Rainbows is the youngest section of GirlGuiding in the UK. They are between the ages of 5 and 7 in England, Scotland and Wales but in Northern Ireland the age range is 4-7 years old. It is the Guiding equivalent of the Beaver Scouts. At the age of about seven, a Rainbow will usually become a Brownie.
Contents
In the UK, Rainbows started in 1987 with Lynsey Hickling being the first in the UK.
In the United States, the equivalent is a Daisy Girl Scout; in Canada, the equivalent is a Spark.
Uniform
The current uniform, since 2004, consists of a blue and red polo shirt with the Rainbow logo on it, a red hooded jacket and a choice of either tracksuit bottoms or cycling shorts, which the girls are encouraged to pick themselves. All items come in the Rainbow colours of light blue and red. There is also an optional baseball hat which matches the otger items.
Tabards used to be part of the uniform, red and purple tabards can still currently be purchased, but were removed as official uniform in 2015. Colours of Tabards were: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. Units could choose which colour they wanted.
The Promise
The Rainbow promise is a shortened version of the Brownie and Girl Guides, to accommodate their young age. The promise is:
The Jigsaw
Rainbows meet approximately once a week during term time, with some appropriate day trips and sleepovers.
The Rainbow programme is called the Jigsaw. It consists of four areas: Look, Learn, Laugh and Love. Rainbow meetings and extra activities should focus on these areas.
Rainbows earn badges called Roundabouts. They are completed as a unit and require girls to complete an activity for each of the 4 Jigsaw areas about a particular theme. Current roundabouts include: Roundabout Get Healthy, Roundabout Seasons, Roundabout All About Me, Roundabout Festivals, Roundabout the World, Roundabout Rainbows
The Song
There is a simple song with hand gestures to accompany the jigsaw feature. There are four versions of the song, each version has a different final three lines, but the tune is the same and the first verse remains unchanged. The four versions are for:
- The beginning of a meeting
- The end of a meeting
- During an enrollment ceremony (a Promise Party)
- During a 'Pot of Gold Party' (a party held at the end of term when some Rainbows are preparing to progress to Brownies.)
This version is for the beginning of a meeting:
At the end of a meeting the last three lines are replaced with:
At a Promise Party the last three lines are replaced with:
This version reflects aspects of the promise itself and it helpful in reminding Rainbows of their duty.
The final version at a Pot of Gold Party is often sung for the rest of the unit by only those who are leaving for Brownies and this versions final three lines are: