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ILLUSTRATION LIST
Sl(ILLSP� LlfE
Pages 1-27:
All illustrations by Rae Dale
Pages 28-29:
'Mirror, Mirror' and 'Wanted'
by Liz Carlsund
First edition © 2005 Guides Australia Inc.
Update 2016 Girl Guides Australia Inc
Page 30:
Meagan Tickell
Pages 31-32:
Concept:
Dr Bronwyn Gould, AM
Authors:
Fione Russell
Julie Townsend
Editors/ contributors:
Di Vernon-Reade
Lorraine Cunningham
Diane Brokenshire
Illustrations:
Rae Dale
Liz Carlsund
Meagan Tickell
(see illustration list)
Cloud illustrations by
'Faces' and 'Trees'
illustrations by Liz Carlsund
Pages 33-35:
lllustrations by Rae Dale
Page 36:
Speech and thought
balloons by Meagan Tickell
Page 37:
'Other People' and 'Friends'
by Rae Dale
Pages 38-39:
'Family Tree' and 'Valentine'
by Liz Carlsund
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of
Girl Guides Australia Inc.
Girl Guides Australia is a member of Copyright Agency limited.
Statutory education licence no.: 2859
Guides Australia gratefully acknowledges
the financial support of the Mazda Foundation
In publishing this original resource.
SKILLS fn, LIFE 1
Contents
Page
INTRODUCTION
�;p) So, what are llfe skllls? ............... ,u, , . . . , a r . . .. , 3
-:W,1 The role of Leaders and
support materials ........ ... .... ............ . . ...... .. 4
�w.� Life skills and the Promise and Law
.. .......... 5
Making and keeping friends
P19:
Working together and cooperating
�"'.: Respecting and Including others . . .... . . . .... .. 20
�W,1 Dealing with bullying and teasing
.. ......
21-22
23
........................ LO...... 24-26
Personal strength and positive attitudes ..... 6·8
Developing personal strength
Encouraging positive attitudes
Positive self-talk: what is it?
PART TWO: ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES
�W,1 Recognising and expressing feelings . . .. . . . 9·10
P9:
P10:
P10:
:t:
Expressing feelings activities
Create some feelings games to play
Learning self-control
Coping with challenging feelings ....
P11:
P11:
P12:
P13:
u •• •• • •
11-13
Identifying body clues
Stress or 'eustress'?
l\eeping calm - staying cool
Helping girls to cope with grief and loss
-;W,1 Communicating with confidence ........... 14-15
·:�; Problem-solvlng and decision-making . .. . 16-17
P16:
Pi 7:
2
P18
�;p) Personal safety
P6:
P7:
P8:
�i�
�"'.: Friendships .............. ...... .............. ..... 18·19
�W,1 Building support networks .............. .. .. .. ...
PART ONE: LEADER'S NOTES
Assisting girls as they develop skllls for life
�W.:
Page
SKILLS pn, LIFE
Finding solutions to problems
Careful decision-making
�;p.:
Activity pages for your Unit
� • • I • • • • I • • L I • • • I •
28-39
P28:
Mirror, Mirror
P29:
Wanted
P30:
Every cloud has a silver lining
P31:
Expressing feelings
P32:
Precious memories
P33:
Being a good listener
P34:
Quick quiz: are you a good friend?
P35:
Finding a new friend
P36:
Advertise for a friend
P37:
Respecting others
P38:
My family tree
P39:
Circle of family and friends
Other resources and references ................. 40
CONTENTS
This publication provides Leaders with interlinl<ed
Almost all Leaders will come across situations
materials to assist in the development of life
that fall outside of their training. A good Leader
will not be afraid to seek advice either from
skills for girls and young women. It is important
for Leaders to acknowledge the vital role they
can play in promoting skills which will help girls
within her Guiding network or from other
organisations set up to advise about specific
and young women to meet and deal effectively
social issues.
with the challenges of life. In undertaking this
task, it is essential that Leaders develop
Additional support materials
strategies for dealing with some of the sensitive
issues these materials may raise.
The materials in the Life Skills pack complement
each other and include:
Do I have to be an expert?
• Activity pages: Individual work sheets that will
Skills for Life contains activities focusing on some
personal issues that girls face as they grow
toward adulthood. While running these activities,
you might find that girls open up about personal
experiences, and not all of these will be positive.
Discussing these issues will require compassion,
understanding and acceptance of individuals.
You need to be prepared to respond appropriately
and recognise the rights of the individual.
supplement sl<ills development. These may be
photocopied as required.
• Information leaflet: Information that may be
copied and distributed to parents to keep
them informed and involved in the development
of life skills with their daughters. Parents and
significant others who support and encourage
this program can reinforce the development
of sl<ills in the home situation.
