St. Patrick's Day Ideas: Scavenger Hunt
Send your kid on a green-themed scavenger hunt.
Submitted by
Kayla Chong
Kayla Chong
Set the timer and challenge your kid to hunt for as many green things as he can find around the house. He loves going through your drawers and yanking everything out, anyway—why not turn it into an official game? And for a great St. Patrick's Day idea, maybe if he limits himself to grabbing only the green stuff, your house will look a little less like a tornado hit come dinnertime.
- Looky-loo leprechaun:Your kid.
- Green things:Like socks, napkins, plants. (No, boogers don't count.)
- Timer:A stopwatch, clock, kitchen timer. Check out this cool cheeseburger-shaped one.
- Pillowcase or big bag:To collect the loot in.
Set the timer for however long you want to send your kid hunting. Need five minutes to check your email? Sounds about right to us.
Hand him a pillowcase or large bag and challenge him to zoom around the house finding as many green things as he can in the allotted time.
When the buzzer dings (and not a second sooner) invite your kid come in and show off his loot.
Set the timer again, for four minutes this time, and challenge your kid to put it all back in less time than it took to take it all out. (Borrow this technique to get him to clean up his room!)
Send him out for another round and see if he can find even more, different green things. Or send him on a hunt for gold things. (OK, yellow things ... don't want him scouting in your jewelry box!) Heck, you can send him on hunts until you've covered every color in the rainbow.
- For a St. Patrick's Day idea for older kids, expand the concept of "green things" and send them on a metaphorical hunt for "green," environmentally sound products such as recycled paper, your recycling bin, energy efficient light bulbs, etc. You'll get to see just how "green" your home really is!
- Change the color of the hunt and apply it to any holiday (or regular old day). On Valentine's Day, send your kid looking for pink and red things; on Christmas make it green and red; next Thursday, it could be blue and yellow.
Submit!
