Teaching Games

Why do we play games in Girl Scouts?

• To help girls and leaders get acquainted easily and enjoy being together.
• To meet some of the needs of the whole group and of individuals. For example, games can give girls a chance:
  • To be active and noisy after a time they had to be quiet.
  • To learn teamwork and fair play.
  • To learn to win or lose in a good natured way.
  • To be both leaders and followers.
• To present new information or skills in an engaging way.
• To review or practice skills in an enjoyable way.
• To help girls understand and appreciate both similar and different games of Girl Scouts in other countries.

How do we prepare to teach games?

• Choose games to teach according to:
  • The ages, interests, and abilities of the group.
  • The special purpose you want each game to serve.
  • The size and type of play space available.
  • The weather – during hot days, choose less active games, a shaded space, or water based games if possible.
• Know the games you want to play well enough that you don’t have to refer to a book or notes.
• Start with simple/familiar games and work up to new ones that are harder.
• Alternate between quiet games and exciting games.
• Collect all necessary equipment.

How do we teach games?

• Get the attention of the group and have them get into formation for playing the game.
• Explain or show the game briefly and let them play right away.
• If the game is hard, show them one part at a time, letting them try each part immediately.
• Let them have fun with the game before you check on mistakes, but stop when necessary to make rules or actions more clear.
• As soon as the girls are able, let them carry on the game themselves. Help them only if questions or disagreements arise which they can’t settle.
• In competitive games, encourage the girls to play for the fun of the game and for their team and to applaud or otherwise recognize the winning team.
• When teaching singing games, be sure you have practiced the song so everyone knows it.
• If a competitive game is coming to a close and you can feel the rivalry getting out of hand, take a group time out and ask, “how do we act when we win?”, “how do we act when we lose?” and get the girls input on what good sportsmanship looks like. Then continue and finish the game.

Large Group Attention Getters

These tools are perfect to get the attention of large groups, particularly during the start of a meeting or activity.

• Establish a “quiet” sign. Many Girl Scout troops use either the promise sign or a raised hand. Whenever an adult member uses the sign, girls must also do the sign and be quiet until everyone is quiet. Practice a few times when you introduce it.
• An adult raises their hand and calls out, “When the hand goes up…” and girls answer, “…the mouth goes shut!” You may need to repeat a couple times until everyone is quiet.
• The adult tosses a ball in the air. While the ball is in the air, everyone screams. When the ball is in the adult’s hand, everyone is quiet. You can make this scream/quiet transition very fun. Fake a toss, drop the ball, etc. It’s a little game before you start.
• One adult calls out across the group, “Hey, Steph!” Steph responds, “Hey, Alice!” “Hey, Steph, is it really loud in here?” “It sure is…” and so on. You can improvise as you see fit. But the girls will quiet down pretty quickly as they watch the dialogue with fascination.
• Talking softly in a stage whisper with an instruction. A popular one is “if you can hear my voice, clap once” and increasing the clapping each time. You could also try, “if you can hear my voice, put your hands on your head, put your hands on your toes, touch your nose” and so on. Be sure to keep your voice relatively quiet.
• Clapping in a pattern and waiting to see who follows. Repeat with new patterns until everyone has joined in.
• Snapping until everyone is snapping their fingers.
• Holding up your hand and starting a countdown.
• Agree on a fun call and response chant to get their attention. Like, “Hey Girl Scouts!”, and they respond, “Hey, What?”. They could even make their own silly version.

Teaching Songs

There are many successful approaches to song leading. Singing is a fun activity in troop meetings, during outings, and especially at a campout. It helps keep girls and adults in a positive frame of mind. You can sing during cookouts, bus rides, waiting for your next activity to start, or walking from place to place.

Select a teaching style that matches the song.

There are three main styles for teaching a song, and each has its own introduction that is easy to understand. Using this introduction consistently will increase your girls’ ability to sing along.

“This is a catch-on song!”

This is perfect for songs with very few lines that repeat. A song like “this is the song that never ends”, “down by the bay”, or other repetitive songs are perfect for this.

“This is a repeat-after-me song!”

This is for songs that are call-and-response and where the girls say the exact thing you said.

“To teach this song, I’ll sing a line, and you’ll repeat it!”

For songs too long to be a catch-on song, this is perfect. Teach the song line by line, with girls repeating you for each practice line. Then, sing it all together at the end.

If there is a rule, or pattern to the song, be sure to share. Common rules include:

• Singing a song over and over, but removing a word each time.
• Singing four lines repeat-after-me style, then all together, then starting a new verse.
• Getting louder, softer, more off-key, etc, each time
• Singing a song over and over, faster each time
• Audience participation, like having someone yell out a topic for the next verse. If you have someone in the crowd who can show off an example, this should help.

Never underestimate how much silliness you can add to a song. Girls like to be silly and see you being silly, too. You can add more flavor to your song with:

• Motions
• Holding a note for a long time
• Making funny voices when you sing
• Keeping your energy high and having an awesome attitude!
• Leading the song with another adult, not just by yourself

What’s your favorite silly Girl Scout song?

Flagpole Ceremonies

Flag ceremonies are often part of a larger ceremony or event. Some troops host a flag ceremony at every troop meeting. Others troops reserve ceremonies for big, important days like bridging ceremonies or end of year celebrations. At camp, a flag ceremony often starts and ends each day. Most of our flag ceremonies aren’t perfect, and that’s ok. Girls are learning and practicing how it’s done, which means mistakes will be made. Your goal as a volunteer is to set the tone and provide guidance to complete the ceremony.

Our flag ceremony reminders in this article are for ceremonies hosted around a flagpole, such as at summer camp. In this case, a folded flag is brought to the flagpole, and raised in the morning or beginning of the event, and retired in the evening or at the end of the event. These take place most frequently at camp, but you might find opportunities to do them at your school or for civic ceremonies.

Make a plan

There are a few decisions you will want to make before the ceremony. You’ll want to inspect the flagpole to make sure all the clips are working, and you will want to make sure you have a flag that is the correct size for the clips. You also want to decide what you want to include during the ceremony. For instance, determine whether you want to add the Girl Scout Promise or Law after the Pledge of Allegiance, or include a poem or song.

Prepare the Girls

Girls have different roles to fill during the ceremony. Each girl needs to know what she is responsible for doing, and what her cues are. You’ll want to set aside time to practice before the ceremony. Let’s look at the roles.

The color bearer (or flag bearer) is the person who carries the flag. During an opening ceremony, this girl will walk forward holding the folded flag with color guards behind her. She will pass them the flag, undo the rope from the pole, clip it onto the flag, and raise the flag. During a closing ceremony, she will bring the flag down the pole, and after it’s folded, will carry it away from the flagpole.

The color guard is a team that guards the flag(s). Any even number of guards may be used, but usually four or six girls are sufficient. During the opening ceremony, the color guard walks behind the color bearer. When passed the flag, they unfold it and hold it as it is raised until they can be certain it is high enough to not touch the ground. During a closing ceremony, they are passed the flag as it reaches them, and they fold it. Folding is a team effort, but the girls doing most of the folding are placed in the back of the line. Be sure girls have a chance to practice folding before the ceremony. And remember, they are learning. Sometimes stage-fright gets the best of them and the folding might not be perfect. You can always refold it after the ceremony, preparing for next time.

The Girl Scout in charge (or caller) is a designated Girl Scout who announces or calls each part of the ceremony. You’ll find an example of ceremony commands at GSUSA’s website.

Plan Reminders for the Audience

Because these ceremonies often happen at camp, your audience will be primarily other girls. Be sure to give them reminders like to remove any non-religious headgear (such as baseball caps) or how to make a horseshoe around the pole. If you sing a song, like Taps, during your ceremony, consider teaching it ahead of time.

Get to Know the United States Flag Code

Display of the American flag is governed by law to ensure that it will be treated with the respect due the flag of a great nation. This is known as the United States Flag Code. Some of the rules most useful for Girl Scouts posting the flag on a pole are:

The flag should never be allowed to touch anything beneath it, nor should it ever be carried flat or horizontally—always aloft and free.

The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

When flown at half-staff, the flag should be first hoisted to the top for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. When retiring at the end of the day, the flag should again be raised to the top before it is lowered.

During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag all non-military persons should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries present should stand at attention.

It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during hours of darkness.

The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.