GAMES

Watch your step!

Alice, Golden Empire Council

This game takes note of the abundance of manure around a farm, and also celebrates cooperation, which is a much needed and used quality on any farm. It could be played indoors or out, and could pair boys as a team, create a team of each den, or team together a boy with a parent.

Materials: 

“Cowpies” to use as obstacles (Be creative making these!) Paper plates are okay but it’s a lot more fun to make your own “Cowpies” - Using a can of spray on foam insulation, form individual cow “patties” - form on sawdust and add more to the top for texture, and before each one dries, stick in a little hay to make it look authentic. They can also be spray painted if you wish. 

Farmer’s bandanna or Cub Scout neckerchief or fabric for blindfold.

Directions: 

ü  Scatter cowpies around the room or area.

ü  One boy is chosen to be “It” and will be blindfolded. 

ü  Another boy is his “guide” and gives him verbal directions to avoid stepping on (or is it in?) a cowpie.

ü  If parents participate, the parent could be either the guide or the one blindfolded. 

ü  Be sure and have a camera handy to catch the fun!

Farming Charades

Alice, Golden Empire Council

Using the traditional farm sayings in this packet, have the boys try acting out a saying.  This could either be just fun within the den, or you could divide into teams, with each team taking a turn to act out the saying and the other team trying to guess what it is.

Watering The Horses

York Adams Council

Needs: Paper cup half filled with water for each Cub.

Directions:

Cubs are in dens, and each Cub is given a paper cup half filled with water.  

In turn they race to a turning point about 10 yards away taking their cup with them. 

When there they turn round, kneel, put the cups between their teeth, and with their hands behind their backs drink the water. 

As soon as the cup is empty they get up and race back to their den, and the next Cub goes.

CHICKEN STRETCH

Great Salt Lake Council

Do not reveal the name of the activity until afterwards! It relies on an element of surprise. (great for pack meeting)

Materials needed: None

Play:

ü  Have everyone form a circle.

ü  Explain that it is important to warm up one’s body from head to toe before participating in physical games and activities.

ü  Starting with legs, ask people to try to get their knee to touch their chin.

ü  Try each leg alternately.

ü  Ask for 10 knee to chin touches. It is not easy, some can do it, and many can’t. Encourage every one to at least try.

ü  Then move to the arms. One side at a time, stick thumb under armpit and raise arm up and do a side stretch. Three times on each side.

ü  Then explain that it is important to warm up one’s vocal cords for group games. Ask them to make different barnyard noises ending up with turkey or chicken noises.

ü  Finally, put it all together - demonstrate and encourage - walking around raising knees in air, flapping both arms and making animal noises (at some point start encouraging the chicken noises) and you have a bunch of warmed up, feeling silly cub scouts and parents.

Rooster Fight

Trapper Trails Council

Materials: Bandanna or other scrap material for each child.

Set Up:

Make a circle on the ground about 8 feet in diameter.  Have each player tuck a bandanna in the waist of his or her pants.

Play:

ü  Two kids hop into the circle and try to grab the bandanna hanging from each other’s belt. 

ü  The trick is, they must not put down their other foot, and they must keep one arm folded at their side like a wing, grabbing only with the free hand. 

ü  Any player who puts his food down or grabs with his wing is out and a new opponent enters the ring.

ü  You may want to have teams, pairing up the kids and let them compete one pair at a time; to determine the winner, add up all the bandannas won by each team. 

ü  Alternatively, play round robin style, with each new winner taking on new players until he gets eliminated.

ü  Another element of fun you could add is asking each player to be sure he flaps his wing and clucks like a chicken.

Duck Foot Relay

Trapper Trails Council

Needs - Make two sets of webbed feet to do this race. 

(If this is a problem—when is it not? —
use two pair of swim fins.)

ü  To make the feet you will need a large piece of cardboard or foam core, an empty tissue box, craft paint, and glue. 

ü  Draw the outline of a duck foot (about 14 inches from heel to toe) on the cardboard and use a craft knife to cut it out. 

ü  Make the matching foot by placing the first one face side down on the cardboard and tracing around it. 

ü  Cut the tissue box into halves and glue them on top with the box bottom facing up. 

ü  Paint the feet bright orange or yellow.

To Race:  

·         Divide the group into two teams. 

·         On the far side of the room, set up a chair for each side. 

