SPACE GAMES
Space Race
Have two balls of different colors for "spacecraft". The boys form a circle and are numbered 1,2,1,2, etc. around the circle. The two spacecraft start from opposite sides of the circle - one held by the Ones and one held by the Twos. At "blast off" the space craft orbit around the circle, ones to ones and twos to twos. The object is for one spacecraft to overtake and pass the other.
My Ship Is Sailing
Seat the boys in a circle and have the first member of the circle say, "Our ship is sailing, what is its name?" The second person must then designate a name which begins with the letter A. He may say, for example, "Our ship is the Albatross." Then turning to the next person in line, he asks, "Who is its captain?" That person must give the captain's name, which starts with the next letter in the alphabet, the letter B. He might say for example, "The captain's name is Brown." "On what sea does she sail?" He asks this question of the next person in the line, who must reply with some answer beginning with the letter C. This continues around the circle, using each letter of the alphabet. It is well for your boys to devise their own questions, as this adds originality to the game. However, you might suggest before starting the game that questions such as these might be asked:
1. What is my ship's name?
2. Who is the captain?
3. On what sea does she sail?
4. Who is the pilot?
5. What is the cargo?
6. Under what flag does she sail?
7. What is our destination?
8. What do we see as we sail along?
9. What do we find in the ship's hold?
10. What great adventure do we meet on our trip?
Astronaut Training
This is a good physical fitness relay. Two beanbags, two jump ropes and two rubber balls are needed. Divide the players into tow teams. They stand behind starting line. At a turning line 15 feet away are a jump rope, bean bag and ball. On signal, first player runs to turning line, takes jump rope, jumps 10 times, tosses bean bag in air 10 times and bounces ball on floor 10 times. He runs back to his team, touches next player who repeats the action. First team to finish is the winner.
Splashdown
Have the boys cut a space capsule outline about 3 inches high from plywood. Drill a hole in the top and attach a handkerchief parachute. Draw a 6-foot wide bull’s-eye on the ground. In turn, the Cub Scouts stand about 25 feet away, fold up the parachute around the capsule, and try to throw it skyward so the “splashdown” hits the bull’s-eye.
Oxygen
Tank Relay
Tell the boys they are on an alien planet and the oxygen in their housing complex is getting dangerously low. Divide the boys into two teams. Line them up with a large bucket of water (liquid oxygen) and cup for each team. At the other end of the field is an empty oxygen reservoir (large jar) for each team. On a signal, the first boy in each line fills his cup with liquid oxygen, races to empty it into the oxygen reservoir, and returns the cup to the next boy in line, who continues the process. The first team to fill its oxygen reservoir wins.
Asteroid Field
Place
objects (asteroids), such as chairs, into the playing area (outer space). Have the group choose partners. One partner is blindfolded at one end of
playing area. The non-blindfolded
partners stand at the opposite end of the playing area and try to talk their
partners through the asteroid field without running into any of the
asteroids. Have all of the teams
playing at the same time. Make it
more difficult by starting teammates at opposite corners, forcing teams to cross
each others’ paths.
Bomb the Rebel Bases
An evil space empire has declared war on you and your
comrades. The empire sends a battle
cruiser to your planet in order to bomb its rebel base. The players stand scattered around the
hall (outer space) with their legs spread about shoulder-width apart. The gap between each player’s legs form
a ‘rebel base’ which may be bombed.
To bomb a base, a tennis ball must be thrown between a player’s legs
(hitting a player’s legs is not enough).
Once bombed, the player is out and must sit down. The last player standing is the
winner. To prevent from being
bombed, a player may protect himself by using his hands to catch or deflect the
tennis ball. Players may not move
their feet or crouch to prevent being hit.
Keep the Satellite Up
Scientists
rely on gravity and inertia to keep satellites in orbit. Your task is to keep the satellite from
falling to earth. Using a beach
ball, have Scouts start hitting it around and try to keep it off the
ground. Then challenge them to keep
it in the air for 20 orbits (hits), or 30 orbits, etc. Encourage them to develop some strategy
(such as establishing "zones", or an order, etc.) to try to keep the ball up for
as many hits as possible.
Light Year Whispers
Your
mission, if you choose to accept it, is to send a message to an exploratory crew
deep in outer space. Distribute
members of the teams some distance away from one another. Give the team leaders
a scrap of paper with the same message (around 15 words long). The team leader runs to the first player
and relays the message verbally without the help of the paper. The team members must remember the
message and relay it to the next team member who in turn relays it down the line
to the final Scout. The final Scout writes down the message. When he returns to the starting point,
the team with the message most resembling the starting message wins. The longer the distance the more
breathless, less articulate, and more forgetful the Scouts become.
Outer Space Exploration Memory Game
Players are
interplanetary explorers. They have
arrived on a newly discovered planet and must return samples to mission
headquarters. Before the game, pick
up a few 10+ objects that the players may find in the play area (an unexplored
planet) and lay them out. The teams
or individuals must find as close matches to the objects you have
collected. You can either display
or hide your collection so that the players can or cannot come back and refresh
their memories. The team or
individual with the display best matching the original wins.
Paper Spaceship Throwing
Preferably
an indoor game where the Cubs try to throw their paper spaceship the
farthest. Great for “Cub Scout
Roundup” nights when the new prospective Cubs have their meeting “fliers” to
turn into “flyers”. Do this game
while the parents are filling out registration forms. Have a prize for the winner. Make it tougher by having a box in the
middle of the room. Anyone who gets
his airplane into the box wins a special prize.
