Virtual Guiding

How to… run virtual unit meetings

• Guidance on safe online guiding, including the downloadable consent forms needed:

• Digital safeguarding policy: http://bit.ly/2L4s8nc

• Digital safeguarding procedures: http://bit.ly/3cocApH

• Girlguiding North West England Top Tips for using Zoom for unit meetings: https://bit.ly/39xbl5K

• Girlguiding North West England Top Tips for virtual guiding: http://bit.ly/3tfQlYO

There are lots of other tools rather than video conferencing platforms. Guidance on these platforms are again on the Girlguiding website, this gives ages and advantages and disadvantages of each platform. But the tools that you could use are:-

YouTube – YouTube could also be incorporated into your zoom sessions by sharing your screen and go guiding have provided quite a few unit meeting activities for all sections

Facebook groups

Facebook live

Intermediate Guide to using Zoom

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AqTp9zwpnHI9gv4XWfZKdq85xdT19g?e=1WPAJv

Breakout rooms on Zoom

Girlguiding have updated the guidance about breakout rooms on Zoom. You now need at least one adult present per breakout room, and they must be a volunteer who holds at least a unit helper role. Full details can be found at: https://bit.ly/3njbNYQ

Temporary Programme Update - now extended until 31 July 2021

Just as a reminder what this is:

Skill Builders

To achieve any skills builder badge from Stages 1-5, girls must complete four out of the five activities. For skills builders at Stage 6, all five activities must be completed.

The programme recording tool has been updated to respond to this change – if a girl completes four activities in a stage, the leader can mark the stage as complete on GO. If a girl completes five activities, the system will continue to automatically show as ‘awaiting presentation’.

Unit Meeting Activities

There will be a temporary change to the unit meeting activity hours needed for Theme awards. We have reduced the unit meeting activity hour requirement for section Theme awards by one hour for each section. This means:

Rainbows: reduced to two hours per Theme award

Bronze award (two Theme awards): Four hours
Silver award (four Theme awards): Eight hours
Gold award (six Theme awards): 12 hours

Brownies: reduced to three hours per Theme award

Bronze award (two Theme awards): Six hours
Silver award (four Theme awards): 12 hours
Gold award (six Theme awards): 18 hours

Guides: reduced to four hours per Theme award

Bronze award (two Theme awards): Eight hours
Silver award (four Theme awards): 16 hours
Gold award (six Theme awards): 24 hours

Rangers: reduced to four hours per Theme award

Bronze award (two Theme awards): Eight hours
Silver award (four Theme awards): 16 hours
Gold award (six Theme awards): 24 hours

Programme plans for virtual guiding or social distancing

These six-week plans include activity and programme suggestions for both virtual meetings and for socially distanced in-person meetings.

Virtual programme plans for low resources

These two-week plans include suggestions for how to deliver virtual guiding sessions with no additional resources, using only freely available content from our website.

Blended offer programme plans

These six-week programme plans are written for those units who deliver guiding flexibly. This is where you make guiding work for you and your unit. This could be through how often you meet, how long, and in what way.

Keep up to date with the latest government advice and the coronavirus guidance in your area and adapt your unit meetings accordingly.

Adapting Activities

How to continue delivering the programme during coronavirus

Adapting programme activities for all sections

Activity Videos

You can find all our videos on our YouTube channel, and on our Adventures at home hub, divided by age group, where there are also some new virtual games: http://bit.ly/3rQqhSU

Virtual Ideas and Games

If you are not ready to hold face-to-face meetings, virtual meetings are a brilliant way to keep guiding going and stay connected. Ideas for activities and games can be found on the Girlguiding website: https://bit.ly/35dshLO

Games for Rainbows - http://bit.ly/38j8qNu
Games for Brownies - http://bit.ly/3s0GHZK
Games for Guides - http://bit.ly/2XgjggY
Games for Rangers - http://bit.ly/3njbNbw
Other ideas for all sections - http://bit.ly/2L7fbcj

Virtual sleepovers

Are a great way to integrate and do a longer session with the girls who have stopped joining in on a weekly basis. The best thing about these is that you don't need “a going away with licence” to offer this.

