GAMES

Water Balloon Toss:
Sam Houston Area Council

Materials:  small round balloons, water hose, outdoor facility

• Pair up and hand each team a water balloon and stand them 3’ apart. 
• Have each team toss the balloon. 
• If successful, take one step back and toss again.
• If not successful, they are out for this round (but the upside is that they get to be wet).

From San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach  Area, Verdugo Hills Councils, There are on the market very tiny balloons known as water bombs. If you are going to use vast quantities, then these may be more economical to buy than regular balloons.

Super-soaker Relay:
Sam Houston Area Council

Each team has a water gun of equivalent power.  The fellow with the gun must squirt some distance (like 6 feet) into a glass held by a teammate.  The teammate will catch the water streams and then try to fill a bucket that is another 6 feet away, forming a triangle.  The water catcher can only catch water while standing in a certain spot that is away from both the water gun and the bucket, so he has to decide how often to transfer the water to the bucket.  Once a bucket reaches a certain height, the first team to that water height wins.

Ratsy Tail:
Sam Houston Area Council

Materials:  Enough 3’ long ropes for each boy in the den (shorter for younger boys), 100’ of rope

Use the 100’ long rope to make a circular boundary.  As the number of boys gets smaller, make the circle smaller.  Each boy is to tuck a 3’ rope into the back of his trousers, so that it touches the ground just enough for others to be able to step on it. 

Rules are that the boys cannot step outside of the rope, their hands and arms cannot touch their own rope tail, and they can only touch other people’s tails with their feet.  Once their tail comes off, they are out.

Simply stepping on a tail only makes it come off if the boy with the tail moves.  Watch how the boys figure out how best to keep their tails, while removing others. 

Leaders must be watchful to make sure that the boys are being safe.

For added fun, I think I would try this under a sprinkler on a hot, sunny day!! CD

Trail Chase
Baltimore Area Council

• Divide the group into two teams and determine which team will be the first to be the Hunted and which the Hunters.
• The Hunters hide their eyes while the second group take sticks and start to lay a devious trail marked every 25 paces with a small inverted V made with two sticks pointing the direction of the trail.
• The Hunted are given a 5-minute start in a wooded area or a 10-minute start in a park area to get out of sight.
• The Hunters then attempt to follow the trail, picking up the sticks as they proceed and trying to catch the Hunted before they can get back to the home area.
• Repeat the game with the former Hunters becoming the Hunted.

Balloon Hop Race
Baltimore Area Council

This game is a quick game for outside.

• Each player is given a round or long balloon to inflate and tie at the end of a 24” length of string.
• The other end of the string is tied to the players’ weak leg at the ankle (saving the stronger leg for hopping), leaving at least 12” of string between the ankle and the balloon.
• Players are lined up on a starting line, and, at the signal, hop to the finish line about 50 to 75 feet away (the longer the course the better).
• A broken balloon eliminates a contestant.
•  The first player across the finish line with balloon intact wins.
• A player may rest anywhere along the course by putting his balloon foot to the ground.
• Any contestant at that time may attempt to hop on another’s balloon to break it and eliminate that player.

Nature Scavenger Hunt
Baltimore Area Council

Have a list of nature items to be found or collected. Remember to be conservation minded and not destroy plants or trees.

Circle Stride Ball
Baltimore Area Council

• A circle is formed, foot against foot, with the feet of each player spread well apart.
• The player in the middle tries to throw a basketball or volleyball between the legs of the players in the circle.
• They must not move their feet to prevent this, but may stop the ball with their hands.
• Until the ball is thrown, the players must keep their hands on their knees.
• A player who breaks this rule is It.

All Across
Baltimore Area Council

• Goal lines are established on opposite sides of the play area.
• One player, who is It, stands in the center of the field and calls, ‘All Across”.
• All players must then run from one goal line to the other, while It tags as many as he can.
• Tagged players also become It.
• The game continues until the last player is caught.
• The first one caught becomes It the next time.

Explore a Tree
Baltimore Area Council

Blindfold the Cub Scouts, one at a time, and ask them to explore a tree.

• Ask them to think about how it feels, smells etc.
• Is the bark rough or smooth?
• Are the leaves damp or dry?
• What does it smell like?
• While one boy does this, the others observe, by sight, things about the tree such as color, height, etc.
• After all have explored let them compare the results.
• Help them identify the tree.

