Games for Scouts

As part of a happy and healthy Outdoor Service Guides group, you should plan for your guides to have a lot of fun. One easy way to make every meeting more fun, is to start with a game! This is a list of games that work well for groups of guides. There are Icebreakers for the start of the year, or situations where everyone is getting to know everyone else. Games for scouting skills outside and some great games for inside.

Have you played any of these with your group? Be sure to post below and tell us which ones worked well!

ICE BREAKERS

Spider Web

Materials needed: Ball of yarn.
Take a ball of yarn and tie a loop at the loose end (this is to help guides hold on to it). Have everyone in a circle, one holds on to the
loop state their name and one thing about themself then tosses the ball (still holding on to the loop) to the person across from them.
The guide who catches it states their name and something about themself; they holds a piece of yarn and toss the ball to another guide.
This continues until everyone is holding a piece of the yarn.
Leader note:  this is a great activity to show the kids the troop/group to  connected. If you pull on the string while
everyone is holding on, everyone should feel the tug. Use this as a starting point for a discussion on the importance of
group cooperation and an individual’s contribution to the group.

Double That!!

Sitting in a circle everyone must come up with a word that starts with the same letter as their first name that would describe them
– such as: Ditsy Donna, Sneaky Sam, Independent Isabel, Kind Kevin etc.

Inside Games

Knots

Have everyone get in a circle. Each person grabs a hand of another guide. Each participant should have grabbed the
hand of two different guides members (one in each hand). As soon as all of the hands have been connected the team begins to
untangle the knot. Variation: Have 2 or more teams racing to see what team is the fastest.

Interview

Each guide finds a partner they have never met. During a three-minute period, they try to learn five things about each other by asking
and answering questions such as these: “where are you from?” “What is your interest in scouting?” “Do you have pets?”
“What is your name?” Each guide will present what they have learned about their new friend to the rest of the group.

Scavenger Hunt

Materials needed:
Pencil or pen for each participant
pre-printed scavenger hunt
Create a grid with squares about one inch in size. In each of the boxes put in a statement such as “find someone who has never
been camping,” or “find someone that has traveled to an OSG Moot or Hullaballoo” You can come up with any number of
categories. Give everyone a copy of the scavenger hunt and give them a set time to find someone in the group that matches the
category and get their signature.

Missing Half

Materials needed:
One picture per two guides cut in half, tape or safety pin for each guide
Take a bunch of pictures from a magazine and cut them in half. Pin one half to one guide (on their back) and the other half to another
guide (on their back). Then have all the girls try to find the person who has the missing half of their picture. (They cannot look at their
picture before you pin the picture to their back). Each guide must ask other guides questions about their picture so that they can guess
what it looks like and find the missing half of their picture.

2 Truths & A Wish

Have each person think of two of the wildest facts about themselves and one wild, but untrue fact, so three total facts to share
with the group. It is up to the group to guess which fact is untrue.

Mouse Trap

Best to play this game with 10-30 participants. (With 30 participants start with a bigger trap) 4 participants become the Mouse
Trap. They stand in a circle, facing in, holding hands with their arms extended and up high. The other children are “mice” and they
walk in and out of the trap. One person facing away calls “spring the trap” and the guides of the trap bring down their arms catching
(hopefully) some of the mice inside. The caught mice become part of the trap. The game continues until only a few 4 of the mice
are left then they become the trap and the game begins again.

Electricity

Materials needed: one coin and one small object for grabbing
Form a buddy line and then sit down facing your buddy. Everyone grabs the hand of the person next to them, not their buddy, so
they can form a circuit. At one end of the line place an object. Have everyone close their eyes, except the two at the opposite
end from the object. Flip a coin, (so the two that has their eyes open can see) if the coin lands on heads the leader with eyes
open starts a squeeze and the squeeze should continue down the line and the person at the end of the line will pick up the object
before the other team. If the coin lands on trails, the guides should freeze, not squeeze. See who can win the race!

Smiles

Materials needed: One coin
Form a buddy line and face each other. The two lines become the two teams. Assign each side a side of a coin. Flip the coin.
Whatever side it lands on that team must try to make the other team smile in thirty seconds. Whoever they get to smile must join
that team. Continue until all players end up on one team.

Froggie Detective

Everyone sits in a circle. One is assigned to be the detective and the leaves the room. Everyone closes their eyes, and the leader
chooses one frog. Everyone else is a fly. When the frog has been chosen the group opens their eyes and says “oh froggie
detective” the detective then comes and stands inside the circle. The frog must stick her tongue out at the flies, which signals
the fly’s to dramatically fall backwards. Flies count to 10 before sitting back up. The detective must continue to move around the
circle and has 3 chances to guess who the frog is. The frog and detective switches places.

Follow Who?

Everyone sits in a circle. One person is picked to be the detective. The detective leaves the room, where they cannot see or hear
what is going on. One person is quietly chosen to be “IT” Everyone in the circle needs to be sure that they know who is “IT”, but
must keep it a secret. “IT” starts an action and everyone in the circle copies it. The group calls the detective back in the room and
she joins them by standing in the middle of the circle. The detective must move around and has 3 guesses as to who is “IT”. “IT”
must change the action every few seconds with everyone else following the action. The group must be cautioned not to be too
obvious about watching the person who is “IT”.