You still need to follow the Girlguiding online meetings guidance and you will need to get another parental online guiding permission form, even if you have one for your unit meetings. This is because virtual sleepovers are on a different day and time to your unit meetings. Commissioners should be informed and see a copy of your risk assessment for the event

More ideas for games:-

Games that need no resources:-

What am I thinking of?

One player thinks of an object inside their head. They have to help the other players guess what the object is through describing it to them.

Simon says

One child is the leader. They say ‘Simon says’ and then ask the players to complete an action such as clapping. Children listen when they hear ‘Simon says’. If they do not hear this then they shouldn’t do what was asked!

Charades

One player thinks of their favourite book/tv programme/ film. They act it out to help the other players guess what it is. The game is won if the other players can guess it!

Copy my clap

One player is the leader. They clap in different rhythms and at different speeds. The other players have to try to copy and keep up with the leader.

Twenty-one

Choose the order the children will take their turns, this could be based on the view from the teacher’s screen. Each child can choose to say only the next one, two or three numbers. Whoever is left to say 21 is out.

I spy

One player looks around the screens and chooses an object they can see. They then say ‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with….’. The other players have to guess what the person is thinking of that begins with the chosen letter.

This is a very serious and solemn occasion

The aim of the game is to make other people laugh or smile and you are out if you laugh or smile. One person starts by saying the name of another player and then ‘this is a very serious and solemn occasion’ they can use a silly voice and funny faces to try and make that person laugh. If the person doesn’t laugh then they get to say the phrase and try to make someone else laugh. If they do laugh then they are out and the teacher chooses someone else to say the phrase.

Story creators

The aim of the game is to create a story between the group. Choose the order the children will take their turns, this could be based on the view from the teacher’s screen. The first player says a word, followed by the second player with another word then the third etc. The game ends when the story has been finished.

Guesstimate

You choose a time, for example one minute, and the children all stand up. They need to sit down when they think a minute has passed, while the teacher uses a stopwatch, the person who guesses closest to the exact time wins.

20 Questions

A child chooses a person/place/object or teacher could choose a topical thing such as a number/shape/country etc. The children can then take it in turns asking up to 20 yes/no questions to see if they can guess what it is. If they guess it within the 20 questions the person who guesses goes next, if not then the initial child/teacher gets another go.

In my shopping trolley there is…

You work your way around each child with everyone remembering the previous items, but also adding one new item to the shopping trolley. For example, teacher might say ‘In my shopping trolley there is an apple’ The next person would say ‘In my shopping trolley there is an apple and a banana’. You can choose to put the rule in that it has to be alphabetical order- this can be very handy when you’re trying to remember what comes next and you have the clue of the first letter. Another rule you could do is starting with same letter as the child’s name.

Disappear

One child is named as ‘player 1’ they have a 30 second time period where you can be chatting about anything and they have to duck down and disappear from the screen. As soon as the other children see player 1 has disappeared, they must also disappear, the last person to do so is out. Also if an adult sees anyone move before player 1 then they are out. You can then swap who player 1 is.

Games that need some space:-

Buzzy bees

The children buzz as they move around (or just stand by camera with ‘wings’ flapping), then the teacher shouts ‘Buzzy bees the letter…’ with any letter of the alphabet. The children must then become something that starts with that letter, e.g. letter T could become a teapot. You could play it where more than one of the same object means they are all out and the last person in is the winner.

Frogs in a pond

Oh no, you’ve been transformed into frogs by an evil wizard! Keep pretending to be a real frog so the wizard doesn’t catch you and turn you into frog leg soup. The teacher is the wizard and will call out different places. The children need to act like frogs in each of those places e.g. you’d have to be a quiet frog in a library. Place suggestions: pond, outer space, sportscar, the beach, library, freezer, dance class, on a bike, the circus, a café, restaurant.

