This term we have two main things to focus on: advocacy, and a unit concert.
Advocacy
The 5th of May to the 5th of June is Girl Guide Action Month, and this year girls all over the country are standing up to say (Family Violence) It's NOT ok!
On the 23rd of May, Pink Shirt Day, our district held a Pink Shirt Day event to "Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying" where children and adults from Guiding and our local community learnt about what bullying is and strategies for standing up to bullies. There was also a fantastic self-defense workshop for last resort action.
The girls in our unit chose to advocate this term for Guide Dogs and blind awareness. We held a car wash and sausage sizzle and raised over $200! Some of the girls made and decorated puppy-shaped cookies to sell as well. It was a fantastically successful day (and a day of sunshine amid a week of wind and rain!) and we are very grateful to all the parents and little sisters who came and helped, too.
Act Up!
Act Up is the name of a 'theme' certificate in Brownies and Guides. We are combining it with the specialised badge "Spotlight" and preparing to put on a concert at the end of the term.
Spotlight is not just about performing, but all art forms, so we started off by creating gorgeous photo frames for Mothers Day: spray painting a die-cut cardboard frame in silver and using 3D stickers and shapes for decoration. Even though they used the same materials, the finished products were all so unique. We photographed all the girls and they got to put themselves in the frame with coloured card for a back drop, making a beautiful gift for Mothers Day.
We also made some impressive paw print themed signs to advertise our car wash, with thanks to one of our favourite Guide dads, who lent us his expertise as a signwriter.
The girls have spent time in their patrols preparing acts for the concert, and last week they developed an alternative tale of the Gingerbread Man story (5th of June is gingerbread day), which will be added to the evening's line-up.
Last week we were also lucky enough to have a visit from some Brownies who are almost old enough to link up to Guides. We tried to show them how fantastic Guides is and we hope they had a good time.
On Sunday many of our girls attended our regional Girl Awards Day at a special event called ACTIVATE! It was fun-filled afternoon of crazy sports, and girls who have achieved a significant award in the last six months were honoured in front of all the participants.
