Rainy Day Treasure Hunt

(4 Years)

What to do on a rainy day, or a too hot and humid day?  Go on a quick and easy treasure hunt!  All that's needed is paper and something to write with.  Create a short list of items to find within the house.  Read them off to the kids and be prepared to be intrigued at some of the "treasures" that they find.  I found this idea from Smith Tales on Pinterest.  It looked so easy and to be so much fun, I had to give it a try.  I'm glad that I did!  Look what we did:

We began the game in the playroom where ALL of the treasures could be found.  However as soon as I read off each of the first items, Little Miss and Wild One ran OUT of the room in search of something that fits that description.  Where are they going?

Little Miss couldn't find an object for "something that moves".  Wild One ran to her room and grabbed her jewelry box.  "Look Tinkerbell moves when I wind her up!"  

In the playroom there were toy cars, a baby stroller, a red car that

they ride on almost every day...  I liked his out of the box thinking though!

Something heavy

Hee hee, fun and sneaky way to practice drawing circles and strengthening our fine motor skills.

It was hard to stay quiet during this game.  Especially when the objects were RIGHT in front of them!  However, I'm glad that we did stay quiet (good work Grandpa), because some of the items that they found I wouldn't have grabbed.

Something that begins with the letter C - Wild One grabbed a CD!

I made two slightly different lists, one for each of my children.  They liked playing the game so much that we decided to swap lists.  Now, instead of making an X inside the box (since there is already an X from the first round of treasure hunt), we drew a circle around the square with the X to indicate that she/he completed that item.  The only rule we had for the second round was that they had to discover a treasure that wasn't already found by the other person.

They LOVED this game!  Quick and easy to set up, out of the box thinking, think - pair -share (think of an item, get together with a buddy and share your answers), practicing writing, having fun.  Learning through play.  Hmmmm, what to do next?