The great thing about being a child is the seemingly endless curiosity a child has for his or her environment. I personally saw this in my nieces and nephews. They never seem to tire of running around, picking up random items (most often, the owners of the place never knew that these items existed) and devising ingenious ways to play with them.

I was at my cousin’s house the other day for some quality bonding time. But first, we needed to get the kids busy. I saw my cousin’s creativity at her best: she looked for a blank sheet of paper, wrote some items on it, and asked her kids to look for all of the items found on the list.

Seeing that her kids were little more than 5 or 6 years old, she made sure that they were familiar with what they were looking for. She sent them away with the list, bidding them to come back when the dinner bell rings.

As the kids were searching, we were baking afternoon snacks. I asked her how she is, now that she has her hands full with her three toddlers, her full-time job, and household chores. Her husband also works full-time. Her answer was simple and straight-to-the-point. “I wouldn’t say it’s hard, because it isn’t. Rather, you are forced to tap into your inner child so that you can find ways to keep them busy. Or else, well, all hell does break loose.”

She rang the bell, and the kids dutifully went back and presented to us their finds. Some of the items include an angel figurine normally residing on top of the spinet piano, a box of crayons (must be complete, or else it won’t get points), a lollipop, an orange rose from their garden, one of my cousin’s husband’s slippers, and drawings of trees, houses, and cars. Whoever collected the most number of items got the first pick among the cupcakes we had baked and lovingly designed.

As I looked at them, their faces flushed and still breathless from excitement, they reminded me how much fun it was to be a kid. Maybe next time, I’ll ask my cousin if I can join in their scavenger hunt game.

Technorati Tags: Scavenger Hunt Ideas, Scavenger Hunt Kids

When I went through the library doors one day, the librarian motioned to me and cheerfully said, “Steer clear of the third floor. Two classes are holding a scavenger hunt up there and you don’t want to be there.”

I still went. Not that I don’t trust her judgement, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I went up, just in time to hear their teachers hand out lists and instructions. They were only supposed to search within the floor. Anyone caught going down will be immediately disqualified. They only have thirty minutes to complete the items on the list, and they are not allowed to consult with other groