Getting started with Girls First

It is the 22nd of August and we’re about a month from meetings starting here in Ottawa. As usual at this time of year, I’m clinging to the summer break and Brownie Free Tuesdays… but I know that the new year is looming and that I will need to get my feet out of the lake and my head back in the game.

If you’re reading this from Canada, you are likely aware that the new Girls First program is launching shortly. I’m a Girls First Champion – someone who Guiding has trained to help my group of units get into the Girls First Groove.

Here’s my truth about Girls First.

• I like it. It fills in a lot of gaps in the program that I don’t think I realized were missing (the old Brownie program was pretty weak on mental health and STEM). But the favourites are still there – Guiding history, tradition, crafts, camping, games and fun are all there.
• It makes sense to me. I like that we’ll have an online platform to access the program. I already access most of my notes online. That’s where my notes live. I know there is a group that is struggling with the move to 100% online, but Guiding has assured the Champions that there will be some sort of resource. Give them time. That will come too.
• I like that we have a year to implement this and that Guiding has thought this out. Guiders can still rely on their notes and previous program – I’ll bet that what you did before will find a place in the new program – it just may earn a badge differently. I suspect that units will start with what they know, and as their Girls First knowledge increases, they will find themselves fully embracing Girls First through the year.
• And I like that there is a lot that isn’t changing. Brownie Circles, the Brownie story, Brownie Magic, and Brown Owl are all sticking around. We’re just moving from Keys and Interest badges towards Program Areas and Themes.

As we move through the transition year, I’ll let you know what our Brownie unit does. Our first meetings will look a lot like our usual ones so search “Getting Started” here and look at my Getting Started posts for ideas. I’ll update posts as we go through the year with Girls First in mind.

What you should be doing now:

1. Reach out to your Brownie families. Let them know about what they can expect. They want to know meeting time and location, where do they get uniforms and what should they buy, and when do your meetings start.
2. Start your planning – Take a look at the Getting Started posts and, when it is available, check out the Girls First Online Platform.
3. Reach out to your Girls First Champion and check out the Official Girls First page. Each unit has its own Champion. If you don’t know who that is, ask the office, ask your Community Guider (ON), ask your Commissioner, or look on your roster (in Ontario and I think the other provinces). Ask for support, book a training, and go in with an open mind.
4. Enjoy what is left of your break. It is going to be a busy year.

Key to Camping: Team Together

Last Tuesday we had a pretty chill meeting covering the badge requirements for the Team Together badge (Canadian program badges are changing next year so we’re using up some stock).

6:30 – Arrival Activity – go directly to your circle corners and work together on a jigsaw puzzle that we’ve left for you. (Badge Requirement – Play two team building games 1/2). If you do this, go with puzzles of between 100-200 pieces.

A note on Time Management – We have had problems recently with over loading our meetings and not giving girls enough time to finish things. This is frustrating for us because we need them to rush (kids can’t be rushed), and it is frustrating for the girls because they want to have time to finish their project or activity. In this case we knew that the girls would not have time to finish their puzzle and we were very clear with them. “There is a puzzle in your corner for your circle group to work on – we know that you won’t finish it, and that’s totally OK. We will need you to work on what you can, and then, when we say clean up, we’ll need you to clean up”

Plan 6:50 (Actual 7:00 – we let them go with the puzzles, they were really into them) – begin Circle Inspections and clean up. Clean up and transition was easy peasy.

7:00 (actual – 7:10) – Brownie Ring

7:05 (actual 7:15) – Discussion – Name two camping activities that are better done in smaller groups (cooking, making a campfire); Name two camping activities that are better done in larger groups (games, cleanup). There was something else in there but I can’t remember.

7:10 (actual 7:25) – Play a second team building game (2/2). With Becky’s Giant Stick Figures activity as a starting point – we asked them to make a circle with their bodies while standing up (they were already standing in a circle), make a square, make a triangle, make a house shape (the house was a bit tougher but it got better after they took our advice and talked to each other). Then we moved to Giant Stick Figures – essentially, make a stick figure together, then have that figure do actions. They had fun. They did a pretty good job, but they needed to communicate more (and make a smaller head). It was fun for us to watch from the vantage point of the stage. Touch your belly button was the favourite!

7:35 – Chuck the Chicken  because girls just gotta run!

7:45 Key to the Arts: Art by Hand – the girls had been asked to try to knit or sew or do needlework or do a craft. I loved hearing about each girl’s project. They did a great job.

• Backup plan we didn’t need (I was afraid we wouldn’t have enough crafters) Becky’s Make New Verses and a campfire – to present their new verses.

7:55 Close 

 

Kids need to know what’s in the bag

I got a note from a parent last night asking about an item that didn’t come back from camp. She was trying to do something special… but it backfired, unfortunately. 

Mom: I sent daughter’s stuffy as a surprise and she didn’t know it was hers when you asked. Do you still have it?

