Equipment Required: Runic alphabet, Rune trail, Pencils, Card

Reasons for Playing: Great for establishing boundaries and encouraging use of space. Also provides lots of ups and downs throughout activity allowing running around and bursts of energy as well as quieter reflective work.

How to Play: Set up the rune trail around the site before the Cubs arrive. The cards should have a rune on one side and an English letter on the other. (NB: This activity can be delivered using any kind of codemorse, numbers, hieroglyphics! ). After describing and demonstrating the boundaries of the working area to the group divide them in to Sixes. Each Six must make their way around the site finding all of the cards and writing down the code on a special sheet (card/ notebook- as you decide).

The cards must be left hanging so that all of the Sixes can find them.

While the Sixes are looking for the letters you can hang a number of messages around the base site, written in runes (or other code).

When the Sixes have found all of the letters they will return to the base and choose a message to translate using their new code. All of the messages should be instructions for an activity. It may be four separate things or four parts of the same instruction depending on age and ability of the Cubs.

Examples could be:

1. Use sticks to write your name in Viking runes.

2. Make a picture frame on the ground.

3. Find three leaves and four hazel nuts.
4. Create a Viking picture in the frame. (all of above written in runes)

You can choose whether all of the Sixes do all of the activities or whether they stay working on only one or two. This will depend on how engaged they are and how the time goes.
At the end of the activity try to review the Cub's experiences by asking questions or getting them to show you something they made. This will add value to the experience they have had and ensure that it stays with them for much longer, also allowing you to see how well it worked.

https://sonsofvikings.com/blogs/history/viking-runes-guide-runic-alphabet-meanings-nordic-celtic-letters - link to Viking Rune Alphabet