Thursday, April 18, 2013

Scavenger Hunts with Kids at Varying Ages: In the Car and On Foot



Here's an idea for a kid friendly activity you can perform even when it is raining!  I remember when my son was about 3, and we just wanted to get out of the house, however that looked, but it was cold and a little on the drizzly side.  I got out a paper and drew 10 things in marker that we were going to look for on a local drive.  Then we planned that if we found the things (I tried to choose things that would give us a fair drive around but also be achieveable on our hunt!), I had a little prize at the end.

Those ended up being fun rides because he would sit in his car seat with a marker and cross through things once we saw them.  I would drive around to where I thought we could get some hits, and after about an hour we were home.  I would draw things like an American flag, a dog or cat, a bicycle, a red car, the letter A, the number 2, etc.  In those days it was a fun way to have some time out of the house even when the whether wasn't ideal!

Last week, we had a nice spring day.  Probably our first hint of spring weather!  I got out a sheet of paper and listed (now my son is practicing his reading) 15 items I thought he and the baby sitter could find on a walk around our local neighborhoods. 

lawnmower
out of state license plate
small garden statue
ball
flowers
chalk drawing on sidewalk/driveway
etc. 

I told them that if they found 12 of the 15 items, they could walk to the dollar store and my son could pick out a prize.  My son also got a kick out of it because he took an old digital camera we have (maybe 9 years old?) and I asked him to take a picture of each item they found.  He got to show me all the pictures when they returned home!


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