Gail's Girl Scout Resources

Divided into two teams and numbered. 3 plastic bottles in the middle between two teams. Shoe/beanbag at each end. Number called, one from each team must try and throw from behind line to be first to hit 2 bottles over

Margaret (South Africa)

This is a favourite game in Dublin and is used in our Games Competition. It takes a lot of practice to get it right but the fun is in learning. It's also quite hard to explain so I hope you understand.

CATEGORY: Indoor/ Outdoor NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: (at least 2 ) teams of 8
BASIC RULE: Girls may stand with one foot on the X, but the other foot must be beside or behind it - not in front
HOW TO PLAY: The game starts with the girls in the following formation

	Bx		Dx		Fx		Hx
Ax		Cx		Ex		Gx

 

After round one the formation should be

	Ax		Cx		Ex		Gx
Hx		Bx		Dx		Fx

 

A has all 3 beanbags.
A throws beanbag 1 to B, who throws it to C, who throws it to D, who throws it to E…..etc.
In the meantime A throws beanbag 2 to B, who throws it to C…….etc.
Then A throws beanbag 3 to B, who throws it to C……..etc.
H collects all 3 beanbags and runs behind F, D and B and up to position A.
All the others crossover

H then throws beanbag 1,2 and 3 to A, who passes it to B etc. G, who is at the end, collects them and runs to the throwers position (originally A). All the others crossover. This continues until A is at the end and collects all 3 beanbags and she runs to the Guider who should stand between the 2 teams.

HINT: If a girl drops beanbag 1 or 2 she should leave it until she has passed on beanbag 3 This game can be played with tennis balls BUT when dropped, they can travel a long way!

Sandra O'Keeffe

WATER CYCLE RELAY GAME

Divide the girls in teams of 5 in a line quite widely spaced. You will need a bucket of water at the start and a Veggie Zip lock bag (those are the large ones with holes in them!) for each team.

The girls within the line are also spread far apart.

• On 'go' the first girl takes and fills the ziploc (she is the Cloud) and twirls while advancing to the next girl. She passes on the bag.
• The second girl is the Mountain and she runs to the next girl and passes on the bag.
• The third girl is the Rain and she hops on one foot to the next girl.
• This fourth girl is the Stream/River and she winds her way - zigzagging to the next girl and passes on the bag.
• The fifth girl is the Ocean and she takes the bag and Waves all the way back down to the bucket (at the beginning of the line).

She fills up the bag and is now the Cloud....(the previous first girl is now the Mountain) get the picture? The girls have to listen to the directions as they will have to remember 'what' they are (or have become) and the action for it. They will get lots of encouragement and cheering from their team! The relay continues until the first girl or cloud is the ocean and waves her way down to the bucket.

You all get a bit wet...the Waves have a great time! (Actually EVERYBODY does!) It's an amusing hands on way to understand the water cycle. Have Fun!

Margaret A. B. Jones

THE GREAT CANADIAN SNOWSHOE RACE

Age: I'd think any age but for sure Brownies (7+) and up
Equipment - one thing to go around for each team, newspaper sheets ripped into quarters (about 40cmx60cm?) (one pair for each team plus a few extras)

Its a relay game. Divide group into even teams (about 5 kids per team but its flexible). Give the first person on each team a set of snowshoes (2 pieces of paper). They put the snowshoes on the ground and stand on them. On "GO" they shuffle to the other end of the area, around the thing and back to the team. If a snowshoe is lost then they have to shuffle back to it and if it becomes ripped they have to go to the "store" - one leader has extra snowshoes and is standing relatively equal distance from each team,- and they must start their turn again. The winner is the team who finishes first with snowshoes in "good" shape (i.e. no rips or tears or only small ones). It should be noted that sock feet don't work very well with this game.

Kristen Byrnes

KINGPIN

Materials : Six bowling pins, or other easily knocked over objects, four balls - large and soft are best(or more if you have lots of girls).
Number of players : as many as want to play.

Divide the girls into two even teams. Divide the playing space in half, with a clearly defined center line. Set the pins up at opposite ends of the playing area in a triangle, with two pins forward and one pin back. Each team gets two balls. On the word "go" the teams try to knock down the opposing team's pins over, while protecting their own. They are not allowed to cross the center line or stand directly in front of their own pins (although this tends to lead to them tripping over the pin, thus knocking it over). If they knock their own pin over, it counts. Game ends when one team's pins are all down.

