From: macman@bernina.ethz.ch (Danny Schwendener)
Subject: Knot games compendium


-- Danny Schwendener  v/o "Spike"                 macman@bernina.ethz.ch
   Wolfsmeute Orion/Glockenhof, Sihlstr. 33, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland
   rec.scouting FAQ coordinator and ftp.ethz.ch scout archive maintainer

---------------------------------

From: cs92pdt@brunel.ac.uk (Me)
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1993 15:51:32 GMT

The Burritto (tniet@engr.uvic.ca) wrote:
: In my troop we have recently been attempting to get the scouts to learn thier
: knots.  We don't have any experienced boys to assist in teaching as we have
: a new troop.  Th eproblem we are having is that the scouts aren't paying 
: attention when the knot is being demonstrated, and also when they are 
: supposed to be practicing.  I was wondering if anyone had any games or 
: other ideas that could be used to help them learn these important skills.

My scout troop used to hold a competition for the quickest tying of knots-
it certainly got *most* of them learning the knots - I know I did!
We were tying the 6 basic knots :
	reef knot
	clove hitch
	roundturn & 2 half hitches
	sheepshank
	bowline
	...and another one which I can never remember the name of (anyone?)

Thw *world* record (in Guiness book of records) is something like 7 seconds!!
However, in my troop, I was fastest with (I think) about 22 seconds, followed
by our leader with about 30 seconds.  It sure as hell helped me *learn* the
knots, and experiment with the many different ways of tying each.  It's just
a pity I can't remember the *name* of 1 of them  :)

---------------------------------
From: pdennis@vnet.IBM.COM (Phil Dennis)
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 93 12:00:28 EDT

This takes me back about 20 years or so, but we did the following...

Take some cheap plywood and cut it into 3' x 2' sections.  Then take some
rope and cut it into 4' pieces.  Drill two holes in each piece of plywood
that are just large enough for the ropes to fit through.  Put a piece of
of rope through each hole and tie a not in the end to it won't pull through.

Then you have the patrols line up for a type of relay-race.  When the first
group of boys reaches the front, the SPL calls out the name of a knot that
the boys must tie.  Knots are inspected by the SPL, and when correctly tied,
the boy runs back to his patrol and the next one comes up to tie another
knot.  First patrol to complete all knots correctly wins.

Since you have a "new" troop, the Scoutmaster may have to do the inspecting
if there are no boy that know the knots.

---------------------------------
From: rpm@radon.sys.uea.ac.uk (R.P. May ESE PG)
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1993 11:00:09 GMT

I have had surprising sucess with running a simple relay game after the teaching
session, and explaining beforehand what will happen.

The game simply involves each member of the team running across the hall, where
they are told a knot to tie, and they must tie that before returning to there
team and the next person running up to do their knot. Each player will be given a
knot in a predetermined sequence and the sequence will be the same for all teams.
Therefore the Scouts know that if they do not pay attention during the learning
phase of the evening they will let their team down during the game phase. This is
often sufficient incentive for them to make every effort to learn. You will need
to decide in advance how to handle a competitor who, after making several
attempts, still fails to tie the required knot, one possibility is for the next
person in the team to come up (after the previous has been there for a set period
of time), then the next person must tie the knot that the previous person failed
at and one more person must come up at the end of the race so that the required
number of knots get tied.

Whilst this game may not seem very exciting, in my experience simple games often
suceed the best.

When you get on to teaching the square lashing I have an alternative game, the
sedan chair race. The Troop is devided into teams (of a fairly small number) and
each team is given a chair and two staves. They then have a fixed period (say
fifteen minutes) to build a sedan chair which simply involves sqare lashing each
of the staves to either side of the chair so that they extend equally in front
and behind of the chair. Warn them that it is vital that the lashings are very
tight.

Then set up a race track, if space is limited then you will probably have to have
each team running one at a time and time each, however if you can hold the race
in a larger space it is possible for all teams to race together. One member of
each team sits on the chair and the other team members must carry the chair by
the staves only and run around the course. In running with the chair, any bad
lashings will be disclosed since they will wwork undone. A suitable penalty
should be imposed for any team that drops their passenger.

This game always proves to be most entertaining, both for the members and for the
leaders!

---------------------------------
From: oakes@rtsg.mot.com (Ronald Oakes)
Date: 29 Oct 1993 19:23:17 GMT

1: Bowline/Sheet-bend Draw

Have the troop divide into pairs.  Each pair lines up across from each
other.  Each Scout is given a piece of rope long enough to tie around
his/her waist and leave a couple of extra feet.  These ropes should be on
the ground by the scout's feet.

At the GO signal, each scout picks up his/her rope and ties a bowline around
their waist.  Then they join the rope with their partners rope using a
sheet-bend.  They then back up until the ropes become taught, lean back and
hold their hands in the air.

As a Patrol competition, the first patrol to have all of their pairs done,
wins.  As an individual competition, each team competes independently.
Check the knots, if they are wrong, have them start over, with time
running.

2: Knot Relay (timed variation)

Have the patrols line up behind a starting line.  A leader stands opposite
each patrol and has one or two ropes, and a pole (if desired).

At the GO signal, each patrol send one scout forward.  The leader gives
them a randomly selected knot.  The scout then must successfully tie that
knot before returning to their patrol.  When each scout returns to the
patrol, the next scout is sent forward.

Have each leader count the number of knots successful tied.  Keep moving
until the game period has nearly expired.  The patrol with the most
successfully tied knots wins.

By running this relay for a fixed time, there is no need to adjust for
different sized groups.  Each scout should get the opportunity to tie 2 or
3 different knots (at least).

In this game, the leaders should be willing to help scouts who have
problems with specific knots.

---------------------------------
From: rusa@microsoft.com (Bjarne 'Rusa' Steensgaard)
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1993 20:05:52 GMT

I have always found that the best way for scouts to learn something
is not to have competitions in the discipline (e.g., of knot tying)
but to make them use their skills in practice.  You say that knot
tying is an important skill.  Important for what?  When you answer
that question in front of the scouts, then they will realize the
importance too.

Even though they were only cub scouts, we had our kids build kitchen
tables and other things on summer camps.  If they didn't know how to
tie the knots, then they couldn't build the table.  If they didn't
know beforehand, then they asked their fellow cub scouts or the
leaders for help.  They made sure to learn them, because if they didn't
do it right, we would have somebody else redo the lashing or the knot
(we didn't want the table to crash on us).  They all wanted to feel that
they had contributed to the table, so they were careful that "their"
knots and lashings didn't have to be redone.

The scouts in our troop often built larger constructions. 20-30 feet
tall towers were built every year.  Sometimes swings and merry-go-rounds
were built too.  Since they wanted to build such things, they felt
it was important to know how to tie knots and lashings before the
activity.

---------------------------------