls to pass the ball using your elbows, knees or feet. Use a water balloon or a plastic cup of water to add a bit of drama!
Target practice: Use a container like an empty bin or you could use a skipping rope to make a circle shape on the floor and set up a start line. Give each girl three turns and the challenge is to get all three into the target. If it gets too easy, move the target further away or use a smaller container.
Human croquet: Ask one girl per team to be a croquet hoop. The team's aim is to roll the ball through their team-mate's legs, once each, as quickly as possible in a relay. If a team member misses, they have to go and collect the ball and try again. Once one person has played, it's their turn to be the croquet hoop. 

	Human knot
Duration: up to ten minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior Section

This game is quick, but not so easy and helps the girls to practise working in a team. 

1. Ask girls to form a circle, all holding hands. 
2. Choose one patrol or six to step outside the circle and close their eyes. 
3. Give the rest of the group two minutes to make the biggest human knot that they can by moving around in the circle. They should hold hands all the time. 
4. Ask the patrol to open their eyes and try to untangle the human knot by directing the girls in the circle. It often proves difficult! 

	Sausage – who can keep a straight face?
Duration: five minutes Sections: all

This is another fun game to get the girls laughing!

1. Ask one girl to be the volunteer. 
2. She stands in the middle of the circle. 
3. The others take turns to ask her questions, to which she can only answer 'sausage' (or any other word you choose). 
4. If she laughs, she's out! Swap places and give everyone a chance to have a go! 

Pairs

Duration: five minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior SectionWhat you need: cards or slips of paper with matching pairs on them. The pairs should be separated and shuffled. 

The aim of this game is to find your matching partner.

1. Hand out one card to each girl. 
2. They must then find their matching partner. 
3. They should then sit down and wait for the rest of the group to get into pairs. 

Me too!

Duration: until they get bored or run out of questions! Sections: Brownies, GuidesWhat you need: one chair per person

Most getting-to-know-you games focus on what is different about everyone. This game will help your girls to realise that they are alike in many ways.

1. Ask each girl to get a chair and arrange them in a circle, facing inwards. One girl should be without a chair and standing in the middle of the circle. 
2. The girl in the middle shouts out a statement such as, ‘I have two sisters’. If that is true of someone sitting down, they should stand up and shout, ‘Me too!’ 
3. The girls who have stood up and shouted, and the girl who was standing in the middle, must then run around and find a different chair to sit on. 
4. The girls are not allowed to sit back on their original chair or the chairs on either side of it. 
5. The girl left without a chair must stand in the middle and ask a new question. 

Pairs

Duration: five minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior SectionWhat you need: cards or slips of paper with matching pairs on them. The pairs should be separated and shuffled.

Suggested pairs

• Ham and eggs 
• Salt and pepper 
• Punch and Judy 
• Romeo and Juliet 
• Needle and thread 
• Bangers and mash 
• Horse and cart 
  Cheese and biscuits􏰀  
• Apples and pears 

Yes or no game

Duration: 20 minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior Section
What you need: a list of questions (or you could make them up on the spot)

This game involves movement, questions and laughter.

1. The girls should get a chair, put them in a circle and sit down. 
2. The Leader then asks all the girls a question. It must be a question where the answer can only be yes or no. 
3. If the answer is yes, the girl must move one place to her left. 
4. If the answer is no, the girl must move one place to her right. 
5. This means that everyone will be moving at the same time, even if this means sitting on someone’s lap! 
6. You can keep going until you have used up all your questions or until someone has made a full circuit back to their original chair. 

Example questions

• 􏰀  Do you have a pet? 
• 􏰀  Are your eyes blue? 
• 􏰀  Do you like cornflakes? 
• 􏰀  Do you like watching football? 
• 􏰀  Did you go on camp last year? 
• 􏰀  Have you been to America? 
• 􏰀  Do you know how to spell necessary? 
• 􏰀  Do you still live in the town/country where you were born? 
• 􏰀  Can you remember the Promise? 

UM 12: And we're off! A new year.

Our first week back after Christmas, and another new guide to join us, bringing our numbers up to 29 on the books.  A stark change from when my own daughter joined 3.5 years ago and there were only 9 girls in the unit!  It was lovely then, and is lovely now - just very different!

Our first week back is usually when we try and get the routine tasks out of the way and give the girls chance to catch up after their break from school. Our girls are split over 7 or 8 different schools, so it's futile to expect to not want to spend the whole time nattering on the first week back.  Tonight was no exception.

This evening, we spent time in the horseshoe remembering what our Unit Guidelines are (as set by the girls in September), we talked about what the Baden Powell Award involved for the older guides and introduced our newest guide to the unit.  There was much 'talking-over-the-top' going on...but again, that's par for the course on the first week back.  I've long since discovered when they're in this kind of mood, there's little point fighting it.  With reminders that if they carry on interrupting/talking that they won't get to play games (and following through on that), they generally get the idea after a few minutes.

