NDCS - Hands Up

This activity involves drawing a simple design on the hall floor using chalk and filling it with coins. It’s a simple and entertaining fundraising activity which always proves popular with children. We suggest you draw a giant NDCS logo or an NDCS Listening Bus.

All you need is some chalk (or cardboard if you cannot write on the floor of your venue), lots of coins and a camera to take photos of your group’s masterpiece for publication on this website!

Local press might be interested in attending this event which would help get news of your activities out to the local community.

Read more about the Coin art activity by clicking on the download link below.

This easy fundraising activity requires minimum preparation and can be arranged with just one week’s notice.

The idea is for the girls to make a donation to come in dressed in wild, bright colours or patterned clothes for the evening. We would suggest a minimum donation of £1. For extra motivation you could offer a prize for the most outrageous outfit.

The girls might like to hold a fashion show to model their crazy clothes and you could ask the audience for donations afterwards.

Read more about the Dress up loud activity by clicking on the download link below.

British Sign Language (BSL) has its own alphabet and it is used to aid communication and to spell out words that have no sign like names and places.

The girls may find it fiddly at first but will pick it up very quickly. Once they’re quicker and confident, get them to answer basic questions like where they live by finger spelling.

Next you can try a game called ‘Spell and collect’ and you can encourage them to keep practising by suggesting that they can use if to communicate with each other like a secret code, as well as using it with deaf friends.

Read more about finger spelling and the 'Spell and collect' game by clicking on the download link below.

In the spirit of the Hands up theme, you could organise a nail night, getting the girls to give manicures to visitors, perhaps combing this with traditional fundraising activities like a raffle and cake sale.

You could ask local beauty salons to donate some basic materials for the nail night as well as prizes for the raffle or an auction like a free manicure or treatment.

The girls could also make invitations, signs and decorations for the venue to give it a real salon feel and you could also think about selling your glamorous gloves at the event.

Read more about the Girly manicure night fundraising activity by clicking on the download link below.

In keeping with the Hands up theme, the girls could design and make a truly individual pair of gloves! You could make some of these to sell to raise money for a new NDCS Listening Bus.

Get the girls to bring in a range of different gloves from home. They do not need to be new. You may even decide to knit your own gloves before doing this activity. The idea is that the girls decorate the gloves using materials like ribbon, sequins, buttons and beads – the more creative, the better!

You may choose to make a Hands up collage with younger girls, asking them to decorate hand shaped pieces of card and then adding them all to a display.

Read more about the Glamorous gloves activity by clicking on the download link below.

In keeping with the Hands up theme, enter into the festive spirit and create some fun and easy-to-make Hands up Christmas decorations. We have three tried and tested designs or you could get the girls to create some of their own.

All of our designs need only basic materials and but you could be inventive and substitute some of them with your own ideas.

Read more about making Hands up Christmas decorations by clicking on the download link below.

Show the girls photos of NDCS’s Listening Bus and then challenge them to make the best Listening Bus cake, either individually or in small groups.

To inspire the girls, you could decorate a cake yourself and then urge them to try to outdo you, reminding them that the more creative they are, the better!

The girls can use anything in their design that is edible like sweets, biscuits, wafers or shop bought cakes.

Why not get a local cake maker or a well-known member of the local community to come in and judge the competition? You could also notify the local press.

Read more about the Listening Bus cake decorating activity by clicking on the download link below.

It can be quite overwhelming when you join a new group. Think back to your first ever session at your unit or your first day at school and remember how you felt.

For a deaf child it can be even more daunting as they may be worried how they will communicate with the other girls.

There are several things you can do to help make your meetings ‘deaf friendly’. These things won’t just be useful for deaf people but also for other new girls too. They include a who’s who notice board; a visual timetable; special measures ahead of trips away or events.

Read more about making your unit a deaf friendly place to be by clicking on the download link below.

The Deaflympics is taking place in Taiwan in 2009. Unfortunately, due to communication barriers, there is still a need for a separate sporting tournament to the Olympics.

By holding a Mini-Olympics of your own, you can charge the audience to watch the girls take part in simple events like standing long-jumps, Frisbee discus and obstacle races.

You could combine this with traditional fundraising methods like a barbeque, lucky dip and raffle, and involve a local sports shop as a sponsor for the event or to provide prizes.

Read more about the Mini-Olympics event by clicking on the download link below.

Getting the girls to use only facial expressions and hand signs to convey simple phrases will demonstrate that we don’t just rely on our voices to communicate meaning, improving their deaf awareness.

In addition, you could think about performing a special deaf friendly play which might include some basic British Sign Language (BSL) and finger spelling, dance, mime, visual props and costumes. You could even use giant speech bubbles or prompt words to show the passing of time, for example: “Later that day…”

This could be turned into a fundraising evening by charging the audience to watch or collecting donations afterwards.

Read more about non-verbal activities and performing a deaf friendly play by clicking on the download link below.

By practising lip-reading with the girls, they’ll learn that lip-reading forms a large part of everyday language for hearing people which in turn will demonstrate how deaf people can use lip-reading to help them communicate with others.

Remind the girls that deaf people rarely rely on lip-reading alone to help them understand what is being said but that it’s a useful aid to communication when used with other methods.

The girls can practise giving each other instructions without speaking and could also adapt the Chinese whispers game to include lip-reading – passing a message around the group without speaking and seeing how well it is transmitted.

Read more about the Read my lips activity by clicking on the download link below.

British Sign Language (BSL) is used by over 70,000 people. It is a visual language which uses hand shapes, movement, facial expressions and body language to show meaning. Anything that can be spoken in English can be communicated in BSL.

As a unit, try to learn to sign as many words as possible using our sign sheets. The girls should be encouraged to take them home and practise. Once they’re confident with a vocabulary of basic signs, you can try some sign language games, like 'Chinese signs' and 'Fruit salad'.

Read more about sign language and the 'Chinese signs' and 'Fruit salad' games by clicking on the download link below.

Signed songs are great fun to learn. It’s a bit like learning a dance routine except it’s your hands that do the dancing.

There is a signed version of We are Family by Sister Sledge on this website and we would love every Girlguiding UK member to learn and perform our signed song. It’s a catchy tune and is easy to learn with just a small number of signs – the girls will pick it up quickly.

NDCS will provide you with everything you need. There are signed song sheets available to download and we can send you a CD copy of the song to sign along to.

You will have to work closely as a unit to learn the song so it will be a good way to build up some team spirit and have some fun at the same time. In addition, this is an excellent fundraising opportunity – you could invite the local community to come and watch and the press to report on the evening.

Read more about the Signed song performance activity by clicking on the download link below.

Not being able to hear what other people are saying and not communicating verbally can often make deaf children feel isolated and left out when with hearing friends.

You can help the girls in your unit to understand what it feels like to communicate without speaking by challenging them to be silent for a fixed period of time. The girls can use any of the methods of communication that you have practised in previous sessions, like sign language, lip-reading and making gestures as well as writing and pictures – but no talking is allowed!

To make this into a fundraising activity, you could ask the girls to get sponsored for staying silent – either per minute or for a fixed amount of time.

Read more about the Silence speaks volumes activity by clicking on the download link below.