Meeting #31: Climate Change Challenge: Create

Climate Change Challenge (CCC)

Beyond You: Learn about the Environment (BY4)



Recycling badge (R)



We started the Yukon Area Climate Change Challenge two years ago. We did the bottom one at tent camping two years ago, and the bear with the magnifying glass last year when the second-year Brownies came to visit (so they went home with a piece of crest!) The second-year Brownies were supposed to visit again so we planned to do the singing bear (Create) piece. Unfortunately, the Brownies didn't come, though we're not sure what happened. There seemed to have been some miscommunication.

6:30-6:45: Patrol Time--We just had the girls do attendance and present badges.

6:45-6:55: Horseshoe--we explained what we would be doing that night.

6:55-7:30: For the Performance module of the Create Section, we decided to play a twist on Charades. The game didn't actually work as I'd intended, as our girls are very shy and don't like to perform alone but I'll explain what was supposed to happen. (We only completed Round One of the game.)

I researched ways that we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions (and explained to the girls what greenhouse gases are). (Climate Change charades (Word Doc))

Round One: Take a slip of paper and describe what the action is. You need your team to say the action without you using the words that are on the slip of paper.
Round Two: Using the same slips of paper, this time you can only say THREE words to describe the action. The girls will have already heard each action, so they should have an idea of what the action could be.
Round Three: Using the same slips of paper, this time you can only act out the action, without talking.

This game is a take-off of a party game called Celebrity, which is a ton of fun. This version seemed to be a little hard for the girls, but I think more outgoing girls might have done better with it, and I also think it's good for these girls to be pushed outside their comfort zone some times. (BY4#6, R#4)

7:30-8:15: For the Craft Module, we made reusable bags out of t-shirts. (R#8)

We asked the girls to bring old t-shirts that either didn't fit them anymore and they didn't mind cutting up.
1. Using a plate as a guideline to make the hole uniform, trace the plate on the neckline of the shirt, making sure to leave space/material between the plate edge and the sleeve seam. (This material will be your handles).
2. Cut along your traced line, and then cut off the sleeves along the seam. Voila! Handles!
3. Cut the hem off the bottom of the t-shirt.
4. Cut 2.5" slits about 0.5" apart along the bottom of the shirt. Also cut a 2.5" slit up the seam of the shirt on each side.
5. Tie the top and bottom fringe together all along the bottom, so that the bottom is enclosed.

There you have it! Your t-shirt can now be used to carry things (though pencils could fall through the spaces in the bottom.) The girls loved their t-shirt bags!

8:15-8:25: We had a quick snack of cookies and juice, because we were expecting to have the Brownies there as guests!

8:25-8:30: Closing--we sang Jamaican Taps to end the night.

Meeting #30: Camp Planning



Camp Out (CO)



Basic Camper (BC)

6:30-7:00: Patrol Time: We gave each Patrol a blank bingo card and asked them to fill them in with items they need to bring to camp that would be on their personal kit lists. (BC2)


7:00-7:10: Horseshoe


7:10-7:25: Kit List Bingo: I used our Spring Kit List as our master copy and called out the things on it. The first patrol to fill their card would win. I told them to be specific and break things down, but they still ended up with "clothes" on their cards. We explained to them that a kit list needs to be much more specific. None of them filled their cards, so we went with the group that had the most right answers. (the winners got to choose a fancy pencil or eraser as a prize). (BC2)


7:25-8:10: We broke up into three groups to do a round-robin of camp activities.


Station 1: Learn how to do bedrolls and stuff sacks for camp. (CO1)


Station 2: Single use antibiotic packs, which we found on Pinterest and thought looked like something they could put into their first aid/Be Prepared kits. Another Guider prepared this, and I think she found it messy at first, but she perfected it somehow with scoop straws, but I couldn't explain how she did it!


Station 3: Camp meal planning. We gave them lists of foods and cooking methods we could use at camp, and let them pick things they wanted to have. Each group came up with similar foods, but not necessarily in the same order each time, so we'll sit down and figure out from what they want to have, what we will have. (BC1)

8:10-8:25: We sang some songs, including one the Third Years learned when they attended a Pathfinder meeting last week.
Disco (has an mp3 to hear the song)
Group: D-I-S-C-O That's the way we disco
D-I-S-C-O That's the way we disco
Girl 1: Hey (name)
Girl 2: Hey what?
Girl 1: Hey (name)
Girl 2: Hey what?
Group: What you gonna do? (clap clap)
What you gonna do? (clap clap)
Girl 2: Gonna step to the side , DISCO
Gonna roll my eyes, DISCO
Gonna stomp my feet, DISCO
And do the freaky freak. (Girl 2 does a dancing action)
Group: And do the freaky freak. (Group copies dancing action)


We also sang what the girls call "Bubbles". I can't find the exact words we use anywhere though this thread of comments is the closest I've found:
When Bubbles was a baby, a baby, a baby
When Bubbles was a baby, she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)

When Bubbles was a girl, a girl, a girl
When Bubbles was a girl she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)
Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)

When Bubbles was a teenager, a teenager, a teenager,
When Bubbles was a teenager she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)

Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)

Whoops I lost my bra (cross arms across chest)

When Bubbles was a mother, a mother, a mother,

When Bubbles was a mother she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)When Bubbles was a grandma, a grandma, a grandma,

Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)

Whoops I lost my bra (cross arms across chest)

Driving in a racing car (pretend to steer a car)

When Bubbles was a grandma, she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)

Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)

Whoops I lost my bra (cross arms across chest)

Driving in a racing car (pretend to steer a car)

Rocking in a rocking chair (rock on your feet like in a rocking chair)

When Bubbles was an angel, an angel, an angel,
When Bubbles was an angel, she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)
Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)
Whoops I lost my bra (cross arms across chest)
Driving in a racing car (pretend to steer a car)
Rocking in a rocking chair (rock on your feet like in a rocking chair)
Flying high up in the sky (flap your hands)


When Bubbles was a devil, a devil, a devil,
When Bubbles was a devil, she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)
Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)
Whoops I lost my bra (cross arms across chest)
Driving in a racing car (pretend to steer a car)
Rocking in a rocking chair (rock on your feet like in a rocking chair)
Flying high up in the sky (flap your hands)
Poking people in the eye (poke your finger)


When Bubbles was a ghost, a ghost, a ghost,
When Bubbles was a ghost, she went like this:
Wah wah (rub fists in eyes)
Rock my doll (pretend to rock baby doll)
Whoops I lost my bra (cross arms across chest)
Driving in a racing car (pretend to steer a car)
Rocking in a rocking chair (rock on your feet like in a rocking chair)
Flying high up in the sky (flap your hands)
Poking people in the eye (poke your finger)
BOO!

Hike #9: Point Pleasant Park

Point Pleasant Park is a huge forested park in downtown Halifax. The girls had planned a Bring-a-Friend hike as part of their Canadian Guiding badge, and this was it.

We met on a beautiful Saturday morning. I had some little colour chips that I found at the office when we were moving once, and I handed them out to each girl, to look for things along the way that would match their colour. (BY2#1)

We stopped at the Cambridge Battery to play and have a snack. We also stopped along the beach where they could play on the rocks.

Now we have 7 Guides and 3 Guiders who have earned their Hiker Distance Award Challenge crest. (BY2#6) We have a few more girls who are very close, and I'm hoping they can get their kilometers!

Meeting #29: Park/Roadside Clean-up

Beyond You: Learn about Our Environment (BY4)



You in Guiding: Be Involved in Your Community (YiG4)

Environmental Project (EP)


Another outdoor meeting! We met at a local park/playground and spent an hour collecting garbage in the park and along the roadside. We split the girls into 3 groups, and in one hour we gathered 4 bags of garbage, one bag of refundables, and two bags of recyclables. In each group we found that we had 1 or 2 really keen girls, 2 or 3 girls who worked fairly well, and 1 or 2 girls who were there but not that into it. Overall, though, they did a great job and I drive by the stretch of roadside every day and can see the difference from where we worked and where we didn't! (YiG4#4, EP)

Then we went to the park and played a game of Foxes and Rabbits. It was a great running game. We kept running out of something after about 4 rounds, but I believe that is how it was supposed to work. The game would probably last longer with more girls (we had 16). (BY4#4)

I think I like Quick Frozen Critters better, but it requires more equipment and set-up.

Then we had a snack and handed out their pottery from last month.

Meeting #28: Hike #8

Hiking badge (H)

6:30-8:30: Hiking!

This is the third year we've done this meeting, which is basically, go for a hike at Hemlock Ravine!

We printed off maps for the girls and showed them where we were starting and where we were going. When we walked one kilometer, we had them mark it on their maps.

From that point, we hiked into the ravine, where we let the girls spread out and play and eat their snacks. They also had to draw five things from nature to put into their nature journals that we made at last week's meeting. (HDAC Activity).

Then on the way back, we stopped at our one kilometer mark. We were going back a different way around the loop, so we asked the girls to guess/estimate if the distance was farther or shorter, and if it would take us longer or shorter to get back to the beginning. (H#8)

The distance was longer, but the time was shorter--we had to take into account the terrain--going in was all uphill and coming out was all downhill!

This is always an enjoyable, relaxing night out with the girls.

Meeting #27: Hiking Badge/Hiking Challenge

Hiking badge (H)

Hiker Distance Award Challenge (HDAC)

6:30-7:00 Patrol Time: We gave the girls 15 hiking safety rules and told them to make up raps that included at least three of the rules expanded upon. Some groups did better than others, but they were all varying degrees of creative. (HDAC#1) (Patrol Time #27 (Word doc)

7:00-7:15: Horseshoe and they presented their raps

7:10-7:35: We talked about courteous ways to behave on public and private property. Then we had the girls split up into groups of 3 and come up with two short skits--one on what you should do and one on what you shouldn't do. (H#7)

7:35-8:20: Make a recycled scrapbook  (HDAC#2): This idea came at us from a few different directions. We took three brown paper lunch bags, folded them in half, and the sewed a seam up along the fold to hold the books together. One of our Guiders did this before the meeting. The we printed out 3-4 photos for each girl from the hikes we've been on so far. One of our Guiders used to scrapbook and had tons of paper for them to use to decorate their books. My mother had also offered us leftover paper that she didn't need anymore too.

We told the girls to leave a few pages blank as well, so they could draw their pictures of nature on our next hike, which is the second part of this activity.

8:20-8:30: Clean-up and closing

Hike #7: Blue Mountain Hike

Our Hiking Challenge is coming along nicely. The other Guide unit in our District planned a hike and invited us along. It's right in my neighbourhood, but I'd never been on this trail before, so it was nice to go with someone who knew where she was going.

We started with a talk about Earth Day, as this hike was the day before. We talked about Leave No Trace--we mention it on most hikes, and one of these days, it will stick!

Then we split them into buddies, gave them some paper, and told them to look for five interesting things on their hike.(BY2#1)

We hiked up the hill, over rocks and logs and streams. Then we broke through the trees and were at the top of the "mountain" and it was amazing! It's the highest point in HRM and we could see all around the city.

We let the girls spread out over the rocks and have their snacks and write/draw their interesting things. Then we all got into a circle and the girls shared their interesting things. They liked the clouds and climbing over the rocks; one girl knew about "root beer leaves", which I had never heard of. We found some along the rocks and when you split them in two, they smell just like root beer! They look like bay leaves to me, but they are certainly not bay leaves. We saw May flowers and one girl thought she saw a beaver dam.

The trail had a few twists and turns, so we used the opportunity to show the girls why we learn the trail signs. We made and arrow out of stones on the way up, to show us which way to turn on the way down, and we made a "Don't go this way" sign out of sticks on the way down.


I can't believe how awesome this trail is and how close it is to my house and that I'd never been on it before. I will definitely be doing this one again!