Hi Guides!
It is time for our Guides Annual Hike! This year, our hike is held at Gardens by the Bay, where we had a lot of fun exploring the nature around us while completing station games! Afterwards, we played hangman under the shelter as it started to rain.
Station 1: Recreate the Photo
For this station, Guides are given 9 photos that they have to recreate. This activity fosters bonding between patrol mates while they have fun.
Reflection by a Year 1 in P6:
Station 1 was a really fun and educational experience. As a Year 1, I felt that this station was a fun way to interact and bond with our seniors and patrol mates. I felt that it encouraged creativity and imagination as we must think of ways to recreate the photo. It was very fun and fulfilling. It also develops critical-thinking skills, and problem-solving skills and allows us to interact with one another and socialize, building social skills. Not only that, but it can also aid memory recall. It was also a great bonding experience and it was fit for team-building and encouraging teamwork. I felt that it was a good way to get closer to our seniors. We were able to develop a better understanding of our seniors. We are really grateful for this opportunity to spend time with our patrol mates. I also felt that it was a good way to encourage healthy and light-hearted competitiveness. It also allowed us to step out of our comfort zone and boost our confidence. It was also stress-relieving, perfect for us to relax, unwind and laugh after spending long hours studying. In summary, it was a fun experience and we learned a lot. We are grateful for the carefully planned activity.
Reflection by a Year 2 in P3:
Station 1 of the Guides Hike was recreating the photo, which we all had lots of fun doing. I remember it being very chaotic as we all rushed to finish taking the photos within the time limit. Some of the photos we took only required a few people, so it was a bit difficult deciding who would be in the picture and who would not. There were some poses that we had to do that was a little hard too, such as when one of us had to bend our back backwards and have our face popping out between our legs. It was really funny watching ourselves try our best to complete the tasks. In the end, we managed to complete our photos within the time frame, and we were all extremely proud of ourselves. I have learnt from this station how to have a better sense of urgency and how to communicate more effectively with my patrol mates. We all had to rush and work together, telling each other who would stand where and who would do what. I believe that this helped us to forge stronger ties and bonds.
Reflection by a Year 3 in P2:
Personally, I felt that the photo-taking activity was very memorable. Throughout the activity, we managed to bond with each other, having fun and laughter while taking the photos. I felt that we definitely became closer as a patrol. There was also one incident in the station that was memorable to me. There was a photo that was a bit cringy and a lot of us did not want to be inside that photo since we felt uncomfortable doing the action, however, our junior volunteered to do the action for the sake of our patrol. This action definitely made me grateful as well as reflect on myself: as a patrol, we should care for each other and make “sacrifices' when necessary. Apart from them, we had constant 报时s and cheering throughout the station to boost our morale. It encouraged us to move with a sense of urgency yet have fun at the same time. We also managed to ask for a time extension early before our assigned time was up. I felt that these were good and we should thus continue these actions in future guides activities. All in all, I feel that this activity was a fun and enriching one and I hope that we can have more of these activities in future.
Station 2: Simon Says
For this station, Guides will play Simon Says. This activity will train their concentration and focus.
Reflection by a Year 1 in P4:
The hike overall was fun and rewarding. Other than the Simon Says Station Game, we did a lot of other activities like telepathy, photo recreations and hangman. All these required us, the whole patrol, to work harmoniously together to complete the activities as fast as we could. One of the most memorable game experiences I had was the Simon Says game. We all had to stand in a row and follow the actions that were given when the facilitator said “Simon says…” followed by the action we were supposed to do. We had to constantly pay close attention and watch our actions carefully, which was both kind of nerve-wracking and fun too. Because some people were eliminated, we were even more determined not to repeat the same mistakes, stay alert, and not listen blindly. Thus, we did a lot better in the second round. The Simon Says game also included a few contingent phrases we are supposed to know and have memorized such as “kekiri pusing” and “sediya”, which allowed us to refresh our memories on these commands. Even though our patrol didn’t make it to the top three positions, we enjoyed this game a lot. To be honest, we forged greater bonds while hiking and doing the activities together.
