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Bucket Brigade Relay
Bucket Brigade Relay
Players get wet in this activity! Relay race of filling a bucket with water.
Ranks
LION
TIGER
WOLF
BEAR
WEBELOS
ARROW OF LIGHT
Specifications
Arrow of Light, Bear, Lion, Tiger, Webelos, Wolf
4+
Outdoor
4
2
2
Get details on the Fun & Games specifications.
Supply List
- 2 – Five-gallon buckets for each team
- 1 – Nine-quart bucket for each team
- Blue painter’s tape
Objective
Fill the empty bucket halfway with water using a bucket brigade
Set-Up
Identify a location free of hazards and where it is OK for the ground to get wet. For each team, fill one five-gallon bucket with four gallons of water. Place the team’s other (empty) five-gallon bucket at a distance from the first that totals 4 feet for each player on the team. For example, if you have 5 players on a team, place their empty bucket 20 feet away from their filled bucket. Adjust the space as needed so each member of the team is between the two buckets and has enough room to pass water to each other.
Use blue painter’s tape to mark a halfway line inside each of the empty five-gallon buckets.
Directions
Each team forms a line between their filled five-gallon bucket and their empty five-gallon bucket. The player closest to the filled bucket is given the small nine-quart bucket. They then fill that bucket with water and hand it to the next player in line who passes it to the next and so on until the player closest to the empty five-gallon bucket pours the water in. Then the 9-quart bucket is passed back up the line until it reaches the first player who fills it again and passes it back down the line. This continues until the 5-gallon bucket is filled halfway. The first team to fill their bucket halfway is the winner.
At no time is the nine-quart bucket to be thrown; it must be handed to the next player. Players may pivot their feet but they must remain in the same spot at all times.
Level-Up – Have the player on the team who pours the water into the bucket run to the front of the line with the small bucket and everyone shifts down one spot so everyone is moving down a spot every time water is poured into the large bucket.
Have players use only their left hand (if they are left-handed they can only use their right hand).
If you want players to get wet, have players pass the bucket using the rules from the game Over and Under Relay.
