GAMES

Unscramble the String Lights

Sam Houston Area Council

Everyone stands in a circle. Each Scout crosses his hands right over left and joins hands with someone NOT standing next to him. Do not join both hands with the same person. Working as a group, try to untie the string of lights without breaking any grips. Hands may be rotated but should never lose contact. This can test the flexibility of the players/string. If the group is hopelessly tangled, the leader may break apart one set of hands and join somewhere else. If successful, the group will end up in an untangled circle.

Candy Bar Game

Capital Area Council

As our families run here and there, little time is spent together.  This game gives your family an opportunity to gather together and have FUN!

Objective: Each person tries to get as many candy bars as they can.

Materials:

2 Candy bars for each player or couple

1 brown lunch sack for each player or couple

Timer, Wood die

Bowl, Good Attitude

Timer: Set timer in another room, so no one can watch to see how much time is left.  A stop timer is perfect.  Most families play for about a half-hour.  After playing a few times, you will know how much time needs to be adjusted.  It’s fun to vary the time from each game to keep them off guard.

Preparation: If using this game for a party, assign each person to bring two candy bars.  Take the candy when they arrive.  One person (mother, father, or party leader) places two candy bars in a brown sack.  Fold down the top of each sack the same.  If there are extra bars, place them in a bowl.  Place a mark, (x) on the bottom of one of the bags.

Starting the game:

1.       Have everyone gather in a circle.

2.       Place bowl inside the circle.

3.       Each person or couple picks a sack out of the center.

4.       Explain that each sack contains two candy bars and no one is to look until directed to do so.

5.       Each person looks into their own sack but does not tell what kind of bars they have.

6.       Everyone closes their bag.  Players may look inside any sack that is their own during the game.

7.       Who goes first?  The player with the mark on the bottom of their sack. That player rolls first then follows to the left.

Roll Die: A player has to follow what has been rolled.

1.       Take the Bowl: If rolled the player takes all the bars.

2.       Trade sacks: Player picks another player to trade sacks with.  Remember: You want the most candy

3.       Lose a turn:  Lose next turn.

4.       Add Bar to Bowl: The player takes a bar from his sack and adds to the bowl.  Don’t let people know your sack is empty.  This might help out when trading. If you receive an empty sack don’t say anything. Just hope you can pass is off

5.       Double take: A player who rolls this takes one bar from the players on his left and right.  If the player is out of bars, you’re out of luck.

6.       Guess a Bar: Players need to watch bars and sacks as they are exchanged.

        When rolled a player says a person name and tries to guess the candy bar in their sack. The players only need to answer with a yes or no.  If the player asked has the bar, he must give it to the roller.

Ending the Game: When the timer goes off everyone keeps the sack that they end up with.  If a player has rolled the die when the timer goes off, that player may complete his turn. At this time any bars left in the bowl must be rolled for.

Christmas Swipe

Capital Area Council

ü  A large sack containing candies and trinkets of various sorts is hung in the center of the room. 

ü  Players from the Red Caps and the Green Caps take turns in being blindfolded, turned about, and given an opportunity to bring the sack down with a swipe of the wand. 

ü  If a Red Cap brings down the sack, then his teammates are privileged to scramble for the contents. 

ü  If it is brought down by a Green Cap, only the Greens have the privilege. 

ü  Players are not allowed to coach a contestant.

What’s Wrong with Christmas

Capital Area Council

A different way to play a Kim's Game   CD

ü  This is a good quiet game for use at den meetings. 

ü  On a table or tray place a number of Christmas type objects, such as a candy canes, bell, sprig of holly, etc. 

ü  Scatter through these a number of objects which are not a part of Christmas, such as Halloween mask, green shamrock, red heart, hard-boiled egg, etc. 

ü  Cover all objects until time to play the game; then remove the cover and give Cub Scouts two minutes to look at all the objects. 

ü  Recover all objects, and give each boy a pencil and paper.

ü  Ask them to write down all non-Christmas items. 

ü  Cub Scout with longest list wins.

Snowball Relay

Capital Area Council

ü  Players divide into two teams and line up behind starting line.

ü  Give each team a “snowball”, either Styrofoam or cotton and a piece of cardboard. 

ü  On signal, first player on each team tries to move ball across floor and back by fanning it with cardboard. 

ü  Player may not touch snowball with hands or cardboard. 

ü  First team to finish is winner.

SANTA NODS

Baltimore Area Council

·         Santa is in the center of a circle made by the other players.

·         Santa points at any player and says, "Santa says yes" or Santa says no".

·         That player must quickly nod "yes" or shake his head "no".

·         If Santa says only "yes' or "no" without first saying "Santa says", the player must not respond. If he does, he is out of the game.

·         Santa should give commands quickly.

·         The last person still in the game becomes the new Santa.