Reflection by a Year 2 in P1:
On Saturday, we went on a hike at Gardens By The Bay. During the first part of the hike, we played Station Games around the place. For the second station we went to, we had to play Simon Says. We played two rounds of Simon Says in total and for every person that lasted through the whole round, we earned two points. At first, we were given simple commands to follow, like “squat down”, “stand up” and “high-five a patrol mate”. However as the round of Simon Says progressed, we were given some contingent commands like “Kekiri Puseng”. This caused some of us to be eliminated from the game as we were still a little unfamiliar with them, especially the Year 1s who were still quite new to them. Thus, we had to remind and help each other for more people to last through the round. This taught me that even though sometimes we may be frustrated with ourselves because we were unfamiliar with certain things, we can work together and share information to overcome the problem. Through this, we were reminded that we had to revise more and memorise our basic contingent commands. Overall, this station was still very fun and allowed us to bond within our patrol even more by working together and helping each other whenever we were unsure. We were also able to sharpen our knowledge of contingent commands through this game.
Reflection by a Year 3 in P3:
On 25 March, we had our Guides Hike at Gardens By The Bay. The hike consisted of various Station Games and eventually rounds of Hangman due to weather conditions. Firstly, each patrol was given an information booklet that consisted of details of the various stations, and a map of Gardens By The Bay. From that, we had to navigate our way to the different stations assigned. Unfortunately, we took a long time to locate Station 2, which resulted in the activity being more rushed. When we finally reached Station 2, we were already pressed for time and hurriedly began the Simon Says game. As soon as the first round of Simon Says began, one of the Year 1s got eliminated. Turns out, she did not fully comprehend the rules, hence the Station Masters allowed a round restart. Afterwards, when the Station Master said, “Simon Says Kekanan Lurus”, many of us were confused and did not react immediately. Hence, many of us got eliminated. This reminded me to brush up on my parade commands as they are an essential part of Guides too. There was much laughter as we constantly reminded one another to not follow certain commands as there was no Simon Says mentioned before. Overall, the Simon Says game reminded me of the importance of being alert, and also how the best results are achieved when a patrol works together.
Each Guide is given a part of the sentence and they have to find out what is everyone’s words using only Yes or No. The goal of the game is to decode and form the full sentence. This allows Guides to train their critical thinking and communication skills.
Reflection by a Year 1 in P5:
"Say Whaaat?" is a game where we have to use our skills to figure out the word of our patrol mates. Before asking a specific question, structured in a way that the person getting questioned can only answer yes or no, the questioner has to come up with smart questions that are simple yet strategic. It also tests our ability to do quick thinking on the spot as we raced against ticking time to find out one another's given word. The first part of asking whether it is a verb, noun, conjunction or adjective etc. is simple, but after that, it became harder to narrow down and guess what the word is. After figuring out everyone's words, we have to then arrange the words in order to then make them into a sentence that is grammatically correct and one that makes sense. Throughout the game, we had two questions in total, of which the first was easier to figure out, but we did not manage to crack the second one before the time was up. We were quite disappointed in ourselves as we lost track of time in the midst of having fun with our patrol mates, and even 过时. We definitely could have 报时 more often so that we can ensure that we are on track and not wasting too much time. Our sense of urgency had a lot of room for improvement as we should have had a greater sense of urgency, we could have completed more tasks and contributed to our patrol's score, as it was a friendly inter-patrol competition after all. Overall, we still enjoyed ourselves and had fun with this new and enjoyable game that gave our patrol an opportunity to communicate better with one another.
Reflection by a Year 2 in P1:
On Saturday, we went on a hike at Gardens by the Bay. We had to complete many tasks and play many Station Games. In station three, every person in the patrol is given a word in a specific sentence and we had to figure out each person's word by asking them yes or no questions. In the first round, I got the word "love". Instead of asking yes or no questions, my patrol gave up and we did actions to show our words instead of using yes or no questions so for my word, I made a heart with my hands and they immediately guessed my word. Looking back, I think we should have played more by the rules of the game so that we could challenge ourselves more and learn to persevere even if the problem was difficult. After we guessed all the words in the sentence, we had to form the sentence. We took quite a while to form the sentence but the sentence ended up being "Water Wally and Sally projects our love for water". My patrol mates and I felt satisfied when we finally guessed the sentence even if it took quite a long time. In the next round, I got the word "our". The sentence was hard to guess for us, so we tried a few times but gave up and used other methods instead, which again, I really regret doing. The sentence ended up being really fun and unexpected, and to me, I think we should have tried our best to guess it. I had lots of fun at that station and so did my patrol mates. We also learned to support and work better with our patrol mates by understanding their thinking since we had to ask them questions. We all had a good laugh, but maybe we should have followed the rules of the game so that it would have been more fun and challenging. Overall, I had a fun time at the station and the rest of the hike as the games let us bond more with our patrol mates.