·         When the race starts, the first player from each team, wearing duck feet over his shoes, must circle his team’s chair and return to the starting point while quacking and flapping his arms. 

·         There, the next child in line puts on the shoes and goes.

·         The first team to finish wins. 

·         Be sure to involve the parents as racers, judges, or helping racers get in the feet.

Pennsylvania Pumpkin Pie Pitch

Heart of America Council

Equipment: Paper plates, hoop or coat hanger.

The Play:

ü  Suspend a hoop from a high spot such as a tree limb or the top of a door frame.  You could bend a coat hanger to a round shape for your hoop.

ü  Give each player five paper plates. 

ü  When it is his turn he tries to sail his plates, one at a time, through the hoop.

ü  Score 25 points for each successful try.

ü  Play tiebreakers as necessary.

Corn Shelling Contest

Heart of America Council

·         Give each boy an ear of field corn and a sack or bowl.

·         At the starting signal, the boys begin shelling the corn. 

·         The first player to finish is the winner.

Melon Ball Bounce

Heart of America Council

Use a bucket or large wastebasket for a goal. 

The object of the game is to stand six feet away and bounce a ball into the basket,

The player scores a point if the ball stays in. 

Players get three tries on each round. 

The first player to make 15 points is the winner.

Flying Tomato Catch

Heart of America Council

·         Fasten a cardboard ice cream carton or similar small box to the back of the waist of one of the players. 

·         Balance a 2 x 4 on a wooden wedge. 

·         Place a beanbag on one end of the 2 x 4.

·         The object is to stamp on one end of the 2 x 4 to make the “tomato” fly up in the air.  (You might want to have an adult do this part)

·         Then quickly move into a position to catch the “tomato” in the carton on your back.  Maybe make this a group game and have several boys all trying to get into position. 

·         Give everyone a turn.

Vegetable Stew

Heart of America Council

ü  Cub Scouts are seated in chairs in a circle with one boy in the center. 

ü  Leader assigns the name of a vegetable to each of two boys in the circle. 

ü  When the name of their vegetable is called, the two “corns or potatoes” run to change places, while the boy in the center tries to get one of the vacant seats. 

ü  When the leader calls: ‘‘vegetable stew” everyone scrambles to get a different seat. 

ü  The one left standing is “it” for the next round.

Farmyard

Heart of America Council

·         Each team or den chooses the name of an animal that is easy and amusing to imitate. 

·         All are blindfolded and scatter about the room. 

·         At a signal the animals start making their own noises to attract other members of their own team. 

·         For instance, the “ducks” start quacking as they wander around, if they hear other quacks they go in that direction. 

·         When two ducks meet, they take hands and seek other “quackers.” 

·         The first team to fully assemble wins the game.

·         This is great fun, but terribly noisy.

·         (This is a good game for pack meetings.

·         Try to get the parents involved in this one, too.)

Egg Relay

Heart of America Council

Equipment: 1 hard boiled egg and 1 yardstick for each team

Divide into teams for a relay. 

Mark a distance of about 25 feet from the starting line. 

Place the egg on the floor. 

The first person on each team stands upright and holding the yardstick by one end, must push the egg down and back,

He then passes the yardstick to the second person in line who repeats the process. 

The first team to finish wins.

Potato Relay

Heart of America Council

ü  The players are divided into two teams and lined up behind a starting line. 

ü  A carton of potatoes is placed at the feet of the first boy on each team and two empty cartons are on the finish line. 

ü  The first person on each team has a large metal or wooden spoon. 

ü  He digs into the carton, gets a potato on the spoon,

ü  The he races to the finish line, drops the potato in the carton

ü  Next he turns back to hand the spoon to the second player. 

ü  If a potato is dropped on the ground, it cannot be picked up with the hands, but must be scooped up with the spoon. 

ü  The first team to get all its potatoes transferred is the winner.

Barnyard Frolic

Baltimore Area Council

·         A hat or cap containing folded pieces of papers is passed around.

·         Each Cub Scout and Scouter takes out one, without opening it.

·         No one should open his message until the Leader gives the signal: “Open it”

·         When the paper is opened each player will discover the name of a barnyard critter.  Pig, chicken, sheep, cow, rooster, etc.

·         Each player begins making the sound of his animal.

·         The object of the game is to find those of your own “species” that is those making the same sound.

·         The first group to gather his entire “family” wins.

Poor Spud

Baltimore Area Council

ü  Mark a large circle on the floor with chalk or twine.

