Plane Trip

As a change of pace from the usual International Fair, we tried something different a few years back and it really worked GREAT! We picked a country and planned a 'mock' plane trip to that country. Girls boarded the plane, received boarding passes, and checked their baggage (backpacks from school) as they entered 'the plane'. We closed off the stage and set it up with chairs and an aisle just like a plane. Since they entered from backstage and it was fully enclosed, it actually had the feeling of the interior of a plane! Each chair had a 'barf' bag attached and we served an in-flight snack of peanuts (donated by the airlines) and 7 up (with ice, in a squatty plastic cup, just like the real ones) from a cart that moved down the aisle. We had an edited travelog of the country to show as a in-flight movie as well. After they took their seats, a recording was played, "Hello and welcome to Girl Scout Air, flight 222 to Greece...." It included all the flight instructions about "seats in the upright and locked position" as well as Girl Scout-ey things like " In the event of an emergency, please observe Part 10 of the Girl Scout law, showing respect for others and exiting the aircraft in a safe and orderly fashion...". We had included .WAV files of the 'seat belt tone' which we used for the "Quiet Sign and the Seat Belt sign' These were signs posted up front that were turned by 'the stewardess' as the tone sounded. The other .WAV file we found online was the sound of a jet taking off and landing. You could almost feel the G forces when we 'took off'! When we 'arrived' at our destination, the girls deplaned into 'The Country" (the school auditorium) and we had a welcoming ceremony that included the Promise and Law from that country and a donation to the Juliette Lowe World Friendship Fund. The girls then split up into groups that rotated through stations with a food, a craft, and a dance from the given country. They returned to the plane for the trip home. They had fun at all the activities, but the plane trip was the highlight for many. One girl in my troop told me excitedly afterwards, "This was so much fun, I'd never been on a plane before!" Like she had, now!! We had approximately 50 girls at each site that participated in this 'mock trip'. The countries we have done are:

Greece: Greek dance, jar lid mosaics with tile pieces and grout, feta cheese rolls, grapes and baklava served at 'The Athens Cafe' (tablecloths, flowers and menus).

Japan: Japanese dance, Shoiji screens with word 'Friendship' in Japanese, rolling your own sushi (all cooked) and different sauces to try on rice (eaten with chopsticks). The girls all enjoyed rolling the sushi and a surprising number of them enjoyed eating it. (Amazing what they will try when they made it themselves!)

We are taking a break from the 'mock trip' this year and are returning to a modified International Fair. We will only include 4-6 countries. Each country will include a song/dance, a food, a craft and a game. Each participating troop will provide one of these for one of the countries. The problem we have run into when each troop does a different country for a Fair is that there is TOO much for the girls to really learn anything. There might be 20+ countries represented and it becomes a race to get to the next country, stamp your passport and try the food. We are hoping by limiting the number of countries it will alleviate this problem and not be so much work for each troop, and hopefully the girls will go home having learned something about the different countries they 'visited'.

Contributed by:
Stacey MacAndrew
Rancho Vista Service Unit, San Diego Imperial Council, California, USA

We are hoping to base our Thinking Day celebration around a plane trip. This is a description of what we have planned so far.

The girls would first make their "luggage/carry on bags" for toting their souvenirs home.

What I have planned is to divide the girls into groups of about 10, board them on the plane. They exit to their 1st destination. After learning about the country and seeing the sights, they will go outside to a game station for a game from that country, then go to a food station for that countries food, then to a craft area for a craft of the country. After that they will reboard the plane for the 2nd destination, then 3rd and then 4th.

Once the 1st group has exited the plane, we will start the next group and continue till all have visited their countries.

I thought of having extra games from countries all over as filler time.

Crafts I've thought of so far:

England: Crown Jewel crowns -- hope to get Burger King to donate crowns for the girls to decorate.

Mexico: God's eyes

India: Hand painting -- we have an Indian lady who may come and talk to the girls and may be able to teach us about this or some other craft.

Switzerland: ???

Also, thought of having the girls make a "paper doll" from craft foam, and color and cut out Girl Guide and Girl Scout uniforms from paper to put on them.

Food:

Switzerland: Fondue

Mexico: Nachos or salsa and chips

England: Tea and scones/cookies

India: hope to get info from our Indian lady.

Contributed by:
Donna, Girl Scout Leader, Florida, USA

Do you have any other ideas for activities? Contact The GuideZone Team with your comments or suggestions!

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This page last updated January 12th, 2000