This game ran remarkably smoothly for about twenty minutes, no arguments or problems, until a parent arrived and took away half the players. It does work best in a fairly large area, to avoid collisions.

Margaret Fraser

BEAST, BIRD OR FISH

Players sit in a circle, with one player in the centre. The player in the centre holds a soft ball or sponge which she throws as unexpectedly as possible at one of the circle players while simultaneously calling either "beast" or "bird" or "fish". Then she immediately counts to ten. The person holding the ball must yell out a type of animal in the category named, before the count is completed. no words can be duplicated. If the player cannot name an animal, she must change places with the player in the middle.

To make it easier for younger kids, you could play this game after an activity about animals, so they have more ideas. Also, decide beforehand what type of things fit in the categories -- you can include insects as beasts, and aquatic creatures (shellfish, etc.) as fish to give you a wider range from which to choose.

Marianne Mitchell

PEBBLE COLLECTION RELAY

Divide into teams or patrols. Place at a certain distance a box containing as many pebbles or other small objects as there are players. The first Guide goes and gets the pebbles and gives them to her team an the right-hand side of the file; she then gathers them up on the left-hand side of the file, runs back, places them in the box and returns to her place. The second Guide then runs up etc.

Barb Garber

JUMP ROPE RELAY

Each file is lined up in two, with a space in the middle. The Guides run 2 by 2, each holding an end of a rope. They run up to the goal and come back passing on either side of the file and making all the Guides jump over the rope. They come back to the head of the file, through the space in the middle, and hand over the rope to the next two Guides.

Barb Garber

BALL RELAY

The Guides are in two files. Have them number by 2. The number two's take two steps aside: thus you get four files. Each team gets two balls. The balls criss-cross, going from the 1st Guide of one file to the second Guide on the other file, then to the third Guide of the first file etc. The first team to finish wins.

Barb Garber

 

 

BALL LOSE-ALL

The players are divided into two teams: scarves and no scarves or any other distinctive mark. There are no limitations to the ground to be covered. The object is for the players of each side to throw the ball to one another, without letting it fall to the ground, ten times in a row. The players count aloud. The opposite team tries to get the ball and, in turn, must throw it to one another ten times in a row. The ball may not be taken from the hands of an opposing player; it may only be intercepted in the air or picked up from the ground. The ball may not be thrown back to the same player who threw it, therefore you need at least three players on each team. A player may not run with the ball in her hands. At the start of the game the Guider throws the ball high up in the air, and it goes to whichever team catches it. Each time the "referee" blows her whistle to signal a mistake (ball thrown back to the person who threw it, running with the ball etc.), the ball goes to the opposite team.

Barb Garber

QUICK DRAW

Equipment: 2 water pistols, a plastic drink bottle with a wide mouth, and a tennis ball. (Or a nerf ball)
Age: 5 and up
Number of children: Can be done in two teams or individually, with two people playing at once and the rest of the kids cheering.
Category: Outdoor

Balance the ball on the top of the bottle. Have the first two contestants stand facing each other with the bottle in between (have the bottle on a stool, rock or fence to make it high enough for every one to stand up!), and about 5 paces away from the bottle.(This will depend on the pressure in your water pistol, and the weight of the ball and the mouth of the bottle, I recommend that you give this a try and set up your distances before hand!) I recommend those supersoaker water guns because each turn will take a little longer to do, as the kids can pump them up first, then fire. Some one counts, ready, aim, fire! and the two contestants shoot the ball off of the bottle.
Scoring: The team who shoots the ball off, wins a point. Highest points win the contest.

Jane Maddin

Equipment: 2 buckets or basins per team, a baggie per team (a fork-optional)
Age: 5 and up
Number of kids: Teams of 4-6 girls
Category: Outdoor

One basin (each of them filled with the same amount of water) per team is placed at the back of the team and the other basin (empty and with a mark on it on the same spot in each one - if the basins are not all the same shape, then mark the level of four cups of water in each with a marker, or tape) is placed a certain distance away from the team (about 20 feet).

