GAMES

Whale on the Beach

Baltimore Area Council

Object: To get your whale across the finish line alive.

Materials: Teams of 4 to 8 boys, one adult "whale" for each team, a blanket or tarp for each team, a spray bottle for each team, water, markers for start and finish lines

How to play: Explain that in order to keep their whale alive, the boys must be gentle and quick. They must place the whale on the blanket or tarp, leaving its hands and ankles over the edges. wetting those areas with the spray bottle to keep the whale moist. When moving the whale they must keep it only 4 to 6 inches off the ground, (in order to reduce injury if dropped). Remind them that the faster they go, the more apt they are to injure the whale.

When the signal is given, the whales should become limp, not helping the boys move him. It is up to the individual whale to decide if it survived based upon the boys actions.

Drowning River

Baltimore Area Council

Object: To be the player that stays out of the stream.

Materials: 2 sticks to mark the banks of the stream

How to play: Position the sticks about a foot apart. These become the banks of the "Drowning River." Players agree beforehand whether or not to allow running jumps. Each player then takes a turn leaping over "the stream." Eliminate players who do not successfully make the jump and fall into the stream.

After all the players jump, move the sticks farther apart to widen the banks. Again, any players who fail in their jumps are out. Continue to widen the banks after each round of jumps - the winning player stays out of the stream.

CRAB RACE

Circle Ten Council

This activity requires a hula-hoop for each group of four boys.  Have each group of four climb inside a hula-hoop, back to back.  The teams must then race to a finish line.  The boys must keep their hands outside the hula-hoop while they race, holding it up only with their bodies.

SPONGE RELAY RACE

Circle Ten Council

You'll need 2 sponges, 2 buckets, 2 bowls and water.  Have boys line up in two teams and the boys at the front of each row hold a bucket of water with the sponges in it and the boys at the end of each row hold a bowl.  The first boy takes a wet sponge out of the bucket and hand it to the next boy and so on till it reaches the last boy in his row who squeezes the water out of the sponge and into bowl.  He then races it back to the front and puts it back into the bucket starts over again.  Play continues until the water is gone or a certain time is up.  The team, who has the most water in the bowl at the end, wins the game.

Blub, Blub, Blub

Baltimore Area Council

Materials: Cub Scouts. Leader

How to play: Cub Scouts sit in a circle or semi-circle. The leader walks in front of the players and suddenly points at one of them and says, "blub. blub, blub." The person pointed to must say, "blub," before the leader has finished the third "blub." If he fails, a point is counted against him. If the leader points but doesn't say anything, the Cub Scout must not say anything either. If he does say, "blub," a point is counted against him. The boy with the fewest points against him at the end of the allotted time is the winner.

Maybe you could play this with a boy doing the pointing, then after a set period of time, the boy with the fewest points becomes the next pointer. CD

Fish Gobbler

Santa Clara County Council

This is a fun game for active children.  You will need a big area where all the children can spread out.  When the caller (known as the Fish Gobbler) shouts, “Ship,” all the children run towards the wall to which he points.  On the shout “Shore,” they quickly change directions and run toward the opposite wall.  On the signal “Fish Gobbler,” the kids quickly drop to the floor on their stomachs and like arms, legs, or bodies together with one or more friends.  The Fish Gobbler moves around the room with arms outstretched like a big bird swimming toward the other players not touching them.  The children are all “safe” as long as they are all physically linked together.  Once the Fish Gobbler sees that everyone is linked to someone else, the signal “Rescue” is called.  At this moment all the children jump to their feet, joining hands, and yell “Yah,” raising their joined hands over their heads.  The game ends when the children are ready to move on to another game. Other calls could be added, such as “Sardines” (everyone runs to a central point to make the tightest group possible by either lying on the floor or forming a giant standing hug); “Fishermen All” (everyone sits on someone else’s knee or knees).

This game can be adopted for playing in a swimming pool.  Instead of running to the wall, they can swim to the wall, and join hands and legs while trying to float on the water.

Beachless Beach Party

Longhorn Council

You may want to combine this with a Raingutter Regatta and/or family picnic.

PREPARATION:

You should have two or more beaches, depending on the size of your group. For the pack meeting, each den can have a beach--part of the decorations can be done at the den meetings. If this beach party is for the den only, each family can have a beach, or combine families. Name the beaches like Palm Beach, Santa Cruz Beach, Waikiki Beach, etc.

Have each den decorate its beach – they should use their imaginations. They could choose a theme for their beach, such as palm leaves for Palm Beach. Arrange some chairs, umbrellas. If the meeting is held outside, add benches and picnic tables.

