"Beat the Boredom" Scavenger Hunt for Kids

Pin It Now! "Mooommm, I'm BORED!"  How many times have we all heard those words come out of our darling children's mouths? Yes, even some of the most imaginative and active kids can get bored...and my kiddos are no exception.

This very thing happened one weekend and by the afternoon I was SO tired of hearing the complaints.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside and I was not going to just let them plop down in front of the TV, so what is the solution? I created what I like to call a "Beat the Boredom" scavenger hunt.

I basically thought up a bunch of random activities or "Eye Spy" types of things that they either had to do or find inside and outside the house.  They then had to check off the box before they could move on to the next task. At first, I thought that my 8 year old would baulk at it thinking that it was "lame", but alas, he was all for it!  The best part?  He was so sweet to help out his little sister if she needed help completing her tasks :o)

Below is an example of the list that I came up with.  As you can see, some are completely random and others are sports related...I wanted to make sure that they got some exercise and were worn out a bit when it was over (get their 'wiggles out').

You can make this list as long or short as you want, but this seemed just about right for my kids...and it kept them occupied for quite awhile! Here is a pic of them "kicking the soccer ball through the cones."

The best part is, you can sneak a chore in there (like picking up sticks in the yard) and they still think that it's part of the game ;o) LOL

The ever dreaded...CHORES! --- Have a Chore Scavenger Hunt!

Pin It Now! If your kids are anything like mine, they dread the sheer mention of the word "chores"! However, I feel that it is very important for kids to take part in the clean up duties around the house and have responsibility for various tasks that help keep the house in order.

That being said, there is no reason that the words "chore" and "fun" can't be used in the same sentence, right?

To help get my kids motivated to get their tasks completed, sometimes we have what is called a Chore Scavenger Hunt. Here is how it works...

First, come up with an age appropriate list of chores for your kids to do and how many you want for them to complete for that given day (For this example, we had my daughter, who is 5 years old, completing 4 chores: fold & put clothes away, wipe down bathroom sink, pick up the living room floor, and clean out my car-basically removing all of her toys/dolls/etc).

Next, come up with fun and creative "clues" that will lead them from one chore to the next...see the example below:

Once you have all of the clues written out, cut them apart and place them in "hidden" (yet not TOO difficult to find) locations that will lead them from one chore to the next.

Here is the starting clue that I placed on my daughter's bed (I told her that was where she was to start):

I try to let her figure out the clues on her own (and usually she does), but if she needed help, I of course helped to give her a clue...but the fun of the scavenger hunt for them is to try and solve the "clues" :o)

Here is the 2nd clue that was placed in her laundry basket (it was originally placed part way under a pair of pants to hide it a bit):

This clue lead her to the Clorox wipes and so on...(I didn't take photos of each step).

However, I ended with the last clue that stated "Go to where your dolls go to bed at night"...and had this little "love note" that I found online waiting for her.

I've also done it before where I left a piece of candy or some little surprise of some sort at the end to show that I appreciated all of their hard work.

This activity kept them engaged and occupied for quite some time...and it got the house clean at the same time!  What a WIN WIN!

Here is a list of chores that we have our kids (ages 5 and 8) help with, since I know that is always a big topic:

• Sweep kitchen floor
• Swiffer kitchen floor
• Mop kitchen floor
• Dust
• Empty dishwasher
• Load dishwasher
• Pick up living room
• Clean their bedrooms
• Gather trash (from all of the multiple trashcans in the house)
• Breakdown recyclables
• Vacuum
• Water plants
• Clean out cars
• Fold and put away clothes
• Put clothes in washing machine or dryer
• Wipe down bathroom sink