Me: I left it there because it didn’t have a name and nobody recognized it. We thought it was left from a previous camper. I’ll contact the camp and see if I can retrieve it.

Lesson – Everything in the bag needs to have a name on it, and each girl needs to know what’s in their bag and where it is.

For more great Camp Packing Tips, check out this post from the 64th Guides

 

Active Games

I sat in on a training today and the group shared some really neat active games.

1. Bob the Weasel (Video explains it all). This was hilarious. Great for small spaces. Active without running. You need a small toy representing Bob; and someone who knows the song. Our only concern with this game is that the person in the middle might feel laughed at or frustrated. Limit guesses to three. And you’ll be singing Bob the weasel hours after the game ends.
2. Body Parts (Huckle Buckle) – this was fun. You need a big space and to make sure the girls don’t run into each other. There is a big risk of heads getting banged so explain the game well and pay attention to what is going on.
3. Tic Tac Toe (Video explains it all). This is a very active game. Needs some strategic thinking and fast running. The parts of the team who are waiting back in the group may get bored. You need a grid of some sort. Hula hoops is the suggestion, but I think masking tape would be good. You need six bean bags in two different colours.
4. Minefield – not on the list of games today, but it showed up in a YouTube search and looks cool.
5. Evolution (aka Transformation). The video has Egg, Chicken, Pterodactyl, Nerdy Human, Super cool human. I kind of object to the last two (as a nerd who will never be cool). We use egg, chicken, pterodactyl, and superhero.

 

The Fairies did it

Tonight we used Rebecca Sadler’s AMAZING Who Stole the Wise Old Owl meeting (she’s also known as Brown Owl’s Adventures in Guiding). It is clever. It is smart. It is cool. The girls couldn’t stop exclaiming at how much fun they were having.

Here’s what we did to make this amazing meeting happen:

First, I read through the blog post a few times and downloaded the handy documents. After some modifications to suit our unit we printed documents, assembled case file folders, collected supplies and got ready to go.

6:20 – we put a sign on the outside door asking everyone to stay out – plus a bucket of pencils and a word search. As suggested, there was some whispery “concern” among the Guiders.

6:35 – We let them in, exclaiming that Wise Old Owl was missing and we needed their help to find her. We couldn’t possibly do our regular opening until she was located. They were split into the four circle groups, they got their case files and we went immediately into our stations.

6:45 – Station 1 Finger Prints – learn about fingerprints… info from BC Girl Guides CSI Challenge.

6:55 – Station 2 Ciphers and Codes (Where is Wise old Owl? She is on the stage) We used Rebecca’s code to make up messages like Applause, Audience, Performer, Curtain… This was in addition to her coded messages which were both pasted into their case file.

7:05 – Station 3 Invisible Ink (How was she taken? She was lured away with Girl Guide Cookies). We had invisible messages (white paper and white crayon painted over with water paint) already in the folders with words like: Vanilla, Mint, Chocolate, Girl Guide, and $5. Then they had a chance to make their own message for one of their circle friends with paper and white crayon.

7:10 – Station 4 Kim’s Game – (Who took her? The Fairies). The items we selected, if you look at the first letter of each, spelled out “The Fairies”. They played a Kim’s game as usual, then were guided to figure out what the letters spelled.

7:25 – Putting it all together. We went over the puzzle in the big circle. Who got her, how she was taken, and where she was.

7:30 –  Discovery! We opened the door to the stage and all of the girls went through a laser maze (love love love) made of birthday party streamers. At the end, they found four boxes – each one had a sticker with a different Circle Emblem. They knew that the Fairies had her so that’s the box they chose. Owl, as it turned out, also had our Halloween treats! GREAT excitement.

7:45 – we finally were able to do our opening. Then we sang a few songs, and then we closed our meeting as usual at 8. Phew.

This was a super fun meeting. Rebecca had a fantastic idea and did a great job of laying it out for us. It was also really nice to have her original documents so we could make modifications to suit our unit’s needs.

My tips, plan early, print early, assemble with help. And just do this meeting!

Scissors: Using the right tools

Left handed Brownies are not (necessarily) bad scissor users… they may have been provided with the wrong scissors. I’m a right handed idiot and only just noticed that some of our Brownies were struggling, so I took a trip to Staples and the problem is fixed. Children’s left hand scissor options.

 

Handshake Murder

I just saw this on a Facebook post on the Ontario Girl Guides – unofficial page. It is BRILLIANT and I need to remember.

The question was… how do you teach the Girl Guide Handshake?

Lisa G’s answer was: We do Handshake Murder. It’s like Wink Murder but with handshakes. The girls mingle and walk around shaking hands with everyone they meet (doing the sign and left hand shake). One girl is the murderer. When she shakes hands with someone she squeezes three times to show that she is killing them. The victim has to shake hands with at least two more people before dying (as dramatically as possible 😛 ). There’s also one girl who’s the detective and has to guess who the murderer is before everyone dies. (Monday, September 18, 2017, Lisa G)