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We often plan our meetings to include some or all of the following:
However we are very flexible and sometimes 'the plan' doesn't happen. We find that meetings vary depending on the average age of the girls in the unit. When we have a very young unit we tend to play more games. With an older unit we spend more time on the craft.
The previous week we had asked the Rainbows to bring in any item to do with the care of their pet and/or photos. We started the meeting by allowing them to 'show' these and talk about their pets, especially the care of the pets and how they could help to look after them. Anyone who hadn't got one was asked to say what pet they would really like to have.
We then played a game with pictures of pets.
Then we made cat and dog finger puppets.
We then held a promise ceremony for our new Rainbows but otherwise we might have finished the meeting with a story about pets.
At the start of the meeting we had a chat about farm animals and the girls 'showed' toy farm animals that they had brought from home. As the Foot and Mouth disease was topical at the time we touched briefly on this, reassuring the Rainbows that people and their domestic pets were not in any danger.
We then played 'Rainbow Ladders' (our adapted version of 'Ladders' which we play to avoid injuries) giving each pair the name of a farm animal.
After the game we made Cow and Sheep finger puppets.
We finished the meeting by singing 'Old MacDonald had a farm'.
We started the meeting with circle time and talked about how the Rainbows could keep the 'kind and helpful' part of their promise. I showed them the Magic Mouse craft that they would be making and told them a story about how Magic Mouse could remind them to be kind and helpful. I suggested that each time they were kind or helpful before our next meeting, they should tie a knot in their mouse's tail.
We then played Fox, fox, fox, fox, squirrel.
Next we made our Magic Mice.
We finished the meeting with the Hedgehog game, now appropriately called the Mouse game (the Rainbows had begged to play this again).
The meeting started with the story 'Hello, Baby Badger' by Ron Maris. I had previously adapted the story by giving all the animals names and including words such as flowers, leaves and walk. I then explained the aeroplane story game and we played it in exactly the same way, but used my adapted version of 'Hello, Baby Badger' instead.
We then made chocolate hedgehogs which the Rainbows were delighted with.
We finished the meeting by turning off most of the lights and played the hedgehog game.
We started our meeting with a chat about the animals who live in the tropical rainforest and the bright colours of animals such as parrots and butterflies.
Then we played 'Pretty Polly, pretty Polly'.
After this we split the Rainbows into two groups and one half made parrots and the other half made butterflies. As they finished one craft they swapped to the other (this enabled the adults to help a smaller group with the parrots, which needed more supervision).
The meeting ended with a story about a parrot.
Desert animals - Camels and Snakes
The previous week we had asked the Rainbows to bring in any toy snakes that they had at home, so first of all they 'showed' their cuddly and rubber snakes. A special well done to Bethany who brought one that she had made out of plasticine.
We then played 'Jigsaw Camels'
When every team had completed their jigsaw the Rainbows made Spiral Snakes.
We finished the meeting singing 'Alice the Camel'.
Antarctic animals - Penguins and fish
We held this meeting on 16th January when it was absolutely freezing, so first we pretended we were penguins. The girls enjoyed walking and jumping like penguins. I then asked them to think how penguins would run, hop, leap etc if they could! Then they practiced these movements.
When everybody was warm(ish) we talked about penguins and made card penguins for our notice board.
We had planned to have a team race fanning tissue paper fish with newspaper and then listen to a Pingu story. However the girls were beginning to get cold again, so we spent the last ten minutes running and jumping over our group skipping rope (a washing line)
During 2000 we took part in a Millennium Challenge. One of the sections was 'Home-Making' and to meet this challenge, we held a 'pretend' camp. The week beforehand, the Rainbows decided what they thought they would need to take on an overnight camp. We used a simple picture list (click to see/print ours) and ask the girls to colour red/green for no/yes so even our non readers were able to make their own individual list. We had our 'camp meeting' and the Rainbows brought their sleeping bags and a bag with their necessities for an overnight camp. First we put up the tents (blankets and duvet covers over chairs). Then the Rainbows put their sleeping bags into the tents and settled in. Our plans to play a game, What's Missing? (using one of the items from each of their bags) and to have a camp fire sing-song did not happen because the Rainbows were having so much fun in their 'tents'. We then had hot chocolate (with whippy cream of course) before going to bed. A thoroughly enjoyable and relaxed meeting was had by all. Very little preparation and definitely one which will be repeated.