• On Track for Life: A personal journal to give
You may also need some basic awareness of the
each girl a record of activities and a reminder
subjects discussed. Some general information
of the skills gained. To support this program,
is provided in these pages, and you might wish to
supplement this with background reading.
each Guide will need her own copy of On
Track for Life (a copyrighted, non-reproducible
However, you are not expected to be an expert.
resource), available in State Retail Centres.
Confidentiality and disclosure
If personal issues are discussed within the Guide Unit, you should
understand the importance of confidentiality and disclosure
procedures. If you have any concerns about anything that is
discussed or raised by any girl, please contact your State Office
to discuss what is an appropriate course of action. Each State
has different Child Protection laws which must be followed.
4,
SKILLS fn, LIFE
INTRODUCTION
A "code for life"
The Guide Promise
I promise that I will do my best
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs
To serve my community and Australia
And live by the Guide Law
The Guide Law
As a Guide I will strive to:
•
respect myself and others
•
be friendly to others
•
use my time and abilities wisely
•
•
be considerate, honest and trustworthy
make choices for a better world
•
be thoughtful and optimistic
•
live with courage and strength
, .·. · The Guide Promise. and. the Gulcle. Law
provide girls wUh a.code for life.
As with any program activity, it is important that .Leaders
co11stc1ntly model anct provide the links to: .
a) .demonstrate that th� .Promise .and Law are. intrinsic .
Look out for
these symbols:
The following symbols
have been used to show
interrelationship and links
with other materials:
· .. , parts of the Guiding experience; and
�) as�ist girls to. understand. the r�levance of their
Promise in their ever yday lives.. · ..·· · ··
The link between Hfe skills and the Promise and Law . ·
is indicated in this publication .with a trefoil.
INTRODUCTION
for links to the
Promise and Law
I'
.
.
for personal journal
in On Track for Life
for individual
activity sheets.
SKILLS fn, LIFE
S
Create some
feelings games to play
Use the pictures of feelings on Activity Sheet
"' #4 (page 31) to make the following games:
\lb
e e •. t. I e e I I I I I I ,II•. 't •• •II I I II I II I II I I I I I II I• I I I I I It I I I I I I II I If I I I I II I
"How would you feel?"
Make a set of feelings cards. Use the pictures to
encourage discussions:
- "This person is feeling ...
- "I would feel like this If ...
Girls discuss how they could tell which
emotion was being acted and whether
some feelings were easier than others
11
to act out or to guess.
11
Mime a feeling
Field of feelings
Divide the feelings cards into different envelopes
Two teams have a contest to see how
for each Patrol or small group. In turn, girls select
many feelings they can think of. Players
a card and mime the feeling shown on the card
brainstorm and write feelings down
without speal<ing a word. T he tasl< is to guess
on a big piece of butcher's paper. There
the feeling being acted out. Repeat until all the
are more than 100 feeling words for
cards are used.
girls to choose from.
Learning self-control
Expressing our feelings is far better for our health and wellbeing than not
expressing them. It's up to each of us to make sure our needs are met,
"I will strive
to respect
our feelings are expressed appropriately and no-one is hurt in the process.
There are many ways to express our feelings - talking, writing, music, a
nature walk, exercising, playing a game, drawing a picture or just relaxing
for some "quiet thinking time".
myself and
others"
Giggle Gaggle
Poor Kitty
Girls line up opposite each other in two teams.
Girls sit in a circle. One is the "Kitty" who must
Team A tries to make all the players in Team 8
crawl to each girl in turn pretending to be a cat and
smile or laugh. As each player smiles or laughs
miaow. Each girl must pat the cat and say "Poor
they are out. The first team to get all the opposite
Kitty" three times. However, if she laughs at all she
team out wins.
is out and must now become the cat in the centre
of the circle.
10
SKILLS/01, LIFE
LEADERS' NOTES
Expressing difficult and painful feelings Is hard for most
people, whatever age they are. Feeling sad, embarrassed 1 angry,
anxious or confused Is no fun, but It's a part of life.
Leaders can help girls deal with these particular feelings by Identifying
the physical symptoms and offering some useful coping Ideas .
