Latest News Badge of the month November - STEAM November is STEAM month! Badges: STEAM Coding Gaming Innovation IT Digital Media Literacy Entrepreneur Activities for meeting: Coding: Note: This meeting plan was designed with all leaders of varying technological knowledge in mind. Whether you know a ton or nothing about coding or gaming you should be able to run this meeting with your unit! In order to run these activities you will need: Phone/iPad/laptop Paper Pencils/markers Lego Research some women in Computer Science: Let the girls research at least five facts about a woman in Computer Science and then have them make a poster about this woman. This can be done individually or in groups, it’s up to you! You could also give this task to the girls to do at home and have them bring their facts in to make the poster and do the presentation at the meeting if you do not wish to have them research on their phones during meeting times. Maze exercise to learn ‘if’ statements and conditions: Firstly, for this exercise use this link to access the Lego coding exercise and print out the mazes and word sheets from the PDF in the document: https://researchparent.com/coding-a-lego-maze/ (Lego is not mandatory, my unit did it without). The above exercise can be printed out and done with the girls in order to explain how an ‘if’ statement works in coding. This code can be used in video games for things like character movement in games. An ‘if statement’ may sound confusing but in theory it is really simple, this maze exercise is great for breaking it down. All it really is, is a command that you give that will have what’s called a ‘condition’, the easiest way to think about this is, a leader may say to the girls “We will play a game, if you clean up the hall”. In this ‘statement’ a game will be played on the ‘condition’ that the hall is cleaned, similarly in coding a thing will only happen ‘if’ something else happens. In the context of this exercise, a character will move forward and then ‘if’ they encounter a wall, they will turn and continue going forward until they hit another wall, and so on. Writing in code using plain english rather than on a computer is called ‘pseudocode’, this is another meaning that you can teach to the girls. In order to run this activity, print out the sheets, I would recommend laminating the sheets and other pieces if possible as they will last longer and also the girls will be able to use them as whiteboards to draw their own routes and solutions. Once you have everything printed, split the girls into pairs or small groups, ideally no more than four or five to a group. Hand out a maze and the words to each group and explain to them what they need to do: Each group has a maze with a start and an end position, your goal is to move your ‘character’ from the start to the end by using the words given to you. To do this you must plan the route and then explain it step by step by placing the words in a big sentence, this is known as a ‘statement’. When the girls have completed a maze, they can swap it with another one or perhaps have them create their own mazes and have the others complete them! Use Scratch to create a mini scene/game: Link to use Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=getStarted Using an electronic device with access to the internet, use this link to get onto the Scratch website. I would recommend keeping the girls in small groups with a maximum of about 4 or 5 for this exercise too. Give each girl a device and task them with creating a small scene to show to the others once the time is done. Make sure that each person in the group adds something to the scene. When they are done, get them to present what they’ve made to the others. The Scratch website has tutorials on how to use the code that the girls can watch but the great thing about Scratch is that it is extremely easy to get the hang of through trial and error. Use Processing to create a picture (sketch) of the CGI logo or something else: This exercise is a bit more difficult and involves coding using a coding language called ‘Java’. This exercise may be best suited for older girls who can watch come tutorials to figure out some of the code. Link to download Processing: https://processing.org/download Once you have processing downloaded you can open it and start typing up some code to create pictures, known as ‘sketches’. It may be a good idea to watch some tutorials on this to get started or maybe invite someone into your unit to do this with the girls. PDF of the flier October - Irish Lore! Halloween (October 31st) Badges: Irish Lore Irish Speaker Heritage and History Activities for meeting: Irish Lore: Many of us will be getting into the ‘spooky spirit’ in October as Halloween approaches but how about, instead of the traditional Halloween meetings, try theming October meetings around Irish Lore and Heritage? After all, we did invent the holiday! Note: websites such as Twinkl (https://www.twinkl.ie/) have great resources and crafts themed around both Oíche Shamhna and Irish Folklore! Learn about the origin of Halloween! (Samhain): Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year and it is celebrated all around the world in many different