One of my favourite Guiding activities is a campfire. Singing together is the perfect way to end a day at camp, or to close a weekly meeting. We can't sing in person due to the Covid-19 precautions, but that doesn't mean that we can't have a campfire online! Here are the steps that I go through to plan a virtual campfire.
Step 1: Choose your song list
For Brownies I like to keep it simple. One or two opening songs, some energetic favorites, a few traditional songs, and then taps. Repeat-after-me songs are great, especially if you are inviting other family members to join in. I've found that we can usually do a few more songs online than we would in person.
Step 2: Create a slide deck with the lyrics
If your video conferencing platform allows you to share your screen, then I would suggest putting the song lyrics into PowerPoint, Google Slides, or other format where everyone can see them. This makes it easy to teach new songs, and it's great for family members who might not know the words. If you are playing an instrument while you sing, then you might want to share the presentation with a co-Guider who can change the slides for you.
Step 3: Sound check
Before the meeting, try singing (and/or playing your instrument) to see how it will sound on the other end, and adjust accordingly.
Step 4: Enjoy your campfire!
During the campfire everyone but the song leader should be muted to make the sound as clear as possible. I will admit it was really weird to sing 40 Years on an Iceberg and not be able to hear the girls repeating it back to me, but I encouraged them to make the actions as big as possible so that I could still see them.
I can't wait until we can get back to having real campfires together, but until then we'll have to make do with singing together online.
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