Traveling Activities for Cubs

Traveling with Cubs to a camp is always an adventure. What do you do between the time the Cubs say "Are We There Yet?" and "I Gotta Go!".  Here are 24 great ideas.

20 QUESTIONS
One person thinks of something which falls under the category of animal, mineral, or vegetable and then tells the other players which category is correct.  The players then take turns asking questions which can be answered with a YES or NO. For instance, if the category is animal a player might ask "Can it fly?" or "Does it have four legs?"  After the 20 questions are asked, if the players have not already guessed the answer, each player gets a last chance to make a guess.  Afterwards, a new player tries to stump the group.

GEOGRAPHY
Although the fine points of the game may vary from place to place, this is how the basic game is played.  Someone starts by naming a country such as Japan. The next person must name a country whose name begins with the last letter of the previously named country. In this case, Japan ends in N, so a country which begins with N must be named such as Nigeria. And then, since Nigeria ends in an A, the next person's country must start with an A. And so on until someone gets stumped.
Variation: Play the game with city names; names of rivers, other bodies of water; animals etc...

NAME GAME
Think of a name. Then tell the group whether it is a boy's or girl's name, and tell them the first letter of the name. The group then tries to guess the name by calling out all the names they can think of which start with the appropriate letter.

ALPHABET MEMORY GAME
The first person starts with the letter A and say "A is for ---" filling in the blank with any word beginning with the letter A such as APPLE, ARTICHOKE, AIRPLANE, etc.  Let's use APPLE.  The second person then does the letter B, but must also remember what A was!  So, let's say the second person decides to use the word BOOK for B, the second person would say" A is for APPLE and B is for BOOK.  You continue your way through the alphabet. By the time you get up to the letter Z the player will have to recite each and every letter with its corresponding item. The game takes a while and kids love it, particularly if you throw in some silly words or phrases like S IS FOR SMELLY TOES.
Variation: Start by saying, "Akela went to the grocery store and bought an apple".  Then ask the Cubs to add to the list something bought at the grocery store that starts with the letter B such as "blueberries." The next player continues with the letter C and so forth.   Also you can use items you take to camp.

RHYMING GAME
Take a key word and try to make as long a story with other words that rhyme with it.  For example with the word "dog":  I once owned a dog who sat on a log.  There was a fog outside that hid the dog, but that did not stop him from hunting a frog.... 

ABC GAME
Object to complete the alphabet first.   As you see the letters on billboards & license plates you shout out your letter and point.  Once a letter has been claimed other players cannot use the same letter.   Make it harder by limiting to only license plates or billboard signs.

THEME SONG GAME
One person hums the tune to a favorite TV show and the one who guesses first does the next song.

I SPY
The first player finds an object out the window, something common and easy to spot. The player says, "I spy something ..." and gives a clue to what the object is.  Each object starts out with a value of 5 points.  For each additional clue given, deduct 1 point.  An object that is guessed with just the first clue is worth 5 points; if 2 clues are needed, it's worth 4 points, and so forth.   It's easy to keep track of the points for each question by using the fingers on one hand.

The Secret Place Race
Two people can play anytime, anywhere. Player #1 takes the road map and finds a secret city, town, village, river, route number, lake, reservoir, etc. Next, player #1 tells player #2 the name of the place he/she has chosen. The time keeper says go and player #2 has 60 seconds to find the secret place. If player #2 finds the secret place, before time is up, the number of seconds he/she took is recorded on paper. If he doesn't find the secret place, his score is 60. No player can score more than 60 points per round. Continue in this manner with player #2 choosing the next secret place. The winner is the player with the fewest points after all the rounds have been played.

LICENSE PLATE BINGO
What you'll need: Scrap of paper and pen or pencil
Have the Cubs write the letters of the alphabet on the piece of paper.  Then, encourage them to look out the window and see which letters of the alphabet he or she can see on the license plates of nearby cars.   The Cub can then check off the letters on the bingo card as he or she finds those letters on license plates.  Call "Bingo" when complete
Variation 1: If you want the game to last a little longer -- or you want to make it more challenging for an older Cub, find the letters in sequence.  In other words, he or she can't cross off the "D" until he or she has found the "A," "B," and "C" first.

LICENSE PLATE TAG
Choose a number between 1 and 20.  The other players look for license plates that have numbers on them adding up to the chosen number.  The first person to find that license plate gets a point and gets to be "it" and choose the next number.  You can adapt the game for older Cubs by playing the same game with multiplication (this version works better if you have the players multiply just two of the numbers to get the desired value).

LICENSE PLATE SENTENCES
In turn, the players must make a sentence or series of words from the letters on the license plates.

MAP GAME
What you'll need: A road map
Take the map that you're using on your trip and make a short list of places represented on the map.  Then give the map to the Cubs and let them try to find the various locations on the map. Show the Cubs what the various symbols on the map mean.  Ask them questions about the places, such as what highways are nearby or what other cities are in the area.  You can also have them choose two cities and ask them to plot the route between them.

