Licorice Knots Activity
A Favorite Activity
Required:long shoestring licorice
Use licorice for practicing knot tying in a fun way.
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.
Alligator Pit Crossing Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:Per patrol: 4 15foot ropes, 3 10foot ropes, 3 6-8foot poles
Notes:A scout from each patrol needs to get across a foul pit teaming with starved alligators.
Each patrol assembles by their equipment.
On 'GO' signal, the patrol lashes an A-frame stilt walker using square lashings. They then attach the 4 guide ropes to the top of it.
One scout boards the walker and tries to 'walk' it across the alligator pit while 4 other patrol members steady it with the guide ropes.
When the patrol crosses the pit, they disassemble the walker, stack the equipment, line up, and give patrol yell.
Score for speed, teamwork, quality of walker, neatness of equipment.
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.
Location:This Activity should be done Inside.
Required:lots of M&Ms or Skittles
Notes:Good for inside winter troop meetings
Have all scouts 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.
Place a pile of about 20 candies by each pair, or in a baggie if you want.
Tell everyone that when someone wins a match, they get 2 candies.
Then, tell everyone to start wrestling when they are ready.
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If partners are close in strength, they make 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.
Balloon Artists Activity
Required:balloon for each scout.
marker that will write on balloon for each scout.
Have each scout draw a self-portrait on his balloon.
Put all balloons in a pile and then have scouts guess who it is for each balloon you hold up.
Have scouts draw a map of the world on their balloon.
Bid, Barter, Build Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:monopoly money - $1,000 or so for each patrol
various materials that people can stand on - paper plates, chairs, 2x4, rope, cardboard, garbage cans, garbage bags, tires, frisbees, whatever you can gather.
Preparation:Give each patrol their money.
Put all the materials in an area where all can be seen and inspected.
Notes:Takes effort to get the materials together and cleaned up, but good planning, problem-solving, plan modification, and teamwork activity. Builds patrol unity.
Objective: Get your entire patrol 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 people 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.
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Reflect:
How did your patrol 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?
Bomb Squad Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:a bucket (bomb disposal unit).
a tin can (bomb) with 4 dots painted on it or 4 short ropes tied to it.
Preparation:Place the bomb disposal unit about 30 feet or so away from the bomb.
Notes:Scouts will need to problem solve and figure out how to get two scouts to hold onto the bomb and not touch the ground so the bomb can be moved.
A mad bomber has placed a bomb by flag pole and your team is the bomb squad called in to dispose of it.
The bomb has 5 triggers:
one trigger on the bottom.
4 triggers on the sides.
If the bomb is lifted from the ground, it will explode.
If the 4 side triggers are held all at the same time, then the bomb can be safely lifted.
If someone holds a trigger and touches the ground, the bomb will short out and explode.
Your bomb squad must deposite the bomb safely inside the bomb disposal unit so it can be detonated.
Bowline Flood Rescue Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:30 foot rope per patrol
Notes:knot tying speed
Your patrol was camping on a hill when a flood rolled in overnight. You are now stranded on a small island and none of you can swim. Except your fearless patrol leader!
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 scouts must be rescued.
Give each patrol leader a rope.
On the signal, each patrol leader runs to the safe shore and throws the rope back to his patrol.
One scout ties a bowline around himself and is pulled across the flood.
Once safe, he unties his knot, and rescues the next scout.
Bowline Sheetbend Trust Lean Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:6 foot rope for each scout
Preparation:Have each patrol stand in their own circle, facing inward, with the ropes in the center.
Have each scout choose a partner across the circle from him. If there is an odd number of scouts in a patrol, the patrol leader will stand out or pair up with a patrol leader from another odd-numbered patrol.
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.
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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.
Bungee in the Bucket 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 foot piece of elastic cord
bucket
Preparation:tie the ends of the elastic cord together to make a huge rubber band bungee. Instead of elastic cord, you can just hook a bunch of rubber bands together into a 6 foot length and make loop of that.
Goal: Put the bungee in the bucket.
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:
Bucket can not be moved.
Everyone has to let go of the bungee within 1 second of the first person letting go - simultaneous release is the goal here.
Bungee must be completely stretched - might want to draw a circle that everyone must be outside of.
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 people and see if that is easier - perhaps some tasks require smaller teams. Delegation of jobs is a good leadership skill to work on.
Candy Grab Bag Activity
Required: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 Patrol Leader meeting or a fun way to distribute snacks at a den meeting.
Each participant 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 player 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.
Centipede Crawl Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:2 rope lengths per scout - 2 or 3 feet long.
Each scout is given his two ropes.
Patrol lines up with patrol leader at front of line.
On 'GO' signal, each scout ties a rope around his own right ankle and the ankle of the scout in front of him using clove hitches. He then ties the second rope on the left ankles using taut-line hitches.
When all scouts are connected, the patrol leader leads the centipede around a marker and back.
When they cross the finish line, scouts untie, line up, and give patrol yell.
Fastest time wins.
ChairBuilding - Teamwork 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 - 2 foot long 2x4
10 - 8D or 10D nails
pencil
sheet of paper
hammer
safety goggles
Preparation:Place materials for each patrol in work area, well separated from other patrols. Patrols line up about 30 feet away at start line.
Give hammer and safety goggles to each patrol leader.
Notes:Notice if patrols take time to plan their chair before starting to pound nails. See if they use the paper and pencil to communicate what is being built or if each person makes a guess when they get to the work area.
Object: Be the first patrol to design and build a chair and have a patrol member sit on it for 2 minutes.
Rules:
The chair must use only the materials provided, but not necessarily all the materials.
The person that sits on the chair must keep all body parts at least 1.5 feet above the ground for 2 minutes.
Only one person from the patrol can be past the start line at a time.
Each person must put on work goggles before entering the work area or they will be sent back to the start line.
Each person can nail at most one nail per trip to the work area.
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 person going back and forth.
The last person to finish the chair returns to the start line before the 'sitter' goes to the work area to sit.
Clove Hitch on a Tree Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts, Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Location:This Activity should be done Outside.
Required:20 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.
Compass Point Exchange Activity
This Activity is meant for Boy Scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Required:(optional) 8 staves or straight poles
Preparation:Lay staves 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.
Dark Walkers Activity
Notes:An Indian game to build spacial awareness and direction skills.
Scouts gather at the starting point.
Leader moves out about 50-70 feet.
First scout closes his eyes.
Leader calls out to scout to start walking.
Scout walks directly towards where he believes the leader is standing.
When scout believes he has walked the distance to the leader, he stops and raises his hand.
When the scout raises his hand or when he is close to being in danger, the leader calls out to stop and the scout stops and stays where he is. He can open his eyes.
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.)
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 team escape over the electric fence.
Rules:
Anyone touching the fence must start over. Anyone touching that person when he touches the fence also must start over.
If the board touches the fence, everyone touching the board must start over.
The trees are part of the fence.
No one may be thrown.
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.
Break group into pairs.
Have 2 scouts sit with soles of feet touching.