Guide History: Game - played match the Sparks Around the World paper dolls. (From Canadian Guider) Told the participation Guide History story. We use pictures to help the girls remember there part.
Ladybirds:
Opening - Ladybird opening song. Craft - paper folding ladybug.
Game - match the ladybirds. I made up some pictures of ladybugs
on the computer and made a set of cards with two matching
pictures of each ladybug. The girls had to find the matching card
that was hidden around the meeting place. Closing - said our
promise and the Ladybird promise.
Guide/Scout event: Scavenger Hunt at local Mall. This is the first time we've participated in this activity. This was a great event. We received a booklet with riddle like clues, the answers to which were names of stores. We answered the clues then went to each store and received a sticker if our answer was correct. The girls took turns going into the store for a sticker. They couldn't wait to find the next store and see what sticker they would get. The event was a joint activity between the Girl Guides and the Boy Scouts. It was also great PR.
Teddies: The Teddies have a ten part program based on paws. We are going to do a quick activity from each paw and give the girls a certificate with paws on it. They will color in each paw as they complete it. Some of the activities planed are - plant grass seed in a basket ( to use at our Easter meeting), active game, action song, tie shoes, safety and craft (paper teddy bear).
Taking
care of our bodies - we had a couple of dental hygienist
students and health unit nurse do a presentation. It was great.
Take advantage of resource people. The students from St. Clair
College needed a group to teach and they did a great job. The
health unit has a program for community groups and they can do
about any health related topic. She brought a suitcase full of
thing you would need if you were sleeping over at a friends
house. She discussed items you would need and why. She talked
about washing your hands, using tissues, not sharing brushes and
sun sense among other things. The girls went home with lots of
goodies (pamphlets, stickers, buttons). We now have plenty of
resource material if we decide to do these subjects ourselves
some other time.
We worked on our projects for our Arts and Craft fun
fair. Webster and Kanata divisions put on a guiding
hobby show each year. All age levels can participate. There is a
wide variety of categories for every imaginable craft. There are
first, second and third place awards for each age group in each
category. Also best of each group and best of show. We have
entered a unit project the last couple of years. My favorite was
our life size Spark. We put together a frame with a grocery bag
body, balloon head and gift wrap tube arms and legs. Then we
paper mached and painted it. We added yarn pig tail and a pair of
shoes to complete our Spark. She won first place. We now use her
as our mascot. This year we're letting the girls work on
individual entries.
Most of our girls had an entry. We won a couple of ribbons, a
second and a third place. Next time I think we'll stick to a unit
entry. The girls made only paper crafts and used up all our
glitter.
Visit the Brownies: We planned on
sending the 6 year old to Brownies and since they meet on the
same night as we do we were going to run a Skills night for the
first year Sparks. We were to work on skills such as cutting,
coloring, tying shoes, skipping rope and catching a ball. We have
only 3 five year olds this year. One showed up for our meeting.
So we did not have our skill night. The girls who went to
Brownies had a great time. The first year Brownies did playing
ball and games for their program that night and the Sparks loved
it.
Camp
Preparation night: Girls will learn what to pack with a
game. We cut out pictures of objects that should be packed and
included some that should not. The girls will put the objects in
the appropriate pile in a relay game. We made up cards with
pictures of Camp Terms to teach things like lats, dish pan, rain
gear, etc. We are also going to demonstrate how to do a bed roll.
This will be more for the benefit of the parents who are coming a
half hour early to be a part of the meeting. We will go over
menus and proper behavior while parents are there. We'll make
situpons with the girls too.
Games night: A night filled with games. A drink break and a game craft. Make a maze game on a shoe box lid. Use those Styrofoam packing pieces that are in a "S" shape. Stick the "S" on the lid and roll a marble around the lid and navigate marble from one end to the other.
Family Daughter Dinner: This
meeting will fall right after our weekend camp. Parents will
bring in dishes and we'll all eat together. We have the girls
make placemats (paper) for each family member. We also have been
practicing a ribbon dance to perform for the parents. Ribbons are
pink streamers stapled to straws. The girls move the ribbons
around rhythmically to music.
Dinosaurs: We didn't do anything fancy.
Unfortunately with it being close to the end of the Guiding year
and due to few Sparks showing up we didn't follow our plan.
Things we'd like to do for a dinosaurs theme is make a paper
mache dino. We did have a coloring page for the girls to create
their own dinosaurs. We played a great game called Extinction. We
made up food and water cards, pieces of green (food) and blue
(water) paper. The girls had to collect a certain number of each
in order to not become extinct. The girls just collected what
ever, so we had a discussion about only taking what you need. It
was a great game, made up by my Junior Leader.
Farm
animals: Again we did not go according to the plan. We
will visit a farm this weekend and this a preparation for the
trip. We usually talk about the farm and what might be on it.
Craft could include any farm animals. We sang "Old Mac
donald had a Farm" but changed to words to the name of the
farm owner. He got a kick out of hearing about it. Barnyard is a
game you can play. Be careful though, I find it a little
dangerous for Sparks. Everyone is given the name of an animal,
whisper in their ear. There are a number of the same animals. The
girls close their eyes and walk around making their animal sound
and team up with like animals. You may want to try this with eyes
open.
Farm Trip: On Saturday we visited a friends farm. We had a hot dog lunch, petted and held animals like bunnies, chickens, a goat, horses and puppies. We went on a hay ride around the farm and surrounding area. We saw Trilliums growing in the brush. The girls didn't want to go home.
Advancement Ceremony: Our Sparks cross a bridge into Brownie land for advancement. I made a bridge from a piece of wood on two milk crates with two lattice sides. The advancing Sparks cross the bridge while we sing a song that I made up.
"Over the bridge and through the woods to Brownie land we
go
To see the Fairies, Sprites and Imps
Over the bridge we go."
This is sung to the tune of "Over the bridge and through the
woods to Grandma's house we go".
Sparks choice. The girls this year picked a
picnic in the park. Which went very well. It gave me a chance to
play with the kids. The girls pushed me on the swing and then I
pushed them. It was a great way to end the year. Every year I ask
the girls what they want to do for our last meeting. So far we've
done something different each year. We've gone on outings and had
parties at our meeting place.