Scavenger Hunt Is An Entertaining Activity To Ease Children’s Boredom
Monday, April 26th, 2010If you have children and sometimes struggle for entertaining ways to keep them busy, consider scavenger hunts. They are a fun activity that works with kids of all ages. You can make scavenger hunts simple for younger children, ore more difficult for older kids, and can have the hunt be spontaneous or meticulously planned.
Older kids can have an added element to their hunt if you provide hints only rather than a list of items to find. Figuring out the ‘clues’ and deciding what to hunt for can be a big part of the fun!
You don’t want kids wandering away from supervision while they look for things, though, nor do you want them picking up garbage. To avoid these possibilities, consider holding a nature hunt in your backyard, or in a local park.
One important element for a nature scavenger hunt is the nature reminder or lesson. Children should be reminded that the hunt is fun, but should not cause harm to nature. They need to remember to be careful, and to only take items from the ground. Children may worry that they won’t be able to find the items with this rule; explain that there will be plenty of items on the ground that will let them complete the hunt. Choose items that can be found on the ground, such as:
Small insects like ladybugs or ants (but avoid stinging insects or larger insects or animals of any type). Rocks of specific shape, size, or color. Leaves of a specific type, or of a specified shape or color. Flowers of a specific color. Pinecones. Small pebbles. Anything of a specific color of shape (e.g.,”’something yellow,” or “something round”).
Theme hunts are also very fun and engaging for children. And they don’t have to be expensive; often, a quick trip to the dollar store will provide everything you need.
You might also consider sending the kids off to find ‘treasure,’ by providing hints that lead to a stash of chocolate gold coins. Or, host a secret agent mission hunt, and have them search for the clues as well as the items!
Kids engaged in a scavenger hunt can be kept busy for an hour or more. For older kids, you might even allow the hunt to include neighbors (if you know the neighbors well) and have kids hunt for things like a mismatched sock, a coin from a specified year, and so forth.
Besides entertaining activities, this writer also regularly gives advice regarding free small business accounting software and business inventory software.
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