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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_game
Anti-Gravity Tent Pole Activity
A Favorite Activity
Required:
one long tent pole (or broomstick)
Divide team in half.
Have each half line up facing the other half about 2 feet apart so everyone is across from
someone else.
Have everyone hold their hands out with index fingers extended like pretending to shoot a gun -
have arms bent at elbows.
Lay the tent pole on top of everyone's index fingers so they are supporting it.
Tell the team that the challenge of the activity is to lower the pole to the ground, following 3
rules:
1. 0nly index fingers can touch the pole.
2. Everyone's index fingers must touch the pole at all times.
3. fingers must remain extended, no grabbing or holding the stick
Required:
candle and squirtgun for each scout (or at least 4 candles and guns)
a lighter
water supply
Position duelists about 10-15 feet apart, depending on the range of squirtguns.
Stand a candle on the ground by each duelist and light it.
On "Ready - Aim - Fire!", each scout shoots at his opponent's candle one time. Repeat until the first to
extinguish the candle is the winner.
You can have a competition within each patrol to determine the patrol champion and then have them
represent their patrol in a troop championship.
You can have duel winners advance to determine the troop champion in a single-elimination
tournament.
You can have each patrol duel every other patrol once and keep track of overall win-lose record to
determine the champion patrol. A different scout in the patrol gets to do each duel so everyone gets a
try.
Evolution Activity
A Favorite Activity
This is just a fun tournament of the Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
All scouts start out as an Egg and try to evolve into a Butterfly by winning games.
Eggs crawl on their knees.
Larva crouch down and wriggle as they walk.
Pupa stand up, but must hop with their feet together.
Butterflies raise their arms up and down.
To play, you find another player at your same level and challenge him.
If you win, you move up a level and he moves down a level. If you tie, you stay the same level
and look for someone else to play against.
Over time, some scouts will evolve all the way to Butterflies. If a Butterfly beats another
butterfly, the winner has completely evolved and moves to the side of the playing area.
Eventually, there should be one scout left at each level and the rest are evolved. It usually works
best to call 'TIME!' when about half the players are out so they don't get bored just watching. Or,
you can allow butterflies to continue playing and drop back to pupa if they lose.
If eggs to butterflies is too tame, you could use any sequence of things to evolve. We once used
worm, chicken, fox, Elvis, Zeus - they had nothing in common, but the actions were fun
Uncle Zeb's Lost Treasure Activity
A Favorite Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts, Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
Staff or big stick that the leader can post in the ground.
bag of candy or reward for each patrol.
compass for each patrol.
6 to 10 3x5 cards for each patrol, all the same color for each patrol.
a map of your area makes the set up easier.
Notes:
At the starting location, tell the scouts that you found a dusty old diary belonging to your old uncle Zeb
who was a (Indian, Pirate, Spaniard, Prospector, Mountain Man, ...) The diary said that somewhere out in
this wilderness, old Zeb had hidden his treasure to keep it safe from thieves. But, sadly, old Zeb died
without retrieving his riches nor telling anyone where the treasure was hidden.
But, luckily, you found these clues inside a false back cover of the diary and, being the generous sort, are
willing to split the treasure 50-50 with whoever finds it.
Ask the scouts if any of them are interested in doing business with you. After they break out in ear-
splitting roars of approval, have them break into patrols and ask all patrol leaders to come forward.
Hand each patrol leader a compass and folded clue card.
The card should say:
Follow this bearing ___________ from the starting stake to the next clue. All your clues are the same
color as this card - do not touch any other colored clues. Bring every card back with you or you will
forfeit your cut of the treasure. And, bring every member of your team back or you forfeit. GO!
The first patrol back with all their members, all their clues, and their treasure should split their treasure
with you and you should have something more significant to add to the pot for them. All other patrols
can just keep their treasure.
--------------
Set up can take about 10 minutes for each team course.
The idea is to have all patrols start from a single spot and wind up at a treasure location. The setup
requires placing compass bearing clues at stops along the path. It works much better when setting up to
work backward from the final location to the start.
Set up for the Red Team: Place a reward at a location well away from where you will start the race. With
the reward, place a red card that says Bring this treasure back to Uncle Zeb's nephew as fast as you can.
From this last spot, locate a tree, rock, ... between 50 and 100 yards away. Walk to that landmark and
take a reading back from where you came. Write this on a red card and leave it at the landmark where it
can be found. If you have a map of the area, draw a red line between the two points.
Repeat this process zig-zagging all over the area until you have one red card left and you are no more
than 100 yards from the starting spot. Go to the starting spot and post your staff or stick in the ground -
all teams will start from this exact spot. Take a bearing to the first landmark. Write the bearing on the
last red card - this will be the first card for the Red Team.
Repeating this for each patrol will result in many courses starting at one point and winding up at
different treasure locations. Try to make the paths cross, but not have landmarks near each other to
prevent tampering.
Webelos Puzzles Activity
A Favorite Activity
This Activity is meant for Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Here is a page of miscellaneous puzzles and worksheets for Webelos den meetings and to fill gathering
times.
Z U M Y N Q S R M K Y O H R Z TRUSTWORTHY
R T C J H E M H X L L E I N T LOYAL
F J F H A T Y Z D N L C A R H HELPFUL
M K J W E V R N L P K E K E T FRIENDLY
G E H R D E E O F A L T B V S COURTEOUS
F K V R G I R U W C Y U K E U KIND
B X P U R K L F J T T O S R O OBEDIENT
U Y T F I R H T U I S X L E E CHEERFUL
O B E D I E N T E L N U Y N T THRIFTY
J K I N D V D I V S F R R T R BRAVE
Q K S S B K X L A F Y P D T U CLEAN
N E P J K C M X R J Q Y V B O REVERENT
L D P X T T J F B H Y P J L C
W X K T H C R N L N A X E Q X
B L T Z P T I W F G D D U R T
SPORTSMAN
F S D N Y Y F V N U A R I O S O X J J M H Y N
SHOWMAN T H H E P L C C D F W T M P I G F T G B F V A
SCIENTIST K P Y Z J Q D E N N E R O P O A T R D V J D M
AQUANAUT A J G B X C T F Y Z X R T U M N W Q U C N W Y
V A P D N E Q A N B T H T I A M T D C H C Q D
ARTIST U I Q H L Y P R Q S S D L Q T N J O T R V H N
ATHLETE J S F H R M V F M X O Y U S I N M W A Q D M A
CITIZEN J R T A O H W A P O M A I O A P D F O M V O H
C A O S T Q N B R E N T P M A L T Y L C A J Y
COMMUNICATOR Q W V V A K M S M A R S W S L S F D L T Y W W
COMPASS EMBLEM V N S Q C B M B U A S O S U M J I Q H U N W X
COMPASS POINT G P F N I A E T P A H E E A C H T Z F S A T X
CRAFTSMAN T X X I N R C F P S M F N W E X N S O K T T L
Q D H A U P G M E B U D G G R I E C R G U O R
ENGINEER Z N X Z M N O S L A T M I L E C S I E U R L A
FAMILY MEMBER J I Q P M C C E R E T P N M A B S E S N A I L
FITNESS J E U A O K M L I K C U E Z D P K N T M L O O
I E N M C O N N N N Z T E O Y Q C T E F I A H
FORESTER D I I C I T I Z E N C O R D M T R I R T S F C
GEOLOGIST D C V B R O S Y K H V X D P A T A S J M T P S
HANDYMAN B O C T R A V E L E R I I S N C H T R A I I W
B U Q D V V K B M T J P Z T S I G O L O E G E
NATURALIST
OUTDOORSMAN
READYMAN
SCHOLAR
TRAVELER
Brain Bender - Water Jugs Activity
A Favorite Activity
Required:
Easier: You have 3 full jugs that hold 1, 3, and 5 gallons of water.
Task 1: Give me a container holding exactly 2 gallons of water.
Task 2: Give me a container holding exactly 4 gallons of water.
More Difficult: You have 3 full jugs that hold 3, 5, and 8 gallons of water.
Task 1: Give me a container holding exactly 4 gallons of water.
Task 2: Give me a container holding exactly, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 gallons - can you figure out how to solve
each one?
Notes:
Also known as 'Spoons'. This is more of a trick that the group tries to figure out rather than an activity.
As the leader, tell how you have studied chaos and the meaning of the cosmos and have concluded that
all random events have meaning.
As an example, take a few sticks and drop them on the ground in front of you. Study the sticks and then
ask the scouts if they can tell you what number the sticks represent. After a few guesses, announce the
number.
Repeat this a few times, and some in the group may figure it out. If they do, allow them to drop the
sticks and you guess the number.
The Trick: When you drop the sticks, you place your hands on your knees or on the ground in front of
you. The number represented by the sticks is actually the number of fingers you have pointing out.
You can make the placing of your hands more and more obvious until someone gets it if your goal is to
teach the solution. Otherwise, just have fun with it.
Marshmallow Kick, Throw, and Blow
Activity
A Favorite Activity
Required:
3 large marshmallows per scout
Notes:
Set up the kicking, throwing, and blowing stations separately so groups can rotate through them
with minimized waiting.
Kick: Each scout stands at the kicking line and kicks one of his marshmallows as far as he can.
His distance is measured and tallied. You might have a rule that a scout can have a second
attempt if it is missed or goes less than 1 foot.
Throw: Each scout stands at the throwing line and throws one of his marshmallows as far as he
can. His distance is measured and tallied.
Blow: Each scout stands at the blowing line and puts a marshmallow in his mouth. He blows it as
far as he can. His distance is measured and tallied.
The winner is the one with the farthest combined distances. Or, do as a patrol competition and
add up the Kick, Throw and Blow scores for each patrol member. Divide by number of patrol
members to reach an average. Patrol with the highest score wins.
Use powered insulators to shield astronauts from the acidic surface. If an astronaut touches Mars'
surface, he will disintegrate. (The group must start over.)
The insulators are powered through contact sensitive switches embedded in the material of the
astronauts' suits. If no one is touching an insulator, it will immediately lose power, which causes
it to lose its insulating ability and disintegrate. (It is removed from the game by the leader.)
Arm Wrestle Co-op Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
Have all participants choose a partner. Tell them to choose someone about their own size if possible.
Once all partners are chosen, tell them that we are having an arm wrestling contest on the floor.
Have each pair lie down facing each other and lock fingers of their left hands on the ground, then grasp
right hands in the air with their elbows on the ground so they can arm wrestle.
If partners are close in strength, they may work very hard for each candy. If one is overpowering, he will
easily win each time, but he will still have to work for it.
Pairs that think about it may just take turns winning and putting up no fight so they split the candy with
no effort.
Reflect at the end to see if anyone worked as a team rather than against each other.
Required:
Notes:
A member from each team needs to get across a foul pit teaming with starved alligators.
Get a mascot for each team - for example a stuffed panther or plastic alligator.
Either deliver these mascots to various adult leader homes or bring them to the event. When the
event starts, each team is either given their mascot or the address of where they can pick up their
mascot.
Explain that each team will take their mascot on a joy-ride around the community, accumulating
points by having it participate in fun activities. Each activity needs to be recorded for lasting
memories (and awarding points).
Hand out a list of activities that their mascot would love to take part in:
Drink pop at McDonald's
Swing at a playground
Have each activity worth some number of points, either randomly assigned without the players
knowing until the event is finished, or set and published beforehand.
When teams return, have impartial judges review their photos or video, award points, and then
determine a winner.
Rules:
1. Can not throw balls.
2. Can not take a ball from another player.
3. Can not guard your circle.
Give 2 minutes for each team to strategize before trying the game again.
The only way to win is to have all the balls in the center and then put every team's circle on top
of the circle that is there.
Reflect:
When did you discover that it was not possible for only one team to win?
What did you do when you figured that out?
Do you think people tend to be more competitive or cooperative?
How can we apply the concept learned from this activity to other activities we do?
lots of balloons
Objective: Support one of your team off the ground resting only on inflated balloons.
Could give out points for first team done or give points for each successful team.
Required:
Preparation:
Notes:
Takes effort to get the materials together and cleaned up, but good planning, problem-solving, plan
modification, and teamwork activity. Builds team unity.
Objective: Get your entire team across the toxic sludge river using only materials from the pile that you
have purchased.
Tell everyone that they will bid on materials and then use what they win to complete their goal.
Describe each item from the materials pile and any special characteristic about it. For example, maybe
paper plates get washed away if no foot is holding it down, or a 2x4 sinks if more than 5 scouts are on it -
or keep it simple with no extras if you prefer.
Give teams about 3-5 minutes to come up with a plan on how they will cross the sludge and what
materials they will need to buy.
Bid: Auction off each item (or group of items), accept bids from the teams until one team wins the bid.
Exchange their money for the item. Continue until all items are sold or all teams have what they want.
Barter: Give up to 5 minutes for teams to trade with each other for items they still need.
Build: Using the materials they have, all teams approach the marked off river and get everyone across.
No one on a team can touch the river or they start over.
Reflect:
How did your team reach a plan?
Did everyone agree with and like the plan?
How were disagreements handled?
Who led the planning?
Who led the bidding?
Who led the building?
Did you have the materials for your original plan or did you need to modify it?
Your bomb squad must deposit the bomb safely inside the bomb disposal unit so it can be
detonated.
Each scout secretly chooses someone else that will be the Bomb and another scout that will be the
Shield.
On 'Go' signal, every player attempts to move so that his Shield is between himself and his Bomb.
Since everyone has chosen different Bombs and Shields, everyone is constantly moving and no one ever
'wins'.
Ask why it was so difficult to keep the shield in place. Is it possible to have a group succeed when
everyone has their own personal goals rather than a goal for the group?
Required:
10 foot rope
Rules:
Can only tap balloons - no grabbing or holding.
Pretty simple activity with potential to have team members cooperate and plan a system. But,
with balloons, its mostly just fun.
Have each team decide on a song to play on their balloons. Sound can be made by twisting, squeeking,
letting air out, ...
Maybe award extra bonus points for teams that also sing their song.
Required:
Notes:
When all rafts are launched and leader gives 'GO' signal, all scouts throw rocks at every raft
except their own.
Have each patrol huddle together. Draw a circle around them to represent the island.
Draw a line 20 feet away that is the shore and safety. This is the area over which the patrol must
be rescued.
On 'GO' signal, each scout grabs a rope and ties a bowline around his waist. He then joins his
rope to his partner's using a Sheetbend. The partners then back apart until the rope is tight and
then lean way back with hands stretched out above their heads.
When all pairs in a patrol are finished, they give their patrol yell.
A leader should check all the knots for correctness and then determine the fastest correct patrol.
If a timer is used, time deductions can be added for incorrect knots.
Another way of running the activity is to have all scouts choose partners and then line up in two
lines, partners across from each other. As each pair finishes, check knots and give deductions.
The fastest pair gets points for their patrol, and 2nd, 3rd, 4th place receive diminishing points. If
partners are from different patrols, they split the points.
Have everyone hold onto the bungee and stretch it out into a big circle.
Put the bucket on the ground in the center.
Everyone lets go at the same time so the bungee plops into the bucket.