Slithering Snake
Baltimore Area Council

• Divide the Cub Scouts into two teams.
• Each team lies down on their stomachs, side by side, with the first player at the starting line.
• The other team members are packed tightly together.
• On signal, the last player rolls over the others until he is first.
• Then the player who is now last in line follows, and so forth,
• The Snake continues to “slither” until all members cross the finish line 20 feet away. (have boys wearing glasses remove them before playing).

Blindman Nature
Baltimore Area Council

• Blindfold the Cub Scouts and have a tray with about 10 items on it.
• Use natural items such as: pine cones, acorns, moss, shells, feathers, milkweed pod, or other things that are found in nature around the area where the Pack Meeting is held..
•  See how many items from Nature the Cub Scouts know.
• Have them feel each object and, after everyone has finished, try to identify each object.

Jump the River
Baltimore Area Council

• Two parallel lines are drawn to represent the river. They should be 12 inches apart.
• The players line up on one side and run in a group to jump across the river.
• Then, they turn around and come back across the river with a standing jump.
• Anyone who falls in the river by landing between the two lines is out of the game.
• A new line is drawn to make the river wider,
• The remaining players jump again.
• This continues until there is only one player, the winner, left.

Scout-Staff Treasure Hunt
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach  Area, Verdugo Hills Councils

A wide game that is popular in our Scouts is to distribute various items of a backpacking stove called a Trangia around our local village, on the Scout Leader’s doorstep, and the Exec's etc., and send the Scouts off on a kind of a treasure hunt, with the aim to make a cup of tea for the Scout Leader and the Assistant Scout Leader.

The hunt started with a note telling them where to find the next item of the Trangia stove, and then the next note was on the next item, etc. It also helped the Scouts to learn who their Exec. is, as the notes told them it was in the Secretary's garden, and it helped immensely if they knew who the secretary was...

Trangia: Swedish outdoor cooker, I'm not at all sure if it's known at all in the US, but it is very popular over here. It's light weight, and uses methane to run, but Butane attachments are available now. Mine splits up into several pieces, and so was ideal for this exercise.  You could use any piece of Scouting gear that can easily be disassembled and reassembled.

Men and Snakes:
Sam Houston Area Council

Give each Scout 3 large craft sticks (tongue depressors). 

Using colored markers, have them make a simple "snake" on two of the sticks
(a continuous zig-zag with a dot at one end for the eye). 

On the other stick, make a simple "man"
(a series of dots up the center, with a double set of dots perpendicular to the first about 1/3 down to denote arms).

To play, hold all three stick in both hands and toss them in the air. To score:

Scout-Staff Treasure Hunt
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach  Area, Verdugo Hills Councils

A wide game that is popular in our Scouts is to distribute various items of a backpacking stove called a Trangia around our local village, on the Scout Leader’s doorstep, and the Exec's etc., and send the Scouts off on a kind of a treasure hunt, with the aim to make a cup of tea for the Scout Leader and the Assistant Scout Leader.

The hunt started with a note telling them where to find the next item of the Trangia stove, and then the next note was on the next item, etc. It also helped the Scouts to learn who their Exec. is, as the notes told them it was in the Secretary's garden, and it helped immensely if they knew who the secretary was...

Trangia: Swedish outdoor cooker, I'm not at all sure if it's known at all in the US, but it is very popular over here. It's light weight, and uses methane to run, but Butane attachments are available now. Mine splits up into several pieces, and so was ideal for this exercise.  You could use any piece of Scouting gear that can easily be disassembled and reassembled.

Scout Hunting
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach  Area, Verdugo Hills Councils

One Scout is given time to go out and hide himself. The remainder then start to find him. The object of the hidden Scout is to got back to the starting-place as soon as he can without being caught. The seekers advance from the starting-place in a circle, gradually expanding outward so the further the Scout goes from home to hide himself, the further apart the seekers will be when they reach his hiding-place, but he will then have a longer distance to go to reach home again. 

Squirrel In The Tree
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach  Area, Verdugo Hills Councils

Equipment: None

Formation: Small circles of 3-4 boys

• Form small circles of three or four Cubs. 
• They hold hands to form 'trees with hollow trunks'. 
• A Cub representing a squirrel stands in each tree.
• Have one more squirrel than there are trees. 
• On signal, the squirrels must change trees. 
• The one left out becomes 'it' for the next game.

