PRE-OPENING

Christmas Card Puzzle
National Capitol Area Council

This game makes a good gathering activity.  Cut an old Christmas card into irregular pieces to form a puzzle for each player and place in an envelope.  As each boy arrives, give him a puzzle.  If playing as a regular game, the first player to put his puzzle together is the winner.

Santa's Bag
National Capitol Area Council

Number 10 brown paper bags from 1 to 10.  Put a familiar item in each bag (preferably related to Christmas), fold and staple the bag shut.  Each boy is given a pencil and paper with 1 through 10 listed.  Then they try to guess what is in each bag by touching and shaking the bag.  They write their guess on the paper by number.  The Cub with the most correct answers wins.

12 Days Of Cubbing
York Adams Area Council

Have the boys work together on their own carol based on the 12 Days of Christmas, but titled “The 12 Days of Cubbing.  You should start them with a sheet that lists out the basic lyrics, such as:

On the first day of Cubbing, my   CUBMASTER         gave to me, a    BOBCAT BADGE FOR ALL TO SEE   .

On the second day of Cubbing, my                             gave to me, a                                                                  On the third day of Cubbing, my                                  gave to me, a                                                                  Etc.

Gift-Wrapping Station
York Adams Area Council

The boys are getting to an age where they can begin to help with the wrapping of gifts (and they probably really want to do it themselves as well).  Get one or two parents to set up a gift-wrapping station so that the boys can either bring in gifts they want to wrap or they can use empty containers to practice wrapping.  You might want to set this up starting in the beginning of the month and make it available for each December Den Meeting.

Winter Wonderland Words
York Adams Area Council

Hand out sheets of paper with the words “WINTER WONDERLAND” at the top.  Ask everyone to find as many words as they can in that single phrase.

Find Your Caroling Partners
York Adams Area Council

Prepare “sets” of cards that each contains a verse of popular carol.  Hand these out to people as they arrive, instructing them to find others who have the same song/verse.  Tell them they need to practice their song for a special presentation immediately following the opening.  After the opening ceremony, have each group of carolers stand and sing its song.

What Am I
York Adams Area Council

Print out different cards with common Winter Wonderland items (such as sled, sleigh, snowman, gift, evergreen tree, etc.).  As people arrive at the meeting place, tape cards to their backs and give them this instruction.  “By asking only YES/NO questions, go around to other people and ask enough questions to determine what the label on the back of you says you are.”