Guiders Staff Room Part 3

Oh bother!

Had a fab night, took the unit to the local woods for den building. Safe to say an awesome time was had by all

Brownie holiday this weekend, two last minute drop outs 30 minutes after I've finished printing everything possible, allocated beds and sixes. #DailyMailLevelOfFuming

Im hoping that some or all of the badges will go all the way through the sections. Would be nice for Rainbows and Rangers/Senior Section/whatever they are next to have the chance as well.

My social media was smothered too. Not submitted any designs or ideas, but imagine the ideas would be interesting!

How did your dd get on second?

My social media is being drowned by GGUK today everyone seems to be talking about ideas for new badges when the programme changes.

So, has anyone submitted any ideas? I just want Rainbows to have interest badges. Any interest badges would be great!

Did you find some jammies to fit ok Groovee?

I've been and paid for Lush today for my Guides. Can't believe we're coming to the last half term of our 1st year . The difference between now and when we first started is quite HUGE, thinking back. I had a celebratory 'pleased with myself ' last night instead of an "oh my fucking god what have I done", drink

She sounds very organised, so I am sure it will go well and I hope she enjoys it as well.

She has pre-cut the threads and knotted them at one end for each brownie. She was planning to bring tape and scissors, so the brownies can tape the knotted end to the table, but taking turns could work too.

You are very welcome Second, as so often the devil is in the detail so just going back over the crafts, is she planning on supplying ready cut lengths of thread for the bracelets or three balls of wool, scissors and instructions to cut lengths that go three times round the wrist to each table? Because they will take up different lengths of time, pre-cut being quicker on the night, but another thing to do ahead of time. I would also suggest to her that she get the girls to work in pairs. One to hold the end of the yarn and the other to plait as having an anchor makes plaiting much easier. Also need to factor in getting out tables and chairs if needed and general clean up time often takes longer than you expect although that will depend on how used the Brownies are to doing those jobs.

The friendship bracelets are simple plaits, she was hoping that the older ones in each six would help the younger ones. She has made an example bracelet for each six to copy.

With the biscuits, she iced three example designs and took photos, she has printed enough photos for each table to have one as inspiration.

I will suggest to her that she keeps an eye on the time and possibly moves the quiz to the end. Thank you so much.

Hello Second, Well done to your daughter for organising all this. I would say that with 30 Brownies she may actually have too many activities for the time, assuming this is the usual one and a half hour meeting, as everything takes longer with those sort of numbers. I agree with the comments above about delegating some of the preparation. Other things she may want to consider; who is going to teach the girls to make those friendship bracelets? Does she have instructions for the Sixers or will there be a leader with each Six? Be aware that some of the younger ones may not know how to plait so they will need more time. Maybe consider dropping the quiz if needs be (or using it as a filler at the end for the Sixes that finish early) and sending girls to wash their hands as they finish the bracelets to avoid having 30 girls trying to reach 3 wash-basins all at once. Again with the icing do you have instructions for the designs and perhaps someone to keep an eye on how they are doing. I love the idea of the traditional blessing for the end. Hope it all goes well.

Brownies- definitely!!! And send them in sixes, not all at once, or carnage/a flood of biblical proportions will ensue!

YY to contingency plans, ie switch quiz with cookies. Worst case quiz could be run in a similar way to North south east west, with an answer in each corner.

Thinking on, tables will probably need an adult wipe after the girls have cleaned them in my experience

Brownies? I'd definitely prompt to wash their hands! (The girls are as bad as the boys in my Cubs - same ages).

If the bracelet making takes longer than expected, she should be prepared to drop 1 of the remaining 2 activities - I'd be inclined to drop the quiz as that is easy for another night but the cookies needs the set up which she has already done. Perhaps let her talk to (Head Owl?! Is that Brown Owl?) in advance and clear it with her, as part of her planning and showing contingency.

Or she could have the quiz after the cookies, so if time is running out, washing up and tidying up gets priority (and not leaders and herself having to do it after the meeting).

YYY to delegating some prep stuff.