Move Like…

When an adult says ‘Move like…’, the children need to think of their own way of moving that represents something within a theme. Ideas: Move like an animal (leader calls out an animal, or a kind of animal such as a mammal etc), move like a type of weather (specify kind of weather), move like an imaginary creature etc…

Hit record

Players use space available to them. Teacher has controls that are found on a camera.

Play: walk around

Rewind: walk backwards

Stop: freeze

Slow motion: slow walk

If a player does it wrong, they have to do 5 star jumps and then can start again.

Musical statues/bumps

Teacher plays music through their mic. Children can dance, or do different on the spot whole body exercises, like jumping jacks. When the music stops, they must freeze/sit down. The last person to stop moving/sit down is out (they can carry on joining in with movements). The last person still in, is the winner.

The Bean game

Children move around their space and when the teacher calls out a bean they have to perform the corresponding action.

Runner bean: run on the spot

Mr Bean: do a silly walk

Jumping beans: star jumps

Jelly beans: wobble about

Baked beans: squat and make a fart noise

Broad beans: make themselves as wide as possible

Mexican beans: arms up and down like a Mexican wave

Could be varied by doing Mr Men and children act like the character.

Captains coming

Children become pirates on a pirate ship. The children jog about in the space, avoiding each other and keeping busy with their own pirate ship tasks. At various points the pirate leader makes loud announcements in their best pirate voice. The pirates must act as swiftly as possible to complete a related task, as follows:

Scrub the deck!: pirates crouch down and mime scrubbing the deck with their hands

Climb the rigging!: pirates run on the spot miming climbing up rigging with their hands

Walk the plank!: pirates stop, walk forward three steps along the imaginary plank, then jump to crouching, as if into the sea

Cap’ain on Deck!: All children stop and salute shouting ‘Aye aye Cap’ain’ in their best pirate voice

Cannon balls: jump to the floor.

Port: run to the left of the room.

Starboard: run to the right of the room.

Sharks: create a fin on your head using your hands and walk around humming the theme from jaws.

Pirates: cover one eye and hop on one leg shouting ‘pieces of eight!’

People who do the wrong action have to do 5 star jumps before they can join back in.

Opposites

You give the children instructions like sit down, stand up, turn to the left, lift right arm etc but they need to do the opposite!

Games with resources:-

Follow my instructions [paper and pencils]

One child decides what to draw and explains everything they do as they are drawing it. The other children have to follow the instructions and at the end they have to guess what they have drawn. You can then hold all the pictures up and compare them to see how close you got it from the instructions.

Kims Game [ppts from files]

You put some items on the screen, children have 30 seconds (or set time) to look at all the items and remember as many as they can. The objects then get ‘covered’ and one object is ‘removed’. The children have to guess what the missing item is.

Sausages and Soldiers [paper that says sausages/soldiers on either side and space for the chn]

Children march on the spot until the teacher says ‘sausages and soldiers!’. The players stop and choose which to be.

Soldier: stands to attention and salutes.

Sausage: lies down.

Once all players have taken their positions. The leader says ‘and it is a….’ shows what is in their hand, all those not being the object shown are out. The winners are the last two players left in.

Scattegories [paper and pencil]

You choose a letter at random, you then give a list of categories with maybe a 30 second pause between each one and the children have to come up with something for that category that starts with that letter. For example the categories you could have may be ‘things you find in the classroom’, ‘resources we use in maths’, ‘something you use in PE’ etc. for the letter N you might have a child say number lines, numicon and nets.

Knife, fork and spoon game [knife, fork and spoon]

Could be played with any three objects but these are ones all children are likely to have in the house. Everyone keeps their objects out of sight and on the count of three picks up one object and if they have chosen the same as the teacher they get a point, if not they try again next time.

