Guiding At Home

  Hi peeps and happy new year! We can now say au revoir to 2020 and move onto better things with 2021. A big thing that comes with a new year is the act of making resolutions. For those that don't know a resolution is like a vow or goal to do something. Many in the new year set resolutions to exercise more, eat less chocolate, eat healthy, learn a new skill etc.  However 80% fail what they set. Many lose motivation to continue their resolution. I believe this is because people don't set resolutions that are actually possible to achieve. They aren't possible because people set them too high so when they don't achieve it straight away they give up. Failing a resolution leads to less motivation in other parts of our lives because we believe if we couldn't complete a resolution how are we going to complete something else? Part of me disagrees with resolutions, they just bring a downfall and can affect the rest of your year. However if they are set correctly, with a clea...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I've got a fun activity that you can do as a family or you can video-call your friends and do it with them. I think cooking and baking are such useful skills to have and are great fun to engage in. It's like chemistry, you are mixing ingredients to make a beautiful concoction that you can eat which is a huge bonus!  But why not make your cooking and baking sessions more fun and make others join in? I think a good old Cook Off or Bake Off will rise everyone's spirit and reveal your competitive side. Take some inspiration of the Great British Bake Off and Masterchef and get in the kitchen and have some good old fun. To start off it's always good to have a theme, for example you have to use a certain ingredient or it has to be decorated to represent something or it has to be a certain type of food like a cake. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like.  If you want to make things more complicate...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. I've got a more relaxing activity today for you to try. Why not sit back and pamper yourself because I know we all need to after everything? My activity for you today is to have a home Spa day. It's nice to relax every now and again. It doesn't have to be expensive either and you can do it from the comfort of your home. Put your feet up, paint and pamper your nails. Make a face mask, you don't have to buy an expensive store one. There are many recipes on the internet that you can use. Put some cucumber on your eyes and just let the mask care for your skin. Take a nice warm bath or hot shower with some nice smelling soaps. Get a family member to massage you if they are feeling up to it. Drink a refreshing beverage. Smoothies are always refreshing and give you lots of nutrients to boost your body. Just take a day to relax and take care of yourself. It is not selfish to look after yourself, it's a  necessity. A lo...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. I feel like it's been a few posts since I have mentioned an interest badge so this post is here to set that right :) I am of course (as you can tell by the title) going to be talking about the Vlogging badge. I would like to disclaim again that I don't know the clauses for the badge as I don't have a copy of the badge book so I'm just making suggestions by what I know about the topic. So a vlog is basically a video blog. It's a recorded video where one talks about themselves and their interests. Vlogging is the verb used when you are making a vlog. Youtube is full of shared vlogs but a lot of people make their own private vlogs so they can look back over them when they are older. This is similar to scrapbooking and writing a diary. It's just a way to get out your thoughts and record your life.  All you need is a recording device. Most of you have a phone with a camera so you can use that. You can use the vl...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. This idea might be coming to late to you but you still have all of the summer to use it. As you grow older it's easy to forget what you got up to when you were younger and you just forget memories. Isolation is starting to lift after many months of very similar days that have blurred into one. I know it hasn't been the best time, it's been a very hard time for many but it still doesn't mean we should forget the memories and laughs that have happened. That's why I'm coming to you with this activity today. I think scrapbooking is such a fun way to store your memories. They can be as messy and creative as you like but they store so much. Record your memories and your giggles, it doesn't have to be perfect, it's not suppose to be. You will want to look back on everything and having a scrapbook full of photos, drawings and random things that you have found interesting and funny will help you to do so. It...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I've got a new fun activity for you do so you can chill and relax with friends and family in these still trying times. I think a great evening activity is sitting in front of the tele with a nice family movie with popcorn and sweets. Just choose a movie, get some snacks and you are in for a night of fun and adventure. Movie nights are the best but you can make them better. Why not make a den to watch the film? You can gather loads of blankets and cushions, hang them from the ceiling. I also think fairy lights are always a nice touch.  