ways but did you know that modern day Halloween actually originated right here in Ireland? Let the girls research the Celtic festival of Samhain (Halloween).Can they find out facts like, where did the name come from?; what were the traditions that were practiced and do we still practice these today in some way?; why do we dress up, carve pumpkins and ‘trick or treat’? Once the girls have gathered some facts, get them to present them to the others, did they have similar facts or did they all find out something different? Materials: device to search facts, paper, pens/pencils. Irish Folklore Stories: Ireland has so many amazing legends and stories, from ‘Oisín Tír na nÓg’ to the ‘Children of Lir’, there is no shortage of tales to tell! What stories do the girls know and what are their favourites! Maybe you could learn a few legends that you don’t already know as a unit! Once you have told some stories, why not try acting them out? Split the girls into their patrols and have them choose a story to act out. This could be turned into a game by not telling the others the story beforehand and then letting them guess which one is being acted out as the girls perform. You could also see if the girls can add in ‘cúpla focal’ into their stories too! Materials: devices to look up stories (if needed), props for acting out your story. Traditional Halloween Craft: During the Celtic festival of Samhain people took part in many crafts such as making masks and carving turnips. Get the girls to make their own masks based on some of the folklore stories that you have discussed in your meeting. This can be done by letting them colour on blank masks that can be found in craft shops, letting them create a mask from materials you have at your meeting or by having them draw and colour a mask design on some paper. Teach the girls about the history of the ‘Jack-O-Lantern’ and get them to make their own, turnips were traditionally used but are very difficult to carve, so nowadays we use pumpkins. If you want a less messy option you can have the girls draw and design their ‘Jack-O-Lantern’ on paper instead! Materials: blank masks, paper, pencils, markers, any other materials that you want for making masks (feathers, glitter, stickers…), pumpkins and ‘carving kits’/knives and spoons. Learn an Irish song or ballad: Do the girls know any traditional Irish songs or ballads, if so get them to teach the others what they know. As a unit, look up and learn a new Irish song. It can be in either English or Irish, it’s up to you. You can never have too many songs to sing at a campfire! Materials: devices to look up song lyrics (if needed). PDF of the Flier September - Sport! 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup (22 August - 27 September) Badges: Dancer Health and Fitness Gymnast Sportsperson Swimmer Activities for meeting: Sportsperson: Learn the basics of a new sport: In patrols or as a unit choose a new sport to try out. This can be a sport that none of the girls have played or maybe it’s a sport that is only played by a few girls and they can help teach the rules to the others. Once you have chosen a sport, split the girls into their patrols or smaller groups and let them look up facts about the sport. Give them 5-10 minutes and see how much they can learn. Can they find out things like; where did the sport originate; how long ago was it invented; who is the best in the world at it; how much, if at all, have the rules changed over the years? After they have found some facts, share them as a unit and see what you can learn. Next, for the most important part, find out the rules of the sport and the equipment used to play. Once the girls are familiar with the rules and how to play let them try it out themselves. Once the girls get the hang of it you could even turn it into a competition! Materials: Device to look up facts and rules of play, any equipment listed for chosen sport. Make a new game: For this activity, the girls must come up with a brand new game for their unit to play. In their patrols have them come up with a new game for the others, make sure they think of a name for the game, rules for the game and what equipment, if any, will be needed to play it. If the girls find it difficult to come up with a completely new concept for a game they could instead take an existing game and change a few rules to make a new version, or they could mix some existing games together to make a new game. For example, something like ‘Hide and Go Seek’, this game is a mixture of the traditional ‘Hide and Seek’ and also ‘Tag’. One player is the ‘seeker’ and will count while the others hide, the hiders must not be found by the seeker as is the case in ‘Hide and Seek’. However in this game there is a ‘Home Base’ that the hiders must return to, so they must move around to reach the base without getting found or caught by the seeker. Materials: Paper and pens to write down the game ideas and rules, any equipment needed for the games. Sport or games night: Have a sports/games night in your unit to get everyone active and moving! As a unit, choose some games or sports to play, this is a great opportunity to try some new activities that might become a unit favourite! Some