GAMES

Games for around the Campfire

Greater St. Louis Area Council

1.     Progressive Ghost Story – Have one of the Scouts or a leader begin telling a ghost story. Then, let the Scouts continue with the story. This is more than a “Mad Libs” where the Scouts just fill in a word or two. Encourage the Scouts to tell at least a minute or two of story, before passing the storyline on to the next Scout.

2.     Blindfold Popcorn Race – Scouts enjoy popping popcorn around a campfire. Here’s a game that’s fun, and tasty too! Divide the Scouts into two-man teams. Give each team a plate with an equal amount of popcorn. Blindfold both team members. They feed each other the popcorn on their plate. The first team to finish is the winner!

3.     Pantomime – Each player is assigned a game or sport, or you may write them on pieces of paper for each Scout to draw when it is their turn. The Scout then has to reveal which sport they have by acting it out in pantomime.

The following games and sports will serve as a start, but add your own: Golf, Football, Hurdle Race, Checkers, Shot Put, Skating, Tennis, Volleyball, Diving, Dodge Ball, Soccer, Archery, Baseball, Ice Skating, Sprinting, High Jump, Bowling, Discus Throw, Basketball, Handball, Water Ski, Snow Skiing, Weight Lifting, Handball, Croquet.

4.     Nature Alphabet – List objects in nature that have names beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Variation: Select a theme for the list: Plants, Animals, In the Ocean, Birds, etc.

5.     She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain– Line up on two sides in relay formation. Each boy runs up to a judge, eats a cookie provided to him. Sings on verse of “She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.” He then races back to tag the next Scout in line. The game continues until all Scouts on one side have done the same thing.

The Spooky Story Game

Baltimore Area Council

Have boys form a circle. One person starts to tell an imaginative spooky story and leaves off in a very exciting place. The next player continues the story and also leaves off at an exciting place. The story continues around the circle until the last person ends it.

Tom Sawyer’s Fishing Game

Baltimore Area Council

Mark Twain, who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, described life along the Mississippi River in the mid-nineteenth century. Then, roads were only rutted cart tracks, but the river was a great highway for boats and barges carrying passengers and cargo. Tom Sawyer used to go fishing in the Mississippi with a long pole, a sport that took some skill. To try your own skill at home, you’ll need six drinking straws and a sheet of paper.

Insert the straws one into the other by pinching one end of each straw and gently squeezing it into the unpinched end of the next. You now have your fishing pole.

Cut your paper into ten strips approximately the size of 1” by 3”

Roll up the strips and tape, in a roll, to form “fish.”

Set “fish” down on the tabletop.

How to Play: Two or more can now go “fishing.” Make a catch by aiming the top of the fishing pole at a paper fish, inserting the pole through the fish, and then sliding it down the pole. If any fish slips off while you are trying to hook another, your turn ends and the next player tries his luck. Whoever has caught the most fish after five turns is the winner.

Beat the Rap

Greater St. Louis Area Council

Items needed: A leader, a timer, a scorekeeper, a gavel, 12 thumbnail sized rocks.

Directions:

• One at a time, each contestant picks up as many of the dozen rocks that have been placed on the floor as he can in 10 seconds.
• He may use only one hand and the rocks must stay in that hand.
• The timer calls, “Go” to start and “Stop” at the end of 10 seconds.
• The scorekeeper keeps a record of the rocks picked up and held at the end of that time.
• The winner is the one who held onto the most rocks.

Neckerchief Relay

Greater St. Louis Area Council

Boys line up in relay formation. The first Cub Scout in each line holds a neckerchief and a neckerchief slide in his hands. At the other end of the room opposite each line is another boy or parent.

At the starting signal, the first boy runs to the boy or parent, places the neckerchief around their neck, puts the slide on, salutes, takes the slide off, removes the neckerchief, and returns to his team. He then gives the neckerchief and slide to the next boy in line who repeats the process. This continues until each boy has had his turn.

What Is It?

Baltimore Area Council

Materials: Large blanket, items to make noises

Hold a large blanket up in front of the audience and make different noises behind it. The audience tries to identify them. Examples are: broom sweeping, glass breaking, balloon bursting, rock in tin can, pouring water, reading a newspaper, etc.