Radar
Another solar flare has blinded your entire squadron
of space pilots. Your mission is to
guide your blind pilots safely back to base. The first Cub on the team is placed
about 30 feet ahead of the rest of his team. ALL team members, including the leader,
are blindfolded. The first team
member must lead his teammates to him by talking to them, making some kind of
noise, etc. This gets harder with
more teams attempting to land in the same play area.
Rocket Relay
The teams
line up with a chair at the head of each, facing away from the team. The chairs
are 'launching pads' and the first Cub or 'rocket' stands on the chair awaiting
the countdown. When the leader reaches zero, the 'rocket' blasts off round the
room, touching all four walls, and returns to the 'launching pad' where the next
'rocket is waiting to be launched. The first 'rocket' sets off the second and
returns to his team.
Rockets and Interceptors
The evil
space empire is about to attack your rebel base. Two teams play this. The attacking team members are called
the rockets and the defending team members are called the interceptors. A coffee can is placed in the center and
represents the rebel base. The
rockets have a base at which they pick up their warheads (beans). Each rocket can carry only one
warhead to the target area. If an
interceptor tags a rocket, they must hand over their warhead and return to their
base empty handed. 20 warhead units
in the tin can destroy the interceptor target area. If the interceptor target area is not
destroyed after a set time limit, then change over the teams so that everyone
has a turn at attacking and defending.
Round the Moon
All the
teams line up at one end of the room beside a chair. Each Cub places his hands on the waist
of the Cub in front of him so each team forms a 'rocket'. Another chair is placed at the far end
of the room opposite each team; these are the 'moons'. When the leader calls 'Go', the teams
run the length of the room, round their 'moon', and back into orbit. As they pass base, the 'rockets' drop
the tail section each time around and the Cubs sit down one by one, until finally the 'nose
cone' returns home. The first team to be sitting down is the winner. If the Cubs let go of their teammate’s
waist, the rocket disintegrates.
Space Pony Express
Interplanetary space travel has developed a
glitch. No electronic messages can
be sent due to a solar flare. Four
boxes are placed across the playing field or four pieces of paper laid on the
ground will suffice. Each box or
piece of paper has the name of a planet written on it (it would help to also
write the suit, like clubs, heart, diamonds, or spades, on the box as
well). The Cubs are broken into
four teams. Leaders shuffle a deck
of cards representing interplanetary messages to be delivered. The cards are dealt so each team gets 13
cards. Random dealing will ensure
that no team delivers to only one planet.
The boys must deliver their messages to the proper planet and return to
tag their next teammate on the hand.
First team to deliver all of their messages and return wins.
Space Station
Chose a player to be the space station. Half of group members are asteroids, the
other half breaks up into teams of spaceships. Asteroids are placed at random around
the room (outer space). The
spaceships are guided by a blindfolded admiral. Other spaceship team members are lined
up behind the admiral and may not make any sound or attempt to steer the
admiral. At the signal, the space
station begins emitting a beeping sound in order to guide the spaceships in
safely. The asteroids quietly make
some kind of buzzing noise. That is
the sound of the vibration from the spaceship’s laser radar. Blindfolded admirals begin to navigate
to the space station without touching an asteroid. After the first round, asteroids and
spaceship teams switch places.
Space Wormhole Relay
A wormhole has opened in outer space. Team members stand in a line one behind another with their legs apart. The person at the back of the team crawls through the legs of the other members and then stands at the front, legs open. The next team member then goes. When everyone has crawled through (team is back in order) the team has finished. Another variation is to have the team race from one point to another. Cubs cannot start into the wormhole until their teammate is standing at the head of the line. Teammates may not be further than an arm’s length from each other.
Earth,
Air, Water and Fire
All Cubs sit in a semi-circle around the leader, who suddenly points to one of the Cubs and says either “earth,” “air,” “water,” or “fire.” If the leader says “earth” the Cub must say the name of some animal before the leader counts to ten. For “air,” the Cub must name a bird. For “water,” the Cub must name a fish or water creature. When the leader says “fire,” the Cub must remain silent. A player who makes a mistake or gives a wrong answer loses a point. It is also a point loss if a Cub names an animal for the second time (or more) during the game. When a player loses five points, he must sit out until the next game.
Space
Shuttle
Divide the den into two teams. Each team has a space shuttle (bike). On the ground or driveway about 10 yards in front of each team is a “space station” which is a coffee can holding 5 to 10 marbles or other small objects. Ten yards beyond that is the “moon” – another coffee can marked by a small flag. On signal, the first player on each team mounts the space shuttle, drives to the space station and dismounts. He picks up one marble, remounts, flies to the moon where he drops the marble into the can, then drives back to his team. The relay continues until all have made the space shuttle flight. The last player of each team picks up the flag and flies back to his team.
Satellite
Launch
Here
is a good game for a pack meeting.
Have the entire pack get into a circle with one boy in the center of the
circle. Four to six volleyballs or
basketballs are needed. The object
of this game is for the boy in the center of the circle to try to get balls as
the boys in the circle throw them to each other. When he catches a ball, he can choose
somebody to be in the middle with him.
Ride to
the Moon
Teams
of three boys are needed. Have two
of the boys lock their arms together to make a chair and carry the third boy to
the moon (a designated line not too far away). Then they should carry him back to earth
(the starting point). Then let
another boy in the team have a ride, and then the third. When all are finished riding to the moon
and back, they’re done!
Knock Down the Moon Men
Decorate empty milk cartons to look like “Moon Men”. Fill with a little sand and tape the top. Stand at least six feet away from the milk cartons and ROLL 9do not throw) a large ball or a corquet ball to knock them down. See how many you can knock down in three turns. Keep score if you’d like. You can even organize a “Moon Man” bowling tournament