examples of activities that might be different to a unit's usual games are; playing Just Dance, for this you don’t need a console with the game as most of the dances are on Youtube and all official Just Dance songs are always non explicit versions of songs. All you have to do is hook up a laptop or phone to a tv or projector and play the videos from Youtube. In the case where there is no screen to view the videos as a unit, you could have each patrol learn a different section of a dance using just a phone or ipad. Then have every patrol teach their section to the others so by the end, when all of the parts have been put together you will have a full dance routine! Another suggestion for a sporting activity is to play Crazy Golf.Of course you could go to a Crazy Golf course and play there but who needs to when you can make your very own course in your meeting place! Have each patrol make their very own Crazy Golf hole complete with twists, turns and obstacles. Materials like toilet roll/paper towel tubes, egg cartons, old paper/plastic bags and cardboard boxes are ideal when it comes to creating the golf holes. When everyone has created their golf hole, everyone can take turns playing through the units golf course! Materials: Any equipment needed for the activity of your choice. Just Dance: screen/projector, device to play videos from, speakers. Crazy Golf: materials to create the obstacles (cardboard boxes and tubes…), tape or glue, it is possible to get sets of plastic golf clubs for kids but it is not necessary as you could use a small ball and household objects like pans, sweeping brushes or rolling pins as the clubs instead! PDF of the Flier August - Astronomy! Perseid meteor shower (Jul. 17- Aug. 24) Badges: Astrology/Astronomy Hiker Outdoor Challenge Activities for meeting: Astrology/Astronomy: Some examples and Materials can be found here:https://docs.google.com/document/d/19on6GJ6aoniX0k6FkCDxtQ00V4UW7dk7YPzhaA6G0Ek/edit?tab=t.0 Have a stargazing meeting: Spend the meeting outdoors, either at your meeting place or somewhere else in your area. Try to choose a place with very little light pollution from houses or streetlights in order to see the sky properly. The sky should be clear and there should be no moon for the best viewing. Research what there is to see in the sky at the time of year for your meeting and check the times. For example, one of the biggest meteor showers of the year, the Perseids, peaks around the 12th of August, so maybe organise a meeting for them. Make sure all children and leaders are wrapped up warm no matter the time of year! Materials needed: Some binoculars or a telescope if you have it but it’s not compulsory for this activity. There are also a few apps for your phone that will show you the stars and constellations in the sky if you point your camera at them, such as ‘SkyView’. Draw or build their own Zodiac signs Print out sheets to teach the girls their Zodiac signs based on their birthdays and let the trace or draw the symbols or constellations. They can also use cotton buds and blu-tac to build their constellations in 3D. Give each girl some cotton buds and someblu-tac too, they can build their constellations by using the blu-tac to attach the cotton buds together. Materials needed: Paper, pencils or markers,cotton buds, blu-tac, printed sheets with Zodiac constellations. Have a space quiz: Organise a quiz for the girls. These can be made quickly using something like Microsoft Word or Google Docs or they can be found if searched online. (An example quiz can be found in the link above). Materials needed: Paper for the girls to write their answers on (can be solo or in groups), pens or markers, quiz and answer sheet for leaders, small prizes for the winning girl/team (not compulsory). Visit an observatory or invite someone in to talk about astronomy: A great way to learn all about the night sky would be to have a meeting at a local observatory or by having someone in to talk tothe girls about astronomy if possible. A meeting like this could also be planned by the girls as part of a different Guiding badge/award PDF of the Flier July - Explore the outdoors! Badges: Local Guide Map & Compass Observer Activities for meeting: Local Guide: Make a Map: For this activity split the girls into groups and have them make a map of your local area. This could be the whole town/village, a certain part of it or even just the area around where you meet, it’s up to you! Send the girls out to create their maps, make sure that they include your meeting place to start and then any areas or places that they feel would be important for people to know like shops, restaurants and churches, for example. Make sure that every map includes the locations of nearest emergency services and also the locations of the nearest defibrillators! Every map must have a ‘key’ that is clearly labelled, part of the task of making a map is to decide what symbols will be used for certain things and to make sure that people can easily tell what they are. Materials: paper, something to lean on, something to write with, and of course a Leader or older Rangers to supervise the groups! Local Place of Interest: This activity can be done solo or in groups. Each girl/group should choose a landmark or palace interest from your local area and then be able to give directions on how to get there. Have each girl/group write up their directions to their chosen destination starting from your meeting place. The girls may not use a map, physical or digital to do this. Make sure that the girls take into account how someone would get here, can they walk or will they have to use another form of transport, if so, include this in the directions. Once everyone has finished their directions, allow each girl/group to read out their directions and have a Leader or the other groups check the directions against a map to see if they are accurate. This could also be turned into a game, have the girls read their directions without telling the others the destination. The other girls can then try and guess where the destination is before the end of the directions. Materials: paper, pen/pencil, physical or digital map (to check the directions at the end). Tourist Attractions: What are the main tourist attractions in your town/village or the surrounding area? Get the girls, either solo or in groups, to make a list of the 5 tourist attractions that are nearest to your meeting place. Materials: paper, pen/pencil, (some girls may need to use a device to look up some places if they are unsure) Community Fundraiser: Perhaps during the summer months you could organise a fundraiser for your community. This could also tie into badges like the Fundraiser badge and the Good Citizen badge. As a unit or section, pick a local charity or organisation to fundraise for, make sure to contact them first to let them know. Some charities or organisations may have promotional materials or information that they can give you to help you in organising or to hand out at your event. Once you’ve decided who or what you will fundraise for, decide how you are going to raise money. Some suggestions are; have a cake sale, have a swap shop or host a table quiz night. To make the task of organising easier, split the jobs up and give each task to a patrol or group. Have the girls list what the main undertakings will be and divide them up accordingly to ensure that everything gets completed for the fundraiser. Make sure that everyone gets involved and contributes in some way, either in the organisation of the event or the running of the event on the day! Good luck and enjoy your event! June - Camping Badges: Outdoor cook Knots & Lashings Hiker Camper Campfire Activities for meeting: Campfire: As the weather gets warmer in the coming months and many of us are planning nights away, why not organise a meeting to complete your campfire badge in preparation for upcoming camps! Plan & Organise a Unit Campfire Night: In groups, have the girls organise a campfire night for the unit. The girls should plan which songs they want to sing and sort the order that they will go in. They should be able to explain the order of the songs and the reasons for it. Each group of girls should choose one or two songs for the campfire, depending on the time you will have for your meeting. On the night each group should lead the campfire for the songs they have chosen. Materials: Campfire song booklet. Campfire Skits: Split the girls into groups or patrols. Write a few themes on paper and have the girls choose one theme for their group to use. Give the girls 10-15 mins to come up with a skit based on that theme. All of the girls in each group must participate in the skits in some way. You can bring in props too, or have the girls bring in things to be put into a pile that everyone can borrow from for their skits. When everyone has finished, get them to perform them one by one. Perhaps you could make a competition out of it and have prizes for the best skits, most original, best performance… Materials: Paper, pens (for prompts or scripts), props. Create Alternate Campfires: When planning for a camp not everyone will have access to a real campfire and so may have to make do with a makeshift one. In groups or solo, have the girls make their very own alternate campfires. For example, making flames from crepe paper and then using a torch or fairy lights to make it glow. Materials: Torch (can use a phone for this too), plastic candles, fairy lights, batteries, crepe paper, coloured paper/card, glue, tape, scissors, (any other material that girls might be able to make their fires from, it’s all up to you!) Learn Some New Campfire Songs: We all have our favorite songs to sing at a campfire but why not spend some time learning a few new ones! Why not even try to learn songs from Girl Guides in different countries too! There are many songs from other countries that can be found online or on Youtube that you could get the girls to try and learn! Materials: Printed songs or a device to search for them on. Work on your Campfire Blanket: Why not have a chill meeting and sew on some badges in preparation for your next campfire? Get the girls to bring in their blankets and any badges that they need to sew on, if the girls have their own sewing kits they may bring those too. The leaders could also bring in some badges for a badge swap to make sure that all the girls have a few to sew on. If