It’s hard sometimes to know what to plan or have ready to do for older scouts. By middle school they are either uninterested in doing many of the things they did before, or they just avoid doing them because they think it will make them “uncool”.
So what do you do with older scouts? Here’s a list of activity suggestions from various leader Facebook Groups where similar questions were asked.
Active Movement Games
- Hide and Go Seek
- Tag Games
- Group Games (Learn them to teach younger scouts, or just have fun)
- Capture the Flag
- Dance Off
- Camp Charades
- Bring a Squishy Ball and just let them go with it.
- Gaga Ball (you can do this even without a pit!)
- Frisbee
Sitting Games
- Pringle Ring Challenge
- Adult Coloring Books with tons of Gel Pens
- Progressive Storytelling
- Card Games
- Board Games
Crafts
- Friendship Bracelets
- Use a Cardboard Loom for braided Friendship Bracelets to be put in a pocket and done anywhere at camp.
- Plastic Lace Lanyards/Boondoogle/Gimps
- Paracord
- Tie Dye – challenge them to do the fancier dyes
- Wood Chip Necklaces
- Pumpkin Painting
- Mod Podge
Hiking
- Hiking with Teens
- Night Hikes (Could be for Cadette Night Owl)
- Ghost Hunt Hike – It’s a Regular Hike with an EMF detector (Learn the history of your area and do your own ghost tour if you want to amp it up.)
- Scavenger Hunts
- Twists on Standard Hunts
- Printable Hunts
- Hide all the food and they have to find them before the troop can eat
- Make your own Trail for someone to follow
- Snipe Hunt
Camp Skills
- Hammocks
- Any Camp Cooking
- Cook Challenge
- “Great Family Bake Off”
- Make a Box Oven (video instruction here) and try regular oven baking recipes (50 degrees per coal)
- Cupcake Wars
- Make Charcuterie Boards (Easiest way is to give them snack foods and some cookie sheets and let them use their own imagination to arrange them.)
- Campfire Conversations (Might take some prompting from leaders but let them just go with it when they take off.)
- Campfire Progressive Storytelling
- Knot Tying
- Macrame
- You can try some knot tying fun
- or buy a Knots for Teen book that gives you real world applications for different knots
- Fort Building
- Flashlight Morse Code
- Geocaching
- Archery Games
- Rock Climbing
- Ziplinging
- High Ropes
- Boating (Canoeing / Kayaking)
Just for Fun
- Who is Sleeping – sleeping bag guessing game
- Learn different ways to braid hair
- Glow Sticks
- Fancy Connectors for Glow Sticks
- Murder Mystery (Could be for Cadette Special Agent)
- Camp Trefoil Mystery by Troop 32064
- Paid for kits at My Mystery Party
- Paid for kits at Masters of Mystery
- Task Master (based off British Taskmaster show)
- Dutch Auction (Could be for Financial Literacy)
- Fairy House (Could be for Outdoor Art)
- Paid subscription for Think Outside Boxes
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