Sparks with Critters

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Carissa

Never a group to shy away from an adventure, the 1st Sparks recently had a special guest come to a meeting. And he brought… friends.

Mike, of Mike’s Critters, was a great host for the girls who learned a tremendous amount about different kinds of animals including what they eat, how they protect themselves, why they look the way they do, and lots of other really cool trivia.

Mike brought a rabbit, a hedgehog, a red-eyed tree frog, a parrot, a leopard gecko, a chinchilla, a chameleon, and a mealy corn snake. The girls got to look at all of the animals up close and were able to touch most of them.

Did you know the Chinchilla is the softest animal in the whole wide world?

Some special volunteers even got to take turns holding some of the animals. The girls were so brave and were even excited to get to hold the snake!

The girls were so excited to have Mike and his critters at their meeting. It was educational, engaging, and totally hands-on. What a great opportunity. This unit and its leaders give Mike a rave review and totally suggest you check out his website and condsider booking him for your upcoming events.

Thinking Day 2015 – Healthy Living

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Carissa

In February, Girl Guides around the world celebrate the joint birthdays of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, the founders of our organization, in Thinking Day celebrations. This year, Burnaby Mountain District hosted its annual celebration on February 21 at Charles Rummel Hall.

Approximately 75 girls came out with their families to celebrate Guiding. The event was planned and delivered by the 12th Rangers with help from the 14th Pathfinders. The girls did a wonderful job hosting the event, showing exemplary leadership skills.

The theme of this year’s event was healthy living, and the Rangers planned stations for the girls to visit round-robin style that contributed towards the new provincial program Colour Me Healthy challenges. By the end of the day, all girls present were well on their way to earning the challenges which may be completed in their units.

Fun stations included fruit & veggie trivia, yoga, foot tag, and a fruit and veg tasting station. The afternoon was rounded out with a lively campfire.

In addition to the festivities, there was a bake sale that many families contributed to. So many tasty things! Proceeds from the bake sale are going towards the district’s year end event in June. Thanks for helping us raise the funds for that.

A huge thank you goes out to the Rangers and Pathfinders who worked so hard planning and leading this event. The girls all had a great time and hopefully learned a thing or two about healthy choices.

To our sisters around the world, Happy Thinking Day 2015!

Brownies Experience the Orchestra

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Carissa

Last month the girls of the 54th Brownies enjoyed a concert at the Orpheum Theatre in downton Vancouver called Latin Beats Heroic Feats. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra put the show on as a part of their Kids’ Koncerts series.

Especially exciting was the opportunity visit the VSO Instrument Fair in the hour before the show. The girls got some hands on exposure to a variety of instruments.

Performers were available with several different instruments to give kids personal demonstrations and a chance to try them themselves. The girls had a chance to try a cello, violin, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, and more!

There was even a craft station — always a bit hit with Brownies! — where the girls got to make their own carnival masks, which later became a part of the interactive show. The orchestra performed a number of musical pieces from across North and South America in an interactive show designed for kids aged four to eleven years old. Clowning and puppetry were also used to stage a story about a young boy’s travel through time and space, learning all about music and rhythm. Once again the girls impressed everybody with how well behaved and engaged they were through the whole experience. This unit visited the symphony last year as well and when Brown Owl asked what kinds of outings and activities they wanted to plan this year, there was an overwhelming desire to see the symphony again.

Way to go, 54th Brownies, helping these girls develop a love for live orchestral music!

Three Ring Brownies

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Carissa

Girls in the 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies have been learning about the circus. They recently had one of the district’s Pathfinders, who does circus lessons, come in to show them some tricks and let them try some equipment. stacked Activities including spinning plates, crazy yoyos, juggling, ring tossing, human pyramids, and more. It was a lot of fun!
The unit is carrying on with the circus theme, currently working on puppets for a three ring puppet show that they will be presenting at a Mother’s Day luncheon. Their puppets are animals, clowns, and acrobats… stay tuned! pyramid

The circus activities are also involved in completing a provincial Arts challenge. How cool is that?

Thank you to the awesome Pathfinder who donated her time to teach the Brownies fun new skills.

