Author Archives: Carissa

Bridging Activities!

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Recently, Burnaby Mountain’s 1st Sparks Unit connected with our 14th Pathfinders to do a fun Unit building activity together, and to earn their “How To” badges! The Sparks each received their own building kits and made their own penguin goalie game, where you flick a ball and a little Foosball style penguin tries to kick it.

The Pathfinders were a huge help with the big project! They helped the Sparks put together their games, and the Sparks were so proud of the finished projects. The Sparks couldn’t have done it without the help from the Pathfinders, so the Sparks and Spark leaders were very grateful that they came!

Bridging is a fun opportunity for Girl Guides of different age groups to come together and work on fun activities. It allows our older members to take on a leadership role, and the younger members to see what Girl Guides is like when they get older!

Everyone was so excited about the finished project!!

Frozen at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra!

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On Sunday January 22, the 1st Sparks and 47th Guiding (Sparks and Embers) went on a very exciting outing to see Frozen with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra!

First we rode the skytrain all the way downtown and made our way to the Orpheum theatre. There, we found our chunk of 44 seats and watched the musicians warm up. The movie Frozen played while the VSO played the music. It was really interesting having the music play an even larger role than normal. In some parts it got very loud!

It was a pretty exciting outing for the Sparks and Embers! Thank you to the VSO and to the Guiders for making this wonderful afternoon possible!

Guides Go Skating!

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Winter is the perfect time to try some new and fun activities! In December, the 56th Burnaby Mountain Guides decided to get active and go ice skating for one of their Unit meetings!

The Guides had a great time skating around, laughing, and trying some tricks. The skating rink even had nets to play hockey with and chairs to slide around on. For some of our Guides, it was especially exciting as it was their first-ever time ice skating.

There’s still time to participate in Girl Guides for the rest of the Guiding year and join our fun adventures! Did you know that from now until the summer, the registration fee to join Guiding is 50% off? A lot of our Units in Burnaby Mountain still have space, so join now by visiting register.girlguides.ca

Meet the Guiders of our District!

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Each month, we will be featuring one of the amazing Guiders who make Guiding in Burnaby Mountain District possible.

To start off, meet our amazing District Commissioner, Sandra! Sandra leads our District. The District Commissioner acts at the main support for Guiders in the District, and provides mentorship and feedback. She also has a large administrative role, making sure that records are kept and contracts are signed. Not to mention, she chairs the District Council and sits as a member of Area Council.

Not only is Sandra a District Commissioner, but she is also a Guide leader!

Sandra started Guiding in Brownies as a girl. She had some fantastic leaders and great memories of being a girl member, so she decided to stay in Guiding as an adult. Her favourite part about Guiding is that everybody is accepted, and it is a different experience for each member. She has met many fantastic people through Guiding. She also loves taking girls camping at Camp Olave, which is our Girl Guide camp on the Sunshine Coast.

Sandra’s favourite part about Guiding in Burnaby Mountain District is the wonderful, supportive Guiders in the District. They are all fantastic and have done wonders ensuring that the girls in the District have a memorable Guiding experience, as well as feeling supported as they grow.

Thank you for everything that you do for Guiding and Burnaby Mountain District, Sandra! We are lucky to have you!

STEM Fun!

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In Girl Guides, one of the badges that all branches can work on is the “Science Lab” badge. There are so many fun things that girls can do to learn about STEM!

Recently, SFU Outreach visited the 56th Burnaby Mountain Guide Unit to talk all about engineering and to make bath bombs! The Guides first learned about all of the different types of engineers that there are – including chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, and civil engineers. It was then time for the group to become engineers themselves, but first, they did an activity to learn all about the scientific process.

Once they had learned about the scientific process, it was time to make bath bombs! Each Guide got to choose the colour and scent of their bath bomb, and each one turned out very unique.

Thank you very much to SFU Outreach for taking the time to visit the Guides and put together such a fun activity! We loved learning about STEM.

Tea-rrific Tea Party

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One of the most exciting things about this Guiding year is that we’re allowed to have sleepovers again! Sparks and Brownies in Burnaby Mountain District recently held a Tea-rrific Tea Party sleepover at Richmond Guide House. For all of the girls, it was their first-ever Girl Guide sleepover, and it was a huge success!

It was a full-house, with Sparks and Brownies from the 1st Sparks, 27th Guiding, and 47th Guiding Units coming together for the tea party. The group cooked strawberry jam on a camp stove, made fascinators (headbands) to wear to the tea party, and made tea sandwiches. Of course, dinner was a high-tea with the sandwiches and other treats!