SPONGE RELAY RACE
Circle Ten Council

You'll need 2 sponges, 2 buckets, 2 bowls and water.  Have boys line up in two teams and the boys at the front of each row hold a bucket of water with the sponges in it and the boys at the end of each row hold a bowl.  The first boy takes a wet sponge out of the bucket and hand it to the next boy and so on till it reaches the last boy in his row who squeezes the water out of the sponge and into bowl.  He then races it back to the front and puts it back into the bucket starts over again.  Play continues until the water is gone or a certain time is up.  The team, who has the most water in the bowl at the end, wins the game.

Fish Gobbler
Santa Clara County Council

This is a fun game for active children.  You will need a big area where all the children can spread out.  When the caller (known as the Fish Gobbler) shouts, “Ship,” all the children run towards the wall to which he points.  On the shout “Shore,” they quickly change directions and run toward the opposite wall.  On the signal “Fish Gobbler,” the kids quickly drop to the floor on their stomachs and like arms, legs, or bodies together with one or more friends.  The Fish Gobbler moves around the room with arms outstretched like a big bird swimming toward the other players not touching them.  The children are all “safe” as long as they are all physically linked together.  Once the Fish Gobbler sees that everyone is linked to someone else, the signal “Rescue” is called.  At this moment all the children jump to their feet, joining hands, and yell “Yah,” raising their joined hands over their heads.  The game ends when the children are ready to move on to another game. Other calls could be added, such as “Sardines” (everyone runs to a central point to make the tightest group possible by either lying on the floor or forming a giant standing hug); “Fishermen All” (everyone sits on someone else’s knee or knees).

This game can be adopted for playing in a swimming pool.  Instead of running to the wall, they can swim to the wall, and join hands and legs while trying to float on the water.

Beachless Beach Party
Longhorn Council

You may want to combine this with a Raingutter Regatta and/or family picnic.

PREPARATION:

You should have two or more beaches, depending on the size of your group. For the pack meeting, each den can have a beach--part of the decorations can be done at the den meetings. If this beach party is for the den only, each family can have a beach, or combine families. Name the beaches like Palm Beach, Santa Cruz Beach, Waikiki Beach, etc.

Have each den decorate its beach – they should use their imaginations. They could choose a theme for their beach, such as palm leaves for Palm Beach. Arrange some chairs, umbrellas. If the meeting is held outside, add benches and picnic tables.

At your planning meeting have dens and leaders and whoever wants) pick games to run on the day of the event.  Some ideas for games for your Beachless Beach Party are -

Swimming Race: One player from each beach. Each player should have before him a deep pie pan filled to the brim with water, with four or five Lifesavers at the bottom. He must get these candy pieces out with his mouth. His hands must be behind him.

High Dive: One player from each beach. Each is provided with a pitcher of water. On the floor at their feet is an empty tumbler. The player has to stand and try to fill the tumbler. The player who gets the most water into the tumbler wins. In case of a tie, time is taken into consideration.

A Clam Dig: This is a team game. A box of sand will be necessary. Hide 10 small clam (or other) shells or peanuts in the sand for each team. Give each team a spoon and a bowl. Give a signal to go, first player runs across the room to the sand pile, digs out one clam (or peanut), puts it in his team’s bowl, and returns. Next player does the same.  Keep going until all ten are found.

Sailboat Race: Stretch as many strings across the room as you have teams. On each string, place a paper cone. Each player is a to blow his boat from one end of the string to the other end. He then pushes the cone back with his hand to the starting point for the next player. The game proceeds in a relay fashion.

Snorkel Race: You will need a pair of old swimming flippers for each team. If you can’t find them, use pairs of large size shoes and limit the race to children. Set a turning point at a short distance for each team. Run the course in a relay fashion.

