SWAPS ideas

These are various SWAPS my unit made. Any that don't have our unit/troop number on the front, are listed on the back.  Here is a Word document that has all the templates

Ontario Rally Day SWAPS

Our unit will be attending a provincial rally in May. We made these to take with us. We printed the outline on the printable Shrinky Dink paper, and the girls coloured and wrote on them before we put them in the oven. Attached is the template and examples we used.

WAGGGS friendship knot SWAPS

Here is the WAGGGS Friendship knot SWAPS we made.  We used a glue stick to glue them to the paper and keep them together. I am including the Word document with the front & back template and instructions for tying the knot.

Guiding Law bracelet

This post is a little late, but I wanted to share the craft we made to help the girls learn their Guiding Law.   

I wanted to do a craft/activity with the girls and started looking online.  I found one suggestion that had different colour beads for each law, but the colours were random.  I found another craft that had stickers on a Popsicle stick that represented each law, but I wanted more.  So I combined a few different ideas and come up with a paper bead bracelet.  

I tried to find paper that best represented each law: - be honest and trustworthy = Hearts

- use my resources wisely = Gold/money

- respect myself and others = rainbows

- recognize and use my talents and abilities = music notes (could use sports themed)

- protect our common environment = grass/nature

- live with courage and strength = leopard print

- share in the sisterhood of Guiding = guiding trefoils (I "made" the paper with the trefoils, I will include below).

I won't go into the detail on how to make paper beads, as there is many websites, (like this one) but I will say that we made our beads on small-sized straws, and left the beads on the straws and just cut the straw on either side of the bead. (sorry for the fuzzy picture).  

After making the beads and letting them dry, the girls put their beads on ribbons (but you could use bracelet elastic or gimp like string). We added pony beads in between the paper beads (as spacers), which we said represented all their new friends at Guides.

We gave the girls the attached bookmarks, which has the promise, motto and laws.  ( I am providing the Word document, so that you can change the pictures to represent your paper.  There seems to be a glitch - when you just look at the document it is on 2 pages, but if you download it, it is all on one page, like the one on the left)

GGC logo page (the trefoil paper I made for the Guiding paper bead)

I would love any comments or suggestions for improvements. :)

Another game to help the girls learn their Promise and Law

Balloon Pop

Before the meeting:

·      Cut out each phrase of the Promise and Law. Blow up balloons and put a phrase from the Promise and Law in each balloon. Tie a string around the balloon that is long enough to then attach to a Guide’s ankle. Depending on the size of your Unit, you may need to make one per Patrol, or make larger groups, or just do one for the entire Unit. Note: Girls can prepare this activity by inserting the slips of paper into the balloons and blowing them up. They then exchange balloons.

·      Make two signs, one labelled Promise and the other labelled Law.

Bring to the meeting:

·      recorded music to play during the game

·      masking tape

At the meeting:

·       Each girl ties a balloon around her ankle.

·       The girls move around to the music and when the music stops they try to break each other's balloon.

·       When the first balloon is broken, stop the game.

·       The girl that broke the balloon will read the slip of paper to the group. If it is a piece of the Promise, she attaches it to the Bristol board labeled Guide Promise and Law where she thinks it belongs.

This activity continues until the whole Promise and Law is laid out on the Bristol board.

Following the game, divide girls into four groups (or Patrols if that works). Give each group one line of the Promise. Ask the girls to discuss, and prepare to present their thoughts on, that line from the Promise.

Some questions to get them thinking include:

·      Why do we promise this?

·      What does it mean?

·      What behaviours/actions does it imply?

·      What does this mean for our world/community?

·      Give each group five minutes to discuss their thoughts. When all the groups have presented their lines, open up for the whole Unit to talk about the Promise.

Ice Breakers

With lots of new girls we love to spend the first meeting getting to know each other. 

We usually invite the parents to our first week meeting as well, so they also know our rules, plan and get to meet us. We usually play one or two seperate Ice breakers with them as well, so that they meet each other and feel more comfortable calling each other if they need to carpool.

Here are a few of our favourite Ice Breaker Games:

The Candy Introductions Game
 What you need: Candies with different colours (e.g. Smarties, M&Ms, or jellybeans)

1.    Assign each colour of Candy with a topic (red: favorite hobbies, blue: favorite foods, green: favorite music etc.)

2.    Have each person grab a handful of the correct colour candy, but make sure no one eats the candies yet.

3.    If there is a whiteboard or chalkboard present, write on the board the following:

· Red – Favorite hobbies
· Green – Favorite place on earth
· Blue – Favorite memory
· Yellow -Dream job
· Orange – Wildcard (tell us anything about yourself!)
   **If you don’t have the above colors, change the above to match the candy types that you have.

4.    Have the facilitator call out a colour-topic. If the person has that coloured candy, they must give one answer per candy. (e.g. red topic: person has 3 red candies, they give 3 answers).

Two Truths and a Lie
Two Truths and a Lie is the classic icebreaker game in which one attempts to identify which of three statements is bogus.

Instructions:
Have everyone sit in a circle. Each person prepares three statements, two of which are true and one of which is a lie. In any order, the person shares the three statements to the entire group. The object of the game is to figure out which statement a lie. The rest of the group votes on each statement, and the person reveals which one is the lie.

Variation:
Two Truths and a Dream Wish. As an interesting variation to the classic Two Truths and a Lie icebreaker, people may also play a version called Two Truths and a Dream Wish. Instead of stating a lie, a person says something that is not true — yet something that they wish to be true. For example, someone that has never been to Hawaii might say: “I have visited Hawaii when I was young.” This interesting spin often leads to unexpected, fascinating results, as people often share touching wishes about their lives.
Can also be found at


Toilet Paper Game
Pass around a roll of toilet paper to the group and ask them to take what they need. No further explanation.
When done. Tell the group that as they go around the room, each person must tell a fact or something about themselves for each square of TP they took.


Birthday Game

Have the group stand and line up in a straight line.

After they are in line, tell them to re-arrange the line so that they are in line by their birthday. January 1 on one end and December 31 at the other end. The catch is that they must do all this without talking or writing anything down.

  ** We also use this when we want to put the girls in teams and want to break up the friend groups.

Human Bingo Game

Before the meeting, make a bingo matrix and at the top of each square put a trait or something that someone in the group might have done. 

Examples for girls' squares - I am an only child, I can play a musical instrument, I have never been on a airplane, etc.

Examples for the parents' squares - drinks tea instead of coffee, loves the color orange, has two cats, drives a hybrid, went on a cruise in the last year.

Everyone gets a copy and is asked to circulate, getting other group members to sign one square that is true of them.  Depending on size of the group you set a limit like - each person can only sign one or 2 squares.

Optional - The first person to get "bingo" wins the prize (a candy bar or some other small thing). Go over the answers so everyone gets to know the answers.

Promise and Law Crafts

With the start of a new Guiding year I thought I would post some fun crafts and activity for Guides to learn their promise and law.

Promise and Law Flower Craft
Law Bead learner
Law activity