••.......•.••••••••••......••.•.......••••.•••............••••.....••••••••...••••...........•••••••••••••.......•••
Identifying body clues
Our feelings are our body's way of telling us what's
going on inside us. If we're in danger or in an
can help them to identify stress indicators and to
prepare for appropriate actions.
uncomfortable situation, our body will give us
clues through our feelings. It's important to pay
attention to these "uncomfortable" feelings as they
There are many typical body clues that may be
experienced in difficult situations. They vary from
are pretty good at letting us know when we're in
some sort of trouble or danger. Encouraging girls
person to person. They are caused by adrenaline
to worl< out what their body is trying to tell them
Stress Indicators may Include the following:
.:H• dry mouth
"ii
..�= breathlessness
..�= tears
..�= aching jaw
-�=
poor memory
..:{.. need to toilet
..H- heart pounding
II =
+·
�
..
II=
"'1i
�n-=
II
lump In throat
stiff neck
trouble sleeping
grinding teeth
voice shakes
..�..�-
being released into the body to prepare the body
for a "fight or flight" response to a situation.
tense muscles
�-
shaking or shivering
confusion
..:.;1= hair stands on end
'"fi= sweaty palms
..fi= poor concentration
..�= knees trembling
..:,�=
n
..H-
II
goose bumps
-�= change in appetite
"
•,i-' face goes red or blushes
headache
.d�- butterflies in stomach
Positive stress or "eustress"
By appreciating that stress indicators are not necessarily always negative,
girls can begin to realise that recognising body clues can actually assist
in unl<nown or new situations. Positive stress or eustress occurs for Olympic ath·
letes at the start of big races and can actually help people to perform better.
When girls learn to recognise these stress Indicators, it can help them prepare
for action in dangerous situations or to do well in challenging situations.
"I will strive
to live with
courage and
strength"
Leaders can explain that by appreciating body clues and responding to them, girls can develop strategies
to manage or cope with any situation that comes along.
LEADERS' NOTES
SKILLS j<>1, LIFE
11
,rs
Leaders can help girls to understand that good communication
Is more than Just talking about what Is happening for the
speaker. It Is a two-way conversation. Both people need to J-'
really listen to what the other person Is saying and try to Jv '-"understand what they mean and how they feel.
<k
__A,IJ-
JA!�
, 1 /
····················································································································
Make some pictures to show girls how effective communication will use many different parts of the body:
� A mouth can talk, yawn, smlle or frown.
Eyes can crinkle up to laugh, cry or look
Interested In the other person.
Hands can comfort, wave or gesture.
Communication activities
Listening and not listening
The whole body Is used to communicate
and to show interest In what another
person ls saying.
the message still the same? Then have everyone
come back and sit in a big circle and choose
someone to start off a message. What happens
Girls sit facing a partner and take turns telling
to the message when it finally gets whispered
a special memory. The "listener" acts out the
back to the first girl? Has it changed at all?
role of someone who is not interested without
Discuss with the girls that it might seem funny
saying anything aloud but just letting their body
communicate non-interest. Girls then take turns
telling each other what they had for breakfast.
This time, the "listener" will not talk but use
her body to show great interest. As a group,
discuss how it felt in each situation.
Short and long Chinese whispers
14
Ears can listen, not just to words but to
feelings behind the words.
in Chinese whispers to hear things and pass
them on but it is not so funny if rumours like
these start in the playground. This "whispering"
can also be called "gossip". It may seem like fun to
pass on gossip and change it a bit here and there
to make it even more interesting but gossip can
really hurt people.
It can even end up
This is a variation on a well-known game. Firstly
ruining friendships
in Patrols, sit in a circle with one girl thinking
when someone finds
up a message and whispering it Into the ear of
out that whispers
her neighbour. Each girl whispers it to her
have been going on
neighbour until it gets back to the first girl. Was
behind their bacl<.
SKILLS pt, LIFE
"I will strive
to be considerate,
honest and
trustworthy"
LEADERS' NOTES
Making and keeping friends
For younger children, the family is the centre of their world. However, as they grow, the influence of peers
and the importance of friendships outside the family become more significant. The ability to make and keep
friends is a learned sl<ill, together with the realisation that a good friend is more than just an acquaintance.
Remind girls of the saying "to mal<e a friend, you must be one" and give them skills in identifying what
are the qualities of a friend and then developing strategies to initiate contact and sustain friendship.
Friendship activities
Friendship voting with your feet
Recipe for a friend
Draw a line on the floor. Girls place themselves
Girls brainstorm and record the qualities that
mal<e a friendship. The group discusses the
relative importance of each quality. Qualities
become the ingredients and are measured in
along this line depending on whether they AGREE
{extreme right-hand side) or DISAGREE (extreme
left-hand side) with the statements:
ell= friends should tell on other friends if they
amounts according to their decisions about
break the school rules
which are impor tant in making a good friend.
This is then written up like a recipe, listing the
..�=
places besides having you as "best" friend
quantity of ingredients and method. Girls might
try out the recipe over the following week and
report bacl< on how the recipe worked.
