17 Apr: EFS Activity (III)
On Wednesday, we visited the Guides of Edgefield Secondary school again! It was the first time this year we were going to the school together on a weekday and we were quite excited about meeting the Guides again since we hadn’t met them in a month. Furthermore, this was the first activity the Y5 YAs had planned so we were looking forward to seeing our plans being executed well. :)
The activity we had today was quite different from the previous two, because all three batches of Guides were present today. And so we got to know many more fellow Guides! :) Considering that the Sec 1 and Sec 2 Guides hadn’t had much lash-tying practice before, we started off the session with a short revision to both the square and diagonal lash. They were very eager to perfect the lashing skills, and they kept retying their lashes in an attempt to improve, which was very heartening for us.
After the short revision, we gave each group (consisting of 2 patrols each) a task: to build a kitchen dresser. We showed them a drawing of the gadget and guided them a little on how to go about building it, before they started work. Although in the end there wasn’t enough time to complete the entire gadget, we were glad that their lashes had been put into good use and that the kitchen dresser turned out stable. We explained to them a little about the function of the kitchen dresser, before the Guides had to speedily dismantle it and keep all the logistics back into their Guides room.
To end off the activity, some of us showed the Guides pictures of
the ‘Golden Gate Bridge’ we had built last Saturday and they were very impressed by the fact that mere lashes could create such huge and grand structures. We sure hope that this will serve as a motivation for them to continue practicing their lashes and start by building small gadgets first. :)
The next activity we will be planning for the Edgefield Guides will most probably be firelighting and outdoor cooking which is something different from what we have been doing with them thus far, and we hope the Guides (and of course we YAs) will enjoy the activity and the food that will be cooked! :)
Labels: EFS activity
13 Apr: Our 'Golden Gate Bridge'
How's the idea of having a Golden Gate Bridge in Singapore? :)
Or even in our very own Dunman High School field?
Today, we had pioneering and we attempted a copy of the bridge all in spars!
This was probably the first time most, if not all, of us were going to try tying a bridge structure, so we were very excited! Thankfully for us, the dark clouds decided to be blown away and we could start our activity without any delay. :)
As usual, starting out with the main frames...
.. And they are up!
Preparing the steps on our bridge. :)
Going as planned, the rope ladder was all ready to be attached to our main frames before we headed for a lunch break.
After lunch, we resumed with the most crucial part of the bridge, which were the sides of the bridge that are supposed to hold the steps in place at the end.
Our YAs looking happy to be up there! Preparing to adjust the rope. :)
We spent more time than planned trying to figure out how to adjust the ropes on the two sides as it was our first attempt, but it turned out that we didn't have to make them as perfectly right at the start since we would have to adjust them again once everything was up~
In the meantime, some of us also learnt the 3-2-1 anchorage that we seldom got to use (given the rare chances of a large-scale pioneering project).
Here's how it should look like from the side.
And finally, our very own Golden Gate Bridge is completed!!!
It was quite an intensive day under the merciless sun so we all went home with red and burnt faces. However, beyond the 'sting' on our skin, all of us knew it was very well worth our efforts when we saw the structure up from scratch, despite the hiccups along the way. The fact that each and every small component (e.g. a square lash) can eventually add up to something this big and this spectacular - this, must be the magic of pioneering. :)
Labels: Pioneering, Skills Training
Recent Updates
Several posts have just been posted on rescheduled dates.
You may refer to these links for the recent rescheduled updates! :)
23 Jan: Introduction to YAs
13 Feb: Foot drills, Pioneering
09 Mar: EFS Activity (I)
16 Mar: EFS Activity (II)Labels: Updates
30 Mar: Getting all "Crafty"!
Hi all! Nope~ we were not being "crafty" to be up to anything bad though April's Fool was near the date of activity. The title is simply because our year 5 YAs had gone down to HQ for a craft session organised by the HQ chapter last Saturday! :)
Here's a little something from them:
We learnt 3 craft types: toe weaving, bracelet making and notebook making. We started with toe-weaving, which was not new to some of us as we learnt it during international camp last year. This craft basically, requires just 3 strands of yarn and we could start weaving with the yarn looped around our big toe.
After we have finished weaving the strands of yarn, the end product can be made in to a bracelet, necklace or anklet (how versatile!) Later on, we challenged ourselves to toe-weaving with 5 and 7 strands of yarn after having mastered toe-weaving with just 3 strands of yarn.
The second activity was bracelet-making, with the help of our bottles! It actually took us awhile before we could get the steps right, but Ashley was very being very patient with us so we could all successfully complete our bracelets with the colourful strands of yarn eventually. :)
The last activity was notebook making! Using cereal boxes, we made notebook covers and sew them together with decorative paper to form our notebooks. And of course, we didn't forget about the pretty ribbons too. :) It was fun sewing to bind notebooks for our first time, and the threads also added a different texture to the usual notebooks. :)
On the whole, it was a fun and light-hearted craft session for us to get creative with just several simple materials! The rest that we need will be just a dash of creativity, a bit of patience and a pair of meticulous hands. :)
Labels: HQ activities