Rules:
Reflect: Chances are that the group will never get this one to work. Don't go on with it for too
long, but let them discuss and try new ways.
Check for blaming, frustration, new ideas.
Talk about people giving up too fast, listening to new ideas, encouraging rather than blaming.
Alterations: Maybe try it with 3 or 2 scouts and see if that is easier - perhaps some tasks require
smaller teams. Delegation of jobs is a good leadership skill to work on.
Announce to the senior patrol leader that you heard gunshots in the direction of the campsite and
he should organize his patrol or troop to investigate and act as they think best when they find out
what has happened.
The adults should take on these 3 roles, or others as their imaginations take them:
one lying on the ground with a label 'Dead - shot in head'.
one leaning against a tree still conscious having been shot through the leg, breaking his
thigh bone.
one hidden laying a bit off in the woods with a label 'severe cut on arm, unconscious from
blood loss'
When the scouts arrive, they should figure out what has happened, apply first aid, and secure the
area.
The conscious adult may tell them that they were attacked by marauders or bears or whatever.
There is a good chance the 3rd man in the woods will not be noticed without someone noticing
that there are 3 place settings.
You might have individual patrols go through the exercise at 15 minute intervals while the rest of
the troop is doing another activity
a deep non-see-through container filled with a mixture of colored candies such as M&Ms, or Skittles.
Preparation:
Assign points to each color on a chart. For example, green=50 points, blue=100 points, red=75 points.
Notes:
simple filler for the end of a meeting or a fun way to distribute snacks.
Each scout reaches into the container and pulls out one candy. He keeps or eats the candy and gets that
number of points added to his total.
The first scout to reach 500 or 1000 is the winner and could receive some reward prize like a bag of
M&Ms. Play another round if there is time and interest.
Required:
If you do not have enough rope, run just two patrols at a time.
Use other knots for different practice.
Rules:
1. The chair must use only the materials provided, but not necessarily all the materials.
2. The scout that sits on the chair must keep all body parts at least 1.5 feet above the ground
for 2 minutes.
3. Only one scout from the patrol can be past the start line at a time.
4. Each scout must put on work goggles before entering the work area or they will be sent
back to the start line.
5. Each scout can nail at most one nail per trip to the work area.
6. Each scout in the patrol makes a trip to the work area before any scout goes a second time
- stay in order and take turns, not just one scout going back and forth.
7. The last scout to finish the chair returns to the start line before the 'sitter' goes to the work
area to sit.
Required:
Preparation:
You can set up a similar activity by having buckets set in an arc about 100 feet away from a starting point
and have scouts chose the bucket closest to 200 degrees on their compass.
Required:
25 foot rope
a tree
Notes:
If you have enough trees, you can have all patrols do it at once as a competition. Otherwise, do it as a
teamwork exercise.
Patrol ties a clove hitch around a tree without coming within 5 feet of the tree.
Required:
Preparation:
Lay staffs in a star shape radiating out from a center point, or draw lines in the dirt or with chalk. These
are the N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW points of a compass. Mark one pointer as NORTH.
One scout stands at the end of each point, noticing his location.
A leader calls out two points, such as NorthWest and South. The two scouts at those points must
immediately leave their spot and run around the outside of the circle of scouts to their new location.
A scout that does not move when he should or one that moves when he should not is out. The last two
scouts win.
You can run 3, 4, or more compasses at once, having one or two patrol members from each patrol on
each compass. The last two scouts on a compass get points for their patrol.
Count to 10 Activity
This may take up to 1 minute for every 3 scouts, so doing it with a group bigger
than 15 scouts might get boring.
Required:
Set Up:
Label each of 8 stakes with one letter - C, A, N, S, T, O, R, E
Place the unlabeled stake in the center of the area which will be used
for the activity.
Attach the measuring string to the center stake.
With your compass and labeled stakes, walk away from the center
stake at a bearing of 180 degrees (due south) until the measuring
string is taut.
Drive the stake labeled R into the ground.
Walk around the center stake in a large clockwise circle until the
bearing back to the center stake is 72 degrees. Drive the stake labeled E into the ground here.
Continue your walk around the center stake, driving stakes in at these locations:
C – 92, A – 160, N – 212, S – 244, T – 292, O – 328
When finished, you should have a layout like the picture. The bearings you took back to the stake are just
the opposite of those heading out to the stakes.
Playing:
Each scout receives an instruction card like this one.
This card tells the players their route number (1), starting position (stake R), and bearings which direct
them from marker to marker around the course. This card is route #1 and the scout starts by standing at
stake R and walking to the stake closest to a 32 degree bearing. From there, he takes a bearing of 196
degrees, and so on.
Each scout copies down the letter on each stake along the route. The six letter code word produced is
checked against the code word for his route number on the answer sheet.
Required:
Combine all the cards into one pile and mix them up.
Divide the cards into a stack for each patrol.
Give a stack to each patrol leader.
The goal is to be the first patrol to have complete suit of 13 cards by trading with other patrols.
Patrols Suits
3 4
4 6
5 7
6 8
7 10
8 11
9 12
Required:
Notes:
Patrol members will need to communicate and support each other for success. Rather than going for
speed, you might reward a patrol that makes it across in one, two, or three attempts with a prize or
points.
Reflect on how well patrols worked and how it felt to have handicaps and work together.
Each patrol lines up side-by-side and ties their left ankle tightly to the right ankle of the scout on their
left. This should make a chain gang.
The leader of each patrol chooses one member of a different patrol to be blindfolded. The leader of each
patrol chooses one member of a different patrol to be blindfolded. There are now 2 blindfolded
members on each patrol. Finally, choose one scout in each patrol that can not talk.
The circles are distributed in a path from a start line to a finish line for each patrol to follow, spaced
about 18 inches apart.
Story: You have been held captive in prison by an evil [Dictator, or Aliens, or whatever] for the past 4
months. Every day, you are chained together and forced to [sing songs, clean toilets, whatever] all day.
But, on this day, there is an earthquake which splits a crack in stone wall so your gang decides to make a
break for it.
All around the prison is a radioactive moat filled with toxic waste, leftovers from the school cafeteria,
and mutant, rabid, swimming bunnies. If anyone in your gang touches the moat, their flesh will dissolve
and the bunnies will be awakened to attack and devour the rest of your gang.
Luckily, the earthquake upheaval caused many tiny islands to form. As long as you stay on those islands,
you'll probably be ok. And, the islands do NOT move.
Unfortunately, while going through the crack in the wall, part of it fell on your gang. Two of you were
struck in the head by falling rock causing temporary blindness while a third was hit in the throat
damaging his vocal chords.
Now, your gang must work its way to escape and safety.
This can be done inside or outside on grass, but not on rough ground.
Can add challenge by having riders keep their arms crossed in front of them and not grabbing the tarp.
Citizenship Mobile Activity
This Activity is meant for Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
color copies of images, construction paper, markers, glue, scissors, wire coat hangers, yarn, paper punch,
pliers, wire cutter
Preparation:
Search the Internet for images of elected officials, maps, flags, etc. and print out a color copy for each
scout.
Notes:
The citizenship requirements state that Webelos need to know the names of the President, Vice
President, their state Governor, and the head of their local government. By combining this requirement
with the Mobile option for Artist, the boys can see how the levels of government fit together.
Scouts can follow the directions for making a mobile found in the Artist section of their Webelos
Handbook. The finished mobile will have three levels: the bottom for their local government, the middle
for their state government, and the top for the national government. The boys need to cut out the
images and glue them onto construction paper, then label each on the back with markers (to help them
learn the names), and punch a hole at the top of each piece to hang it on the mobile.
Required:
wool or yarn, not too brightly colored, cut into 1 foot lengths.
Notes:
This is a good camp activity where there is a lot of terrain. It works well for 20 or less scouts to track one
Sasquatch. If you have more scouts, have 2 Sasquatch go off in different directions and have 2 patrols
track each one. Each Sasquatch should have a different color of fur.
A leader is Sasquatch (Bigfoot). He takes the wool and heads off into the woods while the rest of the
troop is doing some other activity, possibly cleaning up after lunch. (He should take another person with
him).
Along the trail, about every 20 yards or so, Sasquatch should drop a length of wool, or tie it to a bush, or
cling it to a tree trunk or on a branch. At the end of the trail, he should find a somewhat secluded place
to rest and wait for the patrols to follow the trail to him. Silence is not that important so he can chat with
his buddy while waiting.
After Sasquatch has been gone for at least 15 minutes, the activity leader takes on the role of a nature
scientist whose life work is to investigate Sasquatch sightings. He calls everyone together to explain that
Sasquatch was recently sighted near camp and we believe he may still be in the area. Sasquatch fur is
extremely rare and he will give out a handsome reward to anyone that can bring him some - a larger
reward for more fur.
The scientist then shows what Sasquatch fur looks like and points out a sample hanging nearby (or two
samples if using two Sasquatch).
The only rule to give the people is that when someone finds a piece of fur, he must immediately and
loudly give his patrol yell. This tells his patrol leader to come to him to collect the fur and lets everyone
else know where the trail was last seen. A patrol leader stealing another patrol 's fur would not be a
good thing.
When the patrols finally reach the Sasquatch, they should escort him back to camp to present him to the
scientist. Patrols are given rewards or points based on the amount of fur their members have collected.
Before starting this activity, take a walk around the area and collect about 10 different items, such as
rocks, dry grass, twigs, bark, and pinecones. This is your collection. Be careful not to take living items.
To begin the activity, have all patrols gather around to see your collection laid out on the ground. Explain
that their job is to exactly duplicate your collection.
For example, if you have a red maple leaf with a bent stem, the patrol that finds a leaf the same size,
color, shape, and stem bent in the same direction has the best match.
Set a time limit of 8 to 10 minutes. When time is up, take one of your items and compare it to each
patrol's collection. Award points 3, 2, 1 for the three best matches. Continue for every item to determine
which patrol has copied your collection the closest.
Patrols are told to bring a sample of groups of 1, 2, 3, ... as high as they can go. For example, a sprig of
poison ivy would be a group of 3 leafs. :-)
Give a time limit - 30 minutes, 9am the next day, or maybe the next time we meet.
Decide if photos of the items are allowed or if they need to bring actual items.
Be sure to explain that only common groups will be counted - bringing 7 flowers doesn't count as 7, but a
flower with all of its 7 petals would count.
After all scouts have gone, notice where they have gone. Have the majority veered to the right or left?
Have they gone past the leader or not as far?
What clues does this give us about getting lost at night when we can not see?
(We will probably tend to go to the right and not far enough.)
Required:
Notes:
Stand in a circle.
One scout starts with both balls.
He hits the beachball high into the air and hands or tosses the small ball to another scout.
Only the scout with the small ball can hit the beachball.
To make it a bit harder, the scout tossing the small ball needs to call out the name of who he is throwing
it to.
Deal or No Deal Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
If you have the patrol leader of each patrol choose for his patrol, then the entire patrol can help with the
choosing and decision to stop or go on - it can get quite loud! Of course, the entire patrol gets the prize.
Use this little web page I created to print the random prizes - mix and print once for each team. You can
even put in your own prizes if you want. See Deal or No Deal page
DEAL OR NO DEAL?
You can use these prizes or replace them with whatever you want.
You should print a different sheet for each team that will play.
DEAL or NO DEAL?
1 2 3 4 5
Piece of rope $1.00 Jolly Ranchers Book of matches $2.00
6 7 8 9 10
Ice Cream Sandwiches $5.00 $8.00 Cracker Jacks Pizza Party
11 12 13 14 15
a Rock Q-Tips BIC Lighter Block of Wood Rootbeer Floats
16 17 18 19 20
Granola Bars Soda Spool of Hemp can of SPAM Ear plugs
DEAL or NO DEAL?
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
Electric Jail Break-Out Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
2x4 or similar sized log, 8 feet long
40 foot rope
Preparation:
Tie the rope in a triangular area between 3 trees - this is the electic fence. If inside, tie posts to
the backs of chairs and tie the rope between them. Rope should be between 3 and 5 feet off the
ground, depending on size and ability of players.
Your patrol was captured while scouting an enemy compound and locked in this electrified
prison. You must escape.
Goal: Have all the members of the patrol escape over the electric fence.
Rules:
1. Anyone touching the fence must start over. Anyone touching that scout when he touches
the fence also must start over.
2. If the board touches the fence, everyone touching the board must start over.
3. The trees are part of the fence.
4. No one may be thrown.
You may alter the 'lead time' given to the convicts depending on space and abilities.
Two convicts have escaped from prison and are making their way cross country. The prison
guards need to catch up to them, capture them, and return them to prison.
Required:
3 scouts.
possibly paper and pencil for each patrol
Preparation:
Two scouts dress in disquises beforehand. The more wild items like hat, sunglasses, shoes, gloves, fake
beard, ... they wear, the better.
At some point during the meeting, the two rush in and demand the leader's wallet.
The leader hands it over, and they run out of the room.
The third scout enters the room and asks to have all patrol leaders meet with him. He explains that, in
order to apprehend the thiefs, he needs their patrol to come up with a detailed description of them.
There will be a reward for the patrol that is most helpful.
They have 7 minutes to create their list.
Once the lists are turned in, the detective departs to review the lists with the two thiefs and determine a
winner.
The third scout marches the two apprehended thiefs back in and announces they were caught, mostly
due to the excellent description from the winning patrol.
Everybody Up Activity
Notes:
Cooperation exercise. Reflect on how well it went, what leadership skills were used.
Goal: Have everybody in the group stand up.
Once pairs have done this, create groups of 3 and see if they can do it.
Then, have each patrol try it as a single group. Make sure everyone starts with soles touching.
With a large group, sitting in a long line and holding one hand each of the two people across
from you is one way to go.
Write each list on a separate sheet of flipchart paper in the order listed in the Scout
Handbook. If no exact list exists, make a list and go with it.
Patrol Leader or first person on each team comes to table where two bells and game
leader are waiting.
Leader reads statement - "Name one of the 10 Hiking Essentials."
The first to ring their bell gets to answer.
The position of their answer on the list is revealed.
If it is not #1, then the other person gets to try and guess a higher answer.
The team with the highest guess gets control.
Each teammate in turn guesses until either all items are guessed or they get 3 strikes.
If they get 3 strikes, the other team gets to collaborate and have one guess to win the
round.
Repeat the game as many rounds as you have interest, time, and lists.
Write each list on a separate sheet of flipchart paper in the order listed in the Scout Handbook. If
no exact list exists, make a list and go with it.
Patrol Leader or first person on each team comes to table where two bells and game leader are
waiting.
Leader reads statement - "Name one of the 10 Hiking Essentials."
The first to ring their bell gets to answer.
The position of their answer on the list is revealed.
If it is not #1, then the other person gets to try and guess a higher answer.
The team with the highest guess gets control.
Each teammate in turn guesses until either all items are guessed or they get 3 strikes.
If they get 3 strikes, the other team gets to collaborate and have one guess to win the round.
Repeat the game as many rounds as you have interest, time, and lists.
Feet In Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
6-30 people.
