GATHERING ACTIVITIES

Note on Word Searches, Word Games, Mazes and such – In order to make these items fit in the two column format of Baloo’s Bugle they are shrunk to a width of about 3 inches.  Your Cubs probably need bigger pictures.  You can get these by copying and pasting the picture from the Word version or clipping the picture in the Adobe (.pdf) version and then enlarging to page width.  CD

Christmas House Maze

Baltimore Area Council

Find your way from the bedroom to the Christmas Tree. 

Maze

Can you find the way from the bedroom to the Christmas tree?

Meet Your Match

Sam Houston Area Council

Materials – pictures of things that belong in pairs, one picture for each participant.

Ideas -    marshmallows and hot cocoa,
                                logs and fireplace,
                                wrapping paper and bows,
                                flames and candles.

Set Up: –

In a room away from the main area,

Lay the pictures out and stick a piece of tape at the top of each.

(Maybe have the pictures face down and not in their pairs or it could be real obvious  CD)

Invite the Scouts to take one picture at a time and tape it on the back of another Scout,

Then reverse, the second Scout tapes a picture on the back of the first Scout.

They have to be careful so Scout #2 doesn't see which picture Scout #1 placed on his back, and vice versa.

Warn everyone (not just the kids) not to talk about the other pictures.

Directions –

Everyone asks each other yes or no answer questions to figure out what's on their own back. (Examples: Is it something you can eat? Is it an animal, vegetable, or mineral? Is it bigger than a toaster?) Limit the number of questions one Scout can ask another before moving on.

Make sure the youngest Scouts understand that they're not supposed to tell people what picture is on their back until that person figures it out for themselves.

Once you discover what you are, you have to find your match.

e.g. If you're a cookie, look for glass of milk; if you're a stocking, look for hook, and so on.

Christmas Sayings and Songs Puzzle

Capital Area Council

Translate each statement into modern English. Each is a common Christmas saying or song.

1.       Move thitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

2.       Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

3.       Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness.

4.       An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere.

5.       Embellish the interior passageways.

6.       Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened.

7.       Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

8.       The Christmas preceding all others.

9.       Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

10.    Diminutive masculine master of skin covered percussionistic cylinders.

11.    Omnipotent Supreme Being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

12.    Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.

13.    Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.

14.    Expectation of arrival to populated area by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

15.    Natal Celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

16.    In awe of the nocturnal time span characterized by religiosity.

17.    Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature's dormancy.

18.    The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of Far Eastern heads of state.

19.    Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

20.    In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumber furniture.

21.    Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

22.    Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

Answers:

1.       Oh Come All Ye Faithful

2.        Hark the Herald, Angels Sing

3.        Silent Night 

4.       Joy To The World

5.       Deck the Halls

6.       Angels We Have Heard On High

7.        It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

8.        The First Noel

9.       Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

10.    Little Drummer Boy

11.     God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

12.     Peace On Earth

13.    Frosty The Snowman

14.    Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

15.    I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas

16.    Oh Holy Night

17.    Winter Wonderland

18.    We Three Kings Of Orient Are

19.    Jingle Bells

20.    Away In The Manger

21.     Go Tell It On The Mountain

22.    We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Gathering Snowballs

Capital Area Council

As the families gather, present each with a nametag, on which you have left room to write a number.  The set-up for this game is a table on which you have placed cotton balls (be sure to have quite a few).  You also need either wooden or good sized plastic spoons all the same size.  As players enter room have them see how many cotton balls they can gather in an allotted time (10 or 15 seconds) and write their total on their nametag.  Remember, with the spoon only; no hands allowed.  At the end of the game, award a small prize for the one who collected the most balls.

A Visit From Saint Nicholas

Capital Area Council

ü  Prepare sets of four cards. 

ü  On each card, write one of the first four lines of the famous Christmas poem:

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, Not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

ü  Suspend the cards with a string around the necks of all the players.

ü  On signal, everyone is to scramble about seeking the other three lines of the poem. 

ü  The first four to line up in the proper sequence are the winners.

How Many?

Capital Area Council

ü  Fill a clear container with red, green and white jellybeans and Holiday M&Ms, counting as you fill.

ü  Mix sizes and shapes for the most fun! 

ü  Everyone makes a guess on a slip a paper (be sure they include their first and last name) as to how many treats are in the jar. 

ü  The winner gets the container & candy.

What Am I

Capital 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.”

HOLIDAY TRIVIA

Baltimore Area Council

«  Have families at the December Pack meeting work on the answers as a team.

«  Use common holiday information about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

«  Ask some tough questions as well as easy questions.

«  Award points for each answer depending on hard the answer.

«  Highest team (den) total wins a jar of holiday candy.

CHRISTMAS HANDSHAKE

Baltimore Area Council

ü  Give each boy five Christmas cards or seals.

ü  On signal each boy introduces himself to five parents other than his own.

ü  Each time he must leave a card or seal with them. (Parents should not accept the card or seal until the introduction is complete and the boy can repeat their name.)

ü  The first den to finish assembles as a den and raises their hands in the Cub Scout sign or gives their den yell.