Yeehaaa! Here is Hillbilly Club!
I’ve also had the privilege of leading square dancing at camp a lot. Here are the ones I’ve done with the chords.
My mom is still trying to figure out how and why I know how to call a square dance for hundreds of people.
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Cowboy Club ideas:
ROPE THE CALF – Divide guests into two teams. Prepare two 2 liter bottles filled with sand in advance, and place one about three feet in front of each team.
Give the first child in each line a loop of rope to lasso the bottle of sand. The first team to lasso the “calf” wins. Variation: Each child who is able to lasso the calf wins a piece of candy.
TEN GALLON TOSS – Position a tension rod from a doorway. A tree or swing set outside will work even better. Hang a rope with a loop in it from the bar and position children 3-4 feet away. Each child gets three tries to toss a felt cowboy hat through the loop like a frisbee. It’s harder than it sounds!
PASS THE LASSO – Divide guests into two teams, facing forward. Each person gets a plastic straw, and the first person in each line gets a pretzel. Everyone puts the straws in their mouths, and the first person puts the pretzel on their straw and passes it to the next person in line. The object is to pass the pretzel from person to person using only the straw – no hands. The first team to pass their pretzel “lasso” to the end of the line wins.
BUCKING BRONCOS – This cowboy party game is best played outdoors, so that you have more room for your bucking broncos to run. Divide your guests into two teams and line them up next to each other. Place an object about 25 feet away that the players must gallop to, around, and back. When the game begins, the first person in each line becomes the horse and carries the second person on his or her back around the “corral”. When horse and rider return to the team, the rider becomes the horse for the third person in line, etc. The game continues until every player has “ridden” a “bronco” around the corral. (This means the first person in line, who was the first horse, must carry the last person in line around the track to complete the relay.) The team who finishes first, wins!
SHOOTOUT – Children line up into two teams behind the starting line. Across the room, or about twenty paces away if outside, is a chair with these items on it: Cowboy hat, cowboy boots and play holster with gun. Before the party, glue a large picture of a cowboy on poster board and attach it to the chair back. At the starting signal, the first child on each team runs to the chair, puts on the hat, boots and holster, draws the gun, points it at the chair and shouts “Bang Bang, I Gotcha!”. They then take off the hat, boots and holster and run back to tag the next person in line. Each person repeats these actions until all have had a turn. The team who finishes first is the winner.
ROUND UP THE HERD – For this game you will need two brooms, a long string to mark your course, six balloons (and a few extra in case any should pop). Set up an obstacle course in your party area using boxes, chairs, bushes, trees, etc. Mark the path of your obstacle course with string. Divide your party guests into two teams and line up both teams at the starting line. Give the first person in each line a broom and three balloons. (Be sure to use different colored balloons for each team). They must use the broom to herd their wild ponies (balloons) through the course. Each player must herd their balloons through the entire course to complete their turn. The first team to finish the course, wins! If a balloon pops during a player’s turn, he or she must take a new balloon to the starting line and begin again.
HOGTIED – Divide guests into two teams of four or more players. The teams line up and face each other. The first player on each team is given a ball of string. At the starting signal, the first player hands the ball of string to the next person in line, while holding onto the end of the string. The ball is then unwound a little more and passed to the third player, and so on, unrolling as it goes. When the ball of string gets to the end of the line, the last player passes it behind his back and back up the line again. This is repeated until the whole ball is used up. The first team to finish is the winner. Continue this cowboy party game by having an untying relay, with the first team to untie itself the winner!
TENDERFOOT – Guests stand in a circle around the adult leader, who holds a long pole or broomstick. The leader swings the stick around the circle of children, sometimes low (just a few inches off the ground), and sometimes high ( a few feet off the ground). Children are instructed to jump over the stick or scoot under it, but they cannot let it touch them. The leader can even change the direction of their swing to confuse players. Last one left standing is the winner.
BRAND THE CALF – Draw a picture of a calf on a poster board. You might find one in a child’s coloring or picture book. Mark an X on the calf’s hindquarters. Blindfold each child, spin him around, and then have him mark his brand (initials) on the calf with a crayon. The child who comes closes to the X is the winner.
Variation: Pin the badge on the sheriff, pin the tail on the horse
CAMPFIRE CAPERS – Guests sit in a “campfire” circle while the child who is “It” walks around the outside with a cowboy hat in hand. When ready, he drops the hat onto the head of one of the children in the circle. That child must jump up, keeping the hat on, and catch him before he runs around the circle and sits in the child’s place. If he can’t catch the hat-dropper, or drops the hat in his pursuit of him, he becomes “It”.
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK – Spread a large tarp on the ground. Pull apart a bale of hay and spread a it all over the tarp, hiding wrapped candy and small toys in the hay as you go. Let kids loose to find the hidden treasure, starting with the youngest guests.
SNAKEBITE – Fill a small plastic container (film canister or prescription bottle) with dried beans or beads. Tie in an old sock stuffed with newspaper or plastic bags. Add button eyes and decorate your “rattlesnake”. Guests sit in a circle and pass the “rattler” while snippets of western music are played. The player holding the rattler when the music stops (the one who is “bitten”) is out. The last player left is the winner.
HORSESHOES – If you don’t have your own horseshoe pit for this cowboy party game, glue a wooden dowel to a flat piece of wood and let party guests try to ring the dowel with pretzels.
SACK RACES – Divide guests into two teams and give each a burlap sack. Players must race to designated point in the sack and return, passing off the sack to the next team member. The first team to finish wins.
GOLD RUSH – Scatter gold foil-wrapped coins or pennies around the party area. Make some harder to find than others. Let your little cowboys loose to mine for gold. They get to keep what they find.
ideas from: http://www.kids-party-paradise.com/cowboy-party-games.html