Festival fun: a day of Adventures at home
From card tricks to campfires, our Adventures at home festival showed girls that lockdown doesn’t have to be dull. There’s fun to be had anywhere – even in your own backyard
Festival fun: A day of Adventures at home
From card tricks to campfires, our Adventures at home festival showed girls that lockdown doesn’t have to be dull. There’s fun to be had anywhere – even in your own backyard
We may be staying home, but that doesn’t mean we can’t embark on exciting new adventures. With units closed and our usual events cancelled, we wanted to reconnect the Girlguiding community and show everyone that being home doesn’t have to mean being bored. So we brought the Girlguiding experience online with the launch of the Adventures at home festival on 23 May – an all-day extravaganza of fun and activities that allowed girls and their families to change up their lockdown routines and try something new.
There were 20 separate sessions held throughout the day. Google showed the girls how to bring a robot to life, while magician Mark Daniels taught them a card trick that left them spellbound. Our ambassadors engaged the girls’ imaginations with adventure storytelling: Anna McNuff took them through part of her epic 2,000-mile run in New Zealand, while Sally Kettle told the story of her incredible experience rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, which you can also read about in our magazine interview with her.
The girls and their families had a great time. Ebony, 1st Eyemouth Rainbows, crafted a cosy campfire using colourful paper and a battery-powered tealight. The flames may not have been real, but the marshmallows certainly were!
Verity, 2nd Aston and Weston Brownies, displays her colourful artwork
Amelia, 61st Northampton Brownies, learned a lot of new skills – some slimier than others!
Freya, 2nd Sale Moor Brownies, learned a whole host of new skills, from building homemade bird feeders to animation. ‘Freya absolutely loved the Adventures at home festival,’ says mum Lynn. ‘Well done everyone involved!’
Several of the girls explored the wonderous ingredients to be found in their own kitchens: Abigail, Cove Guides, crafted butter from scratch, while Charlotte, 3rd Hagley Guides, whipped up some hotdogs – the perfect camping food.
Charlotte, 3rd Hagley Guides, got creative in the kitchen
Katie, Assistant Leader, 4th Horsham Brownies, made the most of the day’s activities, from watching the Clever chemicals sessions created in partnership with the Royal Society of Chemistry to singing campfire songs with her mum. ‘I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in organising today! Clearly so much work had gone into the organisation. It was a fantastic event, which I personally thoroughly enjoyed and I know my Brownies will have too.’ 19,000 people watched the video blocks on our YouTube channel throughout the day, with some viewers tuning in from as far away as the United States and the Philippines.
Aahana, Safa Unit Brownies, Dubai created a sunny masterpiece
If you missed out on any of the Adventures at home festival, don’t worry! You can still catch up on all the action.
Jorja, 1st Yapton Guides, had an action-packed day of adventure
‘Thank you for making lockdown lots more fun!’
The Adventures at home festival was one for the books. But why take our word for it? In her own words, Jorja, 1st Yapton Guides, tells us how she spent her day and what the festival meant to her.
‘I had a wonderful time taking part in the Girlguiding Adventures at home festival. I had an action-packed Saturday full of activities, fun and even a virtual campfire! My morning started at 10:30am when I tuned into to the Girlguiding YouTube channel for an introduction and welcome to the festival. Then, I set up my tent and camp, hung up bunting and fairy lights and even left my own decorated welly boots outside.
My first activity was learning a magic trick. I learned how to perform a card trick with the help of magician Mark Daniel and by lunch I was able to dazzle my festival guests (Mum and Dad). Other activities I took part in included a ‘Gromit’ drawing session, with Aardman Animation’s Nick Park, and learning about food science through making butter and fudge. The fudge tasted great, though it looked a bit unappealing – but Dad ate it all up anyway!
At 2pm my unit and I got the chance to have a Zoom call with our leader. We had a lovely time on our call with Anna, where we gave a virtual tour of our tent/camp and spoke about our experiences of the day so far. It was really nice to catch up. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing activities for the festival like building a robot with Google, glitterising my face, and making a bird feeder for my garden, all of which were great.
Then, at 5pm, just before the festival ended, we had another call with Anna and spoke about our day. We sang campfire songs then said our thank-yous and goodbyes. After our talk, in the spirit of camp, I had a BBQ for dinner then had a nice – if somewhat cold! – night in my tent.
I had a wonderful time at the festival and hope there will be another virtual activity like this soon. For now, thank you to my leader Anna, and everyone in the guiding community for making lockdown lots more fun!’
Katie and Natalie, 46th Bolton Brownies, got cosy in proper camping style
Ebony, 1st Eyemouth Rainbows, kept the campfire tradition going strong
What did you love most about the Adventures at home Festival? Use the social media buttons below to share this growing project with your guiding friends