Pass A Hat

The players are in 2 circles: inner one and outer one. One player in each circle has a hat on his/her head. The object is to pass the
hat round the circle. But the players mustn’t use their hands while passing the hat from head to head. The team which passes the
hat round the circle the first wins the game.

Four Corners

Materials needed: 4 random objects to mark the 4 corners of a square
One person is “it”, and closes their eyes. The rest of the participants go to one of the four corners. The ‘it’ points to a corner, and
all the people in that corner sit down. Then the participants move to a new corner. The “it” person continues to eliminate people
until one is left. That person becomes “it” for the next round.

Outside Games

Over-the-Shoulder Bucket Brigade

This is an outside, warm weather game.
Materials needed:
4 buckets the same size
A paper cup for each participant
Blind fold for each participant
Participants are seated on the grass in a straight line with each person between the knees of the person behind. Each person
holds a paper cup. The first person fills their cup from a bucket of water and pours its contents over her shoulder into the cup of the
person behind them, who, in turn, passes it on to the next person, and so on until whatever water remains at the end of the line is
poured into another bucket.
Variations: Have 2 teams racing each other. The team with the most water in the end bucket wins.
The game is made mush more interesting and challenging if all participants are blindfolded.

Evolution aka Ultimate Person or Transformation

This is a “rock-paper-scissors” themed game.
Have the group in a circle. Everyone starts out as an egg by squatting down low and waddling like an egg. “Eggs” find another egg
and play a game of rock-paper-scissors. The winners turn into a chicken. Chickens move on to find other chickens, and eggs
continue to play against other eggs. Each time a player wins a r-p-s bout, they evolve into the next stage. Inevitably, one person
will be left as the lone player in each stage of evolution until the end of the game as the winner of the final pair in each stage wins
and moves on.
The game ends when all but the lone person in each stage evolve to the final stage.
The “evolutions” and actions are:
Egg: squatting down low near ground
Chicken: putting thumbs under armpits and flapping elbows
Eagle: flapping arms by sides
Pterodactyl-arms out at shoulder length and moving body back and forth as if soaring through the skies
Nerdy human: act nervous, hike up shorts, etc.
“Super cool” human or “Ultimate Person”: Strikes a relaxed, confident, “cool” pose off to the side of the group.

Caterpillar

1.Have the entire group lie on their stomachs, side by side with arms out stretched in front of them
2. Person at the front of the line starts to roll over the others until they get to the end of the line
3. That person takes their place on their stomach at the end
4. Continue at the front with the next roller
5. Once this gets going, it will look like a caterpillar

Clothespin Tag

Materials needed:
3 wooden clothespins per person
Pin 3 clothespins to the back of each guide’s shirt, in approximately the same place. Everyone is “it”! Each guide will run around and try
to pull off the clothespins o of other guides without getting theirs taken. When they take them off, they will put them in a designated
area out of the way. Guides are not allowed to pin clothespins back on themselves or others. Once all her clothespins are gone, the guide
must sit down. The winner is the person who is the last one with a clothespin left on their shirt.

Amoeba Tag

Two people are it. They hold hands and chase people. Any person they catch joins the chain by linking hands. When another
person is caught they can stay together or spilt 2 and 2, but they must split even numbers and can link together at will. This game
is played until nobody is left

Cyclopes Tag

Everyone plays with one eye covered.

TV Tag

1. Pick a person to be “it”
2.”It” will count to ten while everyone else runs
3.When you see “It “coming you squat down and say your favorite show.
(Remember you can’t say a TV show twice. Or if someone else already said it.)
You can only squat for 3 seconds. If you are “it” when someone squats you can’t stand there waiting for them to get up.

Sock Tag

Everyone takes off a sock and puts it in the back of their pants so that it looks like a tail. The object of the game is to steal other
people’s socks without having yours taken. If your sock is taken, you must stand on the boundary and you can try to take other
people’s socks if they come near you (you can only move your upper body). If you steal someone else’s sock and you still have
your own, you can keep that sock in case your own is taken, then you can use your reserve sock as a backup and you’re still in the
game. The winner is the last person who is left in the middle.

Elbow Tag

Everyone gets a partner and links arms. Two people are chosen to split up. One will be it and the other will be chased. Whenever
the person links with a pair of players, the person on the opposite end must break off. They will now become chased. If the person
gets tagged, they become it.

Variation: When the person on the opposite end breaks away, they become it and must chase the person who was originally the chaser.

Meltdown Tag

One person is “it”. If they tag anyone, that person must begin to “melt down” by lowering themselves to the ground slowly. If they
are touched by another player before they reach the ground they are free. If they melt all the way to the ground then they
become another “it”. Play continues until only one person is left.

Werewolf Tag

One person is chosen to be the werewolf who is “it.” Each person who they tag also becomes a werewolf. Continue until only one person is not a werewolf.
That person starts as “it” for the next round.

Chuck the Chicken

Materials Needed:

A rubber chicken or similar toy

Divide the guides into two groups. One group has the chicken and must pass it over the head of one guide and through the legs of the next until it gets to the end of the line. When it gets to the end of the line, the last person must “chuck the chicken” and throw it away from the group. That person runs around their team to score points. Each full circle around their team earns a point. The first person from the other team must run and get the chicken as quickly as possible. They run back to their team and start the over under process at the start of the line. When the second team chucks the chicken, the first team has the guide who chucked the chicken run to get the chicken and  go to the front of their line to start passing it over under again. Play until all guides have chucked the chicken.

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