Games for Brownies and Guides

Witches
One person is the witch. There are glue pots marked on the floor (about 5 circles spread around the area). We use hoops to mark these out. When you say go, the witch tries to catch the other Brownies. When a Brownie is caught she must stand in the nearest gluepot. She can reach out (but not move out) and catch other Brownies and bring them into her gluepot. The last Brownie not caught is the winner.

Co-operative Games Blindfold all but one member of each Patrol, and get the unblindfolded member to direct (either leading, or by voice or by agreed signals - give them a whistle and say they cannot talk after your signal...) each of the blind-folded members into some predefined enclosure - a rope "sheep pen" or similar... You can move each of the other members to areas around the room and spin them round so they are disoriented and don't know where they are headed before you begin. This one's good for getting the girls to listen to instructions - and particularly for listening to the right instructions - you have to get them to make sure the right girl is turning to the right and then walking forward 10 paces (or whatever) - you don't want all of them to do the same thing if they are not all in the same location! (Helen Pemberton)

Another one I did at a training was that we were divided into 2 groups - or one leader and one group and then the leader and the others were separated by something they couldn't see through. When we did it (as adults), we were at a training centre and were outside - we were separated by a wall.... The leader was given a set of instructions - e.g. a stylised drawing of a house using 2 long pieces for the 2 sloping sides of a roof, two equal sized pieces for walls, two more for a floor and ceiling, and if you wanted to add doors and windows... The adults on the other side, had the relevant lengths of wood and had to be guided to make the shape. The leader could not tell them to create a house, but had to explain that they should pick up the two longest pieces and lay them on the ground in a particular fashion. We repeated this at Guides using sheets to block the view between partners or groups and their leaders. You could make card-strips instead of the logs we used as adults - or alternatively we did it with some tangrams.... (Those bits of wood - or in this case I made card ones) which fit together to make a square of assembled correctly, but otherwise the pieces themselves are something like 1 small square, 1 parallelogram, 1 large triangle 1 or 2 small triangles... etc. If you don't know what I mean, email me and I'll get a picture!... I also enlarged several "pictures" that could be made using these sets of shapes... Then gave the person or people on one side of the sheet/barrier, the picture, and they other group had the shapes.... The person with the picture had to instruct the others where to put the pieces to make up their picture.... It was quite fun to watch, and I think the Guides also enjoyed it.... (Helen Pemberton)

Try getting your patrols to cross from one side of the hall to another on chairs. They have to stand on a certain amount of chairs and pass them along to each other to travel further (ie across the hall) I find one less chair than the number in the patrol works best. They learn to work together and to think which strategies work best. (Carol)

Another - mark a large circle on the ground with rope or chalk. Give the patrol 2 long pieces of rope. In the circle sitting on a stand (eg log) is a round water carrier type object (empty). Outside the circle is another log. The story is - The circle marks a contaminated area. You must transfer the barrel to the log on the outside of the circle without touching it. Points deducted for; anyone that enters the contaminated area; any rope touching the ground in the contaminated area. See which patrol can do it in the shortest time. (Carol)

Arrival Games for Brownies
Traffic Lights: There are only three commands Green - run around Amber - sit down Red - stop After everyone has arrived and the girls are starting to get tired I usually say that anyone who gets it wrong is out.

Daddy bear, mummy bear, baby bear : This needs the girls to be in threes, but if you don't have a multiple of three then you can have a four in which case 2 people double up, or a two in which case you improvise a bit, or drag in your long suffering young leader. The girls nominate a daddy, mummy and baby bear for each group. The girls get into a circle standing next to the other members of their group. The guider then calls out one of "daddy", "mummy" or "baby" bear followed by one of "tunnels", "arches" or "bridges" e.g. "Daddy Bear arches". Whoever is that "bear" has to run round the circle anticlockwise. Meanwhile the other two get into a "tunnel" (stand in front of each other with legs apart), an arch (join hands above heads in arch formation), or tunnel (sit down with legs straight out in front, soles of feet together as in "Ladders"). When the girl running round the circle gets back she has to go through the tunnel, under the arch or over the bridge and then grab and item (we usually use a bean bag) in the middle of the circle. First one to get there wins though we don't usually bother to keep score.

Heads Down, Thumbs Up This is a quieter game but my girls love it. It is also a good way to get new ones to get to learn the others. All girls sit in a circle. The guider selects 4 (depending on how many you have altogther -we have 24 brownies) girls who stand outside the circle. The command "Heads Down, Thumbs Up" is given and the girls in the circle have to put their heads down, shut their eyes and hold their thumbs up. The 4 selected girls then go round and squeeze the thumb of one girl each. Anyone who's had their thumbs squeezed puts them down so they don't get squeezed twice. When all 4 girls have squeezed some one's thumbs they go back to their original places. The guider then says "Heads Up" and the girls who have been squeezed stand up. The guider then asks each girl in turn to guess who squeezed them. If they are correct then they change places, if not they stay where they are. This can go on ad nauseam. Shaan 1st Kents Hill Brownies

Knives, Fork and Spoons All line up against one wall of the hall. When "Lay the Table" is called, run to the opposite side of the hall. "Clear the Table" run to the side of the hall you started. "Knives" - stand to attention (Like the blade of a knife) "Spoons" - crouch down small "Forks" - stand up straight with your arms above your head (like the prongs of the fork).

Sun and Frost One player is the Sun and another is the Frost. Everyone has to run around, and the Frost has to catch them. When they are caught they stand still, until the Sun comes and defrosts them. Periodically change over, so everyone has the chance of being Sun and/or Frost. Lesley Adams, 10th Portsmouth

What Makes a Patrol Leader Game I have a game I play with them where they get into teams and have to run up one from each team at a time to a table. The girl picks up a card and has to decide whether what is written on the card is attributable to a Patrol Leader - there is one box marked patrol leader and the other marked rubbish. She puts the card in the one she thinks. When they have finished I sit them down and we go through the cards and discuss why they were put in the box they were. On the cards are such things as trustworthy, reliable, my best friend, a bully, helpful, the eldest in our patrol etc. Then they go off and vote anonymously for their patrol leader with it fresh in their minds. Susan Haley 1st Saltash Guides/Saltash Rangers