2 foot circle or rope for each scout.
Preparation:
distribute the rope circles in the play area.
Notes:
Problem solving and creative thinking skills
Objective: Put both of your feet completely inside one circle.
Rules:
Do not move or change the shape or size of a circle.
When the leader says, 'Switch!' you move to a different circle if possible.
Give the 'Go' signal and everyone should find a circle of his own.
Yell 'Switch!' and see that everyone moves to a different circle.
Now, when you yell 'Switch!', remove a circle before someone steps into it. This will leave one
scout out. See what they do.
If someone believes they are 'out', recite the Objective and Rules again. See if the team figures
out that there is no rule about more than one scout per circle.
As there are fewer and fewer circles, it will get more crowded until someone decides to sit down
with just his feet in the circle.
Reflect:
Did someone take leadership or did people act independently?
Did you assume rules that did not exist?
Did you start out competing and then change to cooperating?
Did you think ahead of better ways or was a change in plan forced on you with the removal of
circles?
To be a good team, we need to creatively search for better solutions to challenges and think of
new things.
The team must transfer the flame from the lit candle to their unlit candle.
They can not cross the line.
They should lash the 3 staffs together using the rope and then tie a match to the end with the
twine.
Reflect: Discuss how ideas were brought up and discussed. Use Reflection Ideas for ideas.
Reflection Suggestions
> > > Double Prizes < < <
After an activity or game or at the end of a campout, a group reflection is a good way to review
what was done and how things went. A reflection should take no more than 5 minutes after a
game or 10-15 minutes at the end of a campout or event.
Before the reflection begins, some groundrules are required:
Make positive comments and give positive encouragement to those that share.
Allow random participation rather than going around the circle.
Prompt the discussion with thought-provoking, open-ended questions such as these or
others specific for the activity:
o What was the purpose of the activity?
o In what ways did things go as you expected? Or, what surprises occurred?
o Were you tempted to cheat and did you give in to that temptation?
o Did you do your best in this activity or did you give up?
o Are there skills from this activity that you will work on?
Reflect:
Did different people share ideas about how to proceed?
Were ideas considered?
Did you jump to a conclusion without thinking of alternatives first?
Who was the leader and what style of leadership was used?
Luckily, their patrol leader and assistant have come looking for them.
Using only the materials provided, the team must rescue all the patrol members from Falcon
Island and leave no trace that they were ever there.
Rules:
Anything that touches the ground within the two circles indicating Falcon Gap is
immediately lost.
Any person that touches Falcon Gap dies and the team loses or starts over.
Nothing can be left on Falcon Island when the team escapes.
Reflect:
What made this activity difficult?
Did the two groups work separately or as a single team?
One solution is to lash the poles together with a shear lashing to form two pieces long enough to
bridge the gap. Then, lay each end of them on a milkcrate and people walk across the narrow
walkway. There is danger of falling off this bridge, but it is fast.
Another solution would be to lash the poles. Then, place on milkcrates and use the short poles to
keep them a foot apart. Tie the end of a short rope to each long pole. Repeat, tying another rope
every foot or so, making a bridge of ropes between the long poles.
If the ends of the long poles are tied to the milkcrates, once everyone is across they can lift the
bridge completely off the island.
Feed Me Activity
Required:
plastic bowls full of snacks - raisins, peanuts, M&Ms, fish crackers, anything small like that.
plastic spoon for each scout
1 foot ruler for each scout
3 foot strip of cloth for each scout
Preparation:
Set the bowls of snacks out on the table (preferably in a different room).
Using a strip of cloth, tie a ruler to the top of each scout's right arm at the elbow - this is to make the
arm stiff and straight so it can not bend.
Notes:
The ruler is just to remind them that their arm can not move - if a scout tries to bend his arm, remind
him that the arm is broken and has to stay straight.
What you would hope would happen is that the scouts realize they can not eat any of the food - alone! If
no one figures out that they can feed the scout across from them after a few minutes, drop a hint or two
to help them along.
Once someone feeds someone else, make sure that spoon is only used for that person - have some extra
spoons just in case.
Reflect:
How does this fit with our goal of teamwork?
Did you need someone else to get food?
Can you think of other situations where helping others is necessary in order to help yourself?
Time deductions can be given for each match used, for adding more wood, for rearranging the
original fire lay.
You may also provide a set amount of tinder, kindling, and fuel to each group if you want to
concentrate on the fire lay rather than the luck of finding good wood.
Instead of burning through a string, a wire cup holder can be made and suspended between the
hanger wires for a water boiling competition.
A fast, hot fire is needed for string burning, while a hot, sustained fire is needed to boil water, so
adding wood should not be a deduction.
Required:
Notes:
All scouts gather at an open spot. There should be at least two flashlights on and easily visible from the
surrounding country.
Two scouts (as a buddy team) are given a small flag and sent out into the night with their flashlights
turned off so they are more difficult to see.
The two scouts go as far away from the rest of the group as they can in the alloted time but they must
still be able to see the lit flashlights.
After 4 or 5 minutes, the leader blows a whistle to signal to the hiding scouts to show themselves. The
two scouts should light their flashlights and wave them around for at least 5 seconds while all the other
scouts try to see them.
As soon as the two scouts turn off their flashlights, they should get comfortably seated or stand and wait
silently until they are found.
Each of the other scouts makes his way as quickly as he can to where he believes the two scouts are
located. The first two scouts to reach them get their flag. The two found scouts turn on their flashlights
and wave them to signal that they have been found and they are now at the new gathering point.
Meanwhile, the two scouts that found them head off in some direction to set up a new hiding spot. Once
everyone has reached the new starting point, the whistle signals a new round.
Separate each set of nut and bolt. Put all the nuts in one bag and all the bolts in another.
Make sure there is a nut for every bolt.
Notes:
This activity is a good icebreaker for a new team. Learn about other people.
Once pairs are found, they should learn names and three other things about that scout.
Some examples:
Will buy a cup of hot cocoa. To do this they will have to purchase from you a match,
cocoa pack, stove, fuel for the cooking stove, water pot and water.
Will buy three whipped ropes. They need to purchase three ropes and twine.
Will buy three fused ropes. They need to purchase three ropes, match, candle.
Will buy a campfire. They need to purchase a small length of wood, hand axe, matches
and chop it into tinder, kindling, fuel and build it into a campfire.
Will buy a comfortable night’s rest. They need to purchase, tent, sleeping bag, pad, and
set it up.
Yellow - 4
Green - 3
Blue - 2
Black - 1
Purchasing the items needed to manufacture an article reduces the patrol's funds. When they
successfully sell back their article, they hopefully make a profit.
More complicated tasks should be worth more.
You may rule that each patrol can only make one of a specific article, or allow mass production
of the same thing many times.
If you are cleaning/repairing equipment, then a quality check should be included before payment
is made.
Use colored paper, monopoly money, or any other currency you want if you have no beads.
You could have a trading post where patrols can exchange their currency for items - supplies,
candy, toys.
Rules:
1. Every foot must be in constant contact with at least one other teammate's foot.
2. One left foot and one right foot in the team may be unconnected.
Give the team time to come up with a plan and then time them as they try it.
Reflect:
Did someone take leadership?
How were ideas considered and discussed?
What different communication was tried and what worked best?
How can this team improve its communication and cooperation?
Preparation:
Gather other volunteers to check off completed tasks and hand out rewards, especially for tasks
requiring teams and equipment.
Notes:
This scheme of collecting items based on performing tasks can turn a normal skills review meeting into a
fun activity. Use it for any theme of tasks you need, such as pioneering, first aid, cooking, ...
Give each scout a list of tasks and rewards.
Scouts can do any of the tasks they want, but only one time to receive their reward.
Have some tasks that require more than one scout and make sure the reward is divisible by the number
of scouts.
Have some tasks that require materials which need to be rented. You may want to have a deposit for
rented equipment to ensure it is returned promptly.
At the end of the designated time, auction off the prizes to the highest bidders. Buddies or patrols can
combine gold.
Required:
Preparation:
Create a circle on a flat area that all scouts can easily stand in - about 7 feet across is good. Use rocks,
sticks, or scratch a circle in the dirt.
Notes:
This activity is better for a group of 4-12 - larger than that and there is too much standing around. All
scouts need to bring a water bottle, hat, or some object about that size.
To start the activity, tell all the scouts to lay down outside the circle with their feet touching the circle
and their head pointing away from the circle. This should make something of a star-shape of bodies.
Have everyone place the object they brought along on the ground at the top of their head. Then, all the
scouts get up and assemble inside the circle.
The objective is to retrieve all the items left outside the circle without touching the ground and using
nothing other than their bodies.
Every item should be retrievable by supporting a scout as he leans way out and grabs the item. It may
take the whole team to leverage him back.
You could come up with a scenario, such as they are on an island surrounded by lava. Or, they are
surrounded by toxic sludge and need to retrieve all the parts to assemble their sludge-hardening ray gun.
Group Drawing Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts, Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
paper and pen per team
Hand out paper and pen to each patrol leader.
Give Instructions:
Your team will draw a structure.
You may use no more than 25 lines.
Each scout may only draw one line and then pass the pen.
The patrol leader draws the first line.
Each team has one extra Special Rule which I will now tell you.
Go to each team and give them their special rule - or have it written down on a slip of paper and
hand it to their leader.
Special Rules:
Everyone can talk.
No one can talk.
Once the drawings are complete, have each patrol leader show their drawing, explain what it is,
and tell what their special rule was.
Reflection:
Did you do your best or did you give up?
Was your team successful?
Did your team use shared leadership or one boss doing all leading?
Two strong scouts are needed to turn the rope for everyone else to jump.
Reflect on what ideas, plans, suggestions were given. Who emerged as a leader and what style of leading
was used?
Notes:
Give the team time to strategize and come up with solutions to try. There is no time limit. Notice how
the group dynamics work out. Answer questions they may have.
Reflect:
Who took leadership?
What sort of teamwork was required?
Did everyone contribute?
Was anyone more important than others? Why?
Were all ideas considered and discussed?
Did you support your team to your best ability?
The 'best' solution is to have the team form a circle in the push-up position so they can place their feet
on the shoulders of the scout behind them. This way, when someone does a push-up, he is lifting himself
and the feet of his neighbor.
Once up, many scouts should be able to lock their arm in a one-armed push up for the $10,000 bonuses.
If there are a few light members and some strong members, they may try to give some scouts a free ride
to get those $100,000 bonuses.
Notes:
Good activity to prepare scouts for a presentation since everyone winds up sitting quietly.
Some reward for the 'winner' might be first in line for snacks or first up for next game.
An alternative is to have everyone do an activity for exactly one minute - jog in place, do jumping jacks,
hop from foot to foot, turn in circles, ...
blanket
Notes:
Icebreaker activity.
Everyone mingles around the room until the leader calls 'Stop'.
Everyone curls up into as small a ball as possible on the floor, covering their eyes.
The leader covers one person completely with the blanket and then tells everyone else to stand.
The object is to guess who is hidden under the blanket.
Notes:
Could give 1 point to each scout that guesses the lie and 1 point to the speaker for each scout he fools.
First scout starts by saying where they will go, what pet they will take, and what they will eat - and those
three things start with 'A'. Next scout comes up with three things that start with 'B' and so on through
the alphabet.
For example, 'I'm going camping in Argentina, with my pet Armadillo, and we will eat Asparagus.'
Alternative: Instead of three things, just use WHERE, PET, or FOOD and have each scout list all those that
were mentioned previously.
For example, "I'm going camping with my pet Armadillo, Barracuda, Chameleon, Donkey, and Elephant."
Gotcha Activity
Scouts stand in a circle, facing inward, shoulder to shoulder.
Everyone lowers their heads so they are looking down at their own feet.
When the leader says, "Gotcha!", everyone looks up at some other scout's eyes and stays looking there.
If the other scout is looking someplace else, then the player is safe.
If the other scout is making eye contact with you, you must yell "Gotcha!" before he does. Whichever of
the two players making eye contact yells last is out and must leave the circle.
The leader has everyone look at their feet again for another round.
The last two scouts remaining are the winners, or they can finger joust or rock-paper-scissors to
determine winner.
Rules:
1. No looking, talking, or touching.
2. Every scout says exactly one number.
3. If two scouts say the same number, start over.
4. If the wrong number is said, start over.
After you stop them, they should restart immediately. It may take many turns, but they will work
out a pattern through to the end.
Reflect:
Who took leadership?
Was there a leader or was everyone equal?
What teamwork was needed?
What communication occurred?
How did you rely on other people?
Group Juggling Activity
Required:
one soft ball (Nerf) for each participant
Notes:
This activity builds team cooperation.
Have team form a standing circle.
Explain that the group will juggle a ball around the circle with these rules:
1. Must throw it to someone that has not caught it yet.
2. Must throw it to someone that is not directly next to you.
3. Last scout throws it back to the first scout.
Give the ball to the patrol leader and have him start.
Once the ball has gone around, ask them to repeat the same pattern, throwing to the exact same
scout from the first time.
Now, explain that the pattern is set - all you have to do is remember who you throw to. We are
now going to see how many balls we can successfully juggle.
Stand by the patrol leader with your bucket of balls, ready to hand them to him as fast as he
wants them. See how many balls they can get going before it breaks down.
Now, give the group 1 minute to discuss strategy and improve their ball count. Do not give
suggestions, but answer if you are asked if an idea is legal. For example, they may want to
change places or roll the balls.
Reflect on how well the team started and how much they improved.
What caused the most improvement?
Was there verbal communication during the juggling?
Do you feel you could do even better? How?
(teams tend to try and go fast, but that is not a goal. Tossing the balls in lock-step with a verbal
command from the patrol leader gets a ball in the air for every participant.)
Explain to everyone that from this point forward, no one can talk to anyone else. OK?
Explain that each scout can choose to be one of three (or four or five) types of animals:
Tiger - hands like claws and roar.
Deer - hands like antlers and prance.
Reflect:
How was the group animal decided?
How were different types of animals convinced to change?
Is that the type of leadership we want to use?
Was there a leader in a group of animals that decided to change and convince the rest of his
fellow animals to change?
Who demonstrated more team support rather than personal demands? Why?
Reflect:
Did you do your part to the best of your abilities?
How did your patrol interact in planning?
How well did your patrol work together?
Was style of leadership was used
HA! Activity
Notes:
All scouts form a larger circle, placing the palms of their two hands together and bowing to the group to
indicate they are ready.
One scout starts the game by raising his palms-together hands up and chopping them down to point at
another player, and yelling, "Ha!"
The scout pointed at raises his palms-together hands up, and yells, "Ha!"
The two scouts on his immediate left and right must chop their palms-together hands horizontally in
towards that scout, and yell, "Ha!"
The scout between the two still has his hands up, so he chops them down to point at someone else and
yells, "Ha!"
All this is done in a rhythm, over and over, so it sounds like "Ha - Ha - Ha - Ha - Ha - ...". If someone reacts
too slowly or misses his role, he must step out of the circle and a new round starts with a smaller circle.
