AUDIENCE PARTICIPATIONS

Tree Quiz Contest:
Sam Houston Area Council

Call out these questions in front of the group and have fun with the answers.

What tree is the opposite of me?                           (yew)

What is a double tree?                                         (pear)

What tree is nearest to the ocean?                        (beech)

What is the calendar tree?                                    (date)

What is the Egyptian plague tree?                       (locust)

What tree do we offer friends when you meet them on the street?          (palm)

What tree is used in kissing?                               (tulip)

What tree is used in a bottle?                               (cork)

What tree is still there, even after you burn it up?     (ash)

What tree is longing to see you?                           (pine)

What tree probably tastes really bad?                   (yucca)

What tree keeps mammals warm?                            (fir)

What tree do you have two of on your bed?          (tupelo)

What tree do you chew?                  (gum, or sweet gum)

 

May Daze:
Heart of America Council

Think of a word that rhymes with “ May” for each line of this poem.

The first is something that a horse eats.

To do the second, stay out of the street.

The third we do the last thing at night.

The fourth is a mixture of black and white.

The next is something that rides on the snow.

The sixth is were we sometimes go.

The seventh you get for work you have done.

The eight is something that comes from the sun .

The ninth is the noise a donkey makes.

The tenth is used to carry cakes.

The 11th is turned on a potter’s wheel.

The 12th is the opposite of night.

Answers: 1) Hay, 2) Play, 3) Pray, 4) Gray, 5) Sleigh, 6) Away, 7)Pay, 8) Ray, 9) Bray, 10)Tray, 11)Clay, 12) Day.

 

Planting A Garden
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach Area, Verdugo Hills Councils

Divide the audience into four parts.  Assign each part a word and a response.  Tell them that when you say their word they are to respond as indicated.  Practice as you make assignments.

Gardener (with thumbs pointed up)  “With a green thumb”

Cucumber “Cool Man”

Onions (wipes tears from eyes) “Boo Hoo Boo Hoo”

Tomato whistles a wolf whistle

One day out GARDENER went out to plant his garden.  The GARDENER chose to plant his plot with many vegetables including CUCUMBERS, TOMATOES, and ONIONS.  The GARDENER took some seeds and planted first a row of CUCUMBERS, then a row of ONIONS, then a row of TOMATOES.

The GARDENER then stood back to watch his garden grow.  Soon the CUCUMBERS, ONIONS, and TOMATOES had sprouted.  The CUCUMBERS fell in love with the TOMATOES but the ONIONS stood between them.  It looked as though this budding romance would never be, because the CUCUMBER were in one row and the TOMATOES were in another and the ONIONS were coming up between the two.  The CUCUMBERS grew to be big and tall, and the TOMATOES grew to be plump and sweet, but the ONIONS still separated them.

Alas all is not lost, one day, later in the season, our GARDENER went out to his garden and picked the TOMATOES,CUCUMBERS and ONIONS and the GARDENER made a great salad.  In this salad he placed the CUCUMBERS, the TOMATOES, and the ONIONS.  His beloved TOMATOES at last placed the CUCUMBER, while the ONION had to stand aside.  That is, until the GARDENER ate his salad.

 

The Sower
Heart of America Council

Needs: You will need a fairly straight branch, about 10 to 12 inches long, with a clump of small leaves at the end.

If you can't find one outside, you might find an artificial branch at a store that sells artificial flowers.  Remove

all leaves except the small clump at the end). You should be able to "palm" this clump of leaves in your hand. Keep them palmed until the surprise at the end of the play. Now you are ready to begin .

“ A sower went out to sow his seed.”

Holding branch upright with the leaves hidden in your palm, "walk" the stick along. Stop. Look down,

raise stick up, nod yes, and with a "casting" movement "sow the seed." Lower stick to your side, keeping leaves carefully palmed.

“ And some of the seed fell upon the path.”

Hold up free hand, palm up , to represent the path.

“ And birds came flying down and picked up the seed before it had a chance to grow.”

Bring up stick and "flutter" it through the air, swoop it down to pick at the "seeds" in your palm. Lower stick to your side.

“ And some of the seed fell among the rocks.”

Make a fist of your free hand and slowly push stick up through fist.

“ Bu t because there was no moisture, the plant died.”

Move stick to a horizontal position and then lower it to your side.

“ And some of the seed fell among the weeds and the thorns. And it began to grow, but they choked the plant and the plant died.”

Hold up free hand with fingers curled. Push stick up through curled fingers. Squeeze fingers around stick and move stick to horizontal position. Lower stick to side.

“ But some of the seed fell on good ground and grew up with leaves and flowers and fruit into a healthy plant.”

Bring up free hand and gesture out to audience with a sweeping motion while your lowered hand is switching the stick so that when you bring up your hand, the stick will be protruding from the bottom of your fist. As you bring your lowered hand up, bring your free hand down to grasp the stick and push it up to reveal the clump of leaves you had palmed.

It's a neat surprise ending to the parable. It will always amaze the children, and after a lot of practice you will also be able to amaze some adults. By itself, the stick is just a stick. When you walk it, it becomes the sower. When you fly it, it becomes a bird. When you push it up through the rocks and weeds, it becomes a plant. Meaningful movement is most important to create the illusion of life.

 

A Lesson for the Big Bugs
York Adams Council

Divide the audience into four parts.  Assign each part a word and a response.  Tell them that when you say their word they are to respond as indicated.  Practice as you make assignments.

Bees -                         Buzz-Buzz
Ants -                         Hup-2-3-4
Mosquitoes -               Bite-e-Bite
Frog -                      Croak-Croak
Woods -         All sounds together

This is a story about Bill and his family and their adventure in the Woods.  One fine spring day, Billy's family decided to go for a picnic in the Woods, where they could enjoy the outdoors.  They packed a nice picnic basket and headed out on their walk.

As soon as they got to where they were going, they found a nice place to set up their picnic.  Billy and his brother went to the stream where they looked at a Frog.  They heard some Bees over by the wild flowers, and watched some Ants walking on ground.  Being close to the water, they were also being bothered by some Mosquitoes.

When they went back to the picnic area, they told their parents about the Woods.  How they saw a Frog and how the Mosquitoes were bothering them.  They said that the Bees didn't bother them and that the Ants were really hard workers.  Dad listened closely as he as he unwrapped another sandwich and carelessly threw his paper off to the side.  Billy's little sister had just finished a soda and dropped the can by a tree.  Mom threw her paper napkin on the ground and jumped up in disgust.  "That is it!" she said.  "I think the Ants are taking over the picnic."

Dad stretched out for a nap and had just dozed off when Billy's sister started to scream.  She had been stung by a Bee.  While Mom took care of her, Dad tried to go back to sleep.  But he couldn't because the Mosquitoes were pestering him.  Finally he decided that they had better go home.

Billy protested.  "Why do we have to go?"  "Well, Billy," Dad replied, we don't seem to be wanted here in the Woods.  We sure haven't been treated very well.  The Mosquitoes are eating me alive.  The Ants took over the picnic.  And a Bee stung your sister."

Well," said Billy, "maybe the Woods are trying to tell us something and the Mosquitoes, and the Ants, and the Bees are trying to tell us something.."  "What is that?" asked Dad.  "Well," said Billy, "just look around us and you'll see we haven't been very nice visitors to the Woods.  Look at all the trash we've thrown around.  Seems to me we're the worst bugs of all—litterbugs!"

So the family started cleaning up the mess they'd made and afterwards they felt better.  They took a nice walk through the Wood, listening to the sounds.  They actually enjoyed the buzzing of the Bees, the croaking of the Frogs, and the Ants at work.

When they returned home, they were tired, but happy they had learned an important lesson that day.  The worst kind of bug is a litterbug!

 

The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Baltimore Area Council

Divide the audience into four parts.  Assign each part a word and a response.  Tell them that when you say their word they are to respond as indicated.  Practice as you make assignments.

SPIDER:  Eeek! 
RAIN:  (Drum fingers like rain)
SPOUT:  Woosh!           
WASH: Glub, glub
SUN:  Whew!    
JUMPING JACKS:  (Do arm motion) Puff, puff
CLIMB:  (Make climbing motion) Ugh, ugh!

You’ve all the song about the Itsy Bitsy SPIDER going up the water SPOUT, right? Well, tonight we are going to hear the Itsy Bitsy SPIDER’s side of the story.

The Itsy Bitsy SPIDER was sitting at the bottom of the water SPOUT again. The SPIDER was thinking, “One more time. I, the Itsy Bitsy SPIDER, will climb up this water SPOUT and if the RAIN comes down and WASHes me out again, this Itsy Bitsy SPIDER is out of here! How does it look? A SPIDER of my reputation water sliding down water SPOUTs! Why the last SPIDER they caught doing this is now wearing an eight-armed straight jacket!”

