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Making a Meaningful Bridging Ceremony
A bridge can be constructed out of just about anything, the
point is for it to be a symbolic
crossing from one level to the next.... The following are some ideas for you to
use or adapt:
When bridging from Brownies to Juniors, they made a "bridge of hands" under
which each girl passed, one at a time. They wanted to keep with that tradition,
but make it new. This is what the girls did: They painted a 10-foot piece of
butcher paper. At the top, it read "Cadettes". At the bottom, it read "Juniors".
In the middle, they did a huge arch of hand prints. (Messy but fun, and we kept
the bridge of hands with a twist.) Leaders scored the butcher paper in a few
places, and wrapped the two ends of paper around some PVC pipe. The girls
"bridged" by bursting through the butcher paper like a football team. It was
unique, very festive, and most importantly the girls loved it! We used a very
nice candle ceremony around the Promise and Law where each girl began asking
what the world would be like if
My co-leader and her husband constructed a mock-bridge out of car ramps and bed sheets, which we decorated with fresh potted daisies and balloons! It looked spectacular, and the girls enjoyed every minute of it. As they walked across the bridge they receives their patch and certificate. Our ceremony ended with the lighting of candles on the log, to symbolize their new beginnings. —Robinette V. Troop, Medina, Ohio 6/4/00
When we bridged from Brownie to Junior Girl Scouts we did it with a Daisy Girl Scout troop. We went to our local park (where there is a gazebo), took a mirror (in place of a pond), got a local florist to donate ferns, and had the parents bring silk flowers from home. We placed the silk flowers around the pond, put the ferns around the gazebo, and had the older girls receive the younger ones and help them recite "twist me, turn me...," as found in the Brownie Girl Scout Handbook.
We had the ceremony at a park and decorated a slide with helium balloons and streamers and had the girls slide down the slide to Brownie Girl Scouts!
Our Brownie Girl Scouts helped in making a bridge out of felt. We made a bridge with water under it, put felt flowers on green grass along both sides of the bridge, and put real stones in the "water." The girls also brought some stuffed animals to lay alongside the stream’s edge. They really enjoyed doing this activity.
Do a blind rope walk as a bridging ceremony. Take a long rope, and tie it from one point to another. Create little detours, curves, and so forth. Have the girls follow the rope blindfolded and end up at a different level of Girl Scouting.
We bridged to Cadette Girl Scouts by saying one part of the Girl Scout Law and lighting a candle. We each swam across my pool and came out a Cadette Girl Scout instead of a Junior. After that we floated little homemade foil boats across the pool.
We made chains out of silver wrapping paper. At a campfire, we asked younger Brownies from a sister troop to hold up the chains in two lines to form a bridge for the new Juniors to walk through. The girls were called individually to walk across the bridge to receive their Brownie Wings, with families and other Girl Scouts watching.
We held the ceremony in our leader's backyard. We put up balloons, and the leaders had made posters of us at different events. Then when we held the ceremony, the five of us who were bridging had to walk under the swing set! Then two Cadette Girl Scouts stood at the other side. Each one of us who were bridging walked under the swing set, shook hands with our leaders, put on the Cadettes' vests, shook their hands and walked to the end of our line. It was nice.
Use helium balloons. We used to use the Worlds [of Girl Scouting] colors but now
will refer to it as our rainbow. Put the first line of balloons taped to the
floor at knee height and the second behind it (far enough behind to walk
through) in an arch so that the highest balloon in the center is taller than the
tallest girl. It is fast to assemble, it is portable, and best of all there is
nothing to take home since the balloons go home with the girls. Plus, as a
bonus, the pictures turn out wonderful! -- Ann Illinois
Ribbon Bridge (on dowels in coffee cans)
Our bridge was going to be a set of stairs outside the church in a wooded area.
But, as the heavens opened, we had to have the ceremony indoors: we set up our
Brownie pool - mirror with plants and silk flowers and woodland stuffed animals
around it. I used foil to make a "stream" and white paper to create a "bridge"
on the floor. The Bridgers then shared the following:
"The original came from Stacey in Vista, CA." Quoted at GuideZone
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