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Brownie Splash - Retired Challenge

Launched in April 2007, this program aimed at learning about water safety was developed in partnership with the Canadian Lifesaving Society and is based on their Swim to Survive national program. It is a great Unit activity any time of year.  The programming format uses three Unit meetings and one of the meetings is held at a local pool with certified instructors.

Watch this YouTube video to learn more about Swim to Survive or visit the Lifesaving Society website

Service Project

Took the time to learn about water safety?  Spread the word! Tell every girl and boy you know that they need to learn how to be safe near the water – especially if they don't plan to go in. Create posters showing what your Unit learned about water safety and hang them up in your community for others to read. Be sure to include this is a project partnership with Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada

Meeting 1- Water Safety

Meeting 2 - Swim to Survive

Meeting 3 - Kids Helping Kids

 

Meeting 1 – Water Safety

Note to Guiders: This is a pre-planned meeting with options for you and your Brownies to choose what you would like to do. What you choose will depend on what your Brownies have already accomplished and the time/space you have available to you. Whatever activities you choose, you must cover all of the following key messages.   

Key messages: Always "swim with a buddy" Play and swim only at pools and waterfronts properly supervised by lifeguards. Understand the difference between what a lifejacket or PFD is and what it does Understand why everyone should wear his or her lifejacket or PFD in a boat.

Gathering Activity: 5-15 minutes

1. Ocean Critters Game
2. Divide the Brownies into groups of about 3-5
3. Assign each group a name of a sea creature (lobster, whale, fish, sea horse, etc.) making sure each Brownie knows what animal she is.
4. Form a circle with one Brownie in the middle (perhaps start with a Guider)
5. The person in the middle calls one of the given animals (ie. lobster)
6. All the Brownies who are named lobster run within the circle to change their position, while the person in the middle tries to find a spot in the circle, which would leave a new person in the middle.
7. The new person in the middle then calls out a different creature or calls out "Sea Creatures" in which case everyone has to move within the circle to a new spot and so the game continues.

Regular Opening – have your regular unit opening.

My Buddy is in Trouble Game  - 20 minutes

This activity helps Brownies practice what to do in an emergency. Be sure to reinforce afterwards about the importance of swimming with a buddy.

Prepare in advance by coming up with emergency scenarios. For example, taking a short cut over a frozen pond and falling through the ice, falling off the end of the dock at the lake, hitting your head on the side of the pool, playing on the side of a fast-moving river and someone falling in, etc.

Equipment

A phone – toy phone, real phone (which is turned off) or a cardboard cutout of a phone

1. Divide the Brownies into two groups. Take one group aside and tell them that they will be the hurt person. Give each Brownie her own scenario. Now get the victims to choose a buddy from the other group of Brownies.
2. Ask the Brownies to tell you what an emergency is. Ask them what you can do in an emergency. (Get help) Show the Brownies the phone. Ask them what number they would call in an emergency (911). Tell them they can use 911 at a pay phone without any money. Ask them who would come if they called that number.
3. Tell the Brownies that they are going to try out the scenario. Ask the first two buddies to stand up and the victim will begin to act out what is wrong with her. The victim might want to start with a shout or groan and the buddy says, "What's wrong, are you hurt?" Then the victim can describe what has happened.
4. The buddy has to call 911 and describe the problem. The Guider who plays Emergency Medical Services (EMS) should ask lots of questions (where are you, do you need Fire, Police or Ambulance, how many people are hurt, what happened, etc.) Once Emergency Medical Services has enough information, they will send the ambulance.
5. Let each set of buddies have a chance to call 911. As they go through, the Brownies will start to volunteer the information rather than wait to be asked. You might want to review the situations after the first few buddies to draw their attention to the questions being asked. Emergency Medical Services can't see the problem, so the Brownie has to describe it accurately.

PFD (Personal Flotation Device) Relay Game - 10 minutes

Equipment

• 4 same size knapsacks
•  4 pillows to fit into the knapsacks
• 2 belts or nylon rope 

Instructions

1. Stuff each knapsack with a pillow.
2. Set up 2 chairs at the end of the room.
3. Brownies line up is 2 even rows.
4. A Guider should be at the beginning of each row
5. The 1st Brownie puts on her PFD (a knapsack in front and a knapsack on her back then tie a belt around the 2 knapsacks)
6. The Brownie runs to the chair and around it and back to the beginning of her row. She removes her PFD and runs to the end of the row.
7. The next Brownie puts on her PFD and runs around the chair and back to her row. The first row to finish wins.

When the game is over, talk about the importance of wearing a PFD. It may be difficult to get on sometimes, but it saves lives.

Snack

Celery Stick Treasure Chests

Cut the celery sticks and fill with a spreadable cheese and you can pile one on top of the other, concave sides together to give the appearance of a treasure chest. Alternately, let the Brownies make them themselves

Fish Fan Craft - 20 minutes

Equipment

• 5 sheets of coloured paper (any size up to 8 ½ x 11”)
• Scissors
• Glue, cello tape, or staples
• Crayons, markers or glitter
• Googly eyes

1.  By folding paper in 1” widths, make four paper fans of the same size paper. Secure the ends with staple or glue.
2.  Staple or glue together the four fans, creating a circle.
3.  Cut a 5piece of paper to about ¼ the size of the first four pieces you used and make one more paper fan.
4.  Attach the small fan to the circle to create a fish tail
5.  Use the crayons, markers, glitter and googly eyes glue on/draw, eyes, fins, and decorate your fish.

Closing - Conduct your normal closing and end with a song relating to the theme. Check the “additional resources” for some suggested song titles or ask the Brownies for some of their favourites.

Meeting 2 – Swim to Survive

Note to Guiders: This meeting takes place at a supervised pool. The staff there will instruct the girls on the Swim to Survive program. This meeting will probably work best if structured as a round robin. What follows is a suggested format only. What will work depends on your girls, the size of the pool and the staff who work there. We urge you to discuss the format of the day/session with the pool staff before you arrive.

Key messages:

• Swim with a Buddy
• Learn Swim to Survive
• Play and swim only at pools and waterfronts properly supervised by lifeguard
• Understand what the difference is between a lifejacket or PFD is and what it does
• Understand why everyone should wear his or her lifejacket or PFD in a boat

In Pool Stations

Swim to Survive is made up of three separate skills. Each in-pool station will address one of the three skills. Since your unit will be made up of girls who are strong experienced swimmers and non-swimmers, we recommend that each in-pool station has two level activities. The instructors will quickly be able to tell which girls need the most help.

Station 1 - Swim to Survive skill: Roll

Strong swimmers (after they’ve demonstrated a roll): stride jumps

Station 2 - Swim to Survive skill: Tread water

Strong swimmers (after they’ve demonstrated treading water): surface dives

Station 3 - Swim to Survive skill: swim 50 meters (with or without PFD)

Strong swimmers (after they’ve demonstrated swimming): swim with PFD or take off/put on a PFD in the water.

On Deck Stations

Station 1 - Ice Safety

Fill a bucket with water and ice cubes. Let each girl take a turn plunging her hands into the water and time how long she can keep it there. (Think about how long you could survive a fall through the ice)

Station 2 - Boat Safety

Learn the difference between a lifejacket and PFD. Look at different equipment around the pool, what other things around the pool or waterfront could be used as a flotation device?

Station 3  - Reach Assist Relay

Gather items that may or may not make good reach assist tools. (flutter board, towel, noodle, coffee cup, etc.)

Put them in a pile against the wall. The girls take turns grabbing an item and trying to reach the person in the water.

Station 4  - Treasure Hunters

Take small items that will sink to the bottom (swim instructors often have these) and toss them into the deep or shallow end. Let the girls try to recover them from the bottom.

Meeting 3 - Kids Helping Kids

Note to Guiders: This is a pre-planned meeting with options for you and your Brownies to choose what you would like to do. Whatever activities you choose, you must cover the key messages. The poster-making activity is an important element of this meeting.

Key messages:

• Understand the importance of determining the quality and thickness of ice before stepping onto it.
• Understand that ice varies in terms of quality, that the appearance of the ice can be misleading ( that the quality and thickness can change very quickly).
• How to prepare themselves in the event that they fall through the ice.

Gathering Activity: Safety Charades 5-15 minutes

As the Brownies arrive have them sit in a circle. Each Brownie takes a turn getting up to act out something from the previous two meetings e.g., something they did or learned at the pool or something they learned from the first meeting. It could be a swim stroke, a game they played or one of the key messages. The other Brownies take turns guessing. Whoever guesses correction takes a turn acting it out.

Regular Opening – Conduct your regular unit opening. 

Ice Safety - Don’t Fall Through the Ice Relay Game 10 minutes

Equipment:

• Don’t Fall through the Ice Story
• Two sets of answers printed and cut out
• Enough space to safely run a relay (about the length of a meeting room)

Instructions:

1. Read “Don’t Fall Through the Ice” story aloud to the Brownies.
2. Play the Game. Have the Brownies line up in rows at one end of the meeting space.
3. Put the answers to the questions on the chair at the other end of the room.

Each row will have its own Guider to ask a question of the Brownie at the start line. The first Brownie in each row must run to the chair and find the correct answer and run to show the Guider the answer. If correct she runs back to the end of her row and the next Brownie finds the answer to the next question on the chair. If she is incorrect then she must put the wrong answer back on the chair and run to the end of the row and the next Brownie tries to find the correct answer on the chair. When all the questions have been answered correctly, the row sits down. The first row to sit wins. If some Brownies don’t read well, add stick figure pictures to the cards or have a Guider help with reading.

