Why do we need rules anyway?

12 May 10:30
Duty six : Red

Start Time Activity Requirements Instructions Scouter
Who needs rules anyway?
12 May 10:30 5 Activities : Opening Register, beans, flag, totem and skin
Grand Howl
Flag Break
Register
Inspection - belts and shoes
Akela
We all have to do what Akela Says
12 May 10:35 10 Game : Queen of Heart says

One Cub is the Queen (or King) of Hearts.

The other Cubs give instructions that the other Cubs must follow.  E.g. Do a cartwheel, jump 3 times.  The Cub must start instruction with "Queen of Hearts says..." .  If they don't, the Cubs must not follow the instruction.  Those that do is identified by the Queen by saying "Off with his/her head"

Winner gets to be Queen for next round.

Alternative:  queen can simply give instructions and if they shout "off with their heads", everyone has to run and the Cub that is on tries to catch someone who is then "on"

Akela
We are going to learn a new card game which is simple to play and lots of fun
12 May 10:45 40 Game : BARNGA Players form small groups of, say,four-six players each. Each group is separated from the others. They receive a modified deck of cards (each deck containing only the same few cards) and a sheet of rules for playing a new card game called Five Tricks. They have a few minutes to study the rules and practice playing the game. Once everyone has the hang of it, the Scouter collects the rule sheets and at the same time imposes a strict command of "no verbal communication." This means that players may gesture or draw pictures if they wish, but may neither speak (orally or by signing) nor write words. Clearly, communication, should it be needed, is going to be more difficult henceforth. Since the game is so simple and so short,
this artificial barrier to communication forces the players, within the simulated setting, to be as creative and alert as possible.

Frequently at this point there is a little nervous laughter, some stifled last words, and finally a settling in to playing "Five Tricks" without the written rules and in silence. The facilitator then announces a tournament. As in any tournament, some players leave their home table and move to another, some from that other table have moved to yet another, and so on. They sit down at their new table, look around, and begin at once playing "Five Tricks." Shortly thereafter an almost imperceptible change is felt in the room, then expressions of uncertainty. . . murmurs of frustration. .. chuckles... fists banging on tables. The tournament, with more movement to other tables,continues for another ten minutes or so amidst growing uncertainty, frustration, laughter, banging on tables. Sometimes someone is all ready to claim a "trick" when someone else reaches out and takes it.

 Sometimes someone makes an effort to draw a picture clarifying an uncertainty. Sometimes whoever was at the table first prevails,sometimes the more aggressive.

When, during the debriefing, the facilitator probes for what might have been going on, someone takes another player to task for not learning the rules correctly. Someone else confesses that she never was very good atcards. Someone else speaks about others trying to cheat.

 And several suggest that each table originally had been given a different set of rules. Some are sure of this; others think it might be true; others hadn't considered it.

In fact, at the beginning of the game each group had received a slightly different version of a basic set of rules to "Five Tricks." In one set, for example, Ace is high; in another, Ace low. In one set diamonds are trump, in another spades, in another there is no trump at all. Variations on these few differences are the only differences, no matter how many groups are playing. This means that virtually everything except one or two aspects is the same for everyone.

 Here is the beauty of BARNGA--everything appears to be the same, and in fact almost everything is the same, yet great confusion, uncertainty,misunderstanding and misjudgments fill the room because of just a few differences. Even those who understand that the rules are different (and many do) are not necessarily clear about how they are different. And even those who understand how they are different have difficulty bridging the communication barriers to work out a solution. These concepts spark the energy generated by the game and provide the starting point for a group follow-up discussion rich in observations of how what happened can be seen as metaphors for what happens in real life.

Reflection:

    What happened during the game/tournament?
    What is it like when everyone plays by different rules?  Was it fun?  or not?

Akela
Now you can talk again
12 May 11:25 5 Activities : Juice and biscuits Juice and biscuit break
Parent
Road signs can be boring - lets make up some fun things to do when we see the different road signs
12 May 11:30 10 Game : Red Light Green Light

Red Light, Green Light

Another classic childhood game. Here are some tips for using this game to work on the Cubs listening skills:

Once the Cubs gets the hang of the concepts of green-means-go and red-means-stop, add in another color “light” to the mix! eg. Purple Light means you jump like a bunny! Yellow Light for crawling, Orange light for turning around, Blue light for clapping…you get the idea.

Instead of colours, you can use road signs with different actions for each one. Set up as a road that they have to follow, doing the actions as they go.  You can then slowly take the signs away and have your Cubs play JUST by listening.

