GAMES

Games to Help New Cub Scouts
Learn the Bobcat Requirements

Jamie, Pack Trainer &

Cub Scout  Training Chair in Minnesota

Jamie said she found these after an extensive internet search into archived materials.  Thank you  CD

Repetition - Write the Promise (or the Law  of the Pack) on a posterboard and display it at every den meeting. Be sure to  recite it every meeting. At each meeting, ask if any Cub can recite it from  memory and let him try.

Memorization  Activities

The Cubs have more fun if you set up a few of these  for each meeting. Set up

stations and divide the Cubs into groups. Have each  group rotate through

each of the stations.

• Line up  the Lines - Take the Promise (or the Law of the Pack) and write it  out on strips of paper in large letters. If you want, you can cut the lines up  into chunks or half-lines. Then have a team challenge for the whole group. Mix  up the strips on the floor or in a box. One by one, a Cub hops to the box, grabs  a strip, and brings it back to the group. The next Cub hops up and gets another  strip and brings it back to the group. Hopping is done to give the group time to arrange the strips in order. The group has to agree on how to arrange the  strips. When done, they recite the Promise together.
• Line up the Lines Relay
  Divide the team in half or  thirds (2-4 per team), putting stronger Cubs with weaker Cubs to even things  out. Each group has their own set of strips. Repeat as in "Line up the Lines."
• Line up the Lines Contest
  Set up  strips for each individual Cub. Now they play "Line up the Lines" by themselves  and try to finish correctly first.
• Sort and  Assemble Challenge
  Once they are really good, challenge them. Put  all the paper lines (or segments) of both the Promise and the Law of the Pack  together. Play this game as a group, in relay or as individuals. This game can  keep the faster learners occupied while the less adept practice more.
• Pick-up Sticks Game
  Write the  Promise (or Law of the Pack) on craft sticks or paint stir sticks. Divide the  Cubs into teams, with each team having a set of sticks. One by one, the Cubs go  to the table, pick-up then drop the sticks on the table and reassemble them.  Have an adult tally the score for each team (award 1 point each time the Promise  or Law is assembled correctly).
• Interlock  Puzzle
  Glue a blank paper to the back of an assembled child's  puzzle (20-25 pieces). Write out the Promise (or the Law of the Pack) on this  page and then carefully cut through the sheet and around the pieces with an  Exacto knife. Let the Cubs practice putting the puzzle together as a gathering  activity. You may want to use different colored sheets for each puzzle you make.
• Picture Craft
  Each boy writes the  Promise (or the Law of the Pack) on craft sticks. Have them use pens and try to  write one full line on each stick. Cut out a piece of posterboard slightly  taller than the assembled sticks. Glue the sticks to cardboard in order. Punch  holes in the top of the cardboard and bend a pipe cleaner through these so it  can be hung on the wall.
• Be a Reporter  Game
  This requires a tape recorder and microphone. Each boy  records the both the Promise and the Law of the Pack on the recorder. Then he  plays it back. This repetition works really great, while the boys get a blast  listening to their recorded voices.
• Roll the Dice  Game
  This requires one dice (a big one if you have it). Each boy  rolls the dice and depending on what number comes up, he performs one of the  parts of the Bobcat trail. Score points for each boy who does the task  correctly. Add some flavor - let a roll of 4 yield an extra roll. Here are the  tasks for each number:
  1 = recite the Cub Scout Promise
  2 = recite the  Law of Pack and tell its meaning
  3 = recite the Cub Scout Motto & tell  what Webelos
         means
  4 = show the Cub Scout sign & tell its meaning
  5 = show the Cub Scout handshake & tell its meaning
  6 = show the Cub Scout  salute & tell its meaning
• #10: Mystery  Bag
  Let the Cubs earn a chance to grab a prize from the "mystery  bag". This is a bag filled with trinkets and small stuff like pencils, stickers,  coins, etc. At the beginning of the meeting, announce the "secret phrase" (i.e.  one line from the Promise). Let the Cubs repeat it a few times right then. At  the end of the meeting, each Cub must whisper it to the leader and get it correct for a chance to reach into the mystery bag. Each time this method is  used, make the secret phrase longer and longer until it's the whole Promise.

