your favorite games with purposes

[Lisabob]

Like someone said in the other "game with a purpose" thread, I really don't care whose quote this is, it sums up a lot of what scouting is about.

 

So: what are your favorite games with a purpose? How do they work, what do the boys like about them, what do they learn in the process?

 

I'll start. My son's troop has a tradition of doing what they call "GI Joe" camp out in the spring. From the boys' perspective, this is a combination of tag and hide & seek. They have a series of tasks (usually related to T-2-1 scout skills) they have to accomplish and are given locations they have to reach, in order, to do those tasks. Along the way, they are being "chased" by adults and recently aged-out scouts (they come back to help more often than not - it is a troop tradition). Stealth, speed, a little luck, and proper use of a compass to find their way points will keep them from being "caught." The boys have an absolute blast running around in the woods playing at espionage when what they're really learning and practicing is orienteering. This is always one of our best-attended camp outs of the year and the boys put it on the calendar again at every annual planning meeting.

 

 

[gcan]

that game sounds great! what kind of waypoints do you give them? I'd like to do that with our boys, but 'm not really sure how...

[SctDad]

Sounds like it would be fun. I always liked the Klondike Derby when I was younger. I was thinking about starting something similar to it down in the south here where we do not get snow.

 

Do you do things like starting fires without matches. I know when we did our klondike derby we had to try to start a fire without matches. If you were successful it was great. But you had to try. If you had to go to matches then that was OK. After you got the fire going you had to boil an egg in a wax paper cup over the fire. Yes it can be done. The last part of the task was someone on the team had to eat the egg. Remember, this was at a time in our history when eating half cooked food was not the worst thing in the world. Nothing said that you had to fully eat the egg.

 

It was all in fun and gave us great tasks to complete. There was also a bunch of other tasks. Like Scout trivia and simple brain teasers.

 

I will see if I can come up with some of the other games and stuff that we did.

[BrentAllen]

Lisa,

We haven't tried this one yet with the troop, but it is an old favorite. Each patrol has two long poles and several "steps" (typically one for each member of the patrol). Each Scout in the patrol has to, in turn, run up and lash their "step" between the two poles, forming a ladder. When all the steps are lashed in, a Scout has to climb the ladder to either grab an object or pop a balloon. First patrol to complete the task wins. As you can tell, it is a speed event, but if the lashings aren't done well enough, they won't hold. A fun way to teach lashing.

[Gonzo1]

I've always liked races, especially the fire building / string burn and the "hot isotope Carrier" race.