TELEPHONE
What you'll need: A van full of Cubs
Ask the first Cub to whisper a story to the second Cub.  Have the second Cub whisper it to the third Cub. Have the third Cub whisper it to the fourth Cub.   Have the fourth Cub repeat the story out loud so that everyone can hear.  After the Cubs have had a chance to laugh about how a message can get "lost in translation" when it's repeated from person to person, briefly talk about what they can do to ensure that real phone messages don't get garbled.   Teach them methods like repeating the message back to the speaker to ensure that they understood the message correctly in the first place.
Variation:  To make the game more challenging, create a backdrop of noise by tuning the car radio dial to the static between radio stations.  They'll have to listen very carefully to hear what the other child is trying to say.

WHAT IF
Ask a Cubs to think about how things would be different if the trip you are making had to be taken by horse and buggy instead of in a car.  How would the trip be different?   Use a map to discuss how much longer the trip would take.  How would we have to pack differently?  What would we take? How often would we need to stop?   Where would we stop?  How would we get food and water for the horses and ourselves?
Variation: You can use the time to ask "what if" questions that have nothing to do with the trip itself, but instead address everyday issues of safety.

PENNIES
What you'll need: A bag of pennies or tokens
Make up an ongoing list of 3-5 things that they had to find (orange truck, car with dog, water tower, etc).  If any of the Cubs find something on the list they ALL get a penny.  Take away a pennies for every time they say "Are We There Yet?"

CATEGORY
Pick a category and give each player a chance to name something that "fits" into that category. Players are allowed 10 seconds to come up with an answer. The round continues until one person is left who can think of something or someone that can be classified in that category.  The player who wins chooses the next category.  Answers for the "bugs" category might be ant, wasp, spider, roach, fly, centipede, moth, etc.  Some category examples: cities, movie stars, vegetables, fish, beer, presidents, fruit, cars, prize fighters, astronauts, capitol cities, flowers, authors, gems, famous streets, sports, states, and planets.  
Variation: Choose an entertainment category...movies, television, literature, theater, etc. Each player takes a turn and names a character from that category.  The first person who recognizes the name of the TV show, movie, book, etc. that the character appeared in wins a point. (Archie Bunker is from All in the Family...Rob Petry is from Dick Van Dyke...Don Corleone is from The Godfather...Luke Skywalker is from Star Wars.)

STORY GAME
First person makes up a sentence with an "A" word in it. Example: "The alligator went in the river". The next person has to use that "A" word in a sentence with a "B" word and try to continue the story. Like, "The alligator tried to sneak up on a bird." The next person takes the "B" word and uses it in a sentence with a "C" word, and tries to continue the story.

WHAT AM I COUNTING?
A player chooses to count something that he sees from the car window (for example, cars or cows). He counts aloud but doesn't tell anyone what he's counting. The first player to guess and call it out gets to be the next counter.

TASTY TALK
Players take turns naming foods that are sweet or sour—whatever they decide—until they run out of ideas.  Then they can start naming foods that are salty, bitter, bland, yucky, or yummy.

COUPLET CAPERS
Make up two-line poems that rhyme (for example, "My cat is black. He sleeps in a sack").  It may be more fun if one player provides the first line of the couplet and another player makes up the second.

CAMPING TRIP
Play begins by one person saying "I'M GOING ON A CAMPING TRIP AND I'M GOING TO BRING...(at this point the person talking picks anything s/he would like to bring on the trip.  Let's use a sleeping bag as an example).  A SLEEPING BAG".  The next person says "I'M GOING ON A CAMPING TRIP AND I'M GOING TO BRING...(at this point the person talking picks anything she/he would like to bring on the trip, but it must begin with the letter "G", since the last letter of the first person 'camping accessory' was a "G".   For example let's say the second person wanted to bring a "GUARDIAN" they can bring that so everyone says "OKAY YOU CAN BRING THAT ON OUR CAMPING TRIP".   Say the third person hasn't caught on to the game yet and says, "I'M GOING ON A CAMPING TRIP AND I'M GOING TO BRING HOT DOGS".  Everyone should say, "NO, YOU CAN'T BRING HOT DOGS" and play continues to the next player until everyone has caught onto the game.
Variation:  Also can be played with a different 'rule' each time.  One player makes up a rule, and then says something like: "I would take apples but not potatoes"  The other players then try to figure out the rule.  It will take several different clues: "I would take a Corvette but not a Camaro"  "I would take beer but not Coke" etc.  Once a player thinks they have figured out a rule, they ask the first player whether or not they would take a certain item to verify their idea: "You would take Fruit Loops but not Corn Flakes, right?" "Right".  Play continues until everyone gets the rule figured out. Then someone else picks a rule and a new game begins. The rules can be anything, and are only limited by the creativity of the players.   The rule in this example was double letters.

GUESS THE NUMBER
Let one person think of a number between a stated range of numbers. You try to guess the number by asking questions. Here's a sample of how it might go: The person: I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100. You ask: Is it more than 50? The person: No. You: Is it an even number? The person: No. You: Can you divide this number into three equal parts? And so forth. After you have guessed the number, change sides.

FAMILY FEUD
Try out a variation of Family Feud.  Example: What are the top 8 items you carry to school? School Bag, Books, Lunch/Food, Homework/Project, Pencil/Pen, Paper, Toy/Game, Money.  Check out the weblink for more examples.  Make up your own categories and ranking.

TONGUE TWISTERS
Try these:
- A box of biscuits, a batch of mixed biscuits
- A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
- Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.
- Unique New York
- Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick. 
- Is this your sister's sixth zither, sir? 
- A big black bug bit a big black bear, made the big black bear bleed blood
- The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

June 30, 2001