Cub Scout Games, Songs, and Activities

Games and Activities

Air Pressure Experiment

You need two drinking straws and a small bottle filled with water. Have a boy put both straws in his mouth, with the end of one straw in the water and the other outside the bottle. Now ask him to suck water out of the bottle. He can't - because the air pressure in his mouth is equalized by the air coming in through the outside straw.

Consequences

Give each boy a pencil and paper and have him draw the head of a man, woman, or child. After he draws the head, he folds the paper so that only the neck shows. Each paper is passed on to the next player, who draws the shoulders, folds the paper, and passes it on. This continues, with others adding the waist, hips, legs, and feet. When the drawings are finished, they are opened and passed around so all can see.

Balancing Pepito

Download the image of Pepito and enlarge the parrot to about nine by six inches. Use the pattern to cut two parrots from cardboard of posterboard. Tape two pennies to inside of tail as shown, and glue the pieces together. Paint in bright colors. Pepito will balance on a finger and rock back and forth.

Blow Hard Trick

Place three small bits of paper on the back of your hand. Let anyone select one of the pieces. Claim that you can control your breath so as to only blow away the chosen one. It sound impossible.

Solution: Place two fingers on the other two bits of paper, then blow the chosen one away.

Crazy Artist Game

Divide the den into two teams for a relay drawing contest. Provide each team with a piece of crayon or a marking pen. Place two large pieces of paper or poster board on a wall or table across the room. The object of the game is for each team to draw a house, with each Cub Scout drawing no more than two straight lines. A player from each team runs to the paper, draws his two lines, then returns and hands the chalk to the next player in line. The team with the best looking house wins.

Crystals

Heat one-fourth of a glass of water in a pan. Stir in three or four teaspoonfuls of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) until no more will dissolve. Remove pan from fire and add a drop or two of liquid glue; stir until the glue has dissolved.

Using a wad of cotton, spread some of the mixture evenly on a piece of glass. In a few minutes, needle-like crystals will begin to appear, and soon the glass will be covered with frosty crystal patterns. When the water dries, you will have a good sample of magnesium sulfate crystals.

Disappearing Knot

Tie an 18-inch piece of string so there is a loose, open, overhand knot in the center. Now tie the ends together with several knots so the string makes a loop. Let someone examine the string and explain that you are going to remove the overhand knot without untying the other knots. Place the string behind your back and in an instant produce it again showing that the overhand knot has disappeared from the loop.

Solution: While the string is behind your back, open the overhand knot out wide, and move it up and lin all the other knots so it will not be noticeable.

Floating Ball Trick

Hold a table tennis ball over the end of a soda straw, tip head back, and blow hard. Release the ball. It will stay suspended above the straw as long as you blow.

Prisoner's Escape Trick

Tie a piece of string around wrists of your "victim" (one of the boys in your den). Loop another piece of string over your victim's wrist and tie it to your wrists. You are now locked together. Challenge victim to get away without breaking the string or untying a knot. When he gives up, show him how. Push the center of your string through the loop on the inside of your victim's wrist, bring this new loop back over his hand and draw it back through the wrist loop. You will be free. For double fun, tie two victims together in the same way.

Puppets and Masks

Use grocery-size bags big enough to fit over a boy's head for masks. For ears, noses, and eyebrows, you can use construction paper and yarn. Cartoonists use shapes of people's heads to show something about them, and facial expressions to help the story along. They also can use these same shapes in full-body drawings.

Right or Left Eyed?

The boys may be surprised to lean that they're either right-eyed or left-eyed, just as they are right- or left-handed. They can check by extending a finger toward a distant object while keeping both eyes open. Close the right eye. If the finger appears to jump, this means they are right-eyed. If it doesn't, they are left-eyed, since the left eye is dominant.

Rooster Fight

Short Grand Howl

Have Cub Scouts form a circle around the person in whose honor the grand howl is to be given. This may be a visitor, a leader, or a Cub Scout who is being recognized.

Ask each Cub Scout in the circle to squat, make the two-fingered Cub Scout sign with each hand, and touch the fingers of both hands between his feet to the ground. Then lead the boys in a long howl, "Ah-h-kay-y-la! We-e-e'll do-o-o ou-u-r best!" As they yell the last word - "best" - loud and clear, have them jump to their feet, raise their hands high above their heads, and give the Cub Scout sign.

Spinning Color Wheel

Using this picture as a guide, draw two circles that are about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut a sheet of light cardboard the same size and shape; tape the wheels on opposite sides of the cardboard circle. At the x's on the top wheel, punch holes with an ice pick or large needle. Use crayons or paint to decorate the wheels, as shown in color key. Thread two 28-inch-long pieces of string through the holes and then through large buttons (which serve as handles) and tie the ends. To operate the wheel, whirl it around and around until string is well twisted. Now pull out slowly so that the wheel begins to spin in the opposite direction. Continue to pull out and release to keep the wheel spinning.

Who Am I?

This is a guessing game in which the leader tells the group only a very general fact about the person he "is" - such as, he is an actor, athlete, military man, scientist, etc. - and others try to guess who he is by asking questions that can be answered with "yes" or "no." (The den leader should make sure the person is not too obscure.) The player guessing correctly becomes the new leader.

Wiggles Game

Give each Cub Scout a piece of paper and pencil and ask him to draw a wavy or zigzag line. They exchange papers and make the line into a picture. The one with the funniest or best picture is the winner.

Home | Webelos | Resources | Clip Art | Fun Stuff | Links | About | Contact Newsletter Archive | Link to Us
Disclaimer | Privacy Statement

Helping leaders one resource at a time...