During 2000 we took part in a Millennium Challenge. One of the sections was 'Food' and we held a foreign food tasting meeting. Each Rainbow brought enough of one food for everyone else to try. The different foods were spread along two tables and each food was given a number. We had a variety of foods from kiwi and pineapple to amoretti biscuits and poppadoms with Mango Chutney. The Rainbows were given score sheets (click to see/print ours); they had to look at the food they were about to try, check the number and find that number on their score sheet. They then tried that food, decided how much they liked/disliked it and wrote down their score for that particular food. Yuk = 1, OK = 2, Yum = 3 Once, all the Rainbows had tried all the foods (we were very surprised that everybody tried everything without a fuss!) and written down their scores, we sat down in a circle and added them up. The Doritos won! It might be a nice idea to ask the Rainbows to come to the meeting dressed as someone from another country.
Sit down with the Rainbows and ask them to come up with items which they would need to take on holiday to a hot place. If necessary, prompt them especially for sun protection (hat, sunglasses, sun cream etc). When the list is complete, lead into the suitcase packing game. For a craft you could make any of the following:
Finish the meeting by playing the Aeroplane Story
You will need:
We talked with the Rainbows recycling. We then said that they could each make a game of skittles to take home. We told them that they needed to decorate each of the 3 paper strips, wrap them around the bottles and glue the ends together. Then they were to take them out to the kitchen where Sophie and Carly had made jugs of different coloured water with the food colourings. The Rainbows were to choose their colours and then Sophie or Carly would fill their bottles with about 1.5 inches (3.5 cm) of water. Sophie or Carly would then screw the lids on tightly. The Rainbows then set to work. They really seemed to enjoy making their skittles and every paper band was a work of art. After they had made their skittles, the Rainbows then screwed up newspaper to make balls and spent the rest of the meeting playing skittles. They were still playing when their parents came to collect them.
Horses (Jess thought this one up when she remembered how much she enjoyed playing 'horses' when she was a little girl. It needs quite a lot of planning and time to set up, but the Rainbows really enjoy it.) You will need:
As the Rainbows arrive, explain to them that they need to pretend to be horses and they can practice jumping over the 'jumps'. When all the girls have arrived, tell them that they are going to have a pretend competition like the show-jumpers. Let each girl go round the course, jumping the fences following the order of the cards. As a craft, the Rainbows could make 'lucky' horse shoes or collage horses. If you have the opportunity, it's a nice idea to arrange a visit from a horse just before the end of the meeting.
Start the meeting by setting a couple of challenges. Tell the Rainbows they can get into groups of 2 or 3. Challenge 1 Provide each group with a supply of sugar cubes. Ask them to find out how high they can build a sugar cube tower before it topples over. Encourage the Rainbows to have several attempts and hopefully they will improve their total. It is inevitable that some cubes will get eaten so it may be worth checking with parents beforehand and to tell the girls that they can each eat 2 or 3 if OK with the parents. Challenge 2 Provide a tray with a dish full of similar size lego cubes. Let each girl have a practice and then get her to scoop up as many as she can in her writing hand. This should not be competitive, but just for fun (you might notice, as we did, that many of the smaller hands managed to pick up more than the larger hands!) After the challenges, get the girls to sit in a circle and have a chat about cubes. See if they can think of things in their everyday lives that are cube shaped. Then ask them if they can make themselves into a cube shape. The main activity of the meeting could be to make dice, which will take quite a lot of time. Finish the meeting by allowing the Rainbows to play with their dice.
We met the Wycombe Park Rangers, who took us Pond Dipping. Julie and Fiona, the rangers, showed us how to use the nets and helped us identify the creatures that we found. (see the year 2000 photo album page for some pictures). We enjoyed this so much that we went on a 'mini-beast' hunt with the Park Rangers in October 2000.
The previous week ask the Rainbows to bring toy pigs or pictures of pigs to the meeting. Rainbows always enjoy 'showing' things and it is nice to give them time to do so. As a game we played 'Squeak Piggy, squeak'. We then made Pigs with Springy snouts. You could decorate Rich Tea biscuits with a pig's face. Finish the meeting with the story of 'The three little Pigs'.
For this meeting we had asked the Rainbows to bring toy cats. We took it in turns to tell the others what our cats were called. I then pointed out that although we had got a new Unit Helper, most of the Rainbows knew her as Mrs Browne and that she hadn't got a special name for us to use at Rainbows. The girls came up with suggestions and we had a vote, finally deciding on Tabitha. We then made little Promise cat fridge magnets to help remind the girls to keep their Rainbow Promise. As a game we played 'Cat and Mouse'. Finally we put a large plastic cloth on the floor and some saucers. The Rainbows had great fun trying to lap milk (or water) like cats!