He thought a little more, “Actually, I don’t really know why any self-respecting SPIDER would CLIMB up that SPOUT anyway. The view isn’t really that good. And it’s not for the exercise. I get enough of a work out just doing my daily JUMPING JACKS. Of course, every third JUMPING JACKS I have to stop and untangle my arms!”

Now the Itsy Bitsy SPIDER didn’t give up. I guess I’d have to say that this Itsy Bitsy SPIDER wanted to CLIMB up that water SPOUT just for the mere challenge of it. “I’ll give it one more try, he said, “You see, I know I’m going to be the first Itsy Bitsy SPIDER to CLIMB this water SPOUT someday!”

The SUN came out and it dried up all the RAIN. “All I need is a little perseverance, a little determination and lot more dependable weather reports,” thought the Itsy Bitsy SPIDER. Then, he took off, CLIMBing up the SPOUT again. One small step for SPIDERs, one giant leap for arachnids. Drats, is that another RAIN cloud again? Oh, NO! The Itsy Bitsy SPIDER is down the SPOUT again!

Is this Itsy Bitsy SPIDER a quitter? No! The SUN is out again. This SPIDER is making his big move. The SPIDER is CLIMBing to victory! This SPIDER is reaching for new heights, and not looking back! Just then, another RAIN storm came along and WASHed the SPIDER out! This SPIDER should move to a drier climate!

Now our SPIDER didn’t give up. He picked himself up and said, “All right! This is it! NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! This time I’m going all the way to the top of this water SPOUT! The RAIN won’t WASH me out. I don’t care if the SUN is blazing! This time there’ll be no stopping me! This time ... I’m taking an ELEVATOR!

 

Day Hike In The Woods
Heart of America Council

Divide the audience into six parts.  Assign each part a word and a response.  Tell them that when you say their word they are to respond as indicated.  Practice as you make assignments.

SPARROW “ Chirp, chirp”         
SNAKE “ S-s-s-s-s-s”
RABBIT “Hip-it-ti-hop”        
SQUIRREL “I love nuts”
TREES “Leafy, leafy” 
CUB SCOUTS “ Boys are boys”

A flock of SPARROWS swooped into the woods. Their chirping quickly caught the attention of the animals in the forest. The SNAKE, RABBIT, and SQUIRREL gathered around to hear the news. “It’s terrible,” said one SPARROW, “that Pack of CUB SCOUTS that came last year is coming to spend the day in the forest again. “Oh , no!” sighed the trees, “ last time they came we lost our branches and leaves. Kites and Frisbees got tangled in our branches and two of them built a fire that scorched a TREE before the leaders got it out!” The RABBIT’S ears froze in place when he heard the words CUB SCOUTS. “I had to run for my life, they chased me until I was about to pass out. I will have to stay in my den all day tomorrow.” The SQUIRREL trembled, “ They were throwing things at me so much that one of them got hit with a rock. They trampled and ruined all the acorns too, this is terrible news.” The SNAKE said, “I’m going to get out of here. I saw them stuff my brother in a pocket and we never saw my cousin ever again, either. I miss them so much. I was hiding but one stepped on the bark I was under and nearly squashed me. Why , do they have to come here? “ They picked all the wild flowers by the big rock and now there aren’t any there anymore,” said the RABBIT. “ They are coming tomorrow,” chirped the SPARROWS. “Everyone beware!”

The next day dawned clear and warm and the CUB SCOUTS and their parents and leaders arrived. The TREES rustled, the RABBIT trembled, the SNAKE hid , and the SQUIRREL jumped to the highest branch and lay there as quiet as he could. Then they all saw an amazing thing. The CUB SCOUTS started picking up all the trash and putting it in big picnic bags. Then they got out food, ate and hiked down to the creek where they waded until their feet were blue. Someone spotted the SQUIRREL, they pointed at him, told the boys what he ate, and some of the CUB SCOUTS gathered a pile of acorns and left it under the tree! The SNAKE was hiding beside her favorite log. She looked pretty much like one of the old branches, but one of the sharp eyed CUB SCOUTS spotted her. They caught her, looked her over carefully and then put her back down by the log. The SNAKE couldn’t believe that she was free. That evening the SPARROWS returned to see how the day had gone. They couldn’t believe what a difference the meadow looked with all the trash gone. T he RABBIT told them, “The CUB SCOUTS picked up all the trash, and left some apple cores and sandwich edges behind, which were delicious. The TREES and animals were glad the CUB SCOUTS had come.