Reflection by a Year 3 in P3:
In this station, each of us was given words that made up a full sentence. We had to question each other and answer only by saying yes or no to construct the sentence. Through this activity, we definitely improved our teamwork as we collaborated well with each other by shouting out useful questions that could bring us closer to the word and also guessing the words correctly. However, one thing that can be improved is definitely 报时, as sometimes we were too engrossed in the game that we forgot about 报时ing. Hence, the seniors had to keep reminding us. I also think that this game helped us to revise our English like adverbs and nouns. Instead of just questioning that one word, we also considered the other words and tried to guess using them, as this could speed up the process and allow us to finish the Station Game faster. Overall, I feel that the patrol had a lot of fun in this station as we got to bond especially with the Year 1s. Moreover, we were quite fast in completing the sentence, which was "We love Julia and she is our favourite Patrol Leader!”
Station 4: Colonial Gardens Quiz
Guides are given 5 minutes to look at the exhibition around them. Afterwards, they will gather to answer questions based on the exhibition. Guides are able to learn more about the nature around them and work closely with their patrol mates
Reflection by a Year 1 in P5:
Last Saturday, my patrol mates and I went to Gardens By The Bay. This was my first hike with Guides. Hence, I was extremely excited. We played different games, such as Recreate the Photo and Pass The Action. However, I enjoyed playing the Colonial Gardens Quiz the most as I got to learn more about different species of flora and fauna. As we only had 5 minutes to collect information, we had to work quickly and split up to get the work done. I learnt about Wardian cases. Wardian cases were designed to transport seedlings across the sea so they could be planted in new countries. I was also fascinated to learn that cassia and cinnamon are close relatives! When the quiz started, I realised that we were unsure of some of the answers and had to guess them. I think that we can resolve this problem by having constant 报时. This way, we can better keep track of our time. Not only did I get to learn about the flora and fauna in the Colonial Garden, but I also got to bond and have fun with my patrol mates. Furthermore, I brought on my competitive spirit as we had to compete against other patrols. Nonetheless, our patrol got full marks for the quiz! All in all, it was a very fulfilling and fun experience.
Reflection by a Year 2 in P2:
During the Guides annual hike to Gardens by the Bay, we had station games. One of the stations was the Colonial Garden station, which took place at the Colonial Garden Shelter. For that station, there were little boxes with little paragraphs of information about spices and herbs on them. We had to read about the herbs and spices and answer questions about said herbs and spices. Although we were not allowed to take photos of the little boxes, we were allowed to use our phones to take notes. So we did. We decided to split the work among the patrol so each batch took notes for 2-3 boxes. However, because of some miscommunication and miscalculation on the total number of boxes, we left out 1 of the boxes that the seniors decided to ask questions on. As a result, we were unable to give an answer to that question. We feel that if there was better communication between patrol mates and if we had asked more questions to clarify which boxes counted and which boxes we were taking, this would not have happened. We should have communicated more and better and asked more questions as the instructions were vague and none of us really understood that well. Overall it was fun and we learnt a lot not only about herbs and spices but also about the soft skills that we were lacking. We will use this experience to improve ourselves in the future.
Reflection by a Year 3 in P1:
I think Station 4 was rather eye-opening. Similar to other stations, each station has a sort of lesson behind it. At the station, we had to note down information on various plants on numerous booths. If it were to be done alone in 7 minutes, it would have been impossible to even pass the quiz. However, having the patrol there to help make it doable. Each of us was assigned to different booths to note down the information there. At first, I was rather worried that we would repeat certain booths and miss out on others but I was pleasantly surprised that all of us were observant and made a mental note of which ones had been done so as to not miss out on any. I think that this good communication and initiative was well done and should be kept up. During the quiz, I was suddenly hit with the feeling of patrol where every member is essential. Given the short time and the numerous booth, each booth was only visited by one member. In a way, we trusted each other to do our job well and fast with no room for freeloading. In Guides, nothing can be done alone and I think that this was a good reminder of how important trust within a group is.
Guides are given a word and everyone must do the same action at the same time.