You can also make a confectionary stand for all your drinks and food. All you need to do is prepare some snacks in bowls and make some drinks and put them on a tray and you are all ready to go. You can be as creative as you like, why not make your living room into a mini cinema? Make tickets and invite your family. Set out different seating areas for your customers. Give your customers food...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. As a society we are using more plastic than ever before and it's really taking a toll on our wildlife and environment. Plastic plagues the oceans, hurting innocent creatures. Landfills are full of plastic that will never break down. Our towns and cities are littered so badly that animals mistake plastic for food. We are not only choking ourselves with this heavy consumerism of plastic but we are also killing creatures and plants that just get caught in our wave. We need to reduce this usage and we can if everyone does a little bit to help. I'm going to go through a few tips that you can start implementing into your everyday life. 1. Use a reusable water bottle. When we are out and about its easy to just buy a bottle of water from the shop or when you are at school you can just buy one from the canteen. But did you know it takes 450 years for one bottle to decompose? Every second 20,000 bottles are being bought, used and th...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I wanted to give you some ideas to start a journey of reuse and repurposing. Upcycling is prominent in everyday lives and some of us do it everyday without thinking about it. It is the simple act of taking an unwanted product and turning it into something new. You get something new out of it whilst helping the environment because if you had just thrown away it would have littered the planet waiting to degrade. Upcycling can be as simple or complex as you like. Let's start simple with the mountain of empty cereal boxes in your recycling. There is so many things you can do with all that cardboard but my favourite thing to do is make magazine holders. They are great storage spaces for your school books or notebooks and you can add a lick of paint or rap it in fabric to add some colour.  Next to add to your desk how about upcycling a tin can to make a pencil pot. Just clean the insides and take of the label and you have a po...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Once again I'm going to do a post based of a badge. This time I'm going to be talking the Aspiration badge. I want you to know that I don't actually have a copy of the badge book so I don't actually know the clauses but I'm just going to talk about the topic in general because I thinks it's an important topic. We live in a society where we are all taught that we should all aim high to live a successful life. Surely this is great? We get loads of high achieving people who do amazing things for our world. Well yes this does happen, people make goals and achieve them, they work hard to make it possible. This is amazing and I'm proud of people who can do it. But a lot of people struggle. Some find it hard to set goals, they have self doubt and don't believe they can do it. Some people can't find any motivation to work towards their goal this could be due to mental health or nobody supporting them. W...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I'm going to be talking about something very big and prominent in the media at the moment, it's of course the black lives matter movement that has grown due to the death of George Floyd. I obviously back the movement, I'm not an expert in anything and I don't want to influence you with my opinion on the matter but I do believe everyone should back the campaign in any way possible. But obviously as this is a blog dedicated around Guiding so the reason I am bringing this up is because you can make your voice heard and earn a badge at the same time. It can be found in your badge book and is called Campaigning. But I also believe as Guides we should support this cause because millions of our sisters are being impacted by racism and inequality and we are a family, we can't let this happen, it isn't right. We should all have the same rights and be treated the same, the colour of your skin shouldn't impa...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Let's talk about languages, a vital part of our life and the way we communicate with each other. Languages are so complex and weird to think about how they developed but without them life would be so different. Why am I rambling on about languages? Well as a bunch us British people don't really see the point in learning other languages. If they don't speak English then they aren't worth talking to. In my opinion that is totally wrong, their are so many interesting people in this world and by limiting the languages you speak you are missing out on loads of opportunities to meet amazing people. In Guides we are suppose to care about others and want to make new friendships and learning another language so you can speak to someone is how you can do this. Many of you learn a language at school and that's so cool! But with lockdown you might not be focusing on it or forgetting it. It doesn't have to be that way, ...