Scenario: Your patrol has contracted a strange, paralyzing sickness from the food prepared for
breakfast. This sickness causes paralysis from the shoulders down. Luckily, your patrol leader
seems to be immune. He has found a mineral deposit that sucks the poison from your body and
allows you to walk again.
The patrol leader must transport someone across. Then, that scout can help bring others across.
You may use an optional rule that the scout being transported must be completely off the ground
to be moved - he cannot be dragged.
Reflect:
What was the plan used to solve the problem?
How did you all come to that plan?
Allow the scouts to try again this time choosing the first immune scout they want.
Instructions:
The leader holds a map of the route so only he can see it. (See examples below).
A scout steps onto any stone in the the grid.
If it is the next stone in the sequence, the leader rings the bell and the scout steps to
another stone.
If it is not the correct stone, the bell is not rung and the scout must now backtrack out the
correct route to the beginning.
The team gets a point if a scout steps on a square out of sequence while backtracking.
The problem is solved when all team members have crossed the grid following the hidden route.
Reflection:
How were points received?
How did people react when points were gained?
Required:
Notes:
Two players stand close together, facing each other - they are the bomb. Give one player a piece of
licorice in each hand. Once the other player grabs the other ends of the licorice, the bomb is set. If either
piece of licorice breaks or is dropped, the bomb explodes.
The rest of the team is the bomb squad called in to carefully remove the bomb and then defuse it by
cutting both wires at exactly the same time. They must carry the bomb off the floor to the destination,
about 20-30 feet away.
Optional: Have a timed detonator that will go off in a set amount of time if the bomb is not defused by
then.
Notes:
This is sort of a trick activity. You might want to re-inforce listening to exact requirements. Be careful that
activities like this do not teach scouts to look for loop-holes in rules or ways to 'cheat' by side-stepping
requirements.
The only direction is 'The patrol that builds a human pyramid using all the scouts in their patrol fastest,
wins.'
It is not the tallest pyramid, just the fastest built.
(The fastest way for 10 scouts is to have the first 4 lay face down side-by-side, then 3 lay on top of them,
then 2, then 1. If they are all standing in place behind each other at the 'GO' command, it should only
take 2 seconds to fall into place.)
Each pair faces each other about two feet apart, with hands up, palms forward, feet shoulder width
apart.
The two scouts keep their bodies rigid and lean toward each other. Catch yourself by placing your palms
against your partner's and pushing yourself back to an upright position.
Once trust is in place and the pair is successful, have each pair take a small step apart. Continue
springing against each other and stepping apart until they can go no further.
As a competition, the team that has successfully sprung with the furthest distance between their feet,
wins. But, this gives a big advantage to taller people.
As a cooperative activity, add up everyone's distances for a grand total. Then, switch partners and see if a
new record can be set.
Patrol starts off on a hike. At every intersection, a coin is flipped. If it is heads, we turn right. If tails, we
turn left.
Or, use best out of 3 to determine direction. And, if they are all 3 the same, then go straight ahead.
Height, Width, Direction Estimation Activity
Required:
Notes:
1. Distance
Draw a starting line in an open field.
Place the flags in a line perpendicular to the line with the first one about 20 feet from the line and each
one 5 feet further out.
Scouts are asked to choose the flag color that is closest to 50 feet from the line.
They could pace it out or you could add a rule that they can not step past the line. This would force them
to use a method of measuring the width of a river.
2. Height
Place markers on the pole about every foot. Stand the pole up. Or, climb a tree and place markers in it at
height intervals.
Scouts are asked to choose the marker that is at exactly 24 feet, or some specific height.
You can give points for distance off target they are and the lowest score wins.
3. Direction
Arrange markers in a circle about 50 feet across.
Standing at a marked spot in the center, scouts are asked to choose the marker that is closest to NW or
SE or some specific degree bearing.
You can decide if a compass is allowed or if they need to tell direction by sun or stars.
4. Individual Reward
Line the buckets up upside down in a line as in #1 above. Have all scouts stand next to the bucket they
believe is exactly 42 feet from the starting line.
If you placed treats under the correct bucket before hand, and maybe smaller treats under those close to
it, they can see what they won when you tell them to look.
Preparation:
Place items along one side of a trail. Make some obvious, others a bit more difficult to see, depending on
the age of the scouts. Write a list of all the items in the correct order so none are forgotten.
Notes:
The activity leader tells everyone that he went for a hike and discovered he had a hole in his pack when
he returned. All this stuff has fallen out along the trail and it needs to be found.
The leader has everyone follow him in single file down the trail. Scouts stay on the trail, but search for
items quietly. The leader should walk at a fairly slow pace. Scouts can only walk forward, they can't go
back down the trail to check on missed items.
At the end of the trail, each patrol leader is given paper and pencil. His patrol needs to make a list of all
the items they saw and list them in the correct order seen, from first to last.
When all patrols are finished, compare their lists with the correct one to find the winner.
As an alternative, you can ask the patrols to arrange the items from most to least important for a
backpacking trip.
Required:
Notes:
Only one scout is climbing at a time, so there may be too much 'watching' time in a larger group. Takes
about 8-10 minutes for 20 people to complete.
Stand in front of the group and show them the item. Tell them their task is to come up with as
many 'real' uses as possible for the item. By 'real', I mean you couldn't use a brick as a purse, but
you could use it as ballast in a hot air balloon. You may need judges to dictate acceptability, but
the group usually handles that.
If this is an individual challenge, have each scout write their ideas down and then go around
identifying all the unique ones and awarding points for each.
If you challenge the group to come up with 20 or 40 uses, then have them shout out while you
write them on a whiteboard.
If its a challenge between groups, give them 5 minutes to brainstorm and write down ideas and
award points only for those the other team does not have. Or, alternately call for an answer from
each team, awarding higher points for answers that are given as the number of ideas gets bigger.
For example, a brick could be used as a nut cracker, a dumbbell, a ruler, a step, an anchor.
Required:
Preparation:
Create a grid of paper at least 6 sheets by 6 sheets - the bigger the grid, the longer it takes.
X X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X . . . X X X X X X
X X X . X . X X . . . .
. . . . X . X X . X X X
X X X X X . X X . . . X
X X X X X . . X X X . X
X X X X X X . X X X . X
X X X X X X . . . . . X
X X X X X X X X X X X X
This builds on each scout remembering previous correct moves and adding another until someone finally
reaches the end and the reward.
Once a maze is done, if they want to go again, just draw a new one on your master sheet and start anew.
Ice Rescue Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
Preparation:
Place equipment in a pile for each patrol in the back of the room.
Notes:
Explain the situation to the patrols that some people have fallen through the ice and they need to each
save one of them. They have about 2 minutes before it will be too late to save them. Judges will
determine if any of the rescuers also become victims and if a victim is saved or not. (If someone walks
out to the victim or gets too close, he falls through also.)
The patrols should notice and use the equipment - staff to reach, rope to tie bowline and throw to
victim, blanket to warm victim once recovered.
As patrols walk or crawl out, judges should give indications such as "You hear the ice cracking." Patrols
should lay flat and crawl out and then reach.
Once recovered, patrol should warm with blanket, treat for shock, and call for medical help.
If they do not get the victim out in time, does a person go in after him and then get rescued? Do they do
artifical respiration if needed?
Each team is given their toilet paper roll, wooden dowel, ping pong ball, and paper plate.
They should create a golf club from the dowel and toilet paper roll by cutting two holes in the
roll and taping it to the dowel.
They should customize their golf ball with markers.
Each team is given one section of the play area. They are responsible for creating a golf hole in
their area. The paper plate should be set upside down - this is the golf hole. The tee-off location
needs to be defined and obstacles placed strategically to make the hole challenging.
Once the golf course is complete, each team starts at any open hole. You can have one member
of a team take all the shots at a hole and then another member do the next hole. Or, have each
member take one shot and then passs the club to the next member. Teams track their score on
each hole and move on to the next hole.
When all teams have played all holes, the winning team can be determined from all score cards.
The goal is to challenge others to games of 'skill' and win their money from them. The scout with
the most money when time is called gets first choice at prizes or gets to claim the title of 'Its My
Lucky Day' Champion.
Even/Odd - Each scout holds from 0 to 5 fingers out behind his back. On "GO", they
each bring their hands to the front. If the total is Even, the challenger wins.
Rules:
The challenger chooses the game.
Single games only, no 2 out of 3.
You must accept any challenge.
You may not compete against someone twice in a row - you must play against someone
else before challenging him again.
When you are out of bills, go to the Bankrupt area.
When you win a game, you must yell, 'Its My Lucky Day!' while your opponent gives
you your winnings.
Jimmy Jimmy Activity
This is a 'trick to figure out' type activity, along the lines of Chinese Numbers.
Then, you ask the others in the group to repeat what you did. Obviously, pointing to your fingertips and
saying the right words is what is expected.
The trick is that you do something right before and/or after the fingertips that is part of the steps to
repeat. For example, clear your throat or cross your arms or say "OK, here we go" or any other thing. It's
best that you use an action that you can make more and more obvious the longer it takes people to
figure out so you can help them "get it".
Can run the relay multiple times, first using standing broad jump, then running jump, then one-
legged jump, then single stretch step, then laying down and stretching out hands, then ...
whatever you can imagine.
a ball
Notes:
Required:
Preparation:
Leader ties a length of rope around a tree. He then ties his lengths of rope together using different knots
at each connection and ties the last length to another tree so the trail of knots hangs between the trees.
Patrols gather beyond one end of the knot trail. Their lengths of rope are given to the patrol leader.
Each patrol in turn has 1 minute to silently walk down the knot trail, studying the knots. They then
depart to a designated area to recreate the knot trail using their lengths of rope. They can talk while
making their knot trail.
The patrol with most correct knots in the correct order gets the most points.
Required:
one long rope - 50 to 75 feet
Preparation:
Without touching the rope, determine if it is tied in a Knot or Not in the least amount of time.
The group of scouts can request the leader to shrink the knot, if they want. This results in the leader
carefully pulling 2 feet out on each end of the rope and adding 1 minute to the total time.
Some groups might just take a guess right away, gambling that they will win big or totally lose. Others
might request many pulls right away until the knot is obvious, ensuring they are correct but receiving
large penalties. Or, they may investigate, try to figure it out, then ask for a few pulls through the process,
burning time, but minimizing penalties.
It's good to reflect on how the decision was made. Do we jump in with both feet, be overly cautious, or
somewhere in between?
You could use 20-30 feet of string instead as a smaller version and have troops compete against each
other.
Rules:
1. Only one scout may be touching any buttons or the ground inside the rope at any time.
2. Time ends when the last scout crosses this finish line.
3. The team has 4 attempts.
Make it more interesting with a story that this is the keypad for the Earth Computer which runs
the earth. It has been sabotaged and will explode if the sequence is not entered in less than 30
seconds.
Or, it's a game show and the team receives $10,000 for every second under 30.
After the first attempt, make sure the team has time to strategize and come up with a plan to try.
Required:
Preparation:
Scouts should be told to bring work gloves to the meeting place and wear work pants.
The meeting place should be a local park in a neighborhood.
Notes:
A 'Knight Errant' was a knight that wandered the land searching for adventures.
This activity is a good way to get scouts out into the community. This activity should be done on a
Saturday in spring for best success rates.
Scouts are sent out in pairs, threes, or patrols. Their goal is to perform as many Good Deeds as they can
for neighbors in the community.
The scouts go door-to-door asking the resident if they have any odd jobs needing done outside - no
indoor jobs. They should make sure the resident understands they would like to do the good deed for
free with no obligation.
At the end of the allotted time - 2 hours is good - all scouts should return to the assembly area.
When all scouts have returned, break out a substantial snack or have volunteers prepare a BarBQue in
the park while they were gone.
After grace, while the scouts are eating, have each patrol leader stand up and report on the Good Deeds
they accomplished.
Know Your Leaf Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
Notes:
Give all patrols 5 minutes to gather a single leaf from as many different trees as they can. Emphasize that
their entire patrol needs to be back when the 5 minutes is up or they will lose points for every second
they are late.
When scouts have returned, arrange patrols in a large circle, providing a place for each of them to
organize their leaf collections. Make sure there is plenty of space between patrols.
Starting with the patrol with the lowest rank scout, one of their leafs is held up and identified. That
patrol receives 10 points.
The first scout on another patrol that holds up the same kind of leaf receives 6 points for his team. The
second patrol to hold up the same kind receives 4 points.
Whichever scout held up the first matching leaf gets to pick a leaf from his patrol's collection, hold it up
and identify it.
The competition continues in this manner.
If a leaf is held up and incorrectly identified, the patrol receives no points, but the first patrol to hold up
and correctly identify the same leaf in their collection receives the 10 points. 6 points and 4 points can
be awarded to the next two patrols that have the same leaf.
If a patrol holds up and correctly identifies a leaf that no other patrol has, they receive their 10 points
and get to go again.
When a patrol runs out of leafs, the turn passes around the circle until all patrols are out of leafs. This
gives more points to those that have a wide range of leaf types that they can identify.
You may add a rule that only the patrol leader can hold up and identify leafs. This makes patrols talk
together more and uses the patrol hierarchy more.
You may emphasize that only leafs and needles from plants with woody trunks are allowed. No flowers,
weeds, or grasses. Or, expand the scope and include those items if you prefer.
Ladder Lashing Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
For each patrol: 8 lashing ropes, 4 sticks at least 2 inch diameter and 2 feet long, two poles at
least 6 feet long
Notes:
Explain that the rungs do not need to reach both ends of the ladder. Leave extra pole length on
the 'top' end to hold onto when climbing.
Patrols gather at a starting line some distance from their equipment.
On 'GO' signal, first player runs to equipment and lashes a stick to a pole then returns to tag the
next player.
This player lashes the stick to the other pole, completing the first rung of the ladder.
Repeat this until the ladder is complete.
When the last player returns to tag, the entire patrol runs to the ladder, lifts one end, and has one
scout climb to the top. The entire patrol gives their patrol yell to win.
Required:
Rules:
1. The barrel can not be moved.
2. Only scouts can be used to fill holes - no cloth, sticks, or other foreign objects.
Optional: Can run as a competition with multiple waterbarrels or taking turns with one. Have an
appropriate prize for the winners.
You might find the patrol with the most members and have scouts in smaller patrols throw twice
so every patrol throws the same number of times.
You couls award a bonus of 10 points to the patrol that finishes first.
Rules:
Can not touch the logs with hands or feet.
The logs must be completely off the ground.
All logs must be off the ground at the same time for 30 seconds.
All scouts sit at least 30 feet away from the logs during the 30 seconds.
Print the list of items and cut them into individual slips of paper. Have the leader pull out one slip
and read it.
Each team goes off and creates the described item as best they can in a set amount of time, like
20 minutes.
At the end of the time limit, everyone gathers and each team has 90 seconds to explain what
knots and lashings were used, and why their design is superior.
An alternate activity would be to have each team pull out a slip and build that item. Then, when
teams gather, they describe their creation and explain what knots were used and why it is a good
design.
Each patrol needs to get one scout across the lava field to get the reward and bring it back.