Remember -

K I S M I F

PS - For those of you who are new Webelos leaders, substitute the Boy  Scout Oath and Scout Law for the Cub Scout Promise, and Law of the Pack, and use  the same tactics.

Tag Games from Around the World

Santa Clara County Council

Encourage each den to learn a game from a country from which the families of several of its members came.  They should plan to teach the game to the rest of the pack at the pack meeting.  Here are some examples

Dakpanay This is a tag game from the Philippines.  Make three small circles on the ground (use hula hoops?), each with room for one or two players to stand in.  Also make one large “rest circle.”  One player is the Chaser, the rest are circle players.  The Chaser must stay outside all circles; the others run from one circle to another.  As soon as the Chaser tags a circle player (while outside a circle), that circle player becomes the new Chaser.

Calling the Chickens This is a tag game from China.  One player is blindfolded and plays the part of the owner of a flock of chickens.  The blindfolded player calls to the others, “Come home, my little chickens, come home.”  Then all the other players must run forward, and each one must touch the blindfolded player without being tagged.  The first chicken to be tagged becomes the next owner.

Multiples This is a tag game from Taiwan.  This is a game for older children.  Players sit in a circle and agree on a figure between 1 and 10.  They then start counting aloud around the circle, starting with 1.  If the agreed figure is 7, each time the number being called includes seven or a multiple of 7, the player keeps quiet and clasps his hands together.  Every time anyone makes a mistake, a point is counted against him.  When the boys become good at this game, add one or two other numbers, so they will have to stay alert to not get caught with numbers four, six and eight going at once.  For one number, the player clasps hands.  For the second number, he will put both hands above his head.  For the third number, he can nod his head.  Most players will find thinking of two numbers at once difficult enough.

The Little Holes This is a tag game from Mexico.  (Similar to horseshoes.)  Two small holes (hoyitos) about the side of a dollar and one or two inches deep are dug fifteen to twenty feet apart on a level stretch of ground.  Stones are used as counters.  Two players, or two pairs of players, take part.  Standing by one of the holes, each of the two players, alternately, pitches four counters at the opposite hole, one stone at a time.  Every counter entering the hold counts five points; those lying closer to the hole than the opponent’s count one point each.  The players then reverse the throwing of the pieces, from the second hole to the first.  The game is played for a total of 21 points.  When partners play, each pair of opposing players remains by the same hole, instead of going from one to the other, but they change places at the beginning of a new game.  (Note:  make sure the players can tell their counters apart.)

Cross-Over Dodge Ball

Baltimore Area Council

Equipment: 3-5 soft balls

Object: To get everyone on one side

Divide group in half. If a player is hit by an air ball, they join the team that threw the ball. If a ball is caught in the air, the player who threw it must cross to the other side. Balls MUST hit below the waist. The team with all the players wins - there is no loser!

Count Your Blessings

Baltimore Area Council

• Boys sit in a circle.
• The first boy starts out by saying “I am grateful for apples” or some-thing beginning with the letter A.
• The next boy is grateful for something starting with a B.
• Continue around the circle and through the alphabet.
• If a boy fails to think of a word beginning with the proper letter he drops out.
• The one remaining in the circle the longest is the winner.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Baltimore Area Council

• Place empty food containers or pictures of food at one end of the playing area.
• Make most of them nutritious foods, but scatter some junk-food items like potato chip bags, candy wrappers, and pop cans among them.
• Arrange teams in relay formation and have the boys in each team number off.
• Then call out a number and the starting letter of a food: 3-C. The number 3 boy in every team runs to choose a carton or picture representing a food that starts with that letter and races back to his line.
• Give the boy who has chosen the most nutritious food a peanut to hold in his hand, then call out another number and letter.
• When everyone has run, the boys divide up the peanuts and eat them.