Scout Activities & Games on ScoutmasterCG Archive

Scout Games Backpack

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

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. As you can see from the picture, which has some of the contents of my backpack, there’s a lot of things that can be turned into games.

Among the contents are balls, balloons, note cards, spoons, sticks, ropes, game tokens, dice, and a really old cell phone (which I love – and it always gets a laugh). So now even if I don’t have time to research a game, I have one at hand. We can do a spoon and ping pong ball relay. We can do a game where you pass the balloon along without using your hands. We have bean bags that we can use for a bean bag toss. We have a great giant cell phone to play Guess Who’s Calling. And of course a notepad and pencil to keep score, or use for a quick game of hang-man.

Father and Son Weekend

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

An early Father & Son weekend (early 1990’s?) 25 years ago our troop held our first annual father and son weekend. We started the weekend as a way to invite dads that were not otherwise involved to join us for a weekend and see what goes on in Scouts. It has evolved into a tradition that our Scouts and families look forward to every year. When and Where For the past eight or ten years we’ve held the weekend at a neighboring council’s camp (chiefly because they have enough lodging space and a winterized dining hall) every February.

14 things to do before you turn 14

Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

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?

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Scouting is a game, not a science. - Baden-Powell Games suffer from a bad reputation. Why have Scouts play games? What about some serious learning? Aren’t games just fillers? Are they a waste of time? Fun has a bad reputation too; many adults think that learning is a rigorous, difficult, serious endeavor.

After all we want our Scouts to take things seriously.

Lighten up! Look at what happens when our Scouts play: Scouts Have fun!

Scout Cuisine (or Lack Thereof)

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Boys are pragmatic vestiges of our hunter-gatherer past who see little reason to linger lovingly over the preparation or consumption of food. Left to themselves I believe they would gravitate towards gobbling down whatever fistful of uncooked food was most convenient.

Prepared meals, as we know them, would grow ever more rare. As a matter of fact if it were not for microwave ovens and instant macaroni and cheese cooking would be in danger of disappearing altogether. The menus our Patrols develop for a weekend camping trip are studies of efficiency in time and motion.

Balanced Scouting Activities

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

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.

I get advertisements for merit badge fairs, specialty camps and other ‘canned’ activities too. They’d like me to bring my Troop to their venue for a day or weekend of fun and ‘adventure’.

How to Run a Good Pack Meeting

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Although I concentrate on Boy Scouts rather than Cubs I have been both a Den Leader and Cubmaster. This time of year I attend one or two Pack Meetings to welcome new Scouts as they cross the bridge from Webelos. At the risk of being curmudgeonly I offer these observations. The Pack Meetings I attend are almost always too long. One Hour, or better 45 minutes, is the ideal. Of this time allow a maximum of 20- 30 minutes maximum for speaking, awards, etc. Of this allow only one ‘business’ element (adult awards, Friends of Scouting, etc.). Don’t expect the Cubs to sit quietly with their parents. Let them sit right down front with their buddies and talk right to them.

Bannock

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

From Bannock Awareness : … Bannock, is common to the diet of virtually all North America’s first peoples. The European version of bannock originated in Scotland and was made traditionally of oatmeal. The bannock of Aboriginal people was made of corn and nut meal, and flour made from ground plant bulbs. … Some rolled the dough in sand then pit-cooked it. When it was done, they brushed the sand off and ate the bread. Some groups baked the bannock in clay or rock ovens.

Things You Should Never Say at Scout Camp

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

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

I don’t think it could rain any harder. TO THE CAMP DIRECTOR: Hey, can you turn on the air conditioning? Hey, can’t you turn off the rain? TO THE SCOUTS: Does anybody feel homesick? TO YOUR HUSBAND OR WIFE ON A CELL PHONE: Yeah, I get a signal right here in the campsite!

The Thurman Throw

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

, 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.

Procedure: The patrols line up in relay formation, with the patrol leader of each holding the stave about 5 feet in front of them. On signal, he tosses the stave to the first Scout in line, who tosses it back to him and ducks down. The patrol leader then tosses the stave to the second Scout, who catches it, tosses it back, ducks down, and so on through the line. The last Scout in line catches and tosses twice, and then it’s tossed to each Scout back down the line. Each Scout remains standing after this toss and catch.

Kim's Game

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

is a game of observation and memory. In Rudyard Kipling’s 1901 novel Kim the hero, Kim, plays the game as a part of his training as a spy. Kim spends a month in Simla, India at the home of Mr. Lurgan, who runs a jewel shopas a cover for his real work as a secret agent for the British against the Russians.

Lurgan tosses a handful of jewels brings out a copper tray and says: Look on them as long as thou wilt, stranger.

Tug-of-War

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Whether an athletic competition, ritual practice, or casual the tug-of-war tradition is many centuries old. The United States Tug of War Association web page features an interesting history of the sport, an official event in early Olympic Games. We are fortunate to own a 30 foot length of nylon rope that was once used on a tug boat that is three or four inches in diameter.

Using anything weaker would increase the danger of the rope breaking.

Do your Scouts like Camporees?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

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. At every annual planning conference I suggest to my patrol leader’s council that we include whatever Camporee or district event is planned for the next few months: ”What are we going to do at the Camporee?” they ask “I don’t really know exactly, they haven’t published a program as of yet.”

Things Overheard at Scout Camp

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Scout leaders hear lots of interesting things over the course of a normal day (if there is such a thing) at Scout camp. Many times even the most contradictory versions of many of these phrases are heard minutes apart. Have you seen my (handbook, merit badge book, wallet, towel, water bottle)? You do know where the shower house is, don’t you? (This is, You are) the worst (counselor, patrol, troop, senior patrol leader, patrol leader, scoutmaster, tent, bunk, breakfast, lunch, dinner) I have ever had!

Circle of Knowledge Game

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

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. For this particular requirement you’ll need to know how to identify ten native plants. Not a very daunting task with the internet at your disposal. Try Googling ‘native plants’ and your state and county.Take notes, print out pictures and spend some time acquainting yourself with the plants you’ve chosen. I’d aim for ten trees, ten wildflowers and ten other plants (in my area that’s common forest under-story plants, it may be different where you live). If you know thirty plants you’ll be able to find at least ten anytime you are out camping.

Study Shows Nature Walks Alleiviate ADHD Symptoms

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

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

I wonder if there are even greater benefits to a weekend in the woods? A small study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign looked at how the environment influenced a child’s concentration skills. The researchers evaluated 17 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, who all took part in three 20-minute walks in a park, a residential neighborhood and a downtown area.

The way to the brain, goes through the hand

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

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. (If you take the time to look at Doug’s writings you’ll soon discover that this isn’t just a saying; it has a scientific basis.) Are we at our best when we are telling, showing or doing? To my mind it’s the doing, the ‘hands on’ part of our work that is the most valuable.

Deer Tracking

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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).

There’s no ‘butt’ to this joke and everyone ends up laughing.

Bring a box or bag of chocolate covered raisins on your next camp out. Get up early and place a pile of them on the ground near where you will later take a nature hike.

The "Fire Snake

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0000

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. The particulars of the legend are lost to time chiefly because of what happened next.

Dutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

There’s nothing quite like baking a pineapple upside down cake in a dutch oven. It’s easier than you think!

Preheat the dutch oven until a hand held inside gets uncomfortably warm in five seconds.

While the oven is heating mix a box of white or yellow cake mix according to the instructions on the box.

Spread margarine around the whole inside of the oven. Melt about 1/3 of a cup of margarine in the bottom of the oven, add about 2/3 cup of brown sugar and mix well. Open and drain a can of pineapple rings, place them on the bottom of the oven.