The ends of each pole are coated in a heat-resistant chemical so they are lava-proof. If anything
else comes in contact with the lava, it is disintegrated.
The team can build an A-frame walker with lashings. Attach guide lines to the top and have a
scout stand on the cross piece. By tilting the walker from side to side, he can walk across the
lava.
Make a contest between patrols - first scout pulls the name of a knot out of a bag and has to tie it,
tell judge what it is used for, and get acceptance. Then, next scout repeats. Allow scouts within a
patrol to advise and demonstrate to each other to build teamwork, but the scout has to actually tie
the knot he picks out.
Light It Up Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
an 18 inch section of 2x4
a candle - 3/4 inch diameter or greater
a small box of matches - not a BOOK of matches
2 drawing pins
Give the 2x4, candle, matchbox, and pins to each team leader.
Tell the teams their task is to stand the 2x4 on end, attach the candle to a side of the 2x4, and
light the candle.
They may use nothing except the materials they were just given and their hands.
There is no trick to figure out. They just need to come up with a way to do it.
Possible solutions:
heat the needles and stick them through the candle to pin it to the wood.
pin the matchbox to the wood and set the candle in the box.
others?
The patrol leaders will be the judges in this activity/game. Have each patrol leader choose
someone else in the patrol to be in charge while he is gone - probably the assistant patrol leader.
Then, have each patrol leader stand in front of a different patrol. Patrol leaders will rotate around
the circle, judging a different patrol for each task. A patrol leader can use an adult as a technical
aid in determining the 'correctness' of a knot if he is not sure.
The leader calls out the name of one knot and everyone in each patrol ties the knot, shows it to
the judge, and is awarded points.
Knots:
Square Knot
Clove Hitch
Sheet Bend
Taut Line Hitch
Two Half-Hitches
Bowline
For the lashings (Square Lashing, Diagonal Lashing, Shear Lashing), each patrol ties it with two
different scouts working together each time it is tied. The rest of the patrol can watch and coach,
but not touch the rope.
Reflect:
What skills were developed?
How did you help someone else?
Mafia Activity
More hours have been spent playing this game on long backpacking trips
than any other. I was once with a group that played this for 3 hours straight in camp, sitting under
a huge rock overhang, in the mountains at 10,000ft, waiting for the rain to stop.
All scouts sit in a circle, facing the center. For each instance of the game, there are five roles:
God - this person runs the game.
Sheriff - he arrests people.
To start the game, the roles are assigned, either by God or randomly from a deck of cards.
God chooses:
o God tells everyone to go to sleep. Everyone puts their head down and closes their
eyes.
o God says he is now choosing the mafia and walks around the circle and silently
taps 2 people on the head to select them as the Mafia. If you have a large group,
you may choose 3 mafia.
o God then announces he is choosing the doctor and taps 1 person on the head.
o God then announces he is choosing the Sheriff and taps 1 person.
Each round is a night and day in the life of a village, and goes like this:
God tells everyone to go to sleep. Everyone puts their head down and closes their eyes.
God then tells the Mafia to wake up. The two Mafia lift their heads and open their eyes.
God asks out loud who they want to kill. They silently point to the scout they want to kill
- they must agree to one person. They then go back to sleep.
God tells the doctor to wake up and silently choose one scout to save by pointing to him.
(The doctor may choose to save himself.) He then goes back to sleep.
God tells the Sheriff to wake up and suspect someone by pointing at him. If that scout is a
Mafia, God nods his head, otherwise he shakes his head. The Sheriff goes back to sleep.
God tells everyone to wake up.
God then contrives a story of what happened, but basically states which person was
killed, or attempted to be killed but saved by the doctor. If killed, that townsperson is out
and can only watch the rest of the game silently.
The townspeople, mafia, doctor, and sheriff then debate who they think are the mafia.
Once a majority vote selects one scout to accuse, God tells them if he is mafia or not.
Regardless, he is out of the game and everyone goes back to sleep.
Continue doing rounds until all mafia are out or their number equals the number of innocent
players left alive.
When the maps are turned in, some things to grade on:
oriented North to Top on paper
Title of Map
Scale
Key/Legend to describe markings
Vegetation included
Bodies of Water included
Roads, Buildings, Paths included
Topography
What would be the most useful feature to add to your map that was left off?
Required:
You may set a time limit of 5-15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook, but it should not be a 'first
done winner' competition.
If you are relaxing around the campsite, scouts could just keep cooking and eating until the mix is gone.
Mimic Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Notes:
Get everyone's attention but do not tell them to circle up or sit down.
Just tell them that we will start a new activity as soon as everyone in the group is in an identical position.
If they ask for clarification, tell them you mean each scout needs to have each body part in the same
position as everyone else.
Watch how it is determined what pose to take and how scouts interact.
Reflect:
Who took leadership?
Was it shared leadership or more dictatorial?
Was the leadership effective?
Did everyone go along quickly or was there resistance?
Were ideas from other scouts considered?
Did scouts go along with pressure from their peers?
If everyone remains frozen and not moving, ask all scouts with a [pet dog, older brother, birthday this
month, ...] to slightly move any body part once.
That should prime the pump and get things going.
There is no 'winning', but the activity should build as the slight movements become magnified. Have an
obivous signal, such as a whistle, to stop the commotion.
In the space exploration race, both Americans and Russians have landed on Mars at the same
time. Now, the race is on to be the first to bring back proof of life to Earth.
The surface of Mars is too hot during the day and too cold at night, so you must explore on a
specially designed Mars Rover with insulated wheels. Your special gloves protect your hands. To
protect your eyes from the intense sunlight, protective goggles are required and your team
monitoring you safely from your spaceship will direct you.
You have a small oxygen tank containing only 4 minutes of air and you must return before your
opponent with more artifacts than they retrieve.
Rules:
Mark a start line and distribute 8 artifacts across the exploration area.
Your "Rover" is a skateboard.
Each explorer lies on his rover, puts on his gloves and protective goggles.
He is given a pack in which to carry up to 8 Mars artifacts.
On "Go", each explorer heads out into the exploration area, searching for artifacts.
All other scouts in his patrol stay behind the start line (in their spaceship) and yell out
directions to the explorer.
The first explorer back with 5 artifacts wins.
The explorer back with the most artifacts before 4 minutes expires wins - if you only
have two items and time is getting short, get back to the spaceship rather than run out of
time.
An explorer not back to his spaceship in 4 minutes loses.
Play this with one patrol against another. Run each patrol in two rounds, each time agains a
different patrol with different scouts as explorers.
Having a few requests (such as 5 wristwatches) that one patrol will most likely not have, but two
or three working together could have, will cause the scouts to either give up or figure out to work
together.
Points should be given to both patrols that work together and are first to produce.
Notes:
Have everyone sit in a big circle. Each scout gets a pencil and piece of paper or index card.
Ask everyone to write a 'WHY' question they always wanted to know the answer to on their card. The
weirder, the better. For example, "Why can you taste onion a day after eating it?"
When they are done, have them turn the card over and write an answer on the back. The answer can be
nonsense. For example, "Because my dog has fleas."
When finished, collect all the papers. Then, distribute them to everyone randomly.
Starting with one scout, have him read his question. Then, have the scout next to him read his answer.
Continue around the circle, having a scout read his answer to his neighbor's question, then reading his
own question.
Some question/answer pairs are complete nonsense, but the occasional ones that make sense or are just
plain funny make it work.
Your patrol should find an interesting area of ground and create a trail for Nano. Lay out the trail
using your piece of string. On this trail, mark points of interest with your toothpicks.
Be creative, construct an interesting trail, and remember it is intended to teach Nano about
nature.
Give the patrols up to 15 minutes to complete their trails. Award points for creativity in design,
applicability of points of interest to nature, trail construction quality, group involvement.
Required:
The idea of this activity is to improve observation skills but it can be pushed too far and make a few
scouts feel bad. It is somewhat like the Jimmy Jimmy activity where scouts try to find the hidden bit of
information in what is happening right in front of them.
Two scouts that know the secret need to start. One scout is the leader and has the magic pointing staff.
The second scout volunteers to be the guesser.
Lay out the nine magazines in three rows of three, forming a rectangle on the floor like so:
X X X
X X X
X X X
Have one scout leave the room while the rest choose one of the nine magazines. Let's say you chose "O"
below:
X X X
X X X
X X O
The scout returns to the room.
As you tap on each magazine with your staff, he says, "No, not that one" for each magazine until you tap
on the correct one and he says, "Yes, that's the one."
Ask the group if they'd like you to use your magic again. Have the volunteer leave and repeat the trick.
Continue this until another scout believes he knows how to do it and is willing to be the guesser. Have
him leave, choose a magazine, and see if he can guess it.
The trick is in the location where you tap each magazine cover. For our example above, you would tap
each magazine in the lower-right corner.
It can be very difficult to figure out this trick. Make the location on the cover more obvious each time. Or,
try it with 4 magazines. It's better to stop after a bit more than half the group has figured it out.
Required:
lots of newspaper
roll of tape for each team
Notes:
This activity promotes planning and teamwork. Observe who takes leadership role and how each team
cooperates.
Using only their one roll of tape and newspaper, each team builds a structure that will hold at least 3 of
their members.
Judges choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd places based on size, creativity, strength, usefulness.
Rules:
1. Must use the swing to cross the quicksand.
2. Swing rope must be acquired by the patrol using only what they have with them.
3. If the tripwire is knocked down or ground is touched between tripwires, that scout gets
off, leaves the rope hanging straight down, and returns to the beginning.
4. If even one drop of nitro is lost, the patrol must start over.
Optional: To complete the task, all patrol members must cross the quicksand.
Pancake Relay Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
One rope.
For each team:
- stove or fire
- pan, bowl, spatula, spoon
- dried pancake mix and water
Preparation:
Tie rope between two trees about 9 or 10 feet up.
Have a judge available at the rope for each patrol.
Notes:
Good competition activity.
The racers take the batter so the next pancake can not be started until they return.
If a pancake is dropped, it still needs to be eaten or a new one cooked.
The pancake needs to be flipped over the rope before being eaten.
Objective: Eat pancakes in shortest time.
Instructions:
Build a fire.
Prepare pancake batter.
Cook a pancake.
Carry the pancake on the spatula to the rope. Take the bowl of batter and a buddy.
Flip the pancake over the rope and the buddy catches it in his hand (or not).
Buddy eats the pancake and gets clearance from a judge.
Buddies run back to the fire and next pair cook a pancake.
Repeat a set number of times.
"IT" closes his eyes and a bead is given to someone in the circle. That scout picks it up with his right hand
and deposits it into his neighbor to the right's left hand. The bead moves along from hand to hand with
the beat of the chant.
"IT" opens his eyes and tries to detect who has the bead. If he points to the correct person, they switch
places. If he is incorrect 3 times, he switches with whoever does have the bead at that point.
You can keep score, but it's a fun activity to just pass some time waiting.
The goal is to help each patrol become a unit with goals and have each patrol member participate
and support the patrol. There may be a concern that the older scouts will have a huge advantage
in winning any competition with younger scouts, but most activities to gain points are based on
participation and not on beating other patrols.
Troop games and skill contests should keep patrol members together whenever possible. Unless
there are such lopsided teams that it would make the game no fun, each patrol should be a
separate team. If only two teams are needed, entire patrols should be combined and not split
unless absolutely necessary.
Patrol Activities:
Patrol Flag 3 points for each troop meeting/camping at which a patrol displays its flag. If a
patrol does not have its flag present, it can receive no other points for that
meeting or event.
Patrol Yell 3 points for each troop meeting/camping at which a patrol gives its yell for
attendance.
Troop meeting 1 point per 10% of patrol attendance. 100% = 10 points (fair regardless of
attendance patrol size)
Troop camping
1 point per 10% of patrol attendance. 100% = 10 points
attendance
PLC Meeting 5 points for Patrol Leader or substitute in attendance
Uniform
0 to 3 points per scout, determined by inspector, at each uniform inspection.
Inspection
Troop Games 1 to 10 points for participating in and winning troop games at meetings and
outings.
Leading
1 to 10 points for preparing and leading new games, songs, or skits.
Activities
Patrol Meetings 1 point per 10% attendance at patrol meetings – turn in attendance sheet and
meeting minutes for verification. Two meetings per month max with scouting
activity theme.
Patrol Good Turn 5 to 30 points. Document project and member attendance.
Patrol gets smores, stuffed apples, banana boats, or dutch oven pie on next campout
Custom Choice – request something else and see if the SM goes for it.
Required:
pennies
Notes:
When taking a travel stop on a trip, this activity is enjoyed by scouts while waiting for the rest of the
troop to finish up.
At any point on a hike or while outside, such as finishing a rest stop or eating lunch or when crossing a
large open field, have the scouts stop and stand.
Tell everyone that on the count of 3, they should turn and point due north. Then, count 1, 2, 3.
Using a compass, indicate which direction is actually north so each scout can judge himself on how well
he did.
You might want to ask those that were very close how they determined which way was north so the
others can learn
a stream
a bridge over the stream
some sticks, leaves, or pinecones
As Winnie the Pooh discovered, Pooh Sticks is a contagious activity that is fun to play for quite a long
time. The basic activity is very simple, thus making it fun for anyone to play.
A bridge for a busy road is a bad idea. A bridge in the country with no traffic is best.
As people tend to do, Pooh Sticks has gotten a little too serious in some places. It could be an interesting
fundraising event as the Rotary Club of Sinodun had done with their World Pooh Sticks Championship.
He had just come to the bridge; and not looking where he was going, he tripped over something, and the
fir-cone jerked out of his paw into the river.
"Bother," said Pooh, as it floated slowly under the bridge, and he went back to get another fir-cone
which had a rhyme to it. But then he thought that he would just look at the river instead, because it was
a peaceful sort of day, so he lay down and looked at it, and it slipped slowly away beneath him ... and
suddenly, there was his fir-cone slipping away too.
"That's funny," said Pooh. "I dropped it on the other side," said Pooh, "and it came out on this side! I
wonder if it would do it again?" And he went back for some more fir-cones.
It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at once, and leant over the bridge to see which of
them would come out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same size, he didn't know if
it was the one which he wanted to win, or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and
one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what he had said it would do, and the little one
came out last, which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice.
Then, have everyone mingle and shake hands with other scouts they meet. If your number is 1, you only
shake once when you meet someone. If your number is 2, shake twice.
If you meet someone that shakes the same number of times as you, stay with them and continue to
mingle as a pair, looking for others with your same number.
Reflect: How did it feel when you met a different number and one of you tried to stop while the other
continued shaking?
How did it feel when you met someone with the same number?
How many people are there with 1, 2, and 3? Did we divide up pretty much evenly?
Preparation:
Define a starting line and a finish line about 10-15 feet away.
Lay the sheets of paper down in single file at the starting line and perpendicular to it - number of people
X 2 + 1 sheets.
Notes:
Patrols line up single file at the starting line with the first scout standing on the first two sheets of paper,
the next scout on the next two, and so on.
There should be one extra sheet of paper at the end of the line.
