Scout Activities & Games

Games, activities, and program elements that make troop meetings and campouts engaging.

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Here’s a great idea from The Trainers Corner blog: A Scout games backpack is filled with games and various items for quick game ideas.

Father and Son Weekend

An early Father & Son weekend (early 1990’s?) 25 years ago our troop held our first annual father and son weekend.

14 things to do before you turn 14

In a partnership with Discovery Channel UK the Scouts association published this list of 14 things for young people to do before they are 14: Navigate using a map Climb a tree Make and fly a kite Cook a meal Repair a bike Camp outdoors with your friends Build a den (survival hut?) Put up a tent Ride a sledge (sled) Use a telescope to look at the stars .

Why do Scouts Play Games?

Scouting is a game, not a science.

Scout Cuisine (or Lack Thereof)

Boys are pragmatic vestiges of our hunter-gatherer past who see little reason to linger lovingly over the preparation or consumption of food.

How to Run a Good Pack Meeting

Although I concentrate on Boy Scouts rather than Cubs I have been both a Den Leader and Cubmaster.

Balanced Scouting Activities

What are balanced Scouting activities? This time of year I get colorful brochures in my actual mailbox (if you look outside your house there’s probably a little tin container that people put paper documents called ‘mail’ in periodically, it’s a quaint custom) and my email inbox from amusement parks, sporting venues, whitewater rafting companies and all manner of similar entertainments.

Bannock

From Bannock Awareness : … Bannock, is common to the diet of virtually all North America’s first peoples.

Things You Should Never Say at Scout Camp

TO ANYONE: I don’t think it could get any hotter.

The Thurman Throw

, named after Scouting’s own John Thurman , is a great game recommended by Walter Underwood Equipment: For each patrol, a Scout stave or broomstick handle.

Kim's Game

is a game of observation and memory.

Tug-of-War

Whether an athletic competition, ritual practice, or casual the tug-of-war tradition is many centuries old.

Do your Scouts like Camporees?

We attend a District or Council Camporee every three or four years because it takes that long for our Scouts to forget what the last Camporee was like.

Things Overheard at Scout Camp

Scout leaders hear lots of interesting things over the course of a normal day (if there is such a thing) at Scout camp.

Circle of Knowledge Game

Here’s a game to help Scouts with requirements that have a number of things to remember or identify For example First Class rank requirement 6: Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of native plants found in your community.

Study Shows Nature Walks Alleiviate ADHD Symptoms

This article from the New Your Times reports that children with ADHD benefited from short walks in natural settings.

The way to the brain, goes through the hand

Doug Stowe’s The Wisdom of the Hands blog discusses a saying I find particularly compelling: “The way to the brain, goes through the hand” This isn’t a new thought, but it is particularly relevant to Scouting.

Deer Tracking

I must admit that every once in a while I cannot resist this bit of fun (so long as it is not demeaning my Scouts).

The "Fire Snake

Some years ago a Scoutmaster, who would become a state senator, invited the camp director to attend his Troop’s campfire: “I’m going to show the boys the fire snake!” Fire snake? The camp director was more than curious and showed up at the appointed time to listen as the Scoutmaster related the elaborate legend of the fire snake.

Dutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake

There’s nothing quite like baking a pineapple upside down cake in a dutch oven.

Podcast Clips

▶ Episode 363 — THE PLAYERS of the GAME

Clarke discusses scouts as the essential volunteers in scouting — their simple motivations (hanging out with friends and camping), their role as the only indispensable participants, and a soapbox reminder that character development is the only goal that truly matters.

▶ Episode 311 — LISTENER PHONE CALL

Kevin Rhodes, Scoutmaster of troop 316 in Lugoff, South Carolina, shares a story about stepping back on a backpacking night hike when two first-year scouts arrived at camp without a tent, allowing older scouts to fashion an emergency shelter — and the memorable fox encounter that followed.

▶ Episode 260 — LISTENERS EMAIL

Craig Dixon on permission slip deadlines; Steve on homesickness prevention at summer camp; Bob on merit badge placement without a sash; Greg Gotcher on senior patrol leader patrol membership and troop structure for 16 scouts.

▶ Episode 248 — A SCOUTING NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Holiday poem: a scouting parody of 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' featuring scouts camping, a bear and his raccoons raiding the cooler, and a reminder to 'be prepared.' Accompanied by Pine Street String Band's Banjo Christmas music.

▶ Episode 83 — INTERVIEW

Mike Malone, ASM of Troop 466 in Sunnyvale CA and author of an upcoming BSA book on Eagle Scout history, and Life Scout David Bauer discuss their Lewis and Clark bateau expedition on the Missouri River in Montana, plus three prior once-in-a-lifetime troop adventures (Wainwright Walk in UK, Chisholm Trail cattle drive in Oklahoma, Civil War reenactment in Virginia). Topics include how to pitch, plan, and execute historically immersive service-centered adventures for older Scouts.

▶ Episode 59 — LISTENERS EMAIL

Blaise Vitelli, new Scoutmaster in Grantsburg, WI, asks how to encourage first-year Scouts to attend summer camp, how to address worried parents (especially moms), and how to handle homesick kids.

▶ Episode 45 — LISTENERS EMAIL

Alan on fun as honest challenge — the night hike as a real adventure for Scouts

▶ Episode 33 — STORY FROM CAMP

A parent's cell phone call overheard at the campsite