We were also treated to a presentation by one of our BP girls who had done a fantastic poster and fact presentation sheet about Global Warming. The girls listened attentively to her, and the presentation was well-researched and well presented.  That's one more clause signed off!

Over the course of the evening, I asked the girls to give their suggestions on four topics - Trips Out, Games, Activites and Badges/GFIs.  Each patrol was given a stack of post-it notes, and four A3 sheets were pinned around the room (one for each topic).  They were to write their preferences/suggestions on the postit note and stick it on the appropriate posters.

Then it was on to some patrol time.  Nothing too difficult this week, and really an opportunity for the girls to chat and renew their friendships.  They all made a Guide Law Folding Thingy (thankyou to the wonderful 2nd Kingsbridge Guides) each patrol was asked to write down 4 or 5 important qualities of a good patrol leader or patrol second.  Mostly they chatted though.

After that, a quick tidyup, then time for a silly game. They got into pairs and we did the Body Parts game.  I shout out a number, and a body part, e.g. "3 feet" or "4 hands" or "two tummies" - and as a pair, they need to ensure that they ONLY have those body parts touching the floor.  So, two girls standing up would be "4 feet", or two girls lying with their feet in the air would be "2 backs".   There were some inventive approaches from some, and it was a good giggle game that required little or no preparation or organisation into teams etc. Everyone could join in, and it can last as long as you want.

At this point, our visitors arrived!  We had invited along our District Commissioner (who was also leader of this unit until a year ago), our Division Commissioner (who runs our feeder brownie unit), and our Division President (who runs a feeder Rainbow unit), so most of the girls knew them all.

The reason? We had a Baden Powell Award Presentation to do!  One of our older guides worked independently to complete her BP, and managed to get on her Adventure Weekend at the end of last year.    Our District commissioner made a fantastic cake (as well as some delicious chocolate maltezer tray bake), and our BP girl gave a short talk to the unit about what she had done as part of her BP award, and what the BP Adventure Weekend was like. She had had a wonderful time - she said the 'best weekend ever' and had made lots of new friends.   As leaders, we were thrilled with this achievement, she had worked independently and been self-directed throughout. And as a result of the Adventure Weekend she now wants to look for a Ranger Unit to join -  fantastic news!

UM11 - Carol Singing

So, our last week of term was a trip to the local care home to sing some carols for the residents.  Our attached Brownie unit also joined us, along with our young leaders, so we had around 45 girls, plus half a dozen adults and leaders. Our District President also joined us, which was lovely.

The care home made us feel very welcome, and we set up in the lounge near the entrance way. Chairs had been placed out for the 'audience', and lots of residents came in to listen.  One of our fantastic young leaders and her UH mum had organised a backing track which we played through a bluetooth speaker, and this really worked well. They had also printed out word sheets for all the brownies and guides.

As the music started up, it was quite moving to see the energy the brownies and guides put into their singing, and the evident enjoyment of the residents and staff.  One gentleman shed tears as he listened (surely our singing wasn't *that* bad?!).  After half an hour of singing, the guides handed a home made christmas card to each resident, and we spent time chatting to our audience.   There were may tales of their own experiences in brownies, guides, or scouts, and one lady told us that her mother, born in 1903, had met Lady Agnes Baden Powell!  It was an evening that I think all the leaders and adult helpers were very proud of our young brownies, guides and young leaders. They did a wonderful job.

At the end, the girls were treated to home-made decorated gingerbread biscuits, made by the staff at the home. It really was a magical start to christmas, and I hope the residents and staff of the home enjoyed it as much as we did.

UM9 Crafts, carols, YLs, new patrols and noise

So, this week was a bit of an odd one.  I was really looking forward to this meeting; to having an evening with girls that i've got to know just that little bit better (on camp) since last week.  However, that's not really how it turned out, so i'm going to have a bit of a moan.

We had several items that we needed to get through, plus some 'fun' bits to do as well.

Our first 5 minutes was to introduce our newest patrol and present them with their Patrol Badges. Our very youngest girls had decided they wanted to break away from their (larger) existing patrols and form their own patrol together, and had chosen to be Parrots, so there were new patrol emblem badges and PL/PS badges to give out.  Unfortunately, despite this only taking  a few minutes at horseshoe time at the start of the evening, there were number of guides who didn't seem to want to listen and talked through it all; we ignored them and carried on, but (for me at least, and i suspect for the new Parrot patrol) it took a bit of the special-ness away from the occasion.

Nonetheless, we were thrilled that our new guides had decided on a new patrol, and even more so that between them, they have chosen a patrol leader and patrol second that they are all happy with.