Reflection by a Year 1 in P2:
When we went to Gardens By the Bay, we visited many stations to play station games and we had a whale of a time. However, the game that piqued our interest the most had to be the telepathy game. It was fun and enjoyable! The Guide in charge told us one word and our whole team had to do an action or actions that matched the word. After the warm-up, we were split into groups and we had a friendly competition! In the end, one group with all the Year 1s won, and the most memorable action that we did together was the train as it was very hilarious when we hesitantly did that action. The losing team had to do some Buddha claps as a forfeit and the winning team had to do only one. After that memorable activity, it strengthened our bonds together and allowed us to forge meaningful friendships, also allowing us to get to know each other better and work as a team to win. One important part that we learnt is not to blame others for their differences or perspectives of viewing a certain word or phrase but to push each other to do better next time.
Reflection by a Year 2 in P6:
We went on a hike in Gardens By the Bay on Saturday. We had to complete a series of station games. The patrol with the highest number of points would win the competition. At Station 5, the Patrol Telepathy Challenge station, we had to do the same actions for the word the ICs said. For example, when they said Superman, we all had to do the same action that reminded us of or represented Superman to us. We found that this station was very fun, and it also helped us bond with each other, especially with the Year 1s whom we just got to know compared to the Year 3s. Through this station, our morale got higher, and everyone’s mood was lifted as we got to bond and get to know one another better. As we had quite some time left after the first round, we played a second round, this time splitting into two groups in our patrol. The team that loses would have to do Buddha Claps. In the end, both teams were made to do the Buddha Claps together as we felt that we had to do things together as a patrol even though one team lost and the other won.
Reflection by a Year 3 in P4:
The telepathy station during the hike was at the Malay Garden Shelter. Once there, we were told the rules of the game. Some of us had already played this game before and it seemed very fun. The senior would tell us a word, and we all would have to try to do the same action as each other at the same time. I was surprised at how many words my patrol mates and I did the same action as it showed how bonded our patrol had become. To be truthful though, we all did occasionally get away with copying what everyone else was doing.
The stakes were even higher when the Year 4s joined us as it gave us a chance to earn more points. This activity not only strengthened our team spirit but also encouraged us to think from others’ perspectives instead of just our own. After completing the original list of words, we still had a lot of time, so my patrol split into two groups for a friendly competition of which team could do the actions first. This mini-contest was made more fun by the fact that the senior in charge of the station was very enthusiastic. Overall, it was a wholesome experience and definitely raised my patrol’s morale and helped us get closer to one another.
Station 6: Pass the action
Guides are split into 2 groups. The first person of each group is given a word to act out to the second person in line. Guides will pass the action down for the last person to guess.
Reflection by a Year 1 in P5:
Last Saturday, I went to Gardens By The Bay with my patrol for a hike. As this was my first hike since I joined Girl Guides, I was very excited. We were to go to different stations to play games with our patrol. We played many games. However, after playing all the games, I think Pass the Action was my favourite. Pass the Action was basically charades, so the first person will look at the phrase given and act it out and the next person will pass the action down. Our patrol was split into two groups where one group will guess the English phrase and the other group will guess the Chinese phrase. I was in the group where we guessed the Chinese phrase and was the first person. The phrases given were all idioms, but as my Chinese is not as good as my English, I had some difficulties acting and allowing my other patrol mates to understand. Hence, we skipped many questions and got only 3 questions correct in the 10 minutes given. This game allowed us to work together and bond as a patrol and help build our creative thinking skills. This activity and the hike have allowed me to not only learn about teamwork and improve my creativity, but it also allowed us to take time off academic studies. More importantly, create more memories as a patrol. All in all, I think the hike was a very enjoyable and brand-new experience for me.
Reflection by a Year 2 in P3:
The location of station 6 was slightly more secluded than the other stations, but luckily for us, the Station Masters Chloe and Yuanxin were calling out for us when we got to the area so we did not have to search for it. After 敬礼, we got started with the station game. It was called “Pass The Action”. We split ourselves into two groups, one English and one Chinese to play the game. Each group had to stand in a row and then sequentially turn around to try to decipher the actions that the person behind them made to convey a quote. The Year 3s and the others confident about Chinese went to the Chinese group, while the others went to group English. I was at the end of the line of group English, and so was required to guess the final answer for the quote. I am a little bit of a boomer and so some of the quotes did not click immediately, but it definitely was super entertaining and humorous to watch the charade. Overall, I feel like this station helped improve communication between patrol mates, and also was quite a nice little break from the movement of the day. Overall, the entire experience at Gardens by the Bay was exhilarating and extremely insightful. I enjoyed the movement from place to place as we got to enjoy the ingenious landscaping of the gardens, and even the part where it rained was exciting as we all got soaked together and then played Hangman. I learnt about the importance of patrol dynamics and effective communication. It was a really wonderful experience.
