1st East Rainbows leader Lesley talks about the guests she invited to join her unit meetings virtually who shared their passion and special skills with her girls…

Rainbows is all about learning new skills in a fun way and watching girls develop interests that could help them decide what they’re passionate about, or what they’d like to do later in life. Lockdown meant we, like many other units, embraced online meetings and had to think of innovative ways to keep our Rainbows engaged and encourage them to stay in guiding.

This World Youth Skills Day I’m looking back at what we’ve achieved, it’s been really rewarding to realise just how many new skills our girls learned during the last 15 months. It’s good to remember that you can always invite guests to join for an evening so they can share their expertise and teach your unit something new.

What we got up to during lockdown

The girls had a virtual visit from an illustrator called Liz Millions, who taught them how to draw characters by drawing a simple potato outline first. They then created everything from butterflies to roller-skating rabbits – it was great seeing them all letting their imaginations run wild.

One night someone from the pet charity Blue Cross joined us to help girls learn more about how to look after animals. After this evening one of our Rainbows went on to hold a sponsored treasure hunt and raised over £200 for the charity, which meant she also learned how to fundraise and bring attention to important causes like animal welfare.

Our girls even found time to complete their construction badge with the help of a local surveyor friend who joined us virtually. Our Rainbows got to learn all about town planning and were able to find out more about where they live and why it’s set out the way it is.

What it was like volunteering throughout the pandemic and beyond…

As a leader, guiding has been a bit challenging recently due to so much change but I’m looking forward to hopefully get back to a much more normal routine after summer. My unit has actually doubled in size since the start of lockdown so it’s been great to have these guests stop by and share their passion and knowledge with the girls!

Find out more

Find out more about inviting guests to chat to your girls here.