the girls know how to sew then they can get started but for the girls who need to learn, bring in some old fabric scraps for the girls to learn and practice stitches on before they start to sew onto their blanket. Maybe the girls could even make some tea or hot chocolate and have some biscuits while they sew! Materials: Badges, blankets, needles, thread, scissors, needle threader, scrap fabric. PDF of the Flier May - Music Eurovision Song Contest (Tue. May 13 - Sat. May 17) Badges: Choral Musician Pop Music Activities for meeting: Pop Music Put on a talent show/karaoke night in your unit: Why not have your own ‘Girl Guides Got Talent’ night in your unit, the girls can perform in groups or solo. Make sure that all performances include music in some way! This doesn't have to be singing, it can be DJing, playing an instrument or dancing. Or you could also simply do a karaoke night in your unit. If you have a karaoke machine, small portable ones can be found online, you can bring that, if not just use a phone and speaker and sing away to your heart's content. Always look out for songs that may contain explicit content to ensure they aren’t played! (If you’re using something like Spotify, there’s a filter in the app that can be turned on for this. Simply go to account settings and ensure that the ‘Explicit Content’ filter is turned off so as not to allow these songs) Materials needed: Phone, speaker, karaoke machine (if you have one). Compile a playlist of the units favorite songs: Using a phone and something like Spotify or Youtube you can compile a unit playlist of all the girls and leaders favorite songs. If you don’t have a device you could just make a note of all the songs too. Have everyone pick one or multiple songs to add to the playlist, it’s up to you! You could even give the playlist a theme if you’d like, for example a summer playlist, a playlist for camp or of everyone's favourite christmas songs! Materials needed: Phone with Spotify or Youtube/paper and pen. Guess the song game: Play a game of ‘Guess the Song’ with the girls. Break them into teams and have each come up with a team name, in order for the girls to answer they must shout out their team name so keep them short! Once all teams have a name play a few seconds of a song for them. The girls music confer as a team, once they think they have the answer they shout their teams name, if multiple teams shout, whoever shouts first gets to answer. Have a leader keep the scores. If the girls get the answer right they get a point. If they get it wrong, that team is ‘frozen out’ and cannot answer for the same song again until all teams have given a guess. If no one can figure it out, play a few more seconds until someone gets it. For younger girls try using only Disney songs and have them name the movie rather than the song itself to make it a bit easier. Materials needed: Phone, speaker, pen and paper (to keep score). Make a music video in your unit: Have the girls become the stars of their very own music videos. Divide them into groups and let them pick their favorite pop song or campfire song to make a music video for. Bring in props or costumes for the girls or have them make/bring in their own. Give them access to a device like a phone or tablet and have them record their video. When all the videos are made you could have prizes for things like; the best costumes, best production, best performance, best song choice, etc. Materials needed: Device to record on, props or costumes. Create your own pop song: In groups or as a unit, spend some time creating your own song/unit anthem. You could create the song completely from scratch using what you can find in your meeting place as instruments or you could use an existing pop or campfire song and change the lyrics a bit to make the song your own. You could even record this song and use it to make your music video! Materials needed: pen and paper, device for recording/backing track, instruments (if you have them, or you could make some using things like pots, spoons, drumming on the floor, etc.) PDF of the flier April 2025. - Climate Action Earth day (22nd Tues.) Badges to try (That fit in with the Theme): Climate Action Conservation Good Citizen Gardener Nature Lover Activities for meeting: - Gardener Badge: Learn about different types of flowers as well as gardening equipment and how to use it safely: Print out pictures of different gardening tools and different seasonal flowers to show the girls. Do they know the names of anything or know the uses for any tools? This could even be turned into a game if you’d like. Materials needed: Printed pictures of gardening tools and flowers. Have the girls design/draw a garden: Give each girl a piece of paper and some pencils/markers and let them design and draw their dream garden. Would the garden be small or huge? Would it be at the front or back of the house? Would there be a shed or greenhouse? What would they grow there, fruit & veg, flowers, trees? What is their favourite flower/fruit or veg? What kind of animals or insects would you find in their garden? When everyone has finished, get each girl to present their dream garden to the others. Maybe even have a vote for the best one. Materials