,�=
it's better to keep new friends than risk
losing them by not fitting in with others
Friends are in the bag
..x.= it's alright to have different friends for
Each member of the Patrol or group brings a
secret item, which is special to them and places
it in a bag. In turn, each person in the group
withdraws an item and tries to identify the owner.
"I think that this belongs to ... because ... "
"I will strive to
a best friend can have friends at other
different things
I
..X= you should always put your friend first
ell= bullies make good friends because they
can protect you
Activity in Skills for Life:
� A GOOD FRIEND (Activity Sheet #7, page 34):
A quick quiz for girls to identify
be friendly to
others'
18
SKILLS fo'z, LIFE
the characteristics of friendship they believe in.
� FINDING A NEW FRIEND (Activity Sheet #8, page 35),
LEADERS' NOTES
Living In a country like Australia that benefits from a rich cultural
diversity, it is important that girls respect and accept differences
between the people in their communities. About 43 per cent of
Australia's population were born overseas or have one parent
who was born overseas. Twenty per cent of Australians have a
disability, and 1 in 3 Australian marriages end in divorce.
This means that, in their daily lives, girls will come into contact with
people whose cultural backgrounds, lifestyles and home situations vary wldely. This could also include
children who are victims of bullying or abuse, which may affect how they interact with others.
Understanding differences activities
Know your own potato
Each girl is given a potato and has five minutes
to get to l<now her potato. After this time, the
Leader collects all the potatoes and puts them
in a large container. Later in the meeting, the
girls sit in a circle and take turns going up to
the container and trying to work out which
Is her special potato, explaining to everyone
else how she k nows which one to pick.
Discuss with the group how the potatoes are
a bit like all the people in their fives. Although
they seem to be unlike each other, there really
are more things the same than there are
differences. No matter how odd a shape of any
potato, they all make good potato chips!
Activity In Ski/ls for Life:
� RESPECTING OTHERS
(Activity Sheet #10, page 37)
�
An activity to appreciate people of different
ethnic origins or with physical or Intellectual
disabilities.
Other activities to stlmulate discussion and appreciation of differences
�I:
... Multicultural activities develop appreciation of
the food, dance, beliefs and lifestyles of people
from other cultures. Find out about Harmony
Day
activities
(http://www.harmony.gov.au),
not for Just one day but throughout the year.
Invite people with different ethnic bacl�rounds
to visit the Unit and share experiences, not
�J.:
games and activities from every part of the world.
People with disabilities can be invited to visit
the Un i t a n d s h a r e t h e ir experiences.
Community organisations will organise guest
speakers and opportunities for girls to discuss
challenges of living in a different society. The
and understand disabilities or different lifestyles.
These Include Guide Dogs for the Blind,. MS
Society, Mission Australia and others in your
Guides Australia publication One World, Six
local area.
only from their country of origin, but of the
20
BIiiion People Is a useful reference. It contains
SKILLS f,1,
LIFE
LEADERS' NOTES
Family support
Latest research indicates that in Australia there are many different types of families. In fact, the
nuclear family of Mum, Dad and the children of that family all living in the same home is a minority.
Many of the girls in a Guide Unit may have different family structures and it is important that Leaders
acknowledge and communicate with all significant adults involved.
The saying "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family" is right. Girls may live in all
sorts of family constellations and lead ver y different lifestyles. Some of these arrangements may be
rather different to our preconceived ideas of what makes up a family. However, as long as there is
respect for the individual, mutual support and encouragement, each is a viable family unit. As Leaders,
it is essential that we acknowledge, support and celebrate a// families.
Family network activities
Activities in Skills for Life:
All families are different
�
All the girls in the Unit contribute
� CIRCLE OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS
(Activity Sheet #12, page 39)
to a mural depicting families. This
FAMILY TREE
(Activity Sheet #11, page 38)
•
could be on a long piece of butcher's
paper and include multiple houses
Be prepared for any emergencies
and space for an airport or railway
Pages 14 and 15 of On Track for Life give
station to allow for long distance
girls a list of questions to make sure that they are
family members.
prepared for any emergency in their own home.
Rights and responsibilities in the family unit
Girls have rights to be fed, clothed, cared for, loved and educated. They also have the right to be heard
and to feel safe all the time. Girls may sometimes need reminders that, with their rights, they have
responsibilities towards others in the family:
�f:
�J.,
to accept the rules developed by the family; and
to respect the rights of other family members.
Discuss with the group their responsibilities towards
others in the family and to friends.
LEADERS' NOTES
"I will strive to
be thoughtful
and
optimitic
SKILLS
p,,, LIFE