And to having a couple of games or songs up her sleeve for the unlikely eventuality (in my experience anyway - maybe our Cubs are just too unruly to get things done!) that everything runs so smoothly that she has time to spare at the end. It might be nice for her to ask what games they play, and mention what games she used to play in Brownies if there is one not mentioned - she might like to teach that? Or just play a favourite. Or if there is a game from Guides that would work well for Brownies - teaching them some "big Guide stuff" to look forward too. (Same for songs).

Thank you. Good point about the delegating.

Does she need to prompt them to wash their hands, or will they just use their common sense?

It's a really good plan, she's thought it through well. Good for her 😊

I would suggest to her she gives a second leader instructions on how to prepare the icing etc so she can supervise the first two activities. Part of running a session is also about being able to delegate tasks to other members of the team. If she knows setting up the icing is in hand she can relax and run the other two activities with her full attention.

Think I'd also remind her to factor in an extra 10 minutes for all the hand washing (or is it just my unit who can take forever?!)

Thank you for your replies. I was a bit concerned that she would end up with half an hour of extra time at the end, with nothing to fill it.

She will make the icing at home and bring it in three containers.

After the introductory talk, she wants to divide the brownies into tables, with a table for each six. They would then start the friendship bracelets. While they are making these, she will prepare a paper plate for each table with three colours of icing in cupcake cases, using the kitchen (there's a large hatch facing the brownies, so she'll still be able to see them).

Once nearly all the brownies have finished the bracelets, she will hand out the quizzes, one for each table and pencils. While they're doing the quiz, she will finish getting the icing ready. Once everyone has finished the quiz, she will get them to swap their answers with another team, read out the answers, find out which six won and congratulate them (do you think she should provide small prizes for the winning six or is this not necessary?)

She will then ask each sixer to collect the biscuits and icing materials for their table from the hatch. While they are icing the biscuits, she will get out an extra table for them to leave the iced biscuits on (on paper napkins). At the end of this activity she will ask each six to return their unused icing to the kitchen and wipe their table. She is hoping that the brownies will be able to fold away their own tables, but all the usual leaders (plus her Guide leader) will be there to help.

If there is time left, she is then going to show them a game which they will all play together.

At the end of the meeting, she will hand out copies of a traditional blessing, which they will all read out together.

I agree, that sounds a meeting full. How does she plan to run the three activities? A lot of that could depend on the ages of the girls. I'd have something up my sleeve, an indoor campfire or something.

How many adults does she have to spread round? Again, that can affect speed of activities, plus having a couple of adults to tidy up while she focuses on running a game (our MO, works a treat!) is a massive help.

Hope she has fun, good luck to her 😊

I suspect, with that number of girls, the activities would comfortably fill the meeting (allowingbfir all the usual stuff at each end of the meeting). Has she thought about logistics, such as how to ensure everyone gets a go at everything, whether to split into groups or have everyone doing the same activity at the same time, etc?

It really depends on the Brownies TheSecond. That might well take all meeting, but I'd definitely have a few 'no prep' games/songs planned too (things like stick-in-the-mud and ladders, or whatever the unit usually does). Good luck to your dd!

I would be very grateful for the input and advice from the experienced Guiders & Brown Owls on this thread.

DD (12) is a Guide who has been planning a themed activity evening for Brownies. She is trying to plan an appropriate amount of material, but she has never done anything like this before, and she is having difficulty estimating how long each activity will take.

I would be very grateful if you could let me know about how long you think this would take to do with 30ish Brownies:

Short talk to the unit about a camp she is going on in a different country.
Three activities done in sixes:
Activity 1: making plaited friendship bracelets in the colour of the country's flag (one bracelet per brownie).
Activity 2: short quiz (10 questions) about the country (group work done as a six).
Activity 3: icing biscuits with designs associated with the country (two biscuits per brownie) then clear-up.

She has prepared the resources for the above, but would this take up the whole meeting? If there's too much time at the end, she could maybe do a game?

Thank you so much.

Knots are so easy to get into! Ask them how they want to organise it?