STORY - Don’t Fall Through the Ice! 

It was a beautiful day for hockey. Brooke and her buddy set out to the supervised skating area of the pond with their warm clothes and hockey sticks. They checked the hole that their dad had chopped in the ice to make sure that the thickness was at least 10 cm (4”). Then they checked around to make sure that all the ice was clear hard, new ice. They had learned in Brownies that clear hard new ice is the safest ice and that unsafe ice is covered in snow, is slushy or is near moving water.

Just then they noticed someone walking on her own, outside the supervised skating area. It was near the current and the ice was slushy. The girls knew to avoid this area.

All of a sudden the girls heard a big crack! They saw the person fall through the ice. The girls grabbed their hockey sticks to use as a reach assist. And called for someone to get help! Then they ran over to get a closer look at what was happening.

They told the girl to relax and not to panic. They yelled out the following instructions: “Put your wet glove on the ice. It will freeze to the ice and give you something to pull on. Kick your legs slowly and pull forward on your stomach until your hips are at the edge of the ice. Now roll away from the hole. Do not sand up until you are far away from the hole.”

They reached their sticks out and the girl grabbled on and let them pull her to safety. She was very cold. When the body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, it is called hypothermia, and this can be very dangerous.

They gave the girl their coats to help her get warm, as they were afraid she would lose too much body heat and get hypothermia. They knew they must immediately take the girl to get warm, dry clothes and a blanket and they tried their best to huddle close to her, under the blanket, to help bring back her body heat. Slowly they walked with her, to their house that was close by to get help.

Questions and Answers (make some cards with the questions and answers on them)

• If some one falls through the ice, call for-----Help
• What kind of ice is covered in snow or is slushy-----? Unsafe
• Make sure a ------is nearby Reaching Assist
• It helps to ------close to the victim under a blanket to help to bring back body heat. Huddle
• What will a wet glove do to the ice to help you pull yourself up on-----? Freeze
• Skate in a ----- Supervised Area
• Avoid ice near moving water that is ------ Slushy
• Clear, hard new ice is the----- Safest Ice
• Dry clothes and a blanket will help a cold, wet person to get----- Dry
• When your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, it is called ----- Hypothermia
• Chop a hole in the ice to measure----- Thickness

Snack – Try Blue Gelatin Jigglers

Posters - 30 – 40 minutes

Materials:Coloured pencils, crayons and markers

• Bristol board or other card stock (enough for each Brownie)
• Rulers (optional)\
• Digital camera (optional)

Note to Guiders: The purpose of making these posters is to allow the Brownies to demonstrate what they have learned and to provide a service to the community.

Here are the key messages that you will be looking for:

• Always swim with a buddy
• Only play and swim at pools with a lifeguard
• Always wear a lifejacket while in a boat
• Don’t walk on ice covered in slush or snow
• Don’t walk on ice near open water
• Ice must be 10 cm or thicker to skate on
• Learn how to Swim to Survive!

Print off a brainstorming template for each patrol. In their patrols, ask the Brownies what they would tell other kids about water and ice safety. Let the Brownies work for about 5 minutes and then ask the patrols to report what they came up with. Once everyone has had a chance to speak. Ask each Brownie to choose a message and make a poster about it.

When the posters are done. Gather the whole group back together. Tell the Brownies that these posters could help other kids stay safe. Ask them for suggestions as to where they could put them in the community where kids would see them. Let the discussion go for a few minutes. Ask each Brownie to find a buddy. Instruct the Brownies that before they come back to Brownies they are to go and hang their buddy’s poster somewhere where other children in the community can see it. Remind the Brownies that they need to get permission from someone at the facility to hang the poster.

Closing - Conduct your usual closing. You might want to sing a water-related song!

Song Suggestions: Songbook: Celebrate with Song

• Rainbow Round – 38
• If ya Didn’t Have Rain – 40
• Listen to the Earth – 54
• Little Drop of Dew – 62
• Chinese Fisherman’s Song – 67
• I’se the Bý That Builds the Boat – 73
• On the River Flows – 92
• The Loon Calls – 113
• The Sun and the Rain –131

Songbook: Our Chalet II

• No Man is an Island – 56
• River of Time – 2
• Simbotwe the frog – 20
• We are Sailing a Boat –2

Songbook: Our Chalet

• Barges – 21
• By the River – 24
• Come and sail with – 28
• Land of the Silverbirch – 16
• Peace of the River – 90
• Skye Boat Song – 56
• Sponge Fishing – 43

Songbook: Campfire Activities

• It Rained – 24
• Little Green Frog – 124
• Swimming Hole – 139
• White Sands and Grey Sands - 123