At your planning meeting have dens and leaders and whoever wants) pick games to run on the day of the event.  Some ideas for games for your Beachleess Beach Party are -

Swimming Race: One player from each beach. Each player should have before him a deep pie pan filled to the brim with water, with four or five Lifesavers at the bottom. He must get these candy pieces out with his mouth. His hands must be behind him.

High Dive: One player from each beach. Each is provided with a pitcher of water. On the floor at their feet is an empty tumbler. The player has to stand and try to fill the tumbler. The player who gets the most water into the tumbler wins. In case of a tie, time is taken into consideration.

A Clam Dig: This is a team game. A box of sand will be necessary. Hide 10 small clam (or other) shells or peanuts in the sand for each team. Give each team a spoon and a bowl. Give a signal to go, first player runs across the room to the sand pile, digs out one clam (or peanut), puts it in his team’s bowl, and returns. Next player does the same.  Keep going until all ten are found.

Sailboat Race: Stretch as many strings across the room as you have teams. On each string, place a paper cone. Each player is a to blow his boat from one end of the string to the other end. He then pushes the cone back with his hand to the starting point for the next player. The game proceeds in a relay fashion.

Snorkel Race: You will need a pair of old swimming flippers for each team. If you can’t find them, use pairs of large size shoes and limit the race to children. Set a turning point at a short distance for each team. Run the course in a relay fashion.

Backyard Water Frolic: Have a den backyard water day. Include parents and siblings. Make sure children bring swimsuits or changes of clothes, and towels. Set up one area in the backyard for a water war, one for sprinklers and hoses, and one for a water slide. For the water war, you’ll need squirt guns, basters, squirt bottles, plastic pails, and sponges. Set up the hose and sprinkler in another area. If possible, poke holes in an old garden hose so there’s lots of spray to run through. Make a slippery water slide by cutting several large plastic garbage bags open to form long rectangles and taping them together with waterproof tape. Place the “slide” on the lawn, preferably on a gentle incline. Set a hose at one end to create a rush of water. Let the kids start off with a water war. Divide them into teams. At the signal “Go!” they can squirt the water guns, throw the sponges, or even haul around the pails full of water to get their opponents soaking wet. Include parents--Children will love soaking adults. (Of course you soak them too.) Caution children to avoid squirting in the face. Let the kids give the water slide a try. To prevent long lines at the slide, divide the kids into teams and have one team play in the sprinkler and the other on the slide. Switch after a time. For a snack, serve watermelon. Can they guess how many seeds are in it? Have a watermelon seed spitting contest--see who can spit the furthest or most accurately. By the end of snack, kids will be sticky--they can run through the sprinkler again.

Fishing Game

Longhorn Council

This is probably too simple to be called a craft, but the game is fun. Make a lot of fish and have your fishing derby.

You will need:

Fishing Pole: Tie yarn or string to a dowel or stick.

Bend a paper clip for a fishing hook.

To make Fish, it’s better to use stiff paper.

Fold paper in half.

Draw a fish.

Cut a hole close to the head end of the fish.

Play game –

Scatter fish on the floor

Go fishing.

Scrambled Water

Longhorn Council

When you unscramble the following words, you will know eight kinds of bodies of water.

KEAL                  NECOA              YOUBA

DROJF                  FULG             GOANOL

NOPD                   VERIR

Answers: lake, ocean, bayou, fjord, gulf, lagoon, pond, river

Underwater Words

Longhorn Council

How many words can you make from the letters in the word UNDERWATER? Who can make most words? How about the longest? (At least 80 are possible! Probably even more.)

Colors

Longhorn Council

Determine the boundaries. Begin at one end, where the player who is “It” stands. The safe zone is at the other end. “It” stands facing away from the water, on the shore. The other players stand in the water or tread water in a line close to “It.” Each of the players in the water thinks of a color and whispers it to a neighbor who is on the honor system and keeps it secret. Don’t let “It” hear the color. “It” starts by calling out colors: “Red, blue, turquoise...” Those in the water listen for their colors, and when they hear theirs, they have to swim quickly out to the safe zone. As soon as “It” hears someone move in the water, he turns around, jumps in and tries to catch the fleeing player or players. If a player is caught before reaching the safe zone, that player becomes “It.” Instead of colors, try cars, baseball teams, animals, etc.

T-Shirt Relay

Longhorn Council

Divide the group into two teams. Have a large T-shirt for each team. Each team member must put on the shirt before swimming his lap in a relay race. It doesn’t matter if the shirt is on inside out.

Gold Rush

Longhorn Council

Scatter pennies or iron washers painted gold in water between knee and waist depth. On signal, players try to get as many “gold nuggets” as they can within a specified time.

