Sidewalk Scavenger Hunt
Go hunting in your 'hood.
Submitted by
Andrey Ragozin
Andrey Ragozin
Spend an afternoon stroll with your kid while he scours the streets for take-home treasures (like coins, flowers, or pretty pebbles).
- Sidewalk:If your kid has a bad habit of running into the street, we recommend "Hunt the Park" or "Search the Backyard." Same game, but safer.
- Treasure trapper:A bag or basket for your child's loot.
- Treasure list:A list of stuff for your kid to find. You can either plant items or take a chance by picking common things you can easily locate, like a leaf, a penny, a flower and so on. Don't put anything too obscure or you'll end up wandering the streets for hours!
- A watch or a cell phone to tell the time:Trust us, you need a time limit. You'll faint from boredom if your child takes an hour to find a dime tucked in a rose bush.
- Hand sanitizer:Just in case your dear child picks up something unsavory in his zeal to fill his basket. Dog poop is strictly off limits!
- A cheap but fun little prize for your successful scavenger:A plastic trophy or chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil are in keeping with the game's spirit.
Compile your treasure list. Twelve is a realistic number of items for your little one to locate. If your kid isn't old enough to read, use pictures.
Tell your child to grab his treasure trapper (while you grab the hand sanitizer, your treasure list, your watch and/or your cell) and head outside.
Give your kid five minutes to find the first treasure on the list.
Once he finds the item, reward him with a sticker, cookie, kiss and so on (you know him best).
Send him off to find the next treasure…and the next and the next and the next! Keep going until one of you just can't take it anymore.
- This is also a great activity to do with groups of children. Sister-in-law dump her kids off at your house again? Have the kids divide into teams and hunt for treasures together.
- It's also a great beach game. Have the kids hunt for shells, seaweed and sunscreen. You may actually enjoy a brief moment of silence while the kids are focused on finding a strand of marine benthic algae (that's geek speak for seaweed).
Submit!