needed: Paper, pencils, markers. Grow some watercress: One of the simplest things to grow in your unit is watercress. Bring in paper cups or cardboard egg cartons and get the girls to decorate their own plant pot. Don't forget to put names on them so they don't get mixed up! Give each girl some cotton wool and a few cress seeds. Have them put the cotton wool inside their plant pot and then sprinkle the seeds on top. When everyone has done this it's time to water the seeds, you can use a spray bottle of water for this if you have one. Make sure to get the wool very wet so the seed will grow. Leave the plants somewhere warm, in direct sunlight if possible, a windowsill is ideal. Keep them watered, the cotton wool should be moist so that the seeds can grow. After a while you should have some cress ready to eat or perhaps you could use it as an ingredient when doing your cooking badge! Materials needed: Paper cups/cardboard egg cartons, cotton wool, watercress seeds, spray bottle of water, markers/pencils and stickers (to decorate the cups). Plant something and watch it grow: Planting something at a meeting may sound like a difficult task but it can be very easy to do! First of all pick what you’d like to plant, flowers, fruit, veg? Something like sunflowers are simple to grow as are strawberries or lettuce. Get some small plant pots, for an extra touch you could let the girls decorate these and, if possible, give them an option as to what they wanted to plant in them. All you have to do then is to fill the pots with a small amount of soil, to avoid a big cleanup this can be done outside or even by the leaders and then the girls can plant the seeds. Once the pots are filled, each girl can take her seed/bulb, make a small hole with your finger or a gardening tool in the middle of the soil. Place the seed/bulb in the hole and then cover it back up with soil. All that's left now is to water them and wait to see what grows! (Beware when watering that most plant pots will have holes at the bottom for excess water to drain through so make sure to water them outside or over a sink!) Materials needed: Plant pots, soil (bags of soil for planting can be bought from garden centres), seeds or bulbs of your choice (make sure to check the label to see what time of year the seed should be sown for best results), watering can, garden tools (shovel/trowel, gloves…), markers/pencils and stickers (to decorate the pots). PDF of the Flier March 2025. - Baking/Cooking Badges Pancake Tuesday Mardi Gras St. Patrick's day National Cereal day (7th Fri.) National Oreo day (6th Thur.) International Waffle Day (25th Tue.) Badges to try (that fit into the theme): Baker Backwoods Cook Outdoor cook Activities for meeting: Baker Badge: Note: This can be done with Cygnets as the ‘Food’ requirement for their Miss Sparkle badge. Link to a google doc that has recipes and examples for this badge (this link can be included on the poster for people who would like examples or to use the premade activities): Google Doc Teach the girls about the food pyramid and the importance of not having too much sugar Print out the food pyramid and teach the girls about it and its importance. Have the girls draw out the pyramid from memory or by copying a printed picture and hang them up in your meeting place or the girls can take them home. Materials needed: Printed food pyramids, paper, pencils or markers. Healthy Lunch Game (Lón Sláintúil) Print out the healthy lunchbox and the foods from the document linked above and have the girls sort only the healthy foods into the lunchbox. You could print out extra food items yourself to make it more challenging. The girls could play in teams and take it in turns to add one item in a relay race. See which team finishes first and who was able to correctly sort their lunchbox! Materials needed: Lunch box printables. Make mug cakes or cookie with the girls Mug cakes or cookies are handy as they are quick and easy and are cooked using a microwave. Find a recipe for either a mug cake or brownie and have the girls follow the recipe solo or in groups in order to make the cakes. Groups may be easier as it would create less cleaning! Materials needed: A recipe for a mug cake or cookies, a microwave, microwave safe mugs, the ingredients listed in the recipes for the bakes, spoons to stir and taste, wipes to clean. Make sure to check that the mugs used are microwave safe, if the girls are bringing their own make sure that they and their parents are aware and always check the mugs before use to be sure! Bake cakes or cupcakes with the girls If you have the facilities for this at your meetings give it a try, if not then spend a meeting or part of one getting the girls to plan a cake or cupcakes that they will make at home. Have them choose or make recipes and then get them to draw out their plan to decorate the cakes. If baking during the meeting you could make it a bake off, if the girls are baking at home get each girl to take a picture of their finished cake or cupcakes and pick the best one or a top three to receive a prize at the next meeting. Materials needed: If baking at a meeting, chosen recipes and all of the ingredients and utensils listed in the recipe