Hello all.  I hope that summer is treating you well, and if your house is anything like mine, at this point (only 4 weeks of summer left) you may be hearing a lot of,

“MOM!! I’m so bored, there is nothing to do.” 

And so, this lovely activity. Last year I helped host an outdoor scavenger hunt on the Bishop Paiute Tribe COSA trail. It was lots of fun and my little one has been asking when can we do it again.

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Let’s jump in! This is a simple activity that you can bust out anytime, anywhere: your backyard, while camping, going for a hike, even a walk around the block. Really anytime you want (or need) to engage the little ones’ minds, while getting some wiggles out, and silencing the, “I’m so bored, OMG, there is nothing to do.”

I kept it simple and quite subjective.  Feel free to take this idea and run with it, don’t let my imagination hinder yours.  If you are going to the beach, you could re-frame the scavenger hunt for seashells and kelp.  If you are headed to the grocery store, you could give the kiddos a grocery score scavenger hunt. If you have a non-reader, you could replace the words with pictures and large easy to read numbers.  There is no limit to how you can adapt this to you and your wiggly and bored kiddo. I kept this scavenger hunt simple, choosing an outdoor theme.

Now for the easy prep part:

  1. Open and download the scavenger hunt list
  2. Print! I chose to print them on brown paper lunch bags, so that the kiddos would have an easy place to collect their treasures.  While printing on a lunch bag was relatively easy (once I put it into the printer in the wrong direction 3 times before I got it right.  I have serious printer dyslexia) you could just as easily print this on a regular paper and slip it into a Ziploc baggy.  You could get really fancy and add a pencil or crayon to mark off treasures found, as you go.

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And viola!! Now you have a lovely activity in your, “I’m bored tool kit.” Pull it out in those desperate moments of need, have fun, and get those wiggles out.  The best part is when your child shares their treasure with you, full of awe, wonder and excitement.  Who knows, you might even find a deliciously ripe and juicy blackberry, a creepy crawly to investigate, or memories to add to your families’ adventure memoir.

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