Sticker Bush Game

(Identify 10 trees or make a set of critter cards)

Make a deck of cards using index cards or other stiff paper. Write a clue about a tree or animal on each card, and make four cards per set. Each tree or animal is a "suit" and should be written in a different color or style of lettering (a good use for all those fonts in your computer you never use.) Make at least 10 suits, more if you can think of them.(sample clues are below) plus one card that says "Sticker Bush"

Play the game like Old Maid, with one variation. The Troop leader acts as a dealer/referee. When a scout gets a complete set of four matching cards, they must lay them down, but to keep them, the scout must correctly identify the plant or animal. If they can't identify it correctly, the player to the right can guess, and if they can name it, they get to put the suit in their pile. If they can't name it, the next player to the right gets to try, and so on, around the playing circle. If no one can name it, the leader tells them what it is, and takes the cards back. When the leader has enough cards, they are dealt again and put back into play. Play continues until all the cards have been claimed.

Here are some sample clues to get you started.

• Five leaves on a stem
• Its flower is a symbol of peace or love.
• Its fruit, called a hip, is rich in vitamin C and can be made into tea.
• Woody stems have talon-shaped thorns

(rose)

• Hard Wood
• Broad leaf
• Used to build furniture and shipping boxes
• Its seeds are called acorns

(oak)

• Causes a rash
• Red stem
• Weed
• Three leaves

(poison Ivy)

• Bush or tree
• red berries
• evergreen
• Used for Christmas decorations

(holly)

• State Flower of Mississippi and Louisiana
• evergreen, broad leaves
• grows in the South
• Fragrant white flowers

(Magnolia)

• Fungus
• Most are poisonous but a few can be eaten
• Grows on dead plants and manure
• Its seeds are called spores

(mushroom)

• A tall grass
• Its roots prevent erosion at the beach
• It's illegal to pick its seeds, which were once used for straw flower arrangements
• Grows at beaches along the Florida coastline

(Sea Oats)

• Carnivore
• tan fur
• Cub Scout symbol
• Wild feline

(Bobcat)

• Baseball team mascot
• State bird of Missouri
• eats seeds
• Male has bright red feathers, and the female is reddish-gray

(carnidal)

• Soft wood used for furniture
• whirley bird seeds
• Its leaf is the symbol of Canada
• Broad leaf tree whose leaves turn bright orange in the fall.

(maple)

• vegetable
• orange tap root
• called "rabbit food"
• perennial

(carrot)

• conifer
• Wood used to build houses
• Small ones are used for Christmas trees
• Needles that stay on in the winter

(pine)

• Stores water
• shallow roots reach out widely
• thorns prevent water loss
• grows in the desert

(cactus)

• small light blue eggs
• eats worms
• called the "first sign of spring"
• gray feathers on the back with rust-colored feathers on the tummy

(robin)

• parasite that grows in trees
• soft rounded leaves
• poisonous white berries
• used for Christmas decorations, and getting kissed

(mistletoe)

• Can be trained to carry messages
• medium gray bird
• often found in city parks
• its call sounds like "coo"

(pigeon)

• reptile
• triangular head has poison glands in the cheeks
• warns you by shaking its tail to make a noise
• poisonous snake of of North America

(rattle snake)

??? Do you have more ideas for "Sticker Bush" ???
E-mail them to PHrbacek@aol.com