For the main part of the evening we were doing two things.  The Young Leaders were leading some carol singing practice for when we go out carol singing to a local care home in a couple of weeks.  And while doing that, the girls were doing a simple craft with plastic baubles, ferrero rocher, and acrylic colouring pens.

Unfortunately again, this turned out to be challenging - the same few older girls continued to talk, screech and shout while the young leaders were trying to organise carols and give them instructions, and during the singing.  It ended up with the now-impatient-and-grumpy leader (me) putting my foot down and giving them a lecture on respect and behaviour.  Things settled down after that a bit, but I didn't enjoy the evening and I came home questioning why I bother - and certainly not wanting to take them all out for a pizza and panto next week.

We had an extra craft (making purses) lined up, and offered to play games too chosen by the older ones, if we had enough time - they all seemed keen on this. But when it came to tidying up, two patrols did nothing - our youngest girls tidied and put away three tables (without being asked), and we ran out of time to do anything while the older ones messed around.  And quite honestly, i was glad to see the back of them at the end of the meeting. It's the first time i've felt like that.

So, now, a few days later, and a bit of time, space and reflection, and these are my thoughts.   There were lots of good things that made me happy that evening, and I should focus on these

1. I was so impressed with how the new patrol had formed themselves.  It was lovely to see them come to their own decisions, on their own with no guidance from us  - they only had the suggestion from us that 'if you enjoy working together and decide in the future you'd like to have your own patrol, then come and ask us about it.  
2. The Young Leaders did an amazing job organising the carols. One YL did all the planning and prep, and the other two helped her implement the plans on the evening.  They realised that trying to get the 'whole group' engaged wasn't happening, with teh disruptive elements playing a large part in this.  So, they changed their tack, and got the girls singing table-by-table, with a competitive element for 'the *best/nicest* singing'.  It worked well, even the disruptive ones didn't want to be embarrassed here.
3. The crafts worked well and the girls had some lovely results to take home with them.
4. Four of our guides  had a GFI clause to finish, having missed an earlier session -in  two different patrols. They got on and did this independently (one pair with a fairly complex cooking activity) - they were organised and self-sufficient, and successfully completed their activities and were still able to also do the craft and singing.
5. We Introduced the guides to the GG North West England 'Get Away From Home' Scheme.  I was keen for the girls to record and manage their records themselves. Each guide has been given a record book to fill in and keep, and it is their responsibility to come back and see me when they think they are ready for another badge.   I don't intend to keep these records for them, so it's up to them!

I also realised that something else adding to the stress was the constant shouting out to me asking questions that didn't need asking, or asking for help that they didn't really need.  Again, shouting out to me, while the YLs were talking to them.   With the larger unit now, I think we need the girls to be more self-sufficient at at least try to resolve the simple questions or problems themselves before asking a leader.  I asked a few of the more sensible girls about this, and they said they have something similar in craft lessons at school.

1. First, ask your neighbour
2. Second, as your table
3. Third, ask your table leader
4. Fourth, ask your mentor
5. Fifth, ask the teacher

This fits nicely with trying to give the PL's and PS's a bit more responsibility, so I think i'll introduce this for any 'at the table' activities they do.

If you've got a question or are having problems doing something

1. Ask your neighbour, then ask your other neighbour
2. Ask the other guides in your patrol
3. Ask your Patrol Leader and Patrol Second
4. If you still can't do it, then ask a PL to ask a Leader to come over.

PLs and PSs will have responsibility for answering questions and ensuring that girls on their table have enough help.  Hopefully it will also encourage the guides not to just switch off their brains at the door!

I'll have a think about the rudeness, screeching and talking over people - I hope that was just a one-off and things will be better next time, but I think I will also have laminated copies of the unit rules to put on each table, and maybe some sweet rewards for the best behaved patrol each week.  

I will admin that still dreading taking them out next week, but fingers crossed I will be pleasantly surprised and behaviour won't be a problem.

Any suggestions welcome...

UM8 Christmas Card Crafts

This week was run by our other leader, who is fabulous at crafts.   We decided to try and use up a lot of the paper and card stock from the cupboards, and make Christmas Cards.  We had plenty of black adn white card, metallic pens, shiny / metallic coloured card and paper, and ribbons.

The girls could make a card for themselves, plus a card each to take and give to the residents at the care home we are visiting in a few weeks for Carol Singing.

The cards made by the girls were amazing. H gave them some example designs for ideas, keeping it very simple - and the results were really effective for everyone, even the non-arty girls came out with a fantastic looking christmas card.

** Addendum: When we went carol singing, each of the girls gave a card to a resident - the residents seemed genuinely touched to receive a card and chat to a youngster.  It was well worth doing.