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Cub Scout Games: Rattlesnake Game

Written By: Sherry Smothermon-Short
Last Modified: September 17, 2025
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Rattlesnake game

If you need a fun, quick activity to do after a passive task, energize your Scouts with the Rattlesnake Game!

A milk carton or a paper bag is the rattlesnake.  Or if you left the milk carton at home like I did, look in your supply bin and grab something that’s about the same size to use.

Put your rattlesnake on the floor, and have the Scouts form a circle around it.  Each Scout will grasp their neighbor’s hands.

When the game starts, each Scout will try to force their neighbors to touch the rattlesnake while avoiding it themselves. 

Whenever a Scout touches it, they get a point.  At the end of the game, the Scout with the least number of points is the winner.

If your room is large enough (or your group is small enough), this Cub Scout game can be played indoors.  Of course, it is a fabulous outdoor game.

When we played this game, we had parents participate too.  The Scouts all wanted their parents to touch the rattlesnake, so there was some fierce competition going on!

The Rattlesnake Game is perfect for these Lion and Tiger elective Adventures!

Lion Elective Adventure On Your Mark 1: Play a game with your den.

Lion Elective Adventure Pick My Path 3: Learn the basic rules of a game and play the game.

Tiger Elective AdventureTiger Tag 1: Play an active game with your den. Share with your Tiger adu!t partner or your den why you like this game.

You know, that’s one of the things I love about Cub Scouts.  I get to interact with my sons in ways that I never would at home.  We definitely wouldn’t be trying to make each other touch a “rattlesnake” at home.

Yours in Scouting,
Sherry

P.S. If you liked this Cub Scout game, sign up below for more cool activities!

Thanks, Bill’s Unofficial Cub Scout Roundtable!


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4 responses

  1. […] Rattlesnake Game […]

  2. Meanna

    We play a game similar to this. We set a bucket upside down and put a stick on it, that way you can have bigger groups with a bigger stick, or small groups with a smaller stick. If you knock it off, you get pulled out of the game (For larger groups). We would have a side activity (usually a quite one) for those who didn’t want to play or got out.
    The kids could jump over it or step around it, and touching it was fine, so long as it didn’t fall. It could get rather violent with Scout aged kids, but I reckon including parents would make for more moderated time, too.
    We just called it Stick and Bucket, and it was a favourite of mine when I was a scout

    1. That sounds like fun! Thanks for sharing!

  3. […] to get a bored with a table activity (such as a worksheet), you can switch to a game such as the rattlesnake game.  Or work on advancement by doing the crab, gorilla or kangaroo relay that is required for the […]