Dreidel Game

Baloo's Archives

Introduction

“Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay…” Even if you’re not Jewish, the odds are that this catchy little song has gotten stuck in your head at least once—and even if you are Jewish, you probably weren’t aware that the word “dreidel” is derived from the German “dreihen,” meaning “to spin,” and that dreidels originated in a popular Yiddish gambling game. Here’s how to spin your dreidel the modern way.

Things You'll Need

Dreidels

Chocolate candies wrapped to look like coins or

Candies, Nuts, raisins, or other items for tokens

Steps

Step One Assemble a kitty. The stakes in a dreidel game aren’t money, but tasty snacks—Hershey’s Kisses, raisins, M&M’s, or (traditionally) Chanukah gelt, that is, foil-wrapped chocolate coins. Distribute the kitty equally among the three, four, or more players in the game. Each player puts one of his “tokens” in the center of the table, creating the dreidel “pot.”

Step Two Have each player spin the dreidel in turn. If you look closely at the dreidel, you’ll see that each of its four sides is decorated with a different Hebrew letter: nun, gimel, hey, and shin—which supposedly stand for the Hebrew phrase meaning “A great miracle happened there.” (Actually, these letters derive from the words inscribed on the Yiddish precursor of the dreidel, but there’s no harm pushing this myth on kids.)

Step Three The rest of the game proceeds as follows: if the player spins a “Nun,” he collects nothing (“Nisht” in Yiddish) and yields to the next player. If he spins a “Gimel,” he wins the entire pot (Gimel stands for “Gesht,” which is Yiddish for “get.”) If he spins a “Hey,” he gets half the pot (“Halb” in you-know what), and if he spins a “Shin” he has to put one of his own pieces in the pot (“Shin” derives from the Yiddish “Shtel,” meaning “set.”)

Step Four If a player manages to collect all the items in the pot, she is the winner. However, it’s possible to prolong a dreidel game indefinitely (or at least until dinner is ready) by giving other players candy "loans."

Tips & Warnings

Playing the dreidel game with real money is discouraged, but occasionally adults will agree to fund the kitty with small coins if the players agree to contribute all of their winnings to charity.

Clap a Song

Capital Area Council

The first player claps the rhythm of a well-known Christmas carol or other holiday tune.  The others try to guess what the song is.  When a player guesses correctly, he becomes the new clapper.

Balloon Round Up

Capital Area Council

Supplies: You will need a large barrel or box and one balloon for each Cub Scout.  Each den has balloons of a different color from every other den.  The barrel must be too small to hold all the balloons.

ü  Place the barrel in the center of the playing area and line up equal numbers of Cub Scout by dens on opposite sides of the room. 

ü  On signal, the boys put one hand behind their backs and with the other hand, try to tap the balloons in the air and into the barrel. 

ü  When the barrel is full, stop the game and count the balloons in the barrel by color. 

ü  The winning den is the one that got the most balloons into the barrel.

SNOWBALL RACE

Baltimore Area Council

Materials:

A container of small marshmallows per team

A plastic spoon

An empty container per team

Directions:

ü  Players set in lines of equal length; six players per line.

ü  A container of marshmallows is placed in front of each line

ü  An empty container is placed beside the player at the end of the line.

ü  Each player is given a small plastic spoon.

ü  On signal, the first player takes one marshmallow in his spoon and transfers it to his neighbor's spoon and so on down the line.

ü  As soon as the player at the end of the line receives the marshmallow and places it in the empty container he yells "It's a hit!"

ü  This is the signal for the first player to start the next marshmallow down the line.

ü  Any marshmallow that are dropped must be replaced on the spoon by the person who dropped it before it can be passed along.

ü  The team getting all their marshmallows into the container first, wins.

PIN THE HANUKKAH CANDLE

Baltimore Area Council

Materials:

A poster-size menorah

A cardboard candle for each player

Directions:

«  Draw a menorah on a large sheet of cardboard and tape it to the wall.

«  From lightweight cardboard, cut out a candle for each player. The candle represents the shammes or candle used to light the eight Hanukkah candles.

«  Put a pin through the flame of each candle.

«  Blindfold a Cub Scout and turn him around three times.

«  He then tries to pin his shammes on any of the menorah's candles.

«  The one who comes closest, wins.

WHAT DOES THE SNOWMAN SAY? NOTHING

Baltimore Area Council

Materials:

A hat, preferably a bowler hat and

A scarf

Directions:

«  One cub, the Snowman, dressed up in the hat and scarf, stands stiffly facing the group.

«  He must not respond in any way - by giggling, moving or speaking.

«  The object of the game is for the other boys to get a reply to their questions, such as "What's your middle name? Who's your best friend? Do you like ice cream?" or to make the Snowman laugh by making faces.

«  No touching is allowed.

«  Establish a short time limit and play several times.

«  Any boy who gets a response from the Snowman becomes the next one.

SNOWMELT

Baltimore Area Council

Everyone turns into a snowman and at the signal "the sun comes out," the snowmen begin to "melt down" to the floor - the last one to melt completely (stretch out on the floor) is the winner.

Rule: keep moving at the same time.

Santa's Bag

Capital 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.