Touch

Longhorn Council

Divide group into two equal teams and line them up in parallel lines about 6' apart. The leader calls out the name of an object that is the same distance from both teams--a ball, diving board, edge of the pool, etc. In a relay fashion, all players swim or run to touch the object and return to their places. First team back gets one point.

Frogs In The Sea

Longhorn Council

This is a good game that can be played at a den meeting or in shallow water. Players form a circle around one or more players who sit with their feet crossed. The players in the circle skip (if on land) or walk (if in water) close to the frogs and try to tap them on the head as they repeat the words, “Frog in the sea can’t catch me.” The frogs try to tag the players without rising or uncrossing their feet. If a player is tagged, he changes places with the frog that tagged him.

Statues On The Wall

Longhorn Council

This is a fun backyard game. Have the Scouts stand against a brick wall (the side of a house or building). Spray water from a water hose on them and all around them. When they move away from the wall, it will have the outlines of their bodies on it. Stand back and try to guess what the shapes look like. Make up a story to go along with the shapes.

“Fifty Yard” Swim

Longhorn Council

Each boy hops on one foot carrying a paper cup of water. First one over the finish line with the most water in his cup wins.  Use a distance that fits your Den.

Bailing Out The Ship

Longhorn Council

Divide den into two teams. Each team has a container of water at the starting line, one spoon, and an empty cup. The cup has a line marked about 1" from the bottom. Place it about 20 feet away. Each player takes turns carrying a spoonful of water from the team’s container to its cup. The first team that can fill their cup to the line is the winner.

Water Balloon Bounce

Longhorn Council

You will need a tarp, sheet or blanket for each team, or teams can take turns. Players hold the tarp at the edges. 3 water balloons are placed in the center of the tarp. By quickly snapping the edges of the tarp outward the balloons are tossed into the air. A point is scored each time the balloons are successfully tossed and re-caught. Balloons must go up at least 8 feet in order to score a point. The game ends when a balloon breaks or is dropped. The team that makes the greatest number of successful tosses is the winner.

Quarter Drop

Longhorn Council

Have the Scouts from 2 teams. For each team, place a gallon jar 2 to 3 feet in front of the line. Fill each jar with water and place a smaller glass jar in the bottom of the gallon jar. Have each boy try to toss a quarter or iron washer into the jar and into the smaller jar. The team with the most quarters in the smaller jar wins.

Sink The Boat

Longhorn Council

Provide a bucket filled with water and float a small pie plate on it. Have boys stand back about 5 feet and give them 5 small balls made of aluminum foil. (Foil is easy to retrieve because it floats.) Boys take turns throwing 5 balls. Give points for each ball that lands in the pie plate and stays there when thrown from the starting line.

Submarine Dive

Longhorn Council

Draw ahead of time a number of 18" circles with sidewalk chalk. These are submarines. There should be one less submarine than the number of the boys. The Cubs hop, walk or run around the play area according to the directions given by the leader. When he calls “Submarine Dive,” each Cub tries to get into a submarine. The one Cub who is left out stays on a submarine for the next game and so gradually, the submarines become occupied. The winner is the one who gains the last vacant submarine.

Boat Race

Longhorn Council

With a stick for each team, relay teams push an object around two markers and back home. The harder the object is to control, the better. Use spoons, balls, balloons, or lemons or potatoes (they don’t roll straight). As a variation, pretend you are the wind and blow the boat around the course.

Pass The Lifesaver

Longhorn Council

Form two lines. Give each boy a soda straw to hold in his mouth. On signal, a Lifesaver is passed from one boy to the next using the straws. No hands are allowed. Continue this until the last boy in line has it. Have more Lifesavers ready for the boys to enjoy at the end of the game.

Fishing Derby

Longhorn Council

You will need magnet on a string, metal washers of different sizes and colors for different values. Draw a large circle on the floor. In this circle scatter metal washers. Divide players into equal sized teams--two or more. One player from each team wears a blindfold, is given a magnet on a string and directed by his team. On signal, the blindfolded players are directed into the circle by their team who try to get them to “catch” one of the more highly valued washers. He returns to his team with the washer. Another player is blindfolded and takes his turn. This continues until all have had a turn. The winner is the team with the highest point count as determined by the washers they “caught.”

Fishing Game

Longhorn Council

Give each player a soda straw. On the floor place 15 or so paper fish. Fish are caught by suction. See who can catch the most fish. Play this game in a relay fashion, having a “fish pond” some distance away from the starting line.

Bait Casting

Longhorn Council

Use a fishing pole with reel and a 2-inch piece of dowel or broomstick at the end of the line as a lure. Mark four or five targets, each about three feet in diameter and about 10 feet apart. Give each player two casts per target. Score one point for each hit.