Games for Girl Scouts

Cooperative Games & Crafts

Angels Dancing on the head of a pin
We may never know how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, but your challenge is to balance these 14 angels on the head of this pin.
Supplies:
* One 4 inch nail, with a head on it, nailed securely into a 4 inch or larger square block of wood.
* 14 additional nails of the same size.
The angels are common nails with heads, about 4 inches or so in length. All should be the same length.
The goal is to figure out how to balance all 14 nails on the head of the one that is already secured in the wood block.
The solution:
(1)lay one nail down on the table.
(2)take 12 nails and lay the heads across the shaft of the first nail in alternating directions, with the nail heads resting against the shaft of the first nail.
(3)lay the final nail across the 12 nails, in the same direction as the first nail.
(4)pick up the entire nail sandwich by the first and last nails and balance this nail sandwich on the nail in the wood.

Balloon Train
-Have the girls stand in a line like you would for the bunny hop. Each girl has a balloon and the balloon is placed between your chest and the person in front of yours back. Object is to have the train move around the room without the balloons falling and without use of arms and hands. If a balloon falls they must get the ball back up trying not to let any more fall. As you can see this will take team work.

Buddy Necklaces
You need 6 really long strands of wool. The girls work in pairs twisting the strands together, holding them taut as they twist. The wool will eventually double up on itself. Keep twisting until all the wool has doubled up. Tie a reef knot with the two ends. One buddy necklace to pin swaps on! The pair of girls then make another one so they have one each. These necklaces cannot be made by one person because of the length of the wool and the fact that it needs to be kept taut while twisting!

Caterpillar Relay
Each team forms a line and each girl must hold onto the waist of the girl in front of her. They may stretch out as far as possible so long as they don't separate. When the whistle blows, the girl at the back goes down on her hands and knees and must crawl through the legs of the whole group. When she gets to the front she jumps up, her waist gets grabbed, and the girl who is now at the back goes through. You can either do this down to the finish line or down and back (by reaching the turning point and having all girls spin around so they are facing back the way they came).

Geometric Figures
Contributed by Katie Cox, GS Overseas, Kuwait
Supplies: a strip of cloth (shorter strips tied together) or soft rope 25 to 30 feet long tied in a circle
One blindfold for each person
How to play:
For this game, you should have a group of 8 - 10 people. Everyone in the group needs to be able to stand inside the circle holding it up behind them with space between each person. After each person has blind folded themselves, have them stand inside of the strip holding it behind them. Have them make a shape such as a square. When they think they have it, have them take off their blindfolds and see how they have done.

Hula Hoop Relay
Take a hula hoop (2 is better ... they like to compete with them) Have the girls pass the hula hoop over their bodies while their hands remained linked.

Human Knot
Girls get in a circle & put their hands all together in the center. Girls grab hands without looking at whose hands they are grabbing.... they are "knotted up" and have to untangle without letting their hands go. They can twist their hands but never let go.

Lego Building
Contributed by Katie Cox - GS Overseas, Kuwait
Give one person a box of Lego blocks, the other three have a picture of an item to build. The three together have to give the directions, with their backs to the builder, on what to build.
OR
Divide the groups or group into the following one is the designer, 2 are the runners and 2 are the workers, also the workers get the same amount, shape and color of Lego pieces as the design. The designer is the only one that sees the Lego construction. She has to describe to the runners how to build it piece by piece without talking. Then the runners then have to go and tell the workers how to build it. The runners can talk to the workers and the workers can ask the runners questions.

After doing this a couple of times the designer may now talk but she is not allowed to tell the color or shape of the Lego. For instance, if the piece she needs to tell them about is a yellow piece with 4 dots on it. She could describe it as the sun that is the length of our world centers. The runners then have to describe it as it was described to them, even if they know what the piece should be they are not allowed to tell the workers. This continues on till the piece is finished.

Then the workers are allowed to ask 3 questions to the runners who in turn ask the designer. They then have to relay the answer back to the workers. We then compared what the workers built with the original design. Remember the designer has to be able to get across where the pieces go as well as the color and shape, like the front, back, sides. It was a lot of fun and really got the old noggin working, it also made us realize that everybody needed to listen to everybody to make it work. Visit this web site for more uses of Legos in team building exercises: www.squarewheels.com

Line Up
Tell the girls that they have all lost their voices, and they have no writing equipment, etc. (no sign-language, etc.) They have to line up by: (Choose...)
Age
Height
Date of Birth (in Year)
Alphabetically
Alphabetically by middle name
Add blind folds to these too

Magic Shoes
Participants : 10-15
Equipment : Something to make 2 lines
Time : 15-25 minutes
Directions: Set the boundary lines about four feet apart. Have the team stand behind one boundary line, facing the other line. Tell the girls all of the directions. The entire team must get from one boundary to the other boundary. In between the boundaries is a pit. The only way to get across is by using the invisible magic shoes (any pair of shoes). All players must end up on the other side.
Rules :
1. Everyone may wear the shoes one time going one way.
2. Shoes may not be tossed back to the other side.
3. Once you have worn the shoes you may not wear them again.
4. Both shoes must be worn by the same person.
Let everyone work as a team to figure out a solution

Not on the Team
Contributed by Katie Cox - GS Overseas, Kuwait
Divide into 3 or 4 groups. Each group is given a set of rules for playing a game of cards which was made up by the trainers. First, everyone in each group learns the rules of the game for their group. Then one person from each group moves to a new circle. The other girls in the circle are not allowed to talk so the new player has no idea what the rules are, and just plays along as well as she can. After a round or two of the game, another person from the original group should go to another circle, but the first player who moved should stay in her new group and so on, so that everybody gets a turn of sitting in on a game of cards that they have no idea of how to play. At the end of the activity you get to look at the rules.

Team Walker
- Take two 2x4 pieces of wood, around 8 foot long.

- Drill 6 holes into the wood, spaced evenly down the length of the piece of wood. Drill the holes large enough holes to put a piece of rope through. I drill a larger hole around the hole on one side (the bottom side) so I can sink the knot--so if the board is lying on the ground, the knots don't stick out and the board can lie flat.

- Tie 4' pieces of rope through each of the holes. (It's best to use cotton rope--something that's not going to get bristles in your hands.)

Now, lay the two planks side by side, about shoulder length apart. Pick a team of six people. The people stand in a line, each with one foot on one piece of wood and one foot on the other. Each person should place their foot so it is immediately behind a piece of rope and they should pick up and hold that piece of rope.

Now they try to walk. :)

It's actually harder than it sounds--it takes a lot of teamwork to do it. After they get pretty good, you can have races. If that doesn't challenge them enough, have them try to walk up or down a hill.

Turn the Circle Inside Out
A circle is formed using all the players. Everyone joins hands and faces the middle of the circle. Everyone closes their eyes and tries to turn the circle inside out so that everyone is facing the opposite direction (outside of the circle) without letting go of each others' hands.

(Hint: the solution is that two players hold up their hands and everyone else follows through underneath.

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