On the 'GO' signal, the last scout picks up the extra sheet of paper and passes it up to the lead scout.
The lead scout moves his rear foot forward onto the new piece of paper.
All other scouts follow suit so there is an empty sheet at the end again.
Sheets continue to be passed up as the patrol makes its way to the finish line.
After trying it once, reflect on different ways to improve the time and try again.
This is a fun way to review or evaluate the skills of semaphore flags, morse code, or other information
relay methods.
Run this activity around the outside of a building or lay out a course where different members of teams
can not see each other.
Each patrol has one member at the starting point which would be just right side of a corner of the
building. Another team member stands at each corner of the building. The final member stands just to
the left side of the corner where the starting point is placed.
The game leader gives the first member of each patrol a message which he must relay to the team
member at the corner ahead of him. This scout relays it to the next corner, and so on until the message
gets to the final team member. He tells the message to the game leader and receives points based on the
correctness of the message. Bonus points can be given for speed too.
The message can be relayed with morse code by flashing a flashlight, holding an arm up, out, or down, or
some other visual method. Semaphore flags or hand positions can be used to relay each letter. Or, you
could use the pony express system and have each scout run the entire message to the next scout to relay
on.
The best-skilled scouts should be at the start and end positions. Relayers really just need to mimic
whatever they see the scout ahead of them do.
Patrol Coup Sticks Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
This is an ongoing activity for a troop to use to build patrol spirit and help each scout participate and
support his patrol. Patrols accumulate beads and attach them to their patrol flag staff.
In January of each year, which tends to be a slower time of year anyway, have a party to review patrol
accomplishments, determine which patrol has the most awards, and start a new year of awarding.
Have a segregated box of colored beads with each bead having a different meaning.
Give each patrol an 18 inch leather tong to tie onto their patrol Flag.
At every troop meeting, each patrol leader reports on the activities and accomplishments of his patrol
since the last troop meeting. When a patrol leader reports, he picks beads from the box or the ASPL
hands them over and the patrol can attach them to their leather tong.
aqua individual national or council award (50-miler, emergency prep, LNT, ... )
Service - member joins OA, 100% participation in troop service project, holds a patrol Service
red
Project or Good Turn (pre-approved by PLC or SM)
green Woodcraft - instructed a skill, led a game, or other woodcraft exceptional recognition
black long-term camping - 1 for each scout at Philmont, Seabase, summer camp, backpacking, ...
3-month Spirit Award use clear bead. See Patrol Spirit Competition activity.
By the time the patrol ages out, their flagpole should be covered with beads, feathers, and bells.
Create a meaningful staff for your den or patrol's flag. Hang awards and mementos from the staff that
the group has acquired. Keep the staff with the scouts as they advance together.
Prepare the staff by leaving it natural, or removing the bark, sanding, and varnishing.
Lash a crosspiece near the top for the patrol flag.
Drill holes every 3 or 4 inches starting at the top. Attach a 1 foot loop of leather lace in each hole. Hang
ribbons and awards from these loops.
The Scout Shop sells staff medallions for each rank from Tiger to Eagle. You could purchase and attach
one of these as the den or patrol advances in rank.
Feathers, leather fobs, and other items can be added for patrol campouts, hikes, or other events.
This activity should not be scored since there are so many variables.
Each patrol makes the longest rope possible using things they have in their pockets and on their bodies -
belts, neckerchiefs, socks, ...
Would be good to set a rule that pants can not be used just to be sure and for a quick laugh before
starting.
couple bags of individually wrapped candies. Have 3 different colors - red, blue, green.
Notes:
For each patrol, mark off a large area of ground, maybe 30 by 50 feet. In each area, distribute 15 red
candies, 3 blue candies, and 1 green candy.
The goal is for each patrol to police their area and recover all the candies in the shortest time.
You may set a time limit and determine the winner as the patrol that has collected the most in the time.
The ground cover and how hard you hide the candies in different areas can give some patrols an
advantage so be careful or use that to even out the chances for less experienced scouts.
Rules:
Once the lifting begins, no one can enter the safety zone.
Everyone on the team must have at least one hand on the rope.
The weight must be raised four feet from the ground on the up-stroke.
The weight must drop to less than 1 foot from the ground on the down-stroke.
The weight can not touch the ground on the down-stroke.
The team should spend some time planning how to hook up the pulley, hook up the
weight, and set up their team of lifters.
Then, implement the plan and let the timer know when they are ready to start lifting.
Reflect:
o What did you learn from this activity?
After reflecting, the team should have the opportunity to try again.
Instructions: Every patrol gathers all of its tents, tarps, patrol box, flag, sleeping bags, packs,
and whatever else they need as if they are heading out on a weekend campout.
Each patrol is given an area in which they are to set up camp.
At the 'GO' signal, each patrol lays out their camp, defines firering, sets up tents, and puts
personal sleeping gear in tents.
Rather than having a race to see who finishes first, set an alloted time of 20 minutes to complete
the task. When time is up, unbiased judges (or all patrol leaders) check each campsite for quality.
During the activity, the Quartermaster can be taking an inventory. Missing items since the last
inventory can be replaced, but will cost a deduction in that patrol's score.
Required:
Notes:
Have each patrol leader write down the numbers 1 through 10 on his paper for a pop quiz.
Read each question and give patrols 20 seconds to discuss it and write down their answer. You can
repeat the question if someone asks, except for #10.
Be sure to speak loudly and clearly.
1: Some months have 31 days, some months have 30 days, how many months have 28 days?
2: If you had one match, and entered a completely dark room where there was an oil lamp, an oil heater,
and some kindling wood which would you light first?
3: If a doctor gave you three pills and told you to take one every half hour, how long would the pills last?
4: If a farmer had 17 sheep, and all but 9 die, how many sheep has the farmer got left?
5: A man built a house with 4 sides, it is rectangular with all sides facing south, along walks a bear, what
color is it?
6: If you take two apples away from three apples, how many apples do you have?
7: According to the bible, how many of each species did Moses take onto the ark?
8: If you were to dig a hole, 1 meter long, by 1 meter wide, and one meter deep, how much soil would
there be in the hole in meters cubed?
10: Listen carefully, I will not repeat this one - A garden had exactly 50 different kinds of flowers,
including 10 kinds of roses, 3 kinds of sweet peas, 2 kinds of alyssum, 5 kinds of carnations, 3 kinds of
zinnias, 8 kinds of poppies, 4 kinds of snapdragons, 5 kinds of gladiolus, and 6 kinds of phlox. How many
different kinds of flowers did the garden have?
1. Divide 30 by a half, then add 10. What is the result? (70. 30 / 1/2 = 60 + 10 = 70)
2. Which four words appear on every U.S. coin? (In God We Trust)
3. I have in my hand two U.S. coins. One of them is NOT a nickel. What are the two coins? (A half dollar
and a nickel. One of them is not a nickel, but the other one IS.)
4. A woman gave a beggar 50 cents. The woman is the beggar's sister, but the beggar is not the woman's
brother. How is this possible? (the beggar is a woman)
5. Why can't a man living in the U.S.A. be buried in Canada or Mexico? (because he is alive)
6. How many outs are there in an inning? (6 - 3 on each team)
7. How many 2-cent stamps are there in a dozen? (12)
8. A man tells you "Everything I say to you is a lie." - is he lying or telling the truth? (He is lying. Since he
is lying when he says 'everything', he can tell the truth sometimes, but this is not one of them. Or, its
obvious that he can't be telling the truth, so the only choice left is a lie)
9. If you were running a race and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?
(2nd place)
Required:
Log section 8 inches in diameter and 8 inches long (or, a big tin can 3/4 full of water).
8 ropes - 12 feet long.
2inch wide rubber band cut from old inner tube.
Preparation:
Notes:
Goal: Transport the radioactive container to a safe disposal site without spilling it or touching it.
Alternative: Have 3 or 4 containers to move and see how many can be moved in a set time.
Use cans of water outside and try not to spill any while transporting.
Can be played as a game between patrols.
When the team feels they have created the shape, they can all open their eyes and see how it
looks.
Ask if there are any questions about the rules. They can talk if they want.
After trying a triangle, reflect on how it is going. Is there a leader? Are people cooperating? Is
there 2-way or 1-way or 0-way communication?
Then, allow the patrol leader to have his eyes open while giving directions and see how much
better the group does making an hourglass.
(It is easy to create any flat sided shape. Tell everyone to just hold onto the rope but do not put
pressure on moving it in any direction. Then, to make a triangle, call out 3 names and have them
pull the rope slowly out from the center as far as they can. If everyone else just goes where the
rope pulls them, it works.)
Required:
Per patrol:
6 staffs or poles, 6 feet long
4 pieces of rope or cord, 6 feet long
20 feet of twine
1 #10 size can
1 1/2inch metal nut
Preparation:
Notes:
Goal: Transport a radioactive reactor core to a safe disposal site using your self-made transporter.
Each patrol uses their materials to construct a tripod pyramid by lashing the poles together.
The reactor is hung by the twine from the top of the pyramid so it hangs freely.
The transporter is moved to the 'safe zone' - the finish line about 100 feet away.
If the reactor bell sounds, there was too much jarring and the patrol must return to the starting line to
begin the transport again.
Required:
an area at least one mile in length - a boy scout camp works well.
a map of the area for each patrol.
adult leaders playing the roles of enemy soldiers, in pairs with a whistle for each pair.
One or two adults with a list of person names and a flag.
Preparation:
Send the adults with list of names to a predefined location about 10 minutes before the game. They post
their flag and remain there for the game, marking names and times as people arrive.
5 minutes before the game, send the adult enemy soldiers in pairs out to roam the area between the
start and outpost.
Notes:
This activity is best for use at camp where you have detailed maps of the area available.
The SPL needs to know the scenario, but all other scouts should be unaware to make it more interesting.
This may take from 1/2 to 2 hours, so you may set a time limit.
A friendly military outpost is in need of help and a military messenger on his way to the nearest garrison
comes across your Scout camp. The Senior Patrol Leader calls a Patrol Leaders' Council to hear what he
has to say. The messenger gives a quick report of the situation and hands out rough maps explaining the
location of the distressed outpost. He also says there are enemy scouts keeping a lookout between here
and the outpost.
If your patrols can quickly reach the outpost, they may be able to hold out until the messenger returns
with reinforcements from the garrison.
The goal is for each patrol leader to lead his patrol to the outpost as fast as possible without being seen
by any enemy. They will know the outpost because it has posted a flag.
The enemy are all adults armed with whistles. When an enemy sees a scout, he blows a whistle and
points at the scout. This means that scout is captured. If the scout is in the open and obvious, he must
immediately come to the enemy. If he is trying to hide and is not sure that it was he that has been
captured, he may remain still until the enemy comes to him and he is sure of capture. This may or may
not be a good choice depending on if he has patrol mates around him.
When a scout is captured, he should walk directly to the outpost with no attempt at hiding.
When a scout arrives at the outpost, he tells the leader there whether he is free or captured and the
leader marks his time on the list of scouts.
The patrol that gets the most free scouts to the outpost in the least time wins.
Reverse-o Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts, Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
6 to 10 scouts. If more than 11 scouts, break into teams of 6 to 8.
Sheets of paper or markers that scouts can stand on. Need number of scouts on a team plus 1.
Notes:
This is a teamwork, cooperation, thinking activity rather than a physical one.
Lay out markers in a line.
Have half the patrol stand on markers on one side while the other half stand on the other end.
There should be one empty marker between the two halves of the patrol.
Rules:
1. a scout can move forward or backward
2. a scout can move only one step to an empty marker or around one scout to an empty
marker.
Once the pattern is discovered, the scouts leap-frog around each other easily.
Reflection:
Were you successful?
Did someone take charge? What did they do?
Required:
a blindfold
30-40 foot rope
hula hoop or similar circular object
1x1 foot marker for each participant - a sheet of paper works.
Preparation:
Place the markers randomly around the play about 3 or 4 feet apart.
Place the pile of rope in about the center of the area, within reach of at least one marker.
Notes:
Good way to see that in a team, some of the most important jobs are not necessarily the leaders.
Success relies on constant communication.
If the group is too large, participants get bored standing on their marker waiting to be involved.
Challenge #1: Everyone must have 2 hands on the rope and the rope can not cross over itself.
When Challenge #1 is complete, put the blindfold on the volunteer, give him the hula hoop, and guide
him to one end of the rop.
Challenge #2: The hula hoop must pass from one end of the rope to the other without touching the rope
or anyone standing on a marker.
Reflect:
How much teamwork was required?
Who was the leader?
Did leadership change through the challenge? How?
Who had the most important job?
Did the hoop carrier lead or follow?
Required:
One 2 or 3 foot rope for each scout
Preparation:
Mark a starting line behind which the patrol will line up.
Set up a short course around trees or cones for the patrol to navigate.
Once the patrol is tied and ready, give them 2 minutes to come up with a plan on how they will navigate
the course.
Give them 2 minutes to refine their plan and run the course again.
Reflect: Synchronizing steps is critical to success. A good plan with good execution and tight teamwork is
necessary.
Did someone take leadership?
Were ideas discussed?
Was the 2nd time faster? Why or why not?
Did everyone on the team give a good effort?
Alternative: Run this as a race between patrols. Add obstacles such as having the patrol go through a
hula hoop or get over a barrier.
Each pair only play one round and the loser goes behing the winner, puts his hands on his shoulders and
follows him around to his next duel.
At each duel, the losing scout (and his snake tail) attach to the end of the winner's snake.
After a few rounds, there will be two long snakes dueling each other for the win.
This is a fun way to keep those that lost involved in the game and part of the winning team up to the
end.
Radioactive Transport Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
Preparation:
tie the 8 ropes together to make a star and place the plywood on top with the can sitting on it. Or, tie
each rope through a hole in the plywood which makes the activity easier.
Notes:
Goal: Transport the radioactive waste to a dumping station without getting too close to it or spilling it.
Each scout holds onto a rope and together, the patrol lifts the platform and moves the can to the finish
line.
A map is needed of the wide area with locations marked where volunteers can be found waiting
with ingredients.
Each patrol explores each location, looking for a recipe. When they find a recipe, they can then
go back to other locations and ask for specific amounts of ingredients.
You need to decide if a patrol must stay together or can divide into buddy pairs.
Getting Ready:
At kitchen area for each patrol, have pocketknife, baggie, 3 sheets aluminum foil, and paper
plate.
Also have a backpacking stove and matches for each patrol OR have one large cooking fire
already burning for all to cook on.
Items to distribute to 8 volunteers (all of one item with a single person):
Copies of recipe
Block of cheese from which they cut a slice
Loaf of bread, unsliced is better so they need to bring knife and get two slices
Package of ham, unsliced is better so they need to cut a slice
2 sticks of butter, from which they cut as much as they want
1 dozen eggs – 1 egg per patrol
Container of salt, bottle of hand sanitizer (this volunteer should track which patrols use
sanitizer and report to judge at end)
Cook 1 egg
Heat one slice of ham
Melt one slice of cheese
Toast two pieces of bread
Assemble egg, meat, cheese, bread into sandwich and serve
The judge and/or his helper award points for first, second, third patrol that deliver the sandwich,
as well as points for taste, presentation, and safe cooking practices.