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. As a Guide I'm sure that you have earnt badges along the way but you never know what to do with them. You consider putting them on your blanket or uniform but you never have time or don't know how. Well now that we are in quarantine we have loads of time to spare so why not pick up a new skill of sewing and sew that pile of badges on? As I have mentioned the most common places to sew on badges are on a blanket or your uniform. If you aren't aware sewing badges on blankets is quite a common occurrence in Guiding because we like to have a place to display our badges and when we go on camp or gather around a campfire it's nice to have our blankets that show our achievements. They are also fun conversation starters, you can talk about the stories behind the badges and which ones are your favourite. You can use any blanket or you can get one on the Girlguiding shop. Sewing your badges on your uniform is also common and ...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I have another activity for you that's going to going to get your creative juices flowing. I'm going to teach you how to press and dry out flowers so you can use them for decoration around the house or in your crafts. First of all you are going to need some flowers or plants, I recommend small wildflowers for example buttercups and cow parsley. You can find these in most places, just take a wonder around your area. When taking a cutting of your plant or picking your flower don't take lots from one plant or area, we don't want to take lots from our environment as this could be damaging. Once you have a bunch of different wildflowers and plants from your walks take them home. You are then going to need a bunch of heavy books. Separate all your plants out and put one or two plants between each page of the book, make sure the plants are spread out throughout the book. If you are worried about the plant staining t...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I have a simple creative task for you. It's time to go for a walk and find some nice round stones! The activity I'm going to be talking about today is stone painting. Its as simple as its sounds. Go outside and find some nice reasonable sized stones or pebbles, get your paint out - you can use poster paint or acrylic - find some inspiration and get painting! You can paint anything on them, you could paint insects, rainbows, animals etc. Pinterest is always a great place for inspiration. After you have finished your creations you can either keep them or why not hide them around your local area? People will see them and make them smile, it's a good way to give back to your community :) This is only a short post but I hope I have given you some inspiration, I love to be creative, it is a great way to relax. Feel free to leave a comment telling me what you painted and what you did with your masterpieces. Thank you fo...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I have an activity that is going to get you out of the house and exploring. You may have already seen many groups already doing this but I think it's a fun challenge. The activity is to try and spell out a word or phrase with the first letter of street signs. What I mean by this if you are trying to spell the word "girl" for example you have to look for a street sign beginning with 'g' another starting with 'i' etc. until you have your word, for 'g' I could use 'Georges road'. Just take a photo of the sign and go and look for the next street sign. You can find the signs in order for an extra challenge. Not only does this activity get you exercising but it also makes you explore your area and find places you might not have known exist.  So I challenge you to try and spell out the word "Guiding" in street signs. If you have done this why not spell out another word or phra...

Hello everybody! Welcome to or back to Guiding at Home. Today I wanted to discuss an important subject of mindfulness and teach you ways to add mindfulness into your daily routine. First let's discuss what mindfulness is because to some of you it might be a new concept and to others you might have an idea but aren't one hundred percent sure. Mindfulness is bringing one's mind into the present moment and being calmly aware of yourself, this can be in by being aware of your thoughts, emotions or body. Some of you might be thinking this is silly because surely by just living you are being mindful ? You can argue yes but without practise no one is ever living a truly mindful life, we are always thinking about the future or the past. We spend hours of our lives worrying about something that hasn't even happened yet, we worry about things that we can't change. I know I do this a lot, I am always worrying about my future and what my life is going to be like but by spending...

Hello everybody! Welcome to Guiding at Home. So for the first activity I thought we could start kinda simple, by reaching out to someone to show them that we care in the forms of a letter. Writing a letter might seem like a daunting task, as what are you supposed to say? How do you address the person ? How do I end it? Well don't worry that's why I am here to help you. I love to receive letters because they are personal and you can see the time and effort that someone has put into contacting you, it warms your heart to know someone cares about you. During this quarantine I think it's important that we share the love and it shows that you are upholding the Guide Promise 'to help other people' as you are lifting others spirits and caring about them. First of all let's decide who we are going to send it to, you could write it to a grandparent or an aunt / uncle or your best friend or your neighbour or that elderly lady across the road. There are so many options and...