Trade Up Activity

This Activity is meant for Scouts BSA.

sheets of paper
aluminum foil
nails
tiny silver bells
golden tickets
candy bars

This is similar to Great Investments.

The object of this activity is to have scouts figure out a progression of trades needed to reach the end reward. You can use absolutely anything for the levels of trade, but it makes more sense if they seem more valuable on the way up. Also, using things that are not easy to duplicate helps and have the leaders keep items exchanged so they don't enter the black market.

7 or more unbiased leaders are needed to make the trades. Other than that, this activity works for any size group. If you have many leaders, have multiple ones at each exchange level.

Each leader is given a set of items to give away. Each leader is also told what a scout needs to give in exchange for the item. For example, a leader will give a scout a nickle in exchange for a penny and reciting the Scout Law.

Once the leaders have their items, they should be distributed around the area. When the activity begins, they can occasionally yell, "Get yer Nickles here! Bright, shiny nickles!" or some such thing depending on their item to exchange.

To start the activity, the leader just tells the scouts that many of the people around the area have free stuff to give away. The scouts just have to go and ask for items. Once they start, it becomes obvious what they need to do.

Here is an example ladder of exchanges, but use whatever sounds fun:

• paper football - tell the Scout Motto
• aluminum foil ball - give paper football and tell Scout Slogan
• steel nail - give aluminum ball and use the buddy system (have another scout with you)
• silver bell - give steel nail and tell Scout Law
• golden ticket - give silver bell and tie a knot (depending on rank)
• candy bar - give golden ticket and do a self-inspection of uniform, noting things to fix

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An alternate way to run this is to have a leader stand up in front with a big box of candybars or other "items of desire" and announce that he has one to give away to every scout. When the scouts say, "I want one!", he just says, "Sure, just give me a golden ticket - I'm sure someone around here has an extra one."