Summer Scavenger Hunt
This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and Whitney’s last day of Pre-K was last week which means our family is officially in full SUMMER MODE! I love summer - I grew up mostly in Texas so I far prefer the heat to the cold. That being said, without school or other structured activities, we need to get more creative with the extra time we have outside together. This is when I love to use scavenger hunts. They are so easy to write, throw in your bag with a crayon or marker, and pull out whenever your kids could use a little playtime boost.
Today we planned to go to Sandy Point State Park in Maryland. It is gorgeous - a huge state park right on the Chesapeake Bay with a few big playgrounds, walking trails, and lots of sandy beach area. I knew my kids would enjoy the playground and then we would go swimming but I packed a scavenger hunt just in case. Sure enough, after an hour at the playground, my kids needed something to help them transition to the beach for swimming time. I could have just repeated, “Time to go to the beach.” a million times but that wouldn’t have been fun for anyone and I would have ended up super frustrated. Instead, I pulled out the scavenger hunt and said, “Let’s do a scavenger hunt! Can you find the things on this list?”
Our list included:
Cloud
Flower
Playground
Sun
Bug
Tree
Ladybug
Fish
Sand
Bay
The girls had a great time working together to find the items on their scavenger hunt list and I was grateful that our list transitioned us right over to the beach for swimming time!
When making your own scavenger hunt, “done” is better than “perfect”. I would have loved to sit down at my computer and type an aesthetically pleasing list with colorful pictures and print it out for the girls to use. But honestly, every time I think of doing that, I end up getting stuck at the beginning and never actually making the scavenger hunt. So push yourself to make a list with a marker and some paper. Include things you think you’ll see wherever you are. If you’re walking around the neighborhood or city, include street signs, street lamps, or neighbors. If you’re at a park, include nature that you’ve seen there before. It’s okay if you don’t find everything on your list - we never found a ladybug today - it’s more important for the kids to use their observation skills to complete what they believe is a very important job.
Bonus points if you bring binoculars!