to make it, wipes for cleaning. Otherwise, paper, pencils and markers for planning their recipe and their decoration ideas, prizes for winners (not compulsory). Decorate cupcakes or cookies with the girls If you aren’t able to cook at your meetings why not try just decorating cupcakes or cookies instead. These can be homemade or store bought, it’s up to you! Give each girl a cupcake or cookie and put out some icing in different colours and some sprinkles and other things to decorate on each table and let them decorate their cake or cookie however they want. Materials needed: Plain cupcakes or cookies, icing sugar/royal icing and food colouring or store bought icing tubes for the girls to use, sprinkles marshmallows, buttercream, coconut shavings, chocolate chips, fondant in different colours. (Don’t need to get these things, they are just some suggestions of what can be used) Create a recipe book for the unit Split the girls into groups or patrols and have each of them pick out a recipe or two that they would like to add to a camp cookbook. The recipes can be for indoor or outdoor camping, it’s up to you. For example, you could include things like; pasta bolognese, chicken curry and rice and s’mores. There are more examples of camp recipes in the document linked above! These recipes can be printed and then decorated or you could have the girls write up and decorate the recipes themselves. Ensure that you have some recipes for special dietary requirements or that the recipes you have include substitutes for certain ingredients. For example; For a pasta bolognese you could have pasta and plain bolognese sauce for anyone who can’t/doesn’t eat meat or you could even list quorn minced beef in the recipe instead. S'mores could be made with gluten free crackers/biscuits to accommodate those with coeliac disease. Materials needed: Printed recipes, a folder/ring binder, paper, pencils or markers, stickers. Feb 2025 International Events- World Thinking Day (Sat. 22nd)- Chinese New Year (29th Jan - 12th Feb) Badges you could try:- Interaction Communication- Foreign Language- WAGGGS World Centres- WAGGGS Awareness badgeofthemonth_feb25.pdf This month we are highlighting the Foreign Language Badge, here’s some ideas of activities to try at your meeting Learn some phrases in another language:• Before the meeting, print or write out some phrases in different languages for the girls to learn. Keep the phrases simple, use words and phrases like, hello, how are you, I’m good/bad, why…• Break the girls into groups/patrols and have them learn the phrases and then get them to use the phrases to try and have a conversation in a different language.• If the girls or leaders have phones, Google Translate or a similar resource could be used to help with pronunciation.• If you’ve any girls in your unit who can speak a second language, would they be able to teach the others some words or phrases too? Learn a song in Irish:• Use videos on Youtube like those from ‘TG Lurgan’, which is a music project by a Gaeltacht in Connemara, where they make music covers in Irish of popular songs. Many of these covers can also be found on Spotify too.• The lyrics of the songs can be found in the description of the videos, so the girls can read them as they’re singing. It may be useful to print these out for the girls to have at the meeting. Language Quiz:• Split the girls into groups/patrols. Allow each group to pick a different language or you can assign them all a different language.• Once the girls have a language, give them 10/15 minutes to create a small test for the other groups and leaders to take. To create the tests let each group choose 10 words in their chosen language, keep the words simple like numbers, days of the week or greetings. They may need a phone or ipad to look up the meanings of words or language dictionaries if you’re able to get them, perhaps you could pay a visit to the local library as a unit to pick some up!• Once the girls have created their tests, it’s time for the other groups and the leaders to have a go at translating the words. For an extra challenge the girls could keep their chosen language a secret and see if anyone can guess what it is. Have a movie night meeting:• Watch a movie in another language of your choice. Have the girls choose a movie and a language to watch it in. The movie does not have to be originally in a foreign language as many movies on sites like Netflix or Disney+ can be changed into a different language. For example, the girls could choose a Disney movie like; ‘Tangled’ and then change it into a different language like Spanish or Polish.• The girls could bring snacks from different countries to eat while watching the movie too, like a little international night! Act out a scene from the movie:• After the movie, or at the following meeting, get the different patrols to choose a short scene from the movie they watched or from another movie/show to act out.• Each patrol must then act out the scene in a different language for the others. The other patrols could have a try at guessing what scene it is/what movie it’s from or what language the girls are acting in. Link to examples and premade activities Manage Cookie Preferences