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October 2007 Camping Program Ideas
The last Canadian Guider was entitled Challenges. I would like to continue with that theme and suggest some challenges that your girls can do either individually or as a patrol. As they complete a challenge, or a part of a challenge, award them with a bead or a ribbon to complete a craft. Hemp bracelets for the older girls or plastic canvas rainbows for the younger girls are a couple of suggestions. Alter the challenges to suit the age of your girls.
Night sky challenge
1. How much light until night? You can use your fingers to calculate how much time you have left before dark. Extend your arm towards the setting sun. Let the sun rest on the side of your fingers. Fill in the space between the sun and the horizon with as many fingers as necessary. Each finger equals about 15 minutes until sunset. Do 2 tests. Is this method of timing remaining light accurate?
2. Find Polaris, the North Star. The North Star is larger and brighter than our sun but because it is about 300 billion miles away it appears much smaller and duller. The light we see form Polaris has taken 50 years to reach us here on earth. To find Polaris first find the Big Dipper, also called the Great Bear. 7 stars in the north sky form the Big Dipper. The two end stars of the dipper point to the North Star. The distance to the North Star is about 5 times the distance between the 2 pointer stars. Polaris is part of what constellation, or group of stars? To the North Star Mizar
3. Find the Papoose How good are your eyes? North American natives used this test to check their eye site. Again we will be looking at the Big Dipper (Great Bear). The 7 stars of the Big Dipper are arranged as shown above but remember depending on the season, they swing around the North Star like a hand of a clock. The middle star on the handle of the dipper is MIZAR. This star the natives call, “the Squaw:. Look closely at Mizar and you will actually see 2 stars. Can you see a tiny star, ALCAR, or “the Papoose”, very close to Mizar? If you can see the Papoose on the Squaw’s back you have good eye site. Once you have seen, or tried to see, the Papoose tell your Guider.
4. Moon watch Next to the sun our moon is the most obvious of our heavenly bodies. But the moon doesn’t always appear the same way. As it rotates around the earth, the earth at times blocks the light from the sun causing the moon to go through phases. If the moon appears to be getting larger, it is said to be waxing and if it appears to be shrinking it is waning. At extreme ends of the cycle we have what appears to be no moon (new moon) or a full moon. Watch the moon for 4-5 nights. Is it waxing or waning? Which direction do the horns point when the moon is waxing?
Tree and Leaf Challenge
1. Find a Pine Tree All pines have long needles joined at their bases into bundles of 2, 3 or 5 needles. Lodgepole/Jack pines have 2 needles Yellow/Ponderosa pines have 3 needles White pine have 5 needles Two other BC pine varieties, the White ark and the Limber pine also have 5 needles per bunch. These 2 pines grow in the high mountain sub alpine. These are BC’s common native pines. There is a very good chance at least 1 of them grows in your neighbourhood. Find at least 1 pine near your house and identify it from its number of needles.
2. Pressed leaves or leaf rubbings Collect leaves from 4 or 5 different kinds of trees in your neighbourbood. Try to identify the type of tree. Either press the leaves between sheets of paper or place the leaf under a sheet of paper. Gently rub the paper on top of the leaf with the side of a crayon or pencil. You should get a beautiful leaf print. You can create pictures using different types of leaves or by using different colours.
3. Go on a tree Safari Choose a tree in your area and do any 5 of the following activities:
a) make a bark rubbing
b) estimate the tree’s height
c) draw a picture of the tree
d) name an everyday product that can be made from the wood
e) name 3 things needed for the trees growth
f) name an animal that might live in your tree
g) what happens to your tree in autumn?
h) list all the colours you can see as part of your tree
Weather watch Challenge
1. Recognize at least 3 different types of clouds in the sky. What type of weather accompanies this type of cloud?
2. Record the temperatures 2 times a day for 3 days. Try to record the temperature at the same time each day.
3. Choose 3 different old weather beliefs. Using your observations and previous experience, decide how true they are.
Moonlanding Challenge
(Thanks to East North Shore Guides)
Your patrol has the distinction of being the first group of girls on the moon. In fact, you’re on the moon right now! You will only be here for 1 hour and will have to meet the spaceship at ___________________________________ to return to earth. While you are on the moon, use your time to do the following:
1. Create and plant a flag on the moon to show that your patrol has been here.
2. Collect rock specimens for earth’s scientists to examine. Find 5 rocks of different sizes, shapes and colours.
3. Measure the distance from ______________ to _________________ using yourself as a tape measure as you have no other measuring instrument.
4. Make up a musical instrument to amuse yourselves while you are here. Show how to play it.
5. Make up a poem or song about your adventures on the moon. Be able to recite or sing it as a patrol.
Unnature Trail Game
from Sharing Nature With Children by Joseph Cornell
While the weather is still nice enough to go outside try the following game with your girls. This game can help teach them about camouflage, visual awareness and the effects of man-made litter. Choose a 40 - 50 foot section of a trail. Place 10 - 15 man-made objects somewhere along it. Some of the objects can be brightly coloured like ribbons or balloons. Others should blend with their surroundings and be more difficult to pick out. Keep the number of objects you’ve planted secret. Have the girls walk over the section of the trail, 1 at a time, trying to spot (but not touch) as many of the objects as they can. When they reach the end of the trail they whisper in your ear how many objects they saw. If no one saw all of them tell everyone how many were seen and let them know how many were placed. They can them walk the trail again trying to spy all of the objects. This can lead to discussions of animal’s camouflage colouration and/or how our littering effects the environment.
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