Trouble with the Car
Capital Area Council

30 cards with the following words written on them are shuffled then placed face down on the head table. Cubs line up to pick a card and read it as the Narrator reads the story and pauses for an answer. Cards that are used are kept by the leader, not to be used again.

A Den Leader            A Cub Scout           A Neckerchief

A Roundtable         An Achievement          A Cubmaster

A Webelos Leader       A Year Pin          A Pack Meeting

An Elective                 An Arrow                      A Patch

A Uniform                    A Skit                        A Craft

A Game                    A Ceremony                A Webelos

A Wolf                        A Bear                    A KISMIF

A Song                        A Den                         A Knot

A Promise                  An Akela                  A Banquet

A Pow Wow                 A Pack                    A Council

An alternate maybe to randomly assign numbers and have the people read their cards in numerical order.

Once upon a time, my assistant Cub Leader and I decided to drive out of town with our den for a picnic.  We loaded a basket with ________, ________, and _______ and other tasty things. Then we drove off with our lunch in an old car that belonged to a friend. The cap on the radiator was decorated with _______ and holes in the roof had been patched with ______ and _____. 

As we drive along, my assistant leader pointed to the side of the road. "Oh, look at that bush with _____ and_____ growing on it. Let's stop here," she said. We carried the basket to some shade cast by _____ and spread out _____ to sit upon. Nearby, _____ sang gaily in a tree and some low bushes had _____ and _____ growing upon them. Our den was having a wonderful time.  "There's nothing as delicious as _____ with mustard and relish," said our cubs. "Yes," I sighed. "However, it is getting late. Maybe we'd best start for home now."

But our car refused to go. The motor made a noise like _____ and then stopped. "Oh dear," said our leader, looking under the hood. "I think I see _____ and _____ caught in the gears." "Impossible," I said. Are you sure the tank isn't empty? Are you sure you put in enough ______ before we left home?" "Of course I did," said our leader. "It must be the wheels. We'll jack them up with _____ and _____ and then replace them with _____."  Our leader covered her dress with _____ and took _____ to loosen the bolts.

Just then a former drove up and asked if he could help us. "Looks like _____ in the engine," he said, tightening a bolt with _____. Then he stepped back and the car started. "I just connected _____ to _____, which had rattled loose."  We gave him the rest of our _____ and _____ to show our appreciation and drive happily home again.

The Big Race (Audience Participation)
Grand Teton Council

Narrator reads the following like a radio announcer with a lot of enthusiasm!

Divide audience into four groups.  Assign each a word and a response they are to say when that word is read.  Practice as you make assignments.

WHITE =               Whiz!

RED =                 Zoom!

YELLOW=               Zip!

BLUE =          Ca-Chunk!

The cars are ready.

The flag us up.

The race is set to go.

The flag goes down,

The cars are off...

They're running toe to toe!

The WHITE car is ahead.

The RED car goes by.

Here comes the YELLOW car now.

Here comes another one - it's BLUE.

Whew, it sounds bad, wow!!

The last lap now.

The RED car is leading,

The YELLOW car and WHITE car are close behind.

I'm looking hard �\ I see the BLUE car.

So far back, it's hard to find!

The finish line is just ahead.

That BLUE car is coming up fast,

I can't tell why ...

The crowds on its feet...

They're yelling -

The WHITE car, the RED car,

The YELLOW car, and the BLUE car,

HAVE ALL FINISHED IN A TIE!!

The Big Wheel

Divide the audience into four groups assign each group a word and a response when that word is read.  Practice the responses as you make assignments.

Big Wheel=                  Spin, spin

Canoe=                  Paddle, paddle

Airplanes=                    Zooooom

Cars=       Rattle, rattle, bang, bang

Caution there are a lot more Big Wheel(s) in this than the other parts.  Maybe you would want to make it that ALL respond when Big Wheel(s) is read.  CD

Man has invented may different things which go and have provided him with transportation down through the years. The Indian made his CANOE which took him from place to place and served his purpose well. Men like Henry Ford invented CARS which today are the most popular type of transportation. There were men like the Wright Brothers who pioneered the invention of the AIRPLANE. And then there is a group of people called the BIG WHEELS who really don't go any place or do anything, but they like to feel important.

This story is about one of those BIG WHEELS who just sat and spun his wheels and felt so important while he was doing nothing at all. Everyone around him was working on new and better types of CANOES, designing new and more efficient CARS, and designing and testing new and faster AIRPLANES. But our BIG WHEEL just sat around feeling important, not doing anything to help anybody, while everyone else was doing the work.

Somehow he always seemed to get by and fool people into thinking that he was important because everyone around him was making progress. The BIG WHEELS depended on their brains and energy to make him look good. Finally, one day something happened that changed things overnight for the BIG WHEELS.

Everyone who had been working on the CANOES, the CARS, and the AIRPLANES decided it was time to teach the BIG WHEEL a lesson. They were tired of him doing nothing except acting important. So they all became very busy and didn't pay any attention to him. When something came up, the BIG WHEEL found he couldn't rely on the others to answer questions and make him look important. Finally, the BIG WHEEL realized that he could not accomplish anything without help from others. He realized he was making no contribution to the world at all. He was just sitting there spinning his wheels while the others accomplished a lot of CANOES,CARS, and AIRPLANES. BIG WHEEL felt very bad.

It was a terrible feeling when BIG WHEEL finally realized something he should have known all along. If you're going to get any place in this world, you can't expect other people to do all the work. You must learn to do your part and drive your own CAR, fly your own AIRPLANE, and paddle your own CANOE.

Go-Cart Derby 
Santa Clara County Council

Divide audience into three parts.  Assign each group a phrase and an action to do when they hear that phrase.  Practice as you make assignments.

DOWN THE HILL       "Zoo-oo-oo-mmmmmmm" 

THE STRAIGHT AWAY         "Swooo-oo-sshhh" 

AROUND THE CORNER               "Zip-zip-zip" 

In a small town in the mid-west every year, there was held a big go-cart derby for all the boys in the town. This event was planned for many months in advance and was looked forward to with much anticipation by all the boys. The boys and their parents worked for months on building go-carts that would race DOWN THE HILL coast beautifully on THE STRAIGHT AWAY and go AROUND THE CORNER like winners. Each family worked hard to see if theirs could be the top winner in the derby. All over town, you could see the go-carts being tested DOWN THE HILL, THE STRAIGHT AWAY and AROUND THE CORNER. 

One day, as they were making their test runs before the big race, one little boy named Johnny discovered that if he went DOWN THE HILL, AROUND THE CORNER , he would run farther THE STRAIGHT AWAY before his

cart came to a stop. He had found the ideal spot for the race. After trying it several times, he hurried to tell some of the parents about this spot, hoping that they would hold the Derby there this year. 

Several parents came out and watched Johnny's go-cart go DOWN THE HILL, AROUND THE CORNER and on THE STRAIGHT AWAY. They agreed that this would be a good spot to hold the race, except that Johnny had overlooked one thing �| the go-carts were fine going DOWN THE HILL and AROUND THE CORNER, but it was when they came to a stop on THE STRAIGHT AWAY that they had problems. You see, they came to a stop right in the middle of a drive-in restaurant.  

The parents got together and decided to talk to the restaurant owner. As a result, the owner agreed to close his restaurant during the Derby race and the whole town turned out to watch the go-carts race DOWN THE HILL, AROUND THE CORNER and into THE STRAIGHT AWAY. What a spectacular race it was!  

After the race was over, everyone decided that, since the restaurant owner had been so generous to close his restaurant during the race, that they would all buy their dinner there that night. After all, driving those go-carts DOWN THE HILL, AROUND THE CORNER and into THE STRAIGHT AWAY had made all the boys very hungry, and the shouting and cheering done by the parents had helped them work up a good appetite, too. The restaurant owner was happy because he sold more hamburgers than he had ever sold in one day. 

An agreement was made with the restaurant owner that every year they would hold their go-cart derby in that same spot, with the carts racing DOWN THE HILL, AROUND THE CORNER and into THE STRAIGHT AWAY to the drive-in restaurant. They would all celebrate afterwards and buy those delicious hamburgers. So, you see, kindness  and consideration to others can make things go better for everyone. 

The New Car
Santa Clara County Council

Tonight I'm going to read a little story about a couple that go shopping for a new car.  But the story is really rather dull.  I'd like you to help me make the story livelier by joining in when I read certain words.  Whenever I say these key words, please follow these instructions; it'll help the story a lot!

• If you have blue eyes, whenever you hear the word BLUE pat the top of your head.
• If you have brown eyes, whenever you hear the word BROWN pat the top of your head.
• If you hear the word LEFT and you're left-handed, clap your hands.
• If you're right-handed, clap when you hear RIGHT.
• If you're under 20, stomp your feet when you hear the word NEW.
• If you're over 20, stomp your feet when you hear the word OLD.
• If you're a male, stand up when you hear MAN.
• If you're a female, stand up when you hear WOMAN.

At this point the Narrator should practice with the audience, calling out the cue words having them respond with the appropriate action. The Narrator begins the story slowly and picks up speed Narrator pauses after each key word.

One day a MAN and a WOMAN went looking for a NEW car. Their OLD one, which was a muddy BROWN was not running well. It LEFT much to be desired in the way of speed and safety, and they wanted another one RIGHT away. They wanted a bright BLUE one.

As they walked into the dealership, the WOMAN noticed a BLUE sports car on the showroom floor. "Darling" she said, "Look at that lovely NEW car RIGHT over there. Wouldn't it be perfect for us?'

"You may be RIGHT. It's a lot better looking than our OLD BROWN buggy. Unfortunately there's one problem. I've LEFT all my money at home," said the MAN.

"You LEFT it at home?" asked the WOMAN.

"Yes, it's RIGHT in the pocket of my NEW BROWN suit." said the MAN.

"Your NEW BROWN suit? Why I took that suit to the cleaners just this morning and I didn't notice any money in any of the pockets," said the WOMAN.

 "But I'm certain I LEFT my money in the inside RIGHT pocket of my NEW BROWN suit," the MAN said as he scratched his head in wonder.

"Now wait a minute. Are you saying I'm not RIGHT? Are you saying I'm lying about this? MAN, oh MAN, oh MAN! You have a lot of nerve!" shrieked the WOMAN.

"Let's not argue. We're here to look at cars, and that BLUE one in the corner is a RIGHT nice model. And just think, if we buy the NEW BLUE car, we'll never have to worry about our OLD BROWN one again!"

After looking at the price of the NEW BLUE-car, and figuring out what they could get as a trade on their OLD BROWN one, the MAN and the WOMAN decide buying a NEW car would be the RIGHT move for them. But before they LEFT the dealer, they started questioning their decision. Would they be better off with their OLD BROWN car if the NEW BLUE one didn't run RIGHT? Or what about a NEW BROWN one? How long before they thought of the NEW car as and OLD car?  and would they ever feel BLUE about trading in their BROWN auto? BLUE or BROWN, OLD or NEW, what was RIGHT and which car did they want to be LEFT with?

The MAN and the WOMAN were so confused that they decided to sell their car and buy themselves bicycles. And that's just what they did. And they knew it was RIGHT...LEFT...RIGHT... LEFT (The narrator continues alternating between right and left until the audience realizes they are applauding the end of the story.)