Scavenger Hunt

In a continued effort to come up with fun family activities, the other night I put together a quick scavenger hunt. It was a total hit with my kids. Many of you wanted more deets after seeing clips of it posted on Instagram. I loved watching my kids run all over the house completing various challenges and searching frantically for different items. Best part? This was a fully homegrown activity. No ordered kits, no purchased parts from amazon, no virtual entertainment. It felt great to have fun without needing to outsource anything at all. I put together 8 challenges and whoever finished all first won. Prizes were of course involved. My kids got creative and competitive, and I enjoyed watching tremendously. They all said they’d love to do this one again. Mom idea for the win!! Here is my list of challenges for you to use as inspo in your own homes. In our house this took about 40 minutes. Next time I’ll start earlier so I can make this longer. The excitement kept building; feel free to pile on the fun ideas to keep going. It worked like this: each completed challenge had to be brought to me for approval. Upon said approval, they earned access to the next task, quietly so their sibling couldn’t cheat.

Here’s the best part, the part that was my prize. As my kids searched, what I found was how utterly delightful and playful this time on lockdown has been with them. My children got to know a fun side to me that they perhaps didn’t have much access to (which makes me sad). Instead of being a driver/warden/cruise ship director, I get to just enjoy how much fun these little humans are. I don’t have to nag about homework or carpool. We aren’t in any sort of rush. We can play, bond, and enjoy each other as people. The rigidity of the roles can soften now. There’s more room for connections to form, breathe, and deepen. I am nervous to lose that when this ends. But for now let’s just take it one day at a time...

1) What’s black, white, and red all over? Be creative and find two things to fit this description.

2) Mom loves to cook and bake. Search in her big cookbook collection for a recipe. Present it to her with three needed ingredients to make this recipe.

3) 6 things that fly

4) Draw your favorite animal and color it in.

5) Shoot ten baskets and video it for proof.

6) Find three books; baby, teen, adult.

7) Find 8 different items in the same color.    No duplicates.

8) Sing Happy Birthday backwards. The words, not the letters.

Hope this helps! Happy hunting.