Rainbow leader Dragonfly (aka Jane Solloway) tells us about vitual guiding and how they have celebrated Thinking Day with the Rainbows.

As we approach March, our thoughts go back to this time last year when we said goodbye to our Rainbows one Tuesday evening, not imagining we would not see them again for such a long time. At the start, we found ourselves saying, ‘when we reopen’ but after a while we knew we had to find a way to keep in touch with the girls.

First of all, we met as leaders to find out how we all felt about running a unit virtually but it was actually June before we were able to finalise our very tentative plans. Four groups in person have become two virtual Rainbow groups involving 10 leaders.

Since then we have taken part in a Midsummer Sleepover, scavenger hunts, memory games, story times and a visit from Father Christmas himself. We have worked towards Make Change, Camp, Communicate and Feel Good Skills Builders and completed tonnes of UMAs. Between them, the girls have earned 10 interest badges, 54 Skills Builders, 11 Theme awards, 2 Bronze, 2 Silver and 1 Gold Award and we couldn’t be prouder of the way they have learned to be patient and respectful during our weekly Zoom sessions.

This past weekend, to celebrate Thinking Day, we ran a fun activity afternoon where the girls made mug cakes, learned Hungarian dancing, made Yarn rainbows and grew rainbows in glasses of water as well as making ladybird hand puppets!

Virtual Guiding is different certainly but watching the girls grow in confidence has been a pleasure this year and has made us all feel a part of Guiding despite the challenges we are all facing.

Jane Solloway, Dragonfly.

#virtualguiding #WTD2021 #WorldThinkingDay2021