The group also played a rousing game of pass the parcel and ended the evening with a movie night, watching Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

Thank you to all of the Guiders who worked hard to make this sleepover happen, and to all of the Sparks and Brownies for attending. It was such a fun evening!

Camp SPARKLE

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This fall, Guiding in Burnaby Mountain has been in full swing, with Units and members across the District participating in fun adventures and new activities.

Our members are very excited about the fact that we can go camping again! Recently, Spark members in the District had the opportunity to get ready to go camping and practice their camping skills at a District-wide SPARKLE event, held at Robert Burnaby Park this October.

SPARKLE was a Province-wide event held for our BC Sparks! Organized by the BC Camping Committee, members from across the Province had the chance to sign up for a SPARKLE camp kit. Our older youth members, Rangers, developed their leadership skills by helping to plan the activities and run stations. The kits were full of fun activities for Spark members to learn all about camping. Spark members across the Province participated in the same activities throughout the weekend – how cool is that?

At SPARKLE, our Burnaby Mountain Sparks had the chance to learn how to put up a tent (shaped like a unicorn, of course!), practice their First Aid skills, and discuss the hiking essentials that they should bring outdoors. They also learned about Hug a Tree, and what they should do if they are lost in the woods.

All of our Units are planning exciting activities throughout the year. Some of our Units still have spaces for members to join! If you would like to join our adventures, find us on the Girl Guide Unit finder at https://register.girlguides.ca/web/en/unit-search and register now!

Guiding Lights for Thinking Day

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Happy Thinking Day everyone! As our Guiding enthusiasts all know, February 22 is the joint birthday of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell and celebrated worldwide as a way to honour Guiding’s past, present, and future here and all around the world.

According to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, this year’s World Thinking Day theme is Peacebuilding. On that note, did you hear that WAGGGS was nominated this year for a Nobel Peace Prize? You can learn about that here: https://www.wagggs.org/en/news/wagggs-and-wosm-welcome-nobel-peace-prize-nomination/

Closer to home, if you follow our local Guiding bodies (like West Coast Area, or BC Girl Guides) on social media then you probably already know about the Guiding Lights Across BC celebration this year. Due to Covid, we can’t celebrate Thinking Day with the big parties and celebrations that we’re used to, so we’ve invited landmarks from across the province to light up blue to help Girl Guides celebrate our special day.

Sample lights made by Sparks and Brownies in Burnaby Mountain

Many of our units have been busy making their own blue Guiding lanterns so that they can let their Guiding lights shine this evening as well. Are you a Girl Guide? Were you a Girl Guide? Do you simply love the cookies? Whatever your affiliation is with Guiding we encourage you to put a blue light in your window tonight. Eagle-eyed girls around the province will be looking for their sisters and supporters and it would mean a lot to them if you showed the love.

Guides Outside Together at the Lake

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Girl Guides of Canada has recently allowed units in our Health Authority to meet in person, outdoors, with some restrictions. While some groups are remaining entirely or mostly online at this time for a variety of reasons (one of the biggest being February weather!) the 56th Guides took advantage of the opportunity to get together this weekend for a mini hike at Burnaby Lake.

Of course the girls were thrilled to be able to finally see each other face to face once again. The lake was a great place to stay distanced from one another and from others using the trails. It was such a welcoming day back that they didn’t even mind that it was a tad wet out.

To round out the happy reunion the group decided to make s’mores.

To make s’mores in a tin can all you need is a clean tin Can , tea light candle , chop stick and of course each girl can bring her own S’more fixings (marshmallow, graham cracker, and chocolate).

No matter how our units are connecting at this time, all of our Guiders are doing their best to keep girls engaged and having a good time during all of this turmoil. Well done everyone. Stay safe!

Pathfinders Speed Drawing

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In response to the the most recent provincial health orders, all Guiding in Burnaby Mountain District has moved online, at least for the time being. But that doesn’t mean that Guiding has stopped — our girls are just as busy and engaged as ever, using technology to their advantage to continue meeting and trying new things.

Recently, the 14th Pathfinders invited a guest to lead them through a Speed Drawing workshop. Basically, the facilitator led the exercise which was not about creating beautiful images, but rathe seeing shapes and connecting what you see to what your do with your hands.

The girls worked with the three images above and cycled through four rounds, each one with a shorter time limit. Then there was a debrief where they discussed the exercise and shard their crazy drawings.

The drawings!

It was a bit messy and a little chaotic, but most importantly it was fun! Groups are coming up with a lot of creative ways to keep connected with virtual meetings. Thank you, Guider Marie, for leading this fun activity!