We had previously asked the Rainbows and helpers to bring a photo of themselves as a baby to the meeting. As the girls brought their photos in, we asked them not to show them to anybody else. We arranged the photos on the table and gave each one a number. We asked the girls to get into twos, making sure that at least one of the pair was a reader. Each pair was given a list of Rainbows and Helpers and asked to guess which photo was who and to write down the corresponding number of the photo by each persons name. Apart from a couple of obvious ones it was actually quite difficult. We then went through them - a couple of the Rainbows did amazingly well. We then played the Baby animal game. We finished the meeting by reading Shoe Cottage by Colin & Moira MacLean, a lovely poem about the old lady who lived in a shoe and had so many children she..................................
We started the meeting by playing some balloon games. For our first game we tied a balloon to each Rainbow's ankle. The balloons had previously had a small piece of paper with a coloured cross on it put inside them before the were blown up. On the word 'Go' the Rainbows had to try to pop each others balloons whilst trying to look after their own. Once their balloons had been popped they had to look at the colour of the cross on their piece of paper and get themselves into teams of the same colour. (Although a few of the girls complained that they didn't like balloons popping beforehand, once the game was under way none of them seemed to notice - they were having so much fun!) Once into teams we played some team games
In each game the Rainbows stand one behind the other and pass the balloon backwards. When it reaches the Rainbow at the back she runs to the front and starts again. The game ends when the original Rainbow gets back to the front. After this we made Teddy Parachutes as described in the Air section of The Guide Association's Adventure Out Challenge.
For this meeting we had planned to make kites, fly them and play Parachute games. However, best laid plans................................. I looked everywhere for an easy flyable kite that the Rainbows could make with minimal help. I did not have much success. In the meantime I discovered in the toy department at one of our major supermarkets a bargain kite at 87p. These were ideal to be decorated with stickers. The weather also let us down as far as our plans were concerned. We therefore spent a very enjoyable meeting indoors. First we got together for our Rainbow Chat. I blew up a balloon and asked the Rainbows what would happen if I let it go. They all seemed to know! I let it go which resulted in the inevitable giggles. I then asked the Rainbows to imagine that they were balloons being blown up and when I let the balloon go that they were being let go! Great fun was had by all and we repeated this activity several times. Next we played team games blowing a ping pong ball from one end of the hall to another with a straw. For the last part of the meeting we split up for different activities, each girl having a chance to try all of them.
For this meeting we went for a torchlight walk in the woods. Each Rainbow needed wellies, waterproofs, a torch and a signed permission form. We were joined by three Mums and Oscar, Cara's dog.
We started the meeting by talking about fire safety and how to make an emergency call. The highlight of the meeting was making edible campfires as described in the Fire section of The Guide Association's Adventure Out Challenge. The Rainbows each made two, one was savoury with a 'Hovis' biscuit, cheese spread, small pieces of carrot, red pepper and orange cheese, all topped with pretzels. The other was a sweet one with with a 'Rich Tea' biscuit, butter icing, cut up pieces of red and orange sweets, all topped with broken 'Matchmakers' and Chocolate flake.
This was a meeting we held when we were taking part in the Rainbow Guide Diversity Pilot Project. At the start of the meeting we showed the Rainbows the English Flag. We showed them how it fitted into the Union Jack and then briefly showed showed them the Scottish and Irish flags. We listened to the story about St George and the Dagon and played 'What's the time, Mr Dragon?' (What's the time, Mr Wolf?). As a craft we made Flags and bunting and coloured in dragons breathing lots and lots of fire to decorate our notice board. This was a meeting we held when we were taking part in the Rainbow Guide Diversity Pilot Project. Previously we had asked the the rainbows to bring pictures of the Queen showing her life and work over the last 50 years. We talked a bit about the Golden Jubilee and what it actually was. We played 'Queenie, Queenie, who's got the ball?' The girls very carefully sorted, cut and glued the pictures, then helped us to stick them on our board. Click here to see their efforts. We finished the meeting playing 'Queenie, Queenie' again because the girls wanted to. This was a activity we did when we were taking part in the Rainbow Guide Diversity Pilot Project. It would be a good meeting to do during General or local elections. We combined this with a promise ceremony as the activity itself didn't fill up a whole meeting. However the Rainbows could have done the preparation themselves which would have taken up more time. First of all we talked about the Prime Minister, what his name is and how he got to be Prime Minister - some very interesting ideas here! We talked about voting and how everyone has a right to have a secret vote and that no-one has to vote the way their best friend does but should be able to make their own choice (a difficult concept for some Rainbows!) We explained that to vote you have to mark a piece of paper with your selection. We had three different categories to vote for
In each case there were four choices numbered 1-4. For biscuits there were 4 numbered plates each with different pieces of broken biscuits. (We had no allergies at the time), For the TV programmes and animals we had 4 numbered pictures. We arranged these on three tables and on each table there was a box to post their voting slips in. We then gave the girls three voting slips. one for each category and asked the to make their votes by marking each paper (privately??) with their choice. They then folded their voting slips and put them in the relevant boxes. When they had all voted for everything they got into three groups and counted the votes and announced the results. And the winners? Choc-chip cookies, The Tweenies and the polar bear. This activity could be adapted to fit in with different themes.