Riki
Let's defy some rules of gravity with some awesome paper planes
12 May 11:40 30 Activities : Happy Thought Planes

Paper sheets per Cub

Templates 

Cubs to take a sheet of paper

Using templates/instructions, fold the paper aeroplane

Test fly the plane

Write your happy thought (or draw a picture representing a happy thought) onto the plane

Test fly again and see if it flies better :-)

Akela
12 May 12:10 5 Activities : Closing Totem, Skin
Badges, certificates
Announcements
Badge handouts
Grand Howl
Flag Down
Prayer
Dismiss
Akela

Programme prepared on 08 May 23:43

BARNGA




Category Game
Type Quiet game
Time to allocate (mins) 40
Instructions Players form small groups of, say,four-six players each. Each group is separated from the others. They receive a modified deck of cards (each deck containing only the same few cards) and a sheet of rules for playing a new card game called Five Tricks. They have a few minutes to study the rules and practice playing the game. Once everyone has the hang of it, the Scouter collects the rule sheets and at the same time imposes a strict command of "no verbal communication." This means that players may gesture or draw pictures if they wish, but may neither speak (orally or by signing) nor write words. Clearly, communication, should it be needed, is going to be more difficult henceforth. Since the game is so simple and so short,
this artificial barrier to communication forces the players, within the simulated setting, to be as creative and alert as possible.

Frequently at this point there is a little nervous laughter, some stifled last words, and finally a settling in to playing "Five Tricks" without the written rules and in silence. The facilitator then announces a tournament. As in any tournament, some players leave their home table and move to another, some from that other table have moved to yet another, and so on. They sit down at their new table, look around, and begin at once playing "Five Tricks." Shortly thereafter an almost imperceptible change is felt in the room, then expressions of uncertainty. . . murmurs of frustration. .. chuckles... fists banging on tables. The tournament, with more movement to other tables,continues for another ten minutes or so amidst growing uncertainty, frustration, laughter, banging on tables. Sometimes someone is all ready to claim a "trick" when someone else reaches out and takes it.

 Sometimes someone makes an effort to draw a picture clarifying an uncertainty. Sometimes whoever was at the table first prevails,sometimes the more aggressive.

When, during the debriefing, the facilitator probes for what might have been going on, someone takes another player to task for not learning the rules correctly. Someone else confesses that she never was very good atcards. Someone else speaks about others trying to cheat.

 And several suggest that each table originally had been given a different set of rules. Some are sure of this; others think it might be true; others hadn't considered it.

In fact, at the beginning of the game each group had received a slightly different version of a basic set of rules to "Five Tricks." In one set, for example, Ace is high; in another, Ace low. In one set diamonds are trump, in another spades, in another there is no trump at all. Variations on these few differences are the only differences, no matter how many groups are playing. This means that virtually everything except one or two aspects is the same for everyone.

 Here is the beauty of BARNGA--everything appears to be the same, and in fact almost everything is the same, yet great confusion, uncertainty,misunderstanding and misjudgments fill the room because of just a few differences. Even those who understand that the rules are different (and many do) are not necessarily clear about how they are different. And even those who understand how they are different have difficulty bridging the communication barriers to work out a solution. These concepts spark the energy generated by the game and provide the starting point for a group follow-up discussion rich in observations of how what happened can be seen as metaphors for what happens in real life.

Reflection:

    What happened during the game/tournament?
    What is it like when everyone plays by different rules?  Was it fun?  or not?


Entry written by Sharon Venn of 1st Randburg

Documents

Instructions barnga_instructions.pdf

Happy Thought Planes




Category Activities
Badge Flying Models
Time to allocate (mins) 30
Outcome Fold and fly a paper aeroplane
Resources

Paper sheets per Cub

Templates 

Instructions

Cubs to take a sheet of paper

Using templates/instructions, fold the paper aeroplane

Test fly the plane

Write your happy thought (or draw a picture representing a happy thought) onto the plane

Test fly again and see if it flies better :-)


Entry written by Sharon Venn of 1st Randburg

Documents

Arrow Arrow_Sample-EU.pdf
Delta Delta_Sample-EU.pdf
Classic Dart Classic_Dart_Sample-EU.pdf
Raptor Raptor_Sample-EU.pdf
Bullet Bullet_Sample-EU.pdf
Condor Condor_Sample-EU.pdf
Trap Glider Trap_Glider_Sample-EU.pdf