Scavenger Hunts [depends on the hunt]

There are a large variety of ways in which you can carry out a scavenger hunt. It is often good to have a theme for your hunt e.g. colours of the rainbow, letters in a word from your topic, or objects in a category. Some examples below. It works best to send children off for one item at a time and wait until they have all returned before saying the next item, you can then go through the items at the end. Or challenges such as an item that begins with every letter of the alphabet, but they all have to fit on a dinner plate. Or an item for every letter in the word OCEANS (for example).

‘Inventor Scavenger Hunt’

Something you can turn

Something that is bumpy

Something that is metal

Something that you put together

Something that you twist

Something you can roll

‘Indoor Scavenger Hunt’

Find a fork

Find something that is red

Find a toilet roll

Find something that is very soft

Find 2 socks that match

Find a key

‘Rainbow Scavenger Hunt’

Find something red/orange/yellow/green/blue/purple etc.

Find something spotty/striped etc.

Bingo [paper and pencil, or pre-printed boards]

You could either ask the children to create their own bingo grid on paper, or send some pre-printed slides out in their packs. The teacher then calls one of the options at random and if a child has it they cross it off/cover it over. The game continues until one person has covered all of their options and shouts BINGO!

Quiz time! [ppt to share, paper and pencil optional]

The teacher could either just read questions or have a ppt to screen share with questions on. Your quiz could take any form you want- guess the chocolate bar? Answer these questions? Spot the difference? There’s almost endless options. Children could write down answers or you could just do hands up and answer each question as you go.

Higher or Lower [pack of cards]

Teacher shows a card to the children and they have to guess whether the next card will be a number that is higher or lower. Before you play you must decide whether Ace is high or low and whether you are using picture cards or not.

Pillow Case/bag game [pillow case/bag and 10 random items]

Tell the children to grab a pillowcase/bag and put 10 things inside. When they are all back tell them you are going to ask for an item and they should get the closest item to describe what you want out of the bag. But once an item is used it cannot be used again. Some of the things you could ask for are:

A pen

An umbrella

A hedgehog

Something you can eat

A ticket

Something to keep you warm

Name 10 things, they will start getting very creative towards the end!

Pillow Case/bag game V2 [pillow case/bag and 10 random items]

Tell the children to grab a pillowcase/bag and put 10 things inside. When they are all back choose one person to describe an object in their bag and the other children have to guess what that object is.

Find a match [random objects in the house]

Teacher holds up a random item, for example a striped sock, the children get 30 seconds to look at the item then they have to go and find something as similar as they can. The child with the best match gets a point.

Drawing games [paper and pencil]:-

There are a few variations on drawing games such as drawing without taking your pencil off the paper, drawing with your eyes closed, drawing without looking down, drawing with your opposite hand etc. They could then be asked to draw a ‘story’, for example, “A house, With sun shining and clouds in the sky, There is a big tree in the garden, And a bird sitting in a nest in the tree, There is a dog watching the bird, Somebody is waving from a window.”

Museum of imagination [random objects from their house]

Imagine you are in charge of a big, wonderful museum. You decide what goes into the museum display. Pick one of your random objects, you have to make this into a display for the museum. Come up with a story for your object, don’t focus on what it is, more what it could be. Think about, where was it found, how was it found, did it belong to someone else first and why is it special/important. Show off your museum to other people and explain what you have come up with!

Games using the ‘White board':-

Hangman

One player chooses a word. Draw a number of blanks to show how many letters are in the word. Other players guess letters that could make up the word. If they’re correct, the letter is written on the blank. Every time a letter is guessed, that isn’t part of the word, a part of the hangman is drawn on.

Guess the picture (Pictionary)

Can you guess what another player is drawing? You will need two teams. First team draws an object and the second team has to get what it is. To win, the team will have to guess the object within five goes!

Bolderdash [dictionary]

The teacher chooses a word from the dictionary (the weirder the better) then asks children to send their idea of what the definition could be- could be done in advance of the session through ‘Class Notebook’ or via private message between child and teacher during the session. The teacher then puts up some of the false definitions as well as the correct definition and children have to guess which one is the real one. If doing in a live session, whiteboard can be used to put the definitions onto, if done before you could use ppt etc.