Guides at the Biodiversity Museum

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Carissa

Recently the girls of the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides took a Saturday morning to visit the Beatty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. The unit rode transit from Burnaby out to UBC and then enjoyed a hands-on tour of the museum.

The wonderful museum staff had prepared a session for them focussing on birds. It was very interesting. Girls got to handle actual biodiversity artefacts and and learn about birds in a variety of ways. The Feathered Friends module is described as follows: Are you bonkers for birds? Learn the basics of bird watching by discovering how body shape, colouration, behaviour and sound can be used to find out more about the birds around us.

The pictures shown are the girls posing with the museum’s impressive 26 meter long blue whale skeleton. Very cool!

It is always exciting to get our girls out in the community — especially onto university campuses! — to learn about things they didn’t know in ways that may not have occured to them. STEM Programing (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is a wonderfully enriching part of our program and the girls love it!

Sleepover at Canada Games Pool

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Carissa

Recently girls from the 24th Brownies and Highlands Guiding Unit went to Canada Games Pool in New Westminster for a fun and exciting sleepover.The evening involved time in the pool and then the sleepover portion taking place in the community centre.

The pool has lots of great things to play with in the water and girls had a lovely time swimming with their friends. A great accomplishment for many of them was being able to pass their swim tests under the supervision of Lifeguards at the pool — way to go girls!

The diving board was a pretty big hit. Girls soared from impressive heights into the deep waters below. Check out this girl catching some air!

As always, the most important thing was the girls had a great time. The units want to thank Canada Games Pool for helping them put on a successful event.

Rangers at the Night Market

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Carissa

As one of their first events this year, back in September, girls in the 12th Rangers went to the Richmond Night Market. They enjoyed eating unusual treats and shopping at unique vendors. The theme at the night market this year was Magical Candyland — it was a fun night to be sure!

The market was busy, colourful, and exciting. The adorable duck mascot and fun candy decorations made for a few irresistible photo ops.

They were joined at the market by the 14th Pathfinders. Afterwards, the two units went back to Richmond Guide House where they tented in the backyard. Meanwhile, the 54th Brownies were having a sleepover in the house — all three units had breakfast together in the morning. It is always a pleasure to see units bridging for special events.

Brownie Greek Mythology Camp

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Carissa

Brownies from three units gathered for the weekend at Camp Capilano in beautiful North Vancouver to camp out ancient Greek style. After conducting a poll of all three units, the girls chose the theme Greek Mythology for their weekend.

The girls had a great time making new friends and enjoying the wonderful camp facilities. As part of their afternoon Olympics, the girls spent time Poseidon adventuring in the heated outdoor pool.

SAM_2884 They also learned how to use camp stoves as part of their camping badges. They worked together to make some fruit of the gods jam to bring home to their moms for mother’s day.

Other Olympic games included shot put, discus, and cupid’s arrow.

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It wouldn’t have been Brownie camp without a campfire including all their favourite songs, and roasting marshmallows for s’mores.

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And the girls danced the night away at their toga party wearing the awesome toga nighties they made earlier in the day.

It was a wildly successful camp. Thank you to the leaders from the 24th Brownies, the 54th Brownies, and the Highlands Brownies for working together to pull this off. Also, a thank you to the couple of Guides who came along to act as patrol leaders, showing great leadership and fun attitudes.

Brownie Luau Sleepover

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Carissa

To get the year off to an awesome start, the 54th Brownies had a sleepover in September. It was themed like a Hawaiian luau!

Junior leaders at the entrance to the Luau

Heritage home Richmond Guide House was decorated to become to newest Hawaiian island. Girls were greeted by leaders with leis and went on to make their own floral hair pieces. After a pizza dinner (you guessed it, Hawaiian flavour!) the girls made their own coconut bras and donned grassed skirts.

Spicy Owl is helping a Brownie with her costume

Once they were all outfitted, it was time to dance! Hula style, of course.

Before long they were expert hula dancers

The night time snack was pineapple ice — a delicious treat made by freezing pineapple juice and grinding it through a snow cone maker.

Yum! Very refreshing.

A big thank you to all the leaders and Rangers who made this event possible. The girls had a great time!

Burnaby Mountain District

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