Leadership Tips...from 2011 Grand Leadership, Julia
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Ideas for Meetings:
Gavel Wars: Pick a song for the term and have the Musician play the song at appropriate times during each meeting. When the song plays, the line officers will rap their Gavels and whoever raps it first, wins! This is a great way to make a meeting fun and to help girls pay attention during the meetings.
Hello Girl: During each meeting pick one girl to be the "Hello Girl" and tell her secretly that she is the "Hello Girl". Before the meeting pick a random number (for example, 7) and have the girl keep track of who says hello to her. Whichever girl is the random number person (7th person) to say hello to her gets a prize! This is a great way to help the girls remember to say hello to everyone and to make sure everyone stays included.
Posture Pal: Have a "Posture Pal" or "Ritual Bear" to give away to a girl that was either sitting up straight and paying attention or who did well on her ritual work that night and she will get to keep that stuffed animal at her station during the next meeting.
Theme Meetings: On a couple planned meeting nights during the term, have a themed meeting night and instead of wearing dresses, the girls will dress up according to the theme for that night. Some examples of themes are as follows: Superhero night; Crazy hair night; Ugly dress night; Fairy tale night; Toga night; or Pajama night.
Music at Meetings: Playing music at meetings can really make a meeting special and fun. Either have a musician or adult volunteer that is willing to be in charge of picking appropriate songs for each meetings. This is a great way to keep all the girls engaged and it will help make the meetings even more special and fun!
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Leadership Games/Activities:
Puzzle Game: For each puzzle, divide up the puzzle pieces into separate bags. Each member of a group should receive one bag. Have the groups work on their puzzles for a bit and when at about halfway through, tell the groups that they no longer can talk while putting the rest of the puzzle together. Give out a card to each player with instructions like; "help the rest of the group put the puzzle together", "when told not to talk, speak out very loudly", "try your best to make sure your group does not solve the puzzle", or "hog all the puzzle pieces to yourself". After the group finishes their puzzle ask them questions about what obstacles they had, what worked well for them, and what they found interesting.
Note card Story: Write one random word on each note card, you should make at least 20 note cards (make sure that YOU can create a story out of the words that you write on the cards). Place two blank note cards in the bag with the other cards, these cards will be the "free cards". Give out the set of note cards to each group, each set should have the same set of words. Then, tell the groups that they must make a story by putting all the note cards together, they must use every note card in the bag, and are allowed to write their own word on the two blank cards if necessary. Afterwards, ask the groups what worked well for them, what they had trouble with, and what they found interesting. This is a great activity because it shows that when you take the same foundation and rules (the same set of words and the same rules for each group) they can each have different traditions, ideas, and outcomes (each story ends up different than the other) because there are different leaders and personalities in each group.
Yarn Web: Take a ball of yarn and have everyone sit in a circle facing the middle. Have someone start out with the ball and have them either say their name and one interesting fact about themselves and then have them gently throw it to someone else OR have them say something nice about another person in the group and then have them gently throw it to that person and so on. Make sure to hold on to a piece of the yarn before you throw it to someone else! At the end, have one person drop their string and notice how all the other strings then fall because of it.
Rainbow Trivia Bingo: Have a list of Rainbow trivia questions ready. Give each player a Bingo card with answers to some of the questions on each space on the card. Ask a question and if the player knows the correct answer and they have the answer on their Bingo card, then they can place a marker on that space. Play using the regular Bingo rules.
Rainbow Offices: Start out in the assembly room and have each person sit in a rainbow office. Then, go around the room and have each person stand up and present to the group what their office is called and what is the role/responsibility that that office has to do. Once every person has presented, have them pick a new office. You can play this game numerous amounts of times. This is a great game, especially for new initiates, because it helps the girls learn what each office is called and what the responsibility that that office has to do in the assembly and its fun too!
Build a Machine Game: Separate all the players into different groups and tell each group the name of a machine (dishwasher, washing machine, lawn mower, fan, etc). Each group must find a way to use every person in their group to create their machine and only one person can move/perform an action. After each group has presented, ask the players what worked well for them, what was hard for them, what they found interesting, and if they worked as a team or if one person became the leader of the group.