The girl at the back of the team has the teams baggie. She fills the baggie with water, and hands it over the top of the girl in front of her, who turns and hands it through her legs to the next person who hands it over the next person who hands it under to the next. (Make sense? I hope). The person at the other end of the team runs up to the empty basin and dumps the contents of her baggie in there. Then she runs to the back of her team and fills the baggie and the game continues.

The first team to each the mark, wins the relay. (Variations: Do this with only one hand, including emptying and filling the baggies! Make holes in all the baggies with the optional fork, and then everyone gets a little wet as the bag goes over and under, then do the holey baggie with one hand too.)

Jane Maddin

Equipment: 2 basins per team, and a sponge per team
Number: teams of 4-6
Ages: 5 and up
Category: Outdoors
A full basin is placed in front of the team and the empty one is positioned 20 paces away. One at a time the girls soak their sponge in the full basin and run up to the empty one and squeeze it out. Then they run back and hand (toss) the sponge to the next person in line. You can do this until the water level in the far basin reaches a certain point, or until the closest basin is empty, or until everyone on the team has had a turn, and then measure the water in the far basins to see who has moved the most water over. (Variation: Do this one handed.)

Jane Maddin

Divide players into relay teams. Within each team, the girl has a partner. One of the pair puts one of her shoes at the end of the room. On Go, Cinderella (the shoeless) sits on the end of a broom, and her partner, prince charming, pulls the broom to the end of the room, with her on it, and finds her shoe in the pile, puts it on her foot, and pulls her back. The next pair in the team then goes.

The girls get a kick out of this game!

Laura Churchill

• Ages: 5-12 years
• Category: Noisy and a large space.
• Equipment: Hula hoops (or rope set out in circles on the ground) One for each team. And bean bags, 6 per hole hoop.
• Number: teams of 5 or 6 children.
• Source: The 4th Girl Guides of Wandering Hills District, Calgary Area taught me this one.

Put a hula hoop or loop of rope in each corner of your play area. Put equal numbers of bean bags in each hula hoop. Divide the kids into teams of 5 or 6, each team stands by 'their' hula hoop. This is their yard! Yell Go! Each group has to empty their hula hoop by carrying the bean bags one per trip to another team's yard. The bean bags have to be put into the other team's yard - tossing is acceptable if the bean bag lands in the hoop, if not they have to retrieve it and put it in. Watch out for the other team members so that you do not bump into each other. Count the number of bean bags in each hoop at the end of the game (10 minutes) and the team with the fewest bean bags (the least garbage) wins.

This is a super game and if you don't feel that throwing your garbage into another team's yard is politically correct, rename everything. I can't think of a different name at this point of typing, but that shouldn't be a problem. (As I was typing the rules I thought that perhaps ecology minded guiders shouldn't be encouraging this litter-bug behavior! Perhaps just Get Rid of the Bean Bags would be better!)

Jane Maddin

BALLOON RELAY GAME

We put 4 chairs at one end of the hall and 4 lines of parents and girls at other end of hall. One of the Guiders had brought balloons blown up. The first girl or parent had to run up get a balloon and sit on the balloon on the chair until it busted, then they ran back until the whole group finished. Another time we had them run up blow up the balloon, then sit on until they busted it. We had great time laughing. As at Guide ages and parents, we all come in all shapes and sizes and to see the balloon fly from behind a small girl every time she sat on it (of course we helped with the busting, she did not know it), then to see a large person sit on the balloon it bust right away. Great time, all in fun.

Bonnie Curtis

CATEGORY: Indoor / Outdoor
EQUIPMENT:

• 1 tennis ball per team
• 2 chairs (or some other marker) per team

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: Any number but even teams

HOW TO PLAY:
Each team lines up behind a chair. The other chair is placed some distance away. On a given signal the first member of each team takes the ball and places it between her feet. She jumps, with the ball between her feet, from the first chair, around the far chair and back to her team. Then the next person on the team does the same. BUT if the ball is dropped / lost between the first chair and the second chair the girl must return to the first chair and start again. If the ball is dropped between the second chair and the first chair i.e. on the way back, the girl must return to the second chair.

Winning team - first to finish

VARIATIONS: The same rules can be applied to the following games:

BOOK ON THE HEAD - use 1 book per team. All books should be the same or very similar.

BEANBAG ON THE FOOT - place beanbag on foot and keep it there while walking.

BALLOON BETWEEN THE KNEES - have some spare balloons, just in case!

Sandra O'Keeffe