Reflection by a Year 3 in P6:
Last Saturday, we went on our first hike at Gardens By The Bay. It was a very meaningful and unforgettable activity as it was our first time hiking with the entire company. In Station 6, we played the activity of Pass the Action. We were split into two groups, whereby one group was given English words to guess while the other group was given Chinese words. The first person had to act out the action relating to the word given and the people in between the first and the last person had to act out the actions given by the first person for the last person to guess the correct word. We did quite well for the first six Chinese words, but the words progressively got harder and we were unable to guess the correct word. However, despite us failing to get the remaining words correctly, we were still very proud of our teamwork and efforts. I think that during the activity, we got very engrossed and forgot to 报时 often. We should still take note of the time while completing the activity. I think that we should also keep the morale high by cheering as we did not cheer throughout the hike. Overall, I think this station showed how well we worked with each other and the teamwork we have.
Hangman
Guides will play hangman and everyone will take turns narrowing down the word.
Reflection from a Year 1 in P2:
After the activity that required us to take pictures of the different places in Gardens By The Bay, we gathered at the nearest shelter as it was raining heavily. We sat down as a patrol in a circle and played hangman. It was hard to guess the words as we only had one screen to see the blanks from and it was hard for everyone to see all at once. Hence, we were told to just guess a random letter. Since we did not want to lose lifelines, we were reluctant to just randomly guess any letter. So, it took us quite a long time to guess the words. The words given were either Guides-based or just completely random things. I preferred the guides based ones as they were much easier. We were all tired and drying ourselves off with tissue paper so not everyone paid attention to the game. The rain was loud and since we were sharing the venue with 2 or 3 other patrols, it was hard to hear what the Year 4s were saying and the hints they were giving. This game was my least favourite out of all of the games. However, I think that I will be willing to try it again but just in nicer weather.
Reflection from a Year 2 in P1:
During the hike at Gardens by the Bay that took place last Saturday, the weather was unfortunately not very ideal as there were dark clouds in the sky. When it started raining, we ducked beneath a shelter, and played the game “Hangman”. I was never that good at Hangman, so I was a little afraid of not being able to contribute to my patrol. While playing hangman, we were able to identify obscure terms such as our patrol mates’ names but were confounded by simple, profound words such as “Apple”, until one of my patrol mates pointed it out, and I thought it was pretty interesting how we could guess hard words but not the basic ones. Nonetheless, we did not falter and we continued to guess letters, guessing all the vowels for every word. After guessing the vowels, we guessed other letters, and most of them were incorrect, to our disappointment, and we lost many rounds. I think it was an excellent activity to bond over and to train our ability to think. Through this, I learned to think before answering, as we randomly guessed many letters but to no avail during this activity. It was an enjoyable activity, though throughout the game some people got a little distracted. We could have focused more on the activity and not been distracted by our surroundings, which could have let us complete the questions faster. Needless to say, we learned a lot from this activity.
Reflection from a Year 3 in P4:
During the 2023 Guides Annual Hike, there were many fun activities planned out for us, such as Station Games and Spot-the-Picture. Throughout the hike at Gardens By The Bay, all of us had a lot of fun and were enjoying ourselves very much. However, during Spot-the-Picture, it started raining. At the start, we were still able to take out our umbrellas and continue with the activity, but at some point in time the rain got really heavy, and we had no choice but to seek shelter for the moment. Thus, we switched to doing a game of hangman. The words in the game of hangman were of great variety, some were related to Guides, others were related to Gardens By The Bay, and the rest were just random, thus there was a little bit of difficulty when trying to guess the words. Furthermore, many of the juniors had their spirits dampened by the rain and they were visibly less excited and less participative in the activities that we were doing. Thus, we tried our best to include the juniors in the game of hangman, asking them to guess letters or to try to figure out the word. As a result of our efforts, we were able to guess many words during the short amount of time we were given to play the game, which was thanks to the collective efforts of everyone in the patrol. As a whole, I really enjoyed the game of hangman even though it was pouring, and I had a lot of fun during the hike in general.
Hope everyone enjoyed this year’s hike!
Published by:
Yuanxin
54届 Secretary
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