ü  In the circle, place potatoes, one fewer than the number of players,

ü  Play music as boys march around the circle.

ü  When the music stops, all players try to grab a potato.

ü  The boy who didn’t get a potato either drops out and potato is removed, or a point is scored against him.

ü  Continue for a specified time or until only one- player remains.

The Farmer Says

Baltimore Area Council

·         Play a game of Simon Says, but substitute the Farmer for Simon.

·         Use farmyard sounds and movements.

For example, the Farmer could ask the boys to flap their wings like a chicken, crow like a rooster, stomp their feet like a horse, drive a tractor, etc.

Barnyard Din

Baltimore Area Council

ü  Hide small objects, cutouts or wrapped pieces of candy around the room.

ü  Form two teams-the Cats and the Dogs-each with a leader.

ü  On a signal, individual players begin hunting for the hidden object.

ü  But only the leader may retrieve the object.

ü  When a Cat discovers an object, he must “meow” loudly enough to attract the attention of the leader, who then retrieves the item.

ü  When a dog discovers an item, he must “bark”.

ü  If the group is large, form additional teams of Chickens, Sheep, or Donkeys.

ü  The team that recovers the most items in five minutes wins.

Gobble Gobble

Baltimore Area Council

·         One player, the farmer, stands in the middle of the playing area.

·         The other boys, the turkeys, line up across one end of the area, the safe area.

·         The game begins when the turkeys leave the safe area to hunt for food.

·         When the farmer thinks they are far enough away, he calls “Gobble, gobble” and

·         He tries to tag the turkeys as they run back to the safe area.

·         Those tagged join the farmer in trying to tag the others for the next round.

·         Continue until all turkeys have been caught.

·         Last turkey caught is the farmer for the next round.

Seed Planting Relay

Baltimore Area Council

ü  6 cups or jars per team,

ü  One bag of seeds, pasta shells, or dried peas

ü  Team members follow a line, or rope on the ground, and walk heel to toe,

ü  Each team member must stop (about every 3 feet) and drop a seed in a small mouthed jar set near the line.

ü  When he reaches the end, he runs back and taps the next boy on the team.

Driving the Pig

Baltimore Area Council

A 3’ pole per team and a 1 gallon plastic milk carton per team

Fill each bottle with a little water as ballast.

In turn, each member of the team uses the stick to push the bottle (pig) to the end of the hall (fair) and runs back with the equipment. (Game not too suitable for varnished wood floors) Variation: Teams run laps around a grand-prix course around several chairs in a circular or (harder) figure-of-eight course.

Pass The Pumpkin
(Or other large Harvest Crop)

Istrouma Council

Purchase a small pumpkin from the grocery store.  Have the children sit in a circle.  Turn on Halloween music and pass the pumpkin around the circle.  Stop the music and whoever has the pumpkin is out. 
(A better way of playing it, is instead of the child who has the pumpkin being out, they have to make the group do something farm related – oink like a pig, moo like a cow.  If doing this near Halloween, have them do something "Halloweenie", like groan like a ghost, fly like a bat, cackle like a witch, walk like a mummy).

Halloween Games

Although not theme related I thought I would print a few Halloween Games.  CD

Mummy Dress Up

Istrouma Council

Let the children wrap each other in newspaper or toilet paper and pretend to be mummies.  See which group is the most creative.

Pin The Tail On The Cat

Istrouma Council

Cut out a cat shape from black felt. Use fabric paint to add the eyes, nose, and whiskers.  Cut out several tails from black felt and sew or glue the hook side of Velcro onto the end that attaches to the cat.  The hook Velcro will stick to the felt anywhere the children put it.  They play the game just like pin the tail on the donkey.

Ghost Hunt

Istrouma Council

·         Cut white construction paper into 4"x5" pieces.

·         Roll and tape to form tubes (these are ghost callers).

·         Make one for each child. 

·         Also make 2 construction paper ghosts. 

·         Show everyone the two ghosts.

·         Have children close their eyes.

·         Den Leader hides the ghosts.

·         Children open eyes and count 1-2-3 Ghost!  

·         On the count of "ghost" the hunt begins. 

·         The children who find the ghosts sit by the Leader.

·         Give them a ghost caller and let them make ghost noises for the next ghost hunt.  

·         The noise helps call the ghosts from their hiding places. 

·         Continue until all children are making ghost noises.