Hit The Penny

San Gabriel, Verdugo Hills & Long Beach Area Councils

• Two players stand facing each other about five feet apart.
• A penny is placed in the middle of the two players on the ground.
• Each player takes turns throwing the ball at the penny.
• A hit counts as one point.
• If the penny is turned over when hit, then it counts as five points.
• Keep the penny wherever the ball moves it throughout the game.
• 25 points to win.

Hot Potato

San Gabriel, Verdugo Hills & Long Beach Area Councils

• All the players stand in a circle except one.
• All the players in the circle pass around a ball.
• The one player on the outside of the circle suddenly calls, “Stop!”
• Whoever has the ball is caught.
• Each time a player is caught he must step outside of the circle.
• The last player left is the caller for the next game.

Sardines

San Gabriel, Verdugo Hills & Long Beach Area Councils

• One player hides.
• The rest of the players go looking for him.
• Whoever finds the hidden player must also hide with that player.
• The hiding place gets more and more crowded and easier to find as the game progresses.

Hot And Cold

• One player closes his eyes or goes behind a building.
• While the player is gone, the other players hide a small object in the vicinity.
• The hidden player is called back and must find the hidden object.
• The player has the help of all the other players.
• As he gets closer the other players call out, “HOT”.
• When the searching player strays farther from the hidden object, the other players shout, “COLD”.
• This continues until the object is found.

Catch The Cane

San Gabriel, Verdugo Hills & Long Beach Area Councils

• All the players stand in a circle with one player in the middle.
• The player in the middle holds a cane or a long stick (cane size) standing on end.
• All the other players have a number.
• Without warning, the player in the middle lets go of the cane or stick as he calls out a number.
• The player with the number called must run into the circle and catch the cane or stick before it hits the ground.

Crossing The Road

San Gabriel, Verdugo Hills & Long Beach Area Councils

• Two parallel boundaries are marked clearly with about forty feet between them.
• All players line up along one boundary.
• One player is “IT” in the middle of the two boundaries.
• When “IT” yells “go”, all of the players must try to cross to other boundaries without being tagged by “IT”.
• Anyone who is tagged must “freeze.”
• From that point on those tagged players must help “IT” by also trying to tag the other players while staying in one place. (They are now stationary obstructions.)
• The last one caught wins and is “IT” for the next game.

This Is My…..

San Gabriel, Verdugo Hills & Long Beach Area Councils

• All the players sit in a circle with one player in the middle.
• This one person then goes up to someone sitting in the circle and grabs his knee (or another body part) and says, “This is my nose (or something else).”
• The player spoken to must grab hold of his nose (the second named body part)and say, “This is my knee (The first named body part)” before the other player counts to five.
• Any player who answers wrong must be the player in the middle.
• This game continues with the changing of different body parts and becomes faster and faster.

Material: Written messages

Baltimore Area Council

Divide group into teams of 6 to 8 players. Give one member of each team written messages containing a number of facts about a well-known person, place or thing. Allow him to read the paper, then put it away. The first team member listens to the reader whisper what was on the paper. This person tells the next team member, and so on, until the last player on each team has heard the story. This player tells the story out loud. Then the reader reads the story from the paper. The team that gets the most facts correct wins. It is more fun if each team has a different story.

Paul Bunyan’s Log Rolling Contest

Baltimore Area Council

Materials: Cardboard rug tubes or real logs, sticks approximately ¾” x 30”

Logs can be made by cutting cardboard rug tubes into foot long sections. A large branch from a dead tree can also be cut into foot long sections. Each player will need a log and a stick approximately ¾” x 30”. At the word “Go” each player must roll his log from the starting line to the finish line using the stick. Logs must not be touched with the hands. Players must remain behind their logs and no hitting allowed. First to cross finish line wins. This game may also be played as a relay.

Pecos Bill

Baltimore Area Council

Have all the players except ‘Pecos Bill’ form pairs and stand in a circle. When Pecos Bill says, “face to face,” the partners face each other. When he says “back to back” or “side to side,” his directions must be followed. If he says “Pecos Bill,” everyone including himself, tries for a new partner. The one left out becomes ‘Pecos Bill,’ and the game continues.