Backyard Water Frolic: Have a den backyard water day. Include parents and siblings. Make sure children bring swimsuits or changes of clothes, and towels. Set up one area in the backyard for a water war, one for sprinklers and hoses, and one for a water slide. For the water war, you’ll need squirt guns, basters, squirt bottles, plastic pails, and sponges. Set up the hose and sprinkler in another area. If possible, poke holes in an old garden hose so there’s lots of spray to run through. Make a slippery water slide by cutting several large plastic garbage bags open to form long rectangles and taping them together with waterproof tape. Place the “slide” on the lawn, preferably on a gentle incline. Set a hose at one end to create a rush of water. Let the kids start off with a water war. Divide them into teams. At the signal “Go!” they can squirt the water guns, throw the sponges, or even haul around the pails full of water to get their opponents soaking wet. Include parents--Children will love soaking adults. (Of course you soak them too.) Caution children to avoid squirting in the face. Let the kids give the water slide a try. To prevent long lines at the slide, divide the kids into teams and have one team play in the sprinkler and the other on the slide. Switch after a time. For a snack, serve watermelon. Can they guess how many seeds are in it? Have a watermelon seed spitting contest--see who can spit the furthest or most accurately. By the end of snack, kids will be sticky--they can run through the sprinkler again.

Colors
Longhorn Council

Determine the boundaries. Begin at one end, where the player who is “It” stands. The safe zone is at the other end. “It” stands facing away from the water, on the shore. The other players stand in the water or tread water in a line close to “It.” Each of the players in the water thinks of a color and whispers it to a neighbor who is on the honor system and keeps it secret. Don’t let “It” hear the color. “It” starts by calling out colors: “Red, blue, turquoise...” Those in the water listen for their colors, and when they hear theirs, they have to swim quickly out to the safe zone. As soon as “It” hears someone move in the water, he turns around, jumps in and tries to catch the fleeing player or players. If a player is caught before reaching the safe zone, that player becomes “It.” Instead of colors, try cars, baseball teams, animals, etc.

T-Shirt Relay
Longhorn Council

Divide the group into two teams. Have a large T-shirt for each team. Each team member must put on the shirt before swimming his lap in a relay race. It doesn’t matter if the shirt is on inside out.

Gold Rush
Longhorn Council

Scatter pennies or iron washers painted gold in water between knee and waist depth. On signal, players try to get as many “gold nuggets” as they can within a specified time.

Touch
Longhorn Council

Divide group into two equal teams and line them up in parallel lines about 6' apart. The leader calls out the name of an object that is the same distance from both teams--a ball, diving board, edge of the pool, etc. In a relay fashion, all players swim or run to touch the object and return to their places. First team back gets one point.

Frogs In The Sea
Longhorn Council

This is a good game that can be played at a den meeting or in shallow water. Players form a circle around one or more players who sit with their feet crossed. The players in the circle skip (if on land) or walk (if in water) close to the frogs and try to tap them on the head as they repeat the words, “Frog in the sea can’t catch me.” The frogs try to tag the players without rising or uncrossing their feet. If a player is tagged, he changes places with the frog that tagged him.

“Fifty Yard” Swim
Longhorn Council

Each boy hops on one foot carrying a paper cup of water. First one over the finish line with the most water in his cup wins.  Use a distance that fits your Den.

Bailing Out The Ship
Longhorn Council

Divide den into two teams. Each team has a container of water at the starting line, one spoon, and an empty cup. The cup has a line marked about 1" from the bottom. Place it about 20 feet away. Each player takes turns carrying a spoonful of water from the team’s container to its cup. The first team that can fill their cup to the line is the winner.

Water Balloon Bounce
Longhorn Council

You will need a tarp, sheet or blanket for each team, or teams can take turns. Players hold the tarp at the edges. 3 water balloons are placed in the center of the tarp. By quickly snapping the edges of the tarp outward the balloons are tossed into the air. A point is scored each time the balloons are successfully tossed and re-caught. Balloons must go up at least 8 feet in order to score a point. The game ends when a balloon breaks or is dropped. The team that makes the greatest number of successful tosses is the winner.

Sink The Boat
Longhorn Council

Provide a bucket filled with water and float a small pie plate on it. Have boys stand back about 5 feet and give them 5 small balls made of aluminum foil. (Foil is easy to retrieve because it floats.) Boys take turns throwing 5 balls. Give points for each ball that lands in the pie plate and stays there when thrown from the starting line.

Boat Race
Longhorn Council

With a stick for each team, relay teams push an object around two markers and back home. The harder the object is to control, the better. Use spoons, balls, balloons, or lemons or potatoes (they don’t roll straight). As a variation, pretend you are the wind and blow the boat around the course.