These are the games that don't seem to belong to another sensible grouping.
Props: A variety of small items, a tray, a tea towel to cover up the tray, some paper and pencils.
Time: About 5-10 minutes depending on how long you give the Beavers to remember the items.
Instructions: to quote Baden Powell himself “The Scoutmaster should collect on a tray a number of articles - knives, spoons, pencil, pen, stones, book and so on - not more than about fifteen for the first few games, and cover the whole over with a cloth. He then makes the others sit round, where they can see the tray, and uncovers it for one minute. Then each of them must make a list on a piece of paper of all the articles he can remember… The one who remembers most wins the game.”
Comments: This is the famous game from Rudyard Kipling's story '//Kim//'.
A variant is instead of getting the observers to write things down is to remove an item and get the beavers to spot what is missing.
Props: Some small plates (one per group) and some packets of different sweets (dolly mixtures, skittles, jelly beans or similar)
Time: About five minutes.
Instructions: Beavers need to be split into groups of about 4-6. Each group gets a paper plate with about five or six small sweeties on it. They all need to be distinguishable, so things like smarties, skittles, dolly mixtures etc are good. One beaver sits with his back to the group and the others quietly choose a sweetie on the plate. When they've done this the other beaver turns round and eats the sweeties one by one. If they tough the choosen sweetie then the other Beavers yell “STOP!” and that is the last sweetie they get to eat. The plate is then replenished and the next Beaver takes their turn as the 'eater'.
Comments: A perfect game to play just before sending the beavers home…
Props: None required, although a kitchen timer could be useful for the more outgoing members…
Time: about a minute per performer (although it can be used as a random filler with volunteers)
Instructions: Everyone has something that they can do to entertain the group, for about a minute. It could be telling jokes, singing a song, performing a magic trick, some acrobatic showing off or even a skit with a friend (if they've been expecting this). It could even be 'tell us about…'
Comments: This can either be an organised session where everyone has to take a turn, starting with volunteers and working on to the shyer members of the colony, or it could be used as a random filler between activities or on a walk. If Beavers don't know what to do you might want to prompt them with something you know they know about, most small boys will talk excitedly about something…