I help out at the Cub Scout Day Camp in our area. This years theme is Down on the Farm. I am looking for ideas for games and activities that would be farm related. My years growing up working on a farm didn't include many games. Thanx.
Cow chip toss. Or, when I was in Scouts, cow chip fights. Coyote shoot. :haha: If its at your place, utilize all that youthful energy and figure out some way to turn chores/projects into games. mc
How about musical chairs, but only use straw bales instead. Or you could play needle in the haystack; open bales of straw into a pile and hide prizes (instead of needles!) or something else.
how old are the boys?? How about... Bale of hay relay... have them stand in 2 lines in at opposite ends of the race lanes (4 lines total) Have them carry a bale down to the other team & then have the next guy carry it back. Or... Move the stack. Have a stack of 9 bales or so... have them move it 10 feet & re stack it. or.. water the chicken race... have them carry a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of water back & forth without spilling it. You can do TONS with relay races....... the chore clothes race... have old chore clothes & big boots & overalls for them to put on, run to the other end, do a chore & run back, take off the clothes & then the next one can go. the carry the egg in a spoon relay race.... if you break the egg, you're out.
How about racing with a wheelbarrow full of another boy? Stacking wood in a time frame, say one minute or two. Then whichever one can hold the team of two or three that stacked it, with the adult judge, wins. Who can identify the names of the most living things in the field/patch in a time period (say 5- 10 minutes to make a list). "Rope the steer" using a homemade "steer" from a wooden sawhorse. Make a few difficult targets on each end. Then judge the best from both or more teams. How about doing any of this with work gloves on?
seen at county fair "farmers madness" & family reunion & science center: for adults: roll a round bale through a maze for anyone: milk chugging contest for older kids: first team to untie knots in a shirt and dress their team leader in the shirt wins. Unknown to the kids, until they are handed the shirt--the shirts were also soaked & frozen solid! (fun to watch--the shirts got pretty well shredded in the process) older kids:using one newspaper & one rollof masking tape make the tallest possible self-supporting tower. younger kids:dig pennies out of piles of sawdust CW
Rather than pin the tail on the donkey, how about kiss the donkey while blindfolded. You play the game, you take your chances to get the right end. City kids love those long, yellow, plastic, water slides. How about the green manure pit slide with prizes for those sliding farthest---upright. Gather the eggs and take them to the house game. One person gathers from a basket of eggs, then teams relay them from person to person to a different point. Team members are spaced about 20 feet apart. Most whole eggs in the basket wins. Perhaps team members should rotate locations. Clean out the barn pie toss, but I wouldn't let the kids use pitchforks. A team wins by being the first to load a manure spreader. Archaeology dig. Items buried in grain bins or tubs of grain. Bull chase. Have kids pretend they are being chased by a bull and see who can jump the highest fence. Kind of like high jump in track and field. Post hole dig to see which team can get the most post holes dug in 10 minutes. Best use auger type diggers so that no one cuts toes off. Align the fence to see who can make the straightest fence row. Wooden stakes serve as fence posts. If you have some really gentle animals, let them dye designs on them. I received a picture of a zebra yesterday that had a bar code imbeded in the stripes. Neat. Round up time. See who can saddle a barrel the fastest--correctly after being shown once. Lasso the ?????
You guys came up with the best bunch of games I ever heard of. Put them all in a book and sell it. Them scouts will need a shave before they get through all of them..
If there is a suitable pen, a greased pig chase. Use to be a standard at rural county fairs. Ken S. in WC TN
I was a girl scout - but I grew up with 5 brothers. The best "game" I ever liked, still like, wish I could do again is a scavenger hunt. Those are awesome! you can have the boys find whatever you want - 5 acorns, a pine cone, a feather, etc.... it makes them work as a team and it's great fun. Just an idea. - Jess
You could always have "Down on the Farm Olympics". Some more ideas: Gunny sack races. Egg or tomato tosses. Make two rows of kids facing each other, in pairs. Have them stand two feet across from one another. The first kid tosses the egg to his partner. He catches it, and takes one big step backward, and then tosses the egg back to the other kid. Keep repeating the process. Eliminate the two person team if they drop or break the egg. Tug of war. Great over a stream or a huge pile of manure. Catch the chicken. Give each kid one minute to catch a loose chicken. Any one who wins gets a good prize. Scavenger hunts with clues leading to the next hidden item. Could be used for the whole group or split into teams. clove
Great ideas... Thanx!!! The boys are 1st thru 5th grade. Dawndra, we did a race like that at one of our mettings. The boys had to put on scarecrow type clothes - adult size, then race around some cones, come back and let the next guy get dressed. It was a riot. I don't have any cows for a cow chip toss, wonder if sheep pellets would work :haha: I am sure we will use some of these ideas. Thanx much.
We had a Western Party at our farm this fall. For the kids we had a hay bale maze with big bales. They had more fun on top of it than through it. Also had a relay of milking the cow. There were 2 sawhorses rigged up with surgical gloves full of water with pinholes in the fingers. The teams had to race to see who could fill the milk buckets the fastest. They had a blast with that one. Also painted some rocks gold and hid them around the farm.....so a gold nugget hunt. Relays to tie the ribbon on a goats tail. The goats were tied to the fence. Also we put buckets out in barrel race style and the littler ones rode their stick ponies through and were timed. Marilyn, the farmer's wife.... :yeeha:
Please keep these suggestions coming. Those who read the last issue of Countryside know I plan to eventually pass on my farm to the local Soil Conservation District and a Conservation Easement and Timber Rights to a Land Conservation Trust. Part of the future package is I hope an eventually scouting/nature camp in a small field across the creek. I will print this out and put in the package to use if that ever comes about. The scouts, etc. would have access to about 700 acres of woods and a year-round good-sized creek. Thus, they might be able to earn some of their nature-related badges there. Ken S. in WC TN
Instead of musical chairs or needle in the haystack combine the two into "tater in the haystack". Put 1 less tater than participants. have them circle the haystack until the music stops or someone blows a whistle. Everyone dives in for a tater. The one with no tater is out and you re bury the taters.
