I am a member of the Boy Scouts of America and a Cub Scout volunteer. One of the tasks I took on several years ago was to organize a Cub Fun Day event. With help and hints from the local paid Scout and several longtime Scouting volunteers, I decided to plan a rather old fashioned event. I wanted to do something on the line of family reunion picnic games. With as many as 100 or more Cub Scouts attending I had to come up with several “stations” for the boys to alternate through. Here I will describe several of the games we came up with for the boys to have a fun day.
Clothes Basket Relay
2 teams of 4 or more boys (just so teams are of equal numbers)
Each team has 2 baskets, one at each end of a distance of about 20 or more feet apart
Post an equal number of boys at each basket
To start the game 1 boy from each team puts on all of the clothing from the basket then runs to the next basket, takes clothing off and places into the empty basket. Clothing must be worn, not just carried, except for purses being carried on the arm. The next team member puts clothing on, runs to first basket and takes off, placing into the empty basket. Each team member must have all of the clothing into the basket before next team member starts. This continues until all boys have had a turn. The first team to complete the task, being all boys having had a turn and all clothing back into the original basket, wins.
To make this game real fun, and funny, the clothing supplied should be items borrowed from grandma’s closet. Along with a dress include a frilly hat, shawl and a purse also. We even included a brassiere. If the number of boys in the group is unequal encourage a leader or parent from the group to participate but he must take baby steps to keep the playing field equal. This game can be really hilarious, especially when the adults get involved.
Toilet Seat Toss
Practically all boys love tossing things or having a try at shooting hoops. For this game each boy will be given three chances to toss a toilet paper “football” through a toilet seat “hoop. The trick of this game is the “hoop” will be moving. The boy to get all three balls through the hoop will receive a special prize.
Materials for this game are really cheap and easy. As I wanted to buy a new toilet seat anyway I bought one for this game. I tied a rope through the toilet seat and then tied it off to an already existing basketball hoop. (A tree branch would work fine too.) This allowed for lowering the “hoop” to the level of 1st through 4th graders and it left it free swinging. I then bought a four pack of toilet paper. Each roll of toilet paper was wrapped with gray tape. I now had a homemade “football” and a hoop. The volunteer at this station would give each boy at turn at tossing three “footballs” through the hoop. We used tootsie rolls as prizes at this booth. Each boy is given 1 tootsie roll after trying even if he didn’t make any hoops. If he made a hoop he got an extra tootsie roll for each hoop made. The volunteer could slightly swing the toilet seat hoop or raise or lower it as needed for each boy. The boys all really enjoyed this station. Even some of the adults gave it a try.
Tank Wars Game
To prepare for this game create a circle on the floor or on the ground if you are outdoors, we played this game outdoors.
Team up the boys in pairs.
One boy from each team is a tank and the other a navigator.
Place all of the tanks randomly inside the circle and blindfold them using scarves or hankies. Place the navigators outside the circle with their backs to the playing field. A leader will walk among the tanks checking the blindfolds and quietly dropping missiles randomly on the ground among the tanks. The navigators should have their backs turned while the missiles are being placed in the ring. Items used for the missiles are small stuffed animals and/or nerf balls, nothing hard or sharp.
Start the game by blowing a whistle or yelling Go. The navigators turn and face the tanks on the start command. The object is for each tank to listen for his navigator’s voice and follow his instructions. The navigator cannot step inside the ring. The tanks cannot speak. The navigator instructs his tank to step forward, backward, bend down, pick up, throw high, toss low, duck, jump left, go right, whatever it takes to get him to a missile and to toss it towards another tank. Also, whatever it takes to keep him from stepping out of the ring or being hit. When a tank is hit he is out and steps out of the ring next to his navigator and watches the rest of the game. The team with the last tank standing is the winner.
Now reverse the rolls, the tank becomes the navigator and the navigator becomes the tank.
This game was a lot of fun and the volunteer at this station had to do a show of how to play the game for several of the groups using a few parents and leaders. Once the cub scouts understood what to do they played the game well and none wanted to leave this station. This station used 2 helper volunteers to monitor that the boys did not get hurt or peek. As you would expect this game can be very noisy and is best played outdoors. This game also takes longer to play so extra time must be allotted.
Bobbing for Apples
I’m sure most everyone has heard of the bobbing for apples game, however we changed it up a bit. Not wanting to get the kids wet or to have them sharing germs we decided not to have the apples in a tub of water. Instead the apples were strung onto a piece of fishing line and hung from a piece of clothes line. The boys had to hold there hands down at their sides and grab an apple with there teeth. Not as easy as it sounds, but it can be done. Some had to get on their tippy-toes and some had to bend down.
This game was the start of that groups snack time. A bit of preparation is needed for this one as the apples need to be washed and strung onto a length of fishing line. A heavy duty darning or upholstery needle works great for poking the string through the middle of the apple core. Once a boy’s mouth touched an apple that was his apple, but it was not taken down until teeth marks were seen. There should be several volunteers at this station and they should be wearing plastic gloves. Offer a gorp snack (trail mix), a drink and a place to sit for a bit and the boys will have a good healthy snack to fuel the rest of their day.
Some Thoughts
These fun activities could be easily adapted for other groups. Can you think of any?
Here are 5 I have thought of:
How about Girl Scouts, or
A 4-H activity, or
A church youth group activity maybe as a fundraiser, or
A child’s birthday party, or
A large family reunion with plenty of little cousins to keep busy and Aunts and Uncles volunteering at each station?
Keep in mind that teenagers make great volunteers for some of these games. Suggest these fun activities at your next youth community service planning event and have a blast watching children and adults alike laughing and playing together at little to no cost.
