Monthly Archives: October 2014

Sparks Tinkerbell Sleepover

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Last week the girls of the 1st Sparks had a great time sleeping over at Richmond Guide House. They had a pizza pajama party with the theme of Tinkerbell! The_Pirate_Fairy_posterThey enjoyed a tasty pizza supper and then did a craft of Tinkerbell tutus before settling in to a room made into a movie theatre with a projector showing the Tinkerbell Pirate Fairy movie on the wall. The movie looked and sounded great. So much fun!

A magical fairy checking out the party light

A magical fairy checking out the party light

In the morning the girls had a fairy party. This involved wearing the tutus made the night before and putting on fairy wings. The “movie theatre” room was converted into a “dance party” room with music and disco lights. They danced to pop music and classics like the Chicken Dance and the Macarena.

20141019_094542The fairy party also included reading from a Tinkerbell picture book, eating cake pops, and colouring some Tink sheets.

20141019_100635At the end of the event, some of the girls didn’t even want to go home they were having so much fun. That’s a pretty impressive endorsement considering for many of these Sparks it was their very first sleepover ever!

Gulf of Georgia Cannery/Richmond Guide House Sleepover

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At the end of September the girls and leaders of the 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies had an incredible overnight experience combining a tour of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and a sleepover at Richmond Guide House.

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Some of the leaders outside the Cannery as the girls gathered for the event

Everyone met at the cannery, which is a Parks’ Canada National Historic site. Two enthusiastic tour guides took everyone around the facility, showing how salmon was fished and canned and west coast.

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The start of the tour, near a display about old time fishing techniques

It was fascinating to learn about what the conditions were like for the people working in the cannery, to see the machines, and understand some context about the west coast fishing industries.

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The girls were a rapt and well behaved audience

The girls especially enjoyed some hands-on activities designed to give them an appreciation for the weight of the fish, how they moved fish around the cannery, and even learning how much a Brownie’s weight of salmon would have been worth (answer: about $20!)

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One Brownie using a tool to move rubber fish from one bin to another. It was heavy, hard work!

After the tour the girls had a fish and chips dinner in the cannery’s ice house. A huge thank you to friend of Guiding, Dave’s Fish and Chips, who prepared our delicious meal for wonderful value. Everyone then rode the bus back to the Richmond Guide House where they settled in to the sleepover portion of the evening.

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A koi fish wind sock — fish theme, get it?

The girls worked together to cook some stone soup for mug-up, made a craft of koi fish wind socks, sang campfire songs, and went to bed (at a very reasonable time, the leaders are pleased to add!).

Sparks become Nature Explorers

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Last week the girls in the 1st Sparks went on an outing to Burnaby Lake where they were toured around the park by some Metro Vancouver park interpreters for a Nature Explorers field trip. The theme of the evening was nocturnal animals.image (3)

Stations and activities were set up along the trail designed for the girls to learn about bats, owls, spiders, frogs, slugs, beavers, and flying squirrels. Puppets, artefacts, and habitats were all involved in a hands-on experience, expertly tailored to our girls’ ages. One of the best recieved activities involved the Sparks climbing through a giant spider web without touching the strings… or else the giant fuzzy spider puppet would come turn them into supper!

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There was plenty of real nature to enjoy. Girls got to pet slugs, listen to frogs, and observe birds — some girls even spotted an owl!

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It was a lot of fun to spend a meeting outside learning about nature. It was neat to learn that there was so much wildlife so close to where we all live. If other groups are interested in booking a park interpreter field trip, details are available here.