Sparks are amazing girls and will Surprise you every time.
Quite a few of these ideas have been
borrowed from Old issues of the Canadian Guider and
have been adapted to Spark level.
Original game Submitted by Jo-Anne Reynolds to the Canadian Guider March/April 1995
Click here for sample cards
This game helps girls learn where
some common animals live and what they eat.
Make up three sets of cards, using
pictures. 1 set depicting animals, 2nd set having pictures of their
homes and the 3rd set with pictures of what the animals eat.
The Number of girls playing should be divisible by three. The
following lists cover 10 animals, making enough for 30 cards. It will get you
started.
Frog
Pond
Flies
Robin
Nest in Tree
worms, bugs
Duck
Pond
water, plants
Fox
Den
mice, rabbits, gophers
Mouse
Hole in Ground
seeds, insects
Beaver
Pond or lake (Dam)
branches
Owl
Nest in Tree
mice, gophers, squirrels
Rabbit
Hole in ground
grass, plants
Fish
pond, river, lake
water bugs
Squirrel
Hole in Tree
seeds, nuts, acorns
Talk to your Sparks about each animal
and where they live and what they eat. Ask them what they think they might
surprise you and know all the answers!
Give each girl a card. Some girls
will be animals, some homes and some foods. The cards should be kept in
three-card sets to ensure that all three cards for each animal are used. The
girls need to sort themselves into groups of three each finding their matches.
Each animal with his or her respective home and food.
The homes are fairly straightforward but the foods may prove to be the
challenge here.
If the number of girls playing is
small, use the animal cards with one or the other of the home and food cards.
You can follow this game up with a
discovery walk through a park or some trails.
Can the girls hear a frog? Can any
one spot the hole in the ground? Who might live there? Do you see any birds?
Where could they build their homes? What animal might eat those mosquitoes? Can
anyone find something that has been munched on by an insect?
Have each girl Trace a partner’s
foot and then cut her out.
Take a walk outside around your
meeting place. Put the feet on the ground and then Pick them up and look
carefully to see how many different things are under the footstep. Talk about what they have found and then go back to your
meeting place and draw what you have found on to the footprint.
Click
here for sample Bingo Card
Make insect “bingo” cards for
everyone. Let the girls carry them around on a hike, or walk in the park even,
checking off all the bugs they can find.
I laminated the bingo cards that I made so that they would be re-usable and we just use small round stickers to mark off what we find and they are re-usable about 5 times or so before they loose their stick.
Submitted by Diane Meacher and Joan Grant to the 1994 March/April Issue of Canadian Guider
CAUTION:
Please be informed of Nut allergies in your group before proceeding with this
activity
Before the
girls arrive, hide peanuts or chestnuts outside. Start the meeting by discussing
how animals prepare for winter. Let the girls pretend they’re squirrels
hunting and storing nuts for winter and send them outside to find the hidden
nuts.
Snow and Ice
Submitted by Diane Meacher and Joan Grant to the 1994 March/April Issue of Canadian Guider
On snowy
days, in addition to the fun of building a snow sculpture or making angels in
the snow, the girls can have some learning fun. Give each girl a small square of
black construction paper and have her examine snowflakes under a magnifying
glass. Mix food colorings and water in a squirting or squeezable bottle and let
the girls paint a picture in the snow. Conduct a simple experiment: at the
beginning of your meeting, have the girls put snow in small plastic containers
and place them inside. Just before closing time, have them check to see if the
snow has melted and if the water is dirty or clean. They may never eat snow
again.
Diamond
Hunt
(Fun Tested Games from A to Z)
Fun Game for a Hot Day
Form teams
in relay formation
Each team is
facing a tub of muddy water in which you have placed marbles.
On ready set
go! The first players run up to the tub, jump in, and muck about until they find
a marble.
Once they
get a marble, they run back and tag the second player who then repeats the
process. The first team to finish, collecting all their marbles wins.
You will
need 1 tub or bucket for each team and enough marbles for one for each player.
Monkey Tag
(Fun Tested Games from A to Z)
This game is
played like regular tag but when any player is in danger of being tagged by
“it” she can spring up and hug a tree. “IT” is not allowed to wait for
the player to drop to the ground; she must now chase someone else.
Players
cannot use the same tree twice in succession. Only one monkey on a branch at a
time.
Outdoor Treasure Hunt
(Fun Tested Games from A to Z)
Great for a Day Camp Activity
Items
needed: Map, foil covered coins, “peg-leg marker” , spade, and treasure
chest.
Advise the
group that a map has been discovered which is supposed to show where a famous
pirate buried his treasure.
The map is
hung on a tree. It is incomplete in that it only shows where the treasure is
buried in relation to a tree, rock or other natural markers.
However, it
may be possible to follow his trail to the treasure as the chest was
leaking—also the pirate has a peg leg.
By following
peg-leg marks and coins, they should come to the spade and should dig up the
treasure with it.
Tree
Identification
Hug
a tree, Smell a tree, Touch the leaves, bark and observe the tree.
In
partners 1 person has a blindfold on the other leads them to a tree. The
blindfolded one with help from their partner feels, smells etc… the tree and
then is lead back to starting point. The blindfold is then taken off and the
person has
to
try and figure out which tree was "theirs." This can also be done as a
walk
in a larger area with numerous things to touch and feel (but not
necessarily
to remember)
Face Paint Hike
A
Rainbow Of Fun
Just
print this graphic out and then cut them out to hand out to the girls.
Using
Sticks of Face paint along a hike. To get each colour, girls are challenged to
find and show to others a flower (then they get the yellow stripe of the
rainbow) an interesting Bug (green stripe of the rainbow) an cool spider web (red
stripe of the rainbow). When everyone is sporting a rainbow on their cheek the
game ends.
Dodge Ball
(Use a Nerf Ball )
Play as Dodge ball rules: 2 teams on equal sides of
playing area. 2 Dodge balls in use. Players throw dodge balls to try to hit
their opponents to get them out. If a ball hits a player before the ball hits
the ground, the hit player is out. If a player throws the ball and an opponent
catches the ball before it hits the ground, the Thrower is out. Last team with a
player still in is the winner. At least 1 referee is needed, having 2 is very
helpful.
David & Goliath Twist: before each round of play, each team designates a
Goliath for their team and tells only the referee's). At any time the
"Goliath" is put out, either by being hit or by having a thrown ball
caught, the whole team goes down. This makes for quick rounds and adds a twist
to regular dodge ball.
Five Pin Soccer
A really fun, all-involved game that builds soccer skills.
Place teams at opposite ends of a gym or field.
Place five 2-liter plastic soda bottles in the center of the field. A little
gravel in the bottle helps it to stand up and creates more noise and excitement
when hit.
At the start signal, players kick balls from behind their line trying to knock
down a pin. The player who knocks down a pin must run out and set the pin back
up. Score 1 point for each pin knocked down. First to five wins.
You can have more skilled players play less skilled by placing the lesser
skilled players closer to the pins.
It can also be played with four teams arranged in a square around the pins.