Have you ever thought about running your Pack Meeting like a world-class circus? The Cubmaster is attired as Ringmaster, and all Cub Scouts are in costumes. You could try this and see how to set up competitions between Cub Scouts in carnival circus games and contests. It might begin something like this:
Ringmaster: Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to our show "Under the Big Top!" Let's greet our circus performers as they make their grand entry by standing and singing the Star-Spangled Banner.
After doing a little research online, we were able to come across ten ideas for your circus games. You should help your Scouts to pick the game that they will run, to help them learn and have fun from the games that each one is supervising. Perhaps you could have the Scouts make some posters advertising whatever their particular game is all about. Pack leaders could provide some shelters for each game and maybe decorate them.
Here are some of the circus games that you might have for your Scout carnival…
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A bean bag toss…
Image by cfarnsworth from Pixabay
As an alternative, your bean bag toss could also be made out of an old sheet, that is hung vertically with holes cut out of it. Color and put some point values in the holes with some mesh behind each hole to catch the bean bag(s). You might wish to hang a couple of blankets behind the sheet to stiffen it up for the game.
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A clown cut out…
All you need is an old cardboard box, painted like a clown with a hole cut in it for the children to put their faces.
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How about a Tin can knockdown?
Make a tower of cans in a triangle or pyramid shape and let the children take a chance at throwing bean bags at them to knock them down.
Don't forget to draw a line that kids need to stand behind, so folks know where to stand. You can use any kind of cans that will stack to make your game.
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A Photobooth with Props…
You need some outgoing parent or adult to volunteer to be a ringmaster. Give them their tophat and add in some fake circus strongman weights and start capturing your circus pictures.
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Every good circus carnival needs a Ring Toss…
You can set up a couple of rows of bottles (glass pop bottles work best because they have a narrow neck) and ask your children to throw a ring and have it land right over the bottle to win a prize!
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Slam Dunk…
You can make this as easy or as hard as you need to depending on how many balls you want the kids to get into the basket before they win a prize. The “shooting line” can also be adjusted to help the kids to be able to make a basket.
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Guess the Jelly bean jar
Have the children guess the number of jelly beans inside the jar. The child with the closest guess wins the prize (umm, jelly beans 😉)
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Duck Pond Game…
This game is pretty straightforward to setup. You can just write matching numbers on the back of a package of plastic plates. Stick a rubber duck to each plate with a glue gun and place them in a kids swimming pool with some water and let them bob around.
The goal is to catch a duck with a “fishing pole” and find the matching hidden numbers on the bottom to win a prize! Have the number posted at the top of your booth, so the children know what “number” they are fishing for.
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Nerf Gun Shooting Range:
Image by Aaron Holmes from Pixabay
Shoot ping pong balls off the tops of weighted soda bottles.
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Balloon Dart Game:
Pop balloons taped to a large board. Use the darts from your favorite dart board for the target practice.
You will have to spend a little money to buy prizes that you will hand out for the winners of your Circus games. Let us know if you have some additional ideas or a favorite story that you have to share about your packs circus games in the space below.