Gearhead Mom

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Jenny’s Spring Break Sanity Saver

Posted by Jenny M. @ 8:54 AM

The other weekend day when my daughters and I had temporarily run out of things to do and places to go (and there were no naps to be had), I had a brilliant idea:  a scavenger hunt.  In the house.  My little kindergartener loves projects, can read well enough to follow directions for simple objects and tasks, and has a little sister who will go fetch.  It could be a race, with everyone a winner!  Even I could earn a prize with some time to get something done!
I set about making a list of ten items to FIND and five things to DO (If your child is a non-reader, YOU keep the list, and they just come back to be read the next task as they complete each one).  I gave my girls sacks in which to gather their goods, and they scurried off, accidentally practicing reading, counting, and identifying colors and shapes. 
Here’s a simple example:

FIND:
1.  Something blue
2.  A ball
3.  A book about a girl
4.  Pretend vegetables
5.  A sock
6.  A toy horse
7.  A yellow crayon
8.  Something square
9.  A red car
10.  Something you love
DO:
1.  Draw a picture of a fish
2.  Pick up five toys in your bedroom (crafty, eh?)
3.  Count the pillows in the living room
4.  Make a tower out of blocks
5.  Line up your stuffed animals in the bedroom
Oh, so many possibilities!  Include the outdoors.  Make it more complex/time consuming for older kiddoes.  Create problem-solving scenarios:  find out how many cars/legos/Polly Pockets/Little People/plastic animals fit in the cup.  Make a clean-up scavenger hunt:  count the blankets on your bed and fold them.  Find all the pieces of “you name game/toy/set” and put them in the bag. 
And then:  Count the number of days since Mama had a full night’s sleep!  Get Mama a free massage!  Find Mama one hour of peace and quiet! 

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