This was a meeting we held when we were taking part in the Rainbow Guide Diversity Pilot Project. The girls had previously been asked to bring a (non talking) soft toy to the meeting. We told them that there toys had just been made and although they understood English they didn't know how we do things. We asked the girls to think and discuss how they could teach their toys how to make friends and how to be a good friend. We then asked the girls in turn for one idea each. Everyone managed to do this. I made a point of talking about how it is nice to get a present from a friend and how it might hurt them if we don't seem to be pleased with it. The toys then practised making friends! We made friendship bracelets out of craft foam. At the end of the meeting bearing in mind our earlier discussion, as the girls collected their crafts we asked them to give them to a friend. Surprisingly there were no moans although there were a few shocked faces from some who had made sure they'd used their favourite colours. We told the girls how kind they were and how pleased we were that they were prepared to give their bracelets to their friends.
This was a meeting we held when we were taking part in the Rainbow Guide Diversity Pilot Project. It might need some adaptation if you have disabled girls in your unit at the time The previous week we asked the rainbows to find out what the word 'disabled' meant. We had a discussion about different kinds of disability and how disabled people cope in everyday life, trying to be as independent as possible, but sometimes having to ask for help. For the rest of the meeting we played the 'Disability awareness game' and finished with a short discussion as to how it is important to talk to and treat disabled people like you would any other person. We also pointed out that we had all laughed at ourselves and that this was OK within our Rainbow meeting but that it would be insensitive to laugh at a disabled person.
At the start of this meeting we made castanets. Then we had fun playing with them, dancing and singing songs. Finally we tried Sangria (Clementine quarters, red grape juice and lemonade) and some Spanish butter cakes that Jess had made.
First we looked at some Russian dolls that the rainbows had brought in. Then we made Russian doll skittles and spent a long time playing with them. We tried warm Russian Blinys. Our plan had been to read 'The Enormous Turnip' but time ran out.
For this meeting we decided to hold our own indoor mini-Olympics. First we talked to the Rainbows about the first Olympic Games. Then we divided the girls into teams and held Running, Jumping, walking backwards races. After a short break we played a team game of 'Piggy in the middle'. Not all the Rainbows took part in all the events (by choice) but everyone joined at least one event. We then presented all the rainbows with their own personalised (card) gold medal before eating warm strips of Pitta bread with Tzatziki dip. The dip was surprisingly popular.
Although we had planned to make leek brooches (from the excellent 'Small world - An International Resource for rainbow and Brownie Guiders') during this meeting there wasn't enough time we also practised and held the Promise Ceremony for five new rainbows. We did however colour Welsh flags, talk about Wales and ate Pikelets at the end of the meeting. Jess had bought plenty so we were also able to offer them to our visitors.
At the start of the meeting we made collages of the Italian flag. Then we played 'Rainbow Ladders' using various types of pasta for the theme eg. macaroni, spaghetti, shells, lasagne, shells, spirals etc. We looked at some famous Italian paintings and each Rainbow had an outline of the 'Mona Lisa' to colour in. Jess had found these whilst searching for Italian colouring pages on the internet. Finally we ate some pizza.
We started the meeting by playing 'Cowboys and Indians'. We were very fortunate with the weather so we played this outside. After this we came indoors to have a game/craft to make Indian headdresses. Once our headdresses were all made we did some sun and rain dances. At the end of the meeting we had planned to eat some cranberry or blueberry muffins but Sainsbury's had sold out so we ate choc chip cookies instead!
This meeting was held just before Mothering Sunday. First of all we went outside and played traditional English children's games including Hopscotch, skipping and ball games in small groups. We then all got together to play 'Queenie, Queenie' We then came indoors and made 'Daisies' as Mother's Day presents. Finally we ate some shortbread.
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