Rules:
1. Can use only the materials listed.
2. If a scout steps in the water, a time penalty is given.
Preparation:
The scout in the middle closes his eyes and the scouts on the circle move the ring around until the game
leader tells the scout in the middle to open his eyes.
The scout in the middle tries to guess where the ring is while the scouts on the string try to secretively
move it around.
When the scout guesses correctly, he switches places with the one who had it.
Good game for gathering time as people can join in at any time and there is no scoring.
Tell the scouts that you'd like to hike to the store to buy everyone a candybar.
But, you'd like to leave the route we take up to chance.
Explain how the hike will go:
One buddy pair will start out leading.
At an intersection, the leading pair will do Rock, Paper, Scissors:
The next pair will take over leading until the next intersection.
Continue on the hike until you reach the destination or the time limit is reached.
Immediately return to the starting point, or some specified location where everyone will
gather.
Have the first patrol begin their hike. Once they are out of sight, start the next patrol. With
enough leaders and scouts, two or more patrols that depart from the same point will end up at
different places.
Reflect:
Can it be fun to travel without a planned route? (sure!...as long as you don't have a planned
destination)
Can we get anywhere without a plan, just leaving things to chance? (sure!...somewhere)
Are the chances good that we will get to where we want to be? (nope!)
Can planning actually save you a lot more time than it takes? (almost always)
Did anyone try to "throw" the rock, paper, scissors competition to achieve a desired turn?
When the team feels they have created the shape, they can all open their eyes and see how it
looks.
Ask if there are any questions about the rules. They can talk if they want.
After trying a triangle, reflect on how it is going. Is there a leader? Are people cooperating? Is
there 2-way or 1-way or 0-way communication?
Then, allow the patrol leader to have his eyes open while giving directions and see how much
better the group does making an hourglass.
(It is easy to create any flat sided shape. Tell everyone to just hold onto the rope but do not put
pressure on moving it in any direction. Then, to make a triangle, call out 3 names and have them
pull the rope slowly out from the center as far as they can. If everyone else just goes where the
rope pulls them, it works.)
Required:
pre-made questions and answers, segregated by difficulty for each rank - tenderfoot, 2nd class, 1st class.
Have lots of questions - see this List of Scout Questions
Preparation:
Arrange an imaginary baseball diamond by placing paper squares or cardboard on the floor.
Notes:
If you have more than 2 patrols, make a baseball diamond for each pair of patrols so you can have
multiple games going on at once. Use your oldest patrol as the umpires if needed or if there is an odd
number of patrols.
The Pitcher is a leader that asks the questions. He can also be umpire and scorekeeper, but additional
helpers for those tasks are good to have.
One patrol is in the field - put a member on each base, catcher, and then outfielders.
The other patrol is up to bat. One scout comes to the plate.
The Pitcher asks the scout a question appropriate to his rank. If the scout answers correctly, he gets a hit
and advances to first base. If he wants to go for a 'double' he can have the Pitcher ask a question of the
first baseman. If the first baseman answers correctly, the runner is out, otherwise he advances to second
base. At second, he can request that the second baseman try to answer the same question or he can just
stay. This can be repeated at third and homeplate for a homerun.
If a runner is on first and a batter gets a hit, the batter and runner both advance one base. The batter
decides if extra bases should be attempted but the question is put to the baseman where the lead
runner is standing. (This gives 2nd, 3rd, and home more chances to answer).
Whenever a runner is coming home and the catcher needs to answer a question, he can get advice from
the outfielders.
If the batter answers the initial question incorrectly, it is a pop-up. All the players in the field can discuss
the question and the catcher then gives the answer. If correct, the batter is out, otherwise, it is one
strike.
Location:
Required:
Notes:
If you have more than 2 patrols, set up multiple gathering spots very far away from each other.
The goal is to reach the gathering spot at exactly the specified time while at the same time spotting the
other patrol before they spot you.
To indicate that the opposing patrol has been discovered, the patrol leader raises and waves his flag and
blows one blast on his whistle. So, patrol members need to be able to communicate, but don't have to
stay together as one bunch.
The scoutmaster or umpire declares a winner and blows his whistle twice to signal everyone to the
gathering spot.
Location:
Required:
optional whistle
two volunteers to be deer.
one leader to explain the game.
The Scoutmaster and one other volunteer play the role of deer out in the woods. They should walk a few
hundred yards away from the troop before the game begins and let the game organizer know the general
location where they will be. As deer, they should casually walk around the area, stopping occasionally to
survey the area around them for predators.
The scouts play the role of predators and try to stalk up to the deer without being seen.
If the deer see a stalker, they should quickly walk away from him. The stalker can then stay hidden, wait,
and then continue his stalking. Or, he can stand up, wave, and come to the deer having given up the task.
If a predator gets within 10 feet of the deer without being seen, he stands up and announces himself. He
scores points for his patrol. The rest of the game, he can walk with the deer, but may not point out
predators or influence the game.
When there are 5 minutes left in the game, the Scoutmaster should blow twice on his whistle to indicate
the game is winding down and to alert scouts to his location.
When time is up, one long blow on the whistle tells all scouts to stand up and wave. The closest ones to
the deer gain points for their patrols as determined by the Scoutmaster.
Secret Good Deed Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Now, every scout has the name of a scout for whom he should do a good deed. When he completes his
good deed, he reports what he did to the game leader and then picks another name.
This continues all day or all week with the game leader keeping tally of good turns done. If the leader
feels it was not an adequate good turn, he can tell the scout to try again. Or, if it was exceptionally good,
give extra credit.
At the end of the event, add up all the credits for each patrol to determine the Good Deed Patrol.
Skyscrapers Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Location:
Required:
Your patrol has been hired by a very impatient multi-billionaire to design the world's tallest skyscraper.
This skyscraper will have a heavy helipad on top for his personal use. The client that hired you wants a
model built in the next 15 minutes to show off your design.
Each patrol designs and creates a skyscraper and places their coin on top. It must remain standing with
no other support. They may use only the paper for construction materials - no tape or string or anything
else.
Scouts need to be respectful of the working space of other patrols and not create wind currents,
vibrations, or other interference.
You could have a reward, possibly the winning patrol receives all the coins.
Give each team 2 socks and materials. Tell them they have 10 or 15 minutes to create an original
skit and the actors to perform the skit.
After 10 minutes, have all teams get back together and have each one perform their skit.
Team Participation
General Entertainment Value
Rules:
1. All moves are made as a pair (two scouts move together)
2. Pairs may not rotate or turn
3. There can be no gaps in the final line-up
This can be done in 4 moves:
A B A B A B A B
A B A B A B B A
A A B B A B B A
A A B B B B A A
B B B B A A A A
Preparation:
Enemy spies are suspected in the area. They may try to communicate with other spies by leaving clues or
doing strange behaviors that other spies will understand. Your job is to secretly follow and monitor a
suspected team of spies. Report back everything that may help the Central Defense.
Instruct each spy team that they will head off from the starting point in a different direction than the
other spies. They should do the tasks about every 3-5 minutes as they hike across the camp and back.
They should also occasionally stop, hold their head up high, and slowly look around as if they heard a
noise or are suspicious of something. (This should give following scouts a chance to hide, especiallly if
younger.)
Patrol leaders are each given a notepad and paper. They are to record any strange behavior observed.
Each patrol leader reaches into a hat and pulls out the name of a spy team to stalk. They will silently stalk
that team, recording what they see and trying not to be seen.
When everyone has returned to the starting point, the stalkers show their records to the spies to
determine how many behaviors were correctly noted.
Spies take away points for each person they noticed following them.
Knots to Use:
Square Knot
Sheet Bend
Timber Hitch
Clove Hitch
Two Half-hitches
Taught-line Hitch
Alternatives to consider:
No talking or only patrol leader can talk
Use blindfolds on all or all but patrol leader
Rules:
The nest can not move.
The egg can only be touched by ropes
A scout can only touch a rope with one hand while it is touching the egg, but multiple
people can touch one rope.
Reflect:
What ideas did you have but decided not to use?
How did you consider and discuss ideas?
Who was the leader? Did leadership change?
What skills were used?
Did the team work well together?
Did everyone have a valuable job to do?
Notes:
If there is a concern that this is paying scouts to do good turns, then definitely don't use it. Keeping it
fun, and rewarding silly things, should help with that.
This activity takes place during a long activity, such as an all-night Lock-In or a Day Camp.
All leaders are given a set amount of Scout Bucks with the task of distributing all of it to scouts.
Scouts receive Bucks by getting noticed doing something helpful or winning a game or being a good
sport or singing a song or standing on their head or anything else the leader feels is worth a Buck.
Towards the end of the Lock-In, bring out the auction items. Scouts can bid on the things they want.
Scouts can combine funds with buddies or as a patrol to get a more valuable item.
Collect all the Bucks to be used again next time.
Jeopardy is a fun way to review knowledge of scouts at a troop meeting. You can use the Scout Skills
Jeopardy file of questions and instructions and make up more questions of your own for variety.
Scoutorama Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts, Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Your troop might want to put on a Scoutorama, or Scout Skills Day, for recruiting Webelos scouts. It's a
great way for Webelos to meet the Boy Scouts and see how patrols work.
If you'd like some ideas, read this PDF file or Word Doc documenting how one troop has developed their
Scoutorama.
Required:
Notes:
A simple message that uses many different letters and can not be easily deduced is good - like 'See the
brown fox'
This can use signal flags during day or morse code with flashlights at night.
Each team consists of a Runner, Reader, Sender and a Receiver, Writer, Runner. So, each team needs at
least 6 scouts. If you have less, you can combine Reader/Sender and Receiver/Writer. If you have more,
you can add more sending and receiving stations.
The leader stands at a defined location. The Runner/Reader/Sender (RRS) for each team is positioned at
least 150 yards away in different directions.
The Receiver/Writer/Runner (RWR) group for each team is positioned at least another 200 yards away
from their RRS group, preferably out of sight of the leader but able to see the RRS group.
The leader has an identical written message for each team.
When the leader waves his flag, the Runner from each RRS group runs to him, retrieves his message and
runs it back to his RRS group.
The Reader reads the message to the Sender who signals the message to the Receiver in the RWR group.
The Receiver tells the Writer the message who writes it down and gives it to the Runner.
The RWR Runner sprints the message back to the leader.
Points can be awarded for quickness and correctness. Or, if it is incorrect, the runner can be sent back to
request the message transmission again.
Required:
Notes:
This is a great winter patrol activity to build their snakes. Then, a winter outing that will take about 2
hours to build the course and throw the snakes.
Snow snakes are carved wooden staves slid across an icy stretch to see who can slide the farthest. This is
a native American contest that is great fun at a Klondike Derby or Winter campout that has snow or
frozen lake.
Build the Snow Snake: Each patrol or scout should create their own snow snake. The board should be
sawn and sanded down so it is from 5 to 7 feet long with a 4 inch long head. The snake should be about
3/4 to 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch high for the length of the body. The head should be from 1 1/2 to 2
inches tall. Using a 2x2 firring strip as the blank works well, or rip cut a 2x4.
You can drill eyes in the head and fill with lead or a couple bolts for extra weight.
The underside of the snake is rounded and the back is flat. The bottom of the head should slope up like
the front of a snow ski.
Each snake should be well sanded, especially the bottom. Then, painted and waxed for a smooth finish.
(One scout created a beautiful one by woodburning and then varnishing and then waxing.)
Building the Course: On the day of the outing, a snow trough needs to be created. Mark out where the
trough will be and pile up a long row of snow, perfectly straight, and about 2 feet high. The trough
should be as long as you can make it with the people available - 300 yards is not too long!
Once the snow is piled up, dig a V trough down the center and make it as straight, even, and smooth as
possible. (If you are doing this on a frozen lake, just digging a trough down to bare ice for the trough
works fine.)
Throwing the Snakes: At the start of the course, a scout holds his snake by the tail with the head resting
on the ground and gives it a big push much like a shuffleboard stick. Or, scouts can carry their snake and
take a running start before launching it down the track.
We have also created larger 2x2 snakes by cutting a 2x4 down the middle leaving a head at each end
something like this:
+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
| | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| | |
+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
One can each of: 7-UP, Sprite, Squirt, Slice, Lemon Lime, Mountain Dew, Club Soda, Ginger Ale, Surge,
Fresca, and/or other clear sodas.
One large cup for each can of pop.
One small paper cup for each player.
One sheet of paper and pencil for each playe
Preparation:
Give each scout a paper, pencil, and paper cup. Have them write down #1, #2, ... for the number of types
of sodas you have.
Take cup #1 and pour some of it into each scout's paper cup. They taste it and write down what they
believe it is.
Repeat for each soda.
When finished, tell which soda each number was and find out who had the best score. The winner could
receive a 2 liter bottle or some other prize.
To make it easier, you could have the empty cans on display so they know what the choices are.
Space Invaders Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
a dark night and a wide space with trees, brush, tall grass.
candle and matches
flashlight for each alien
whistle
Notes:
Space invaders have landed on Earth and will take it over in the morning. During the night, the aliens
sleep but they remain alert guarding their ship with their ray guns, but they are anchored in place while
sleeping.
The only hope for Earth is to destroy their spacecraft by setting it on fire.
The spaceship is a candle and matches placed on a rock in the center of the play area. Be sure to clear an
area around the candle.
3 or 4 aliens position themselves no closer than 25 yards from their spaceship. They must remain where
they are throughout the game, using their ray guns to eliminate earthmen.
Everyone else are earthmen with a goal of sneaking undetected to the spaceship and lighting it.
When the game leader blows the whistle, the earthmen begin to sneak in. They have a 20 minute time
limit to reach the spaceship. The game leader should call out how much time is left every 5 minutes.
An alien may only use his ray gun for a 10 second burst and then let it recharge for 20 seconds. When an
alien shines his light on an earthman, he is vaporized. He should stand up and move immediately to an
area set aside from which to watch the game. If he does not, then the alien can keep his light shining on
him as he walks up to him, with a referee if necessary. The alien may then search for other earthmen as
he walks back to his guard location. This should help earthmen play fairly.
The distances and times may need to be altered depending on numbers of players and ground cover.
Notes:
To clean up, have everyone careful set down their yarn and then just roll up the ball.
Required:
When all scouts are distributed, the game leader blows his whistle to start the game.
The objective of the scouts is to observe the game leader, noting down all his activity. They should also
attempt to get as close as they can to the game leader without being detected.
The game leader should observe the outlying land looking for scouts. Each time he sees one that he can
identify, he puts one mark by his name on the roster.
The game leader should also occasionally do obvious activities such as search through binoculars, read a
newspaper, use a compass, sharpen his knife.
If the game leader writes down all the activities he will be doing beforehand, it makes his job easier and
makes scoring easier.
When time is up, the game leader should blow his whistle and wave his flag to have all scouts stand and
wave wherever they are. The game leader should give points for closest pairs. Then, call all scouts in. At
that time, scouts get points for all activities they have written down and lose points for each time they
were seen.
