Throwback Thursday: Night Eyes

To prepare for this game, you need to make a set of night eyes.  Take black Bristol board or foam core and cut it into pieces approximately 10 cm to 15 cm.  Cut eyes out of red reflecting tape (the type used for bicycles).  Peel off the back and stick them to the boards.  Poke a pair of holes near the top of the board and thread through a loop of string so you can hang the boards from trees or bushes.

At night, flashlights will pick up the night eyes from a distance and they will appear like a slightly scary eyes in the night.

You can use night eyes in a variety of ways.

1. Set a trail through the woods to a nighttime snack
2. Put one word of a longer “passphrase” on each card.  The girls gather up all the words and then must solve the puzzle
3. Use the eyes to mark the location of different parts to a puzzle
4. If you are more crafty, you can cut the eyes out to represent different types of nocturnal animals. Then the girls can guess what sort of animals they are suppose to be based on the shape of the animal and their height off the ground.  You can also make different shapes, I once made a set representing the planets in our solar system.

For younger girls, if you want the eyes to be “on” all the time, you can cut eye shaped holes out of a toilet paper roll, and stick a light stick inside.

Once your game is over, be sure to collect them before they are destroyed by the dew.  My set has lasted me for years.

Throwback Thursday: Car Rally

This game is best played at dusk.

To play this game you will need 5 leaders, a circle of rope and two flash lights for each team.  A map of the play area with 5 stations marked on it and pencils.

Divide the group into teams of four. Each team is given a 5 m (8 m for Covid-19 social distancing) piece of rope tied in a circle.  They must travel in a group each member holding onto the rope. One person is the car engine, they are encouraged to make sound effects. Two people act as headlights, carrying their flashlights and lead the way.  The fourth person is the navigator.  She carries the map and the pencil to present at each checkpoint.  Teams assemble at the starting station.  The cars are sent out at two minute intervals.  Teams are given verbal instructions to the first check point where a leader waits.  Here the car performs the requested action and is then sent on its way to the second checkpoint.  Each leader signs the paper to show that the car reaches the proper destination.  Each team is timed and given a score when they hand in their sheets.

Stations:

1. Mechanical warm up – Do 10 jumping jacks
2. Engines ready – jog on the spot while counting to 30
3. Brake test – run around a tree.  When leader blows the whistle, car stops, when whistle sounds again, car starts.
4. Rotate tires – everyone changes positions in the car.
5. Dead Man’s Curve – Everyone uses baby steps for 50 m.
6. Home – turn in signed map.

You can substitute other station activities if you want to cover specific program