Telephone and Bullhorn Activity
Required:
short rope for each team
Define a play area at least 20 feet across or use a large room if inside.
Create groups of 6-15 scouts. Teams should have the same number members and keep patrols
together if possible.
Have each team split in half with half the scouts going to each side of the play area. Team
members should be spread out on each side. If you have 4 teams for example, they should be
lined up on a side as 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4... The idea being that members of the same team are far
apart.
Telephone
The leader of each team comes to the game leader and receives the directions of the game. The
game leader either prints on paper or says the directions so only the team leaders can hear. Tell
them not to begin until you say 'GO':
Run to the center of the play area. Tie a knot in a rope, yell a color, drop the rope. Run to
a team member on the other side of the room and tell him to do just what you did. Tell
him that the last scout on your team should run to the game leader and say 'Ring-ring-
ring'.
Say 'Ready-Set-GO' and see how well the directions are followed and who finishes. Time how
long it takes.
Bullhorn
Using the same teams, have the team members get back in their starting positions. Then, give
these directions to the team leaders:
Exactly half your team will each gather one sheet of paper or 12-inch stick and bring it to
a location inside the play area. The other half of your team will link arms in a circle in the
play area, each scout standing on one sheet of paper or stick. When your team is finished,
raise both your arms.
Say 'Ready-Set-GO' and see how well the directions are followed and who finishes. Time how
long it takes.
You could certainly make the tasks as complicated or simple as you want. Using different tasks
and different leaders, this can be done every day if it's popular with a group.
This works best to have a separate area set up for each task, far enough apart to prevent seeing
another team perform the task beforehand. Have patrols rotate between task areas on a signal,
such as a whistle.
Once the scouts are in position, the person running the activity places props as needed. He hands
the task to be completed to the SEEer to read. He then tells the team to begin and starts the timer.
The SEEer uses hand motions and gestures to give the SPEAKer information to relay to the
DOer to complete the task. You may need to specifically rule out writing notes and texting.
If you have a series of activities set up, each team should be given a scorecard on which the
activity leader writes their time. At the end, the times are added and the team with the lowest is
the winner.
As teams learn, they may develop signs to improve their communications and teamwork.
There can be multiple SEEers if you want to keep patrols together as a single team, but then only
one scout tends to be actually involved and the rest watch.
Required:
Per patrol: 12x12 square of tin foil, 2x2 square of tin foil, box of wooden matches, 2 feet copper wire,
water, pinch of tea from a tea bag, sugar cube
They should build a fire on the tinfoil using only the matches (outside!).
They should create a thimble-sized cup from the small tin foil.
They should rig up a stand using the wire to hold the cup over the fire.
Put water, a little crushed tea, and pinch of sugar in the cup.
When the tea is boiling (or hot) call the judge for tea time.
Points should be awarded for first tea, but judge can also award for best tasting, hottest, best
presentation, most hospitable.
Reflect on how ideas were developed and shared as the task got more difficult.
Required:
A suitable treasure such as a 12-pack of soda, chocolate cake, supplies for s'mores, ten silver dollars, ...
whatever.
Preparation:
Notes:
This wide area activity takes some set up but is a great activity for patrols to work together.
After the set up is completed, put each map in a separate envelope and seal it. Write the patrol name on
each envelope. Place these envelopes at the defined starting point. It may be good to have an adult
keeping an eye on this spot until all patrols have picked up their envelopes.
At the lunch meal, pass out sealed envelopes to each patrol leader, instructing them to not open the
envelopes until exactly 2:00pm Also tell them to make sure their entire patrol is with them when they
open it because it contains information that may change the course of the world if not the universe.
There should be a sketch of the camp in the envelope with an 'X' at the starting point where you have
placed the envelopes. Also, instructions in the envelope should be:
Many years ago, thieves stole a valuable treasure. This treasure has been hidden somewhere in camp
and we have been fortunate to find an old route map made by the thieves so they could recover their
treasure.
You can find this route map in an envelope with your patrol name on it at the location marked with an 'X'
on this sketch of the camp.
You should follow the route on the map exactly to the destination because along the route the thieves
have hidden caches of supplies for the journey. You must recover all caches marked on the route and
bring them with you to the destination. You may consume any food items recovered along the way, but
all markers, containers, and wrappers are to be carried along.
Be the first patrol to reach the treasure and claim it as yours!
The leader should be at the destination to check arriving patrols. Every patrol should have 6 flags, empty
bags, and wrappers from candies. If they do not have their items, they may not claim the treasure.
Tripod Swing Lashing Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
Per patrol:
3 6ft or longer staffs or posts
3 10ft ropes
Each patrol lashes the poles to form a tripod with 1st rope.
Tie a bowline knot in the second rope and loop it over the top of the tripod.
Tie a bowline knot in the end of the 3rd rope.
Tie the 2nd and 3rd ropes together with a square knot or sheetbend.
Have a scout sit in the bottom bowline loop and not touch the ground while the patrol gives their patrol
yell.
Alternatives: Instead of tying a bowline in the second rope, just throw it over the top of the tripod and
have all the patrol pull on it to pull the swinging scout up and keep him up for 10 seconds.
Preparation:
Using the 1.5 inch bit, every foot on each board, sink a 1.5 inch hole halfway through the wide side of
the board.
Using the 1 inch bit, drill each hole the rest of the way through the board.
Thread a rope through each hole, tying a knot on each end.
Notes:
Place the trolleys on the ground, side by side. Each scout in a patrol stands with one foot on each board
and holds onto a rope on each board.
As a team, the group walks by lifting a foot and pulling that rope up at the same time.
If there are fewer than 7 on a patrol, tie up the extra ropes. If there are more than 7, some will not have
ropes to hang onto.
The goal is to create a sunburst shape of ropes to stakes around the central rope loop, as quickly
as possible.
Teams should:
Tie each rope onto the rope loop using two half-hitches
Pound each tent stake into the ground in a large circle around the rope loop
You may add a rule that each scout must do his own stake pounding and knot tieing, or allow
teammates to work together however they wish.
You could tell the patrols to tie their own rope loop with a square knot.
Score for correct knots (square, half-hitch, taut-line hitch), sturdy tent stake, lack of slack, speed,
and geometry of layout (consistent distance of stakes from rope loop and spacing of stakes
around circle).
The goal is to change places as quickly as possible without stepping off the pole.
Give time deductions for each ground touch.
After a base time has been set, have the team plan the next turn and try it again. Repeat to beat the best
time as long as there is interest and cooperation.
Required:
Notes:
Tie the rope into a circle so all scouts can hold it with about 18 inches between each scout. A smaller
circle for a smaller patrol.
Let each scout that wants to, have a try at walking the tight rope.
Rules:
Each scout must touch the animal.
Each scout must NOT touch anyone else.
Each scout must repeat the phrase 'Touch It, Not Me!'
Each scout must switch places with his partner.
Whenever someone wants you to repeat the rules or has a question about the objective - just
repeat them exactly as you said them the first time.
When the team is ready, give the 'GO' signal and time them.
After their first attempt, ask them if they'd like to try again. Repeat as often as necessary. As long
as they keep their same process, they will have incremental improvements.
Hopefully, someone will question the rules. Something like, "Do we have to stay in a circle?",
"Can the animal be picked up?", ... and each time you should just re-iterate the rules so they
discover that there is no rule against doing many things.
Once this happens, and it may happen even before they make an attempt, then huge
revolutionary improvements may occur rather than smaller evolutionary ones.
Reflect:
Who led the team?
How were ideas considered and discussed?
Were any incorrect assumptions made? What ones?
How much improvement was there from the first try to the best try?
When did the most improvement occur?
Trade Up Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:
sheets of paper
aluminum foil
nails
tiny silver bells
golden tickets
candy bars
This is similar to Great Investments.
The object of this activity is to have scouts figure out a progression of trades needed to reach the
end reward. You can use absolutely anything for the levels of trade, but it makes more sense if
they seem more valuable on the way up. Also, using things that are not easy to duplicate helps
and have the leaders keep items exchanged so they don't enter the black market.
7 or more unbiased leaders are needed to make the trades. Other than that, this activity works for
any size group. If you have many leaders, have multiple ones at each exchange level.
Each leader is given the set of items that he can give away. He is also told what a scout needs to
give him in exchange for the item. For example, a leader will give a scout a nickle in exchange
for a penny and reciting the Scout Law.
Once the leaders have their items, they should be distributed around the area. When the activity
begins, they can occasionally yell, "Get yer Nickles here! Bright, shiney nickles!" or some such
thing depending on their item to exchange.
To start the activity, the leader just tells the scouts that many of the people around the area have
free stuff to give away. The scouts just have to go and ask for items. Once they start, it becomes
obvious what they need to do.
steel nail - give aluminum ball and use the buddy system (have another scout with you)
silver bell - give steel nail and tell Scout Law
golden ticket - give silver bell and tie a knot (depending on rank)
candy bar - give golden ticket and do a self-inspection of uniform, noting things to fix
An alternate way to run this is to have a leader stand up in front with a big box of candybars or
other "items of desire" and announce that he has one to give away to every scout. When the
scouts say, "I want one!", he just says, "Sure, just give me a golden ticket - I'm sure someone
around here has an extra one."
Required:
Notes:
This is an especially good activity for an early morning when you have a lot of open grassy area covered
in dew. The trail of the hares is obvious across this terrain and people can follow it easily.
But, it can be played any time.
One pair of scouts are designated as the 'hares'. They always stay together and head out in any direction
they want.
After a 5 minute head start, the rest of the group follows their trail.
The goal for the hares is to reach a destination told to them by the game leader before the trackers catch
up to them. Their second goal is to make sure the trackers reach the destination.
The goal of the trackers is to catch up to the hares as fast as they can by following their trail.
The hares can drop pieces of yarn to mark their trail and the trackers should collect them as they follow
the trail.
When a question is read, the patrol writes down its answer as quickly as possible. The notecard is
then run to the scoring judge.
The judge puts a mark on the first card received to indicate it was turned in first. The judge then
checks the answer for accuracy, writes the score on the card, and puts it in a pile for that patrol.
When all the questions have been asked, the scoring judge tallies the scores and gives 5 extra
points for every notecard turned in first.
Use as many questions as you have time for and interest remains.
Maybe use 5 questions in a round and award a winner for each round.
Give 1 point for every correct item in a list. It might be better to NOT say the number of items.
For example, say, "Name the Beattles" rather than "Name the four Beattles". Astute patrols may
just run a blank sheet up to the front quickly if they know a mark for being first turned in is
worth 5 points and a completely correct answer is only worth 3 points. Or, do not announce the
value for being the first turned in answer.
Event Scoring:
Sit-ups in 1 minute:
o <30 - 1 point
o <40 - 2 points
o <50 - 3 points
o >50 - 4 points
50 meter Dash
o >8.5 sec - 1 point
Pull-ups
o <3 - 1 point
o >3 - 2 points
o >5 - 3 points
o >7 - 4 points
Long Jump
o <5ft - 1 point
o >5ft - 2 points
o >6ft - 3 points
o >7ft - 4 points
o <2:30 - 2 points
o <2:15 - 3 points
o <2:00 - 4 points
Record the score for each scout, add them up, and find the average for each event.
UnRavel the Group Activity
Notes:
Everyone in group crowds together into a tight circle with hands in the middle.
Grab a random hand with each of your hands to create a large knot of people.
Patrol leader lets go with his right hand, making two loose ends to unravel the group into a straight line.
Optional: Instead of having loose ends, try to unravel the group into one large circle without breaking
hand contact at any time.
Preparation:
Notes:
Each team draws a slip of paper from each of 4 bags to create the name of its Wacky Animal.
The team then has 10 minutes to draw that animal and come up with a 30 second speech explaining the
skills, characteristics, and value of their animal.
As leader, start with the ball. Say you are going to toss it to someone in the circle. When you
receive the ball, you should toss it to someone NOT right next to you and that has not had it yet,
and then fold your arms.
The last scout should toss the ball back to the leader. Then, go through the cycle once more to
make sure everyone knows who they are tossing to.
OK, let's try to speed it up. I'm going to step out so I can time the group. When the last scout gets
the ball, that will stop the clock.
Here, let me state the objective and rules to make sure they are clear...
Objective: Have the ball pass through the group as fast as possible.
Rules:
Each scout touches the ball only once.
The same order of scouts is used on every attempt.
See how fast the group goes. They may try a few times to improve their times incrementally.
At some point, someone may ask about moving out of a circle or if they have to stay in the same
positions. If not, you might want to re-iterate the rules and mention it says nothing about moving.
If they are stuck at a certain time, you could mention that a group of 24 should be able to get less
than 3 seconds.
Reflect:
Who took leadership?
How many different ideas did you try?
Did anyone have an idea that was not considered?
When did a big improvement occur? (completely different way to do it)
How will this affect the way you approach problems you encounter?
These are some things you might make to bring along to summer camp and make weird noises at night,
especially after some scary ghost stories were told.
Cut a 1/4 inch piece of plywood that is about 3 inches wide by 18 inches long.
Drill a 1/2 inch hole in one end.
Thread a 3/8 inch rope through the hole and tie a knot in the end to keep it secure.
Spin the rope round in a circle to make the Bull Roar.
Hold a 3 foot length of plastic hose and twirl it around to make a whistling sound. Different lengths and
sizes make different noises. Hoses with ripples, such as dishwasher drain hoses work better.
Poke a small hole in the center of the bottom of a #10 can or coffee can.
Thread a shoelace through the hole and tie a knot to the end on the outside to hold it in place.
Wet the entire shoelace.
Hold the can with one hand and tightly grip the shoelace inside the can with thumb and finger.
Pull hard on the shoelace, gripping it tightly.
As the shoelace slides through your grip, it makes a roaring sound.
The larger the can, the bigger the roar.
Required:
To use, tear the cardboard edge of a starter so it is easier to light. Place as the base of a fire and build
tinder, kindling, and wood above it.
Who Am I? Activity
Notes:
Pass the eyedropper around the patrol with each scout placing 5 drops on his penny each turn
until it overflows. When it overflows, he's out.
Chances are good that everyone will woefully underestimate the amount of water their penny
will hold. Some might 'cheat' and force an overflow right at their guessed number by touching
the water with the eyedropper. Well, he'll be the closest winner but will not get to participate in
the majority of the activity.
Reflection: Who did better than they expected? Did you set your goals too low? Do you think
we hinder ourselves from doing great things because we set artificial limits to our abilities?
Required:
Notes:
This is a simple activity that can be fun to fill out the end of a meeting and recap some of what went on.
During the troop meeting, one scout writes down memorable remarks made by others during general
conversations, announcements, skills instruction. He should write down the phrase and who said it.
Towards the end of the meeting, the scout takes the floor and reads one of the phrases. Any scout that
thinks he knows who said that should raise his hand. An unbiased observer should determine who raised
his hand first and that scout gives his answer. If correct, his patrol receives 2 points. If incorrect, his
patrol loses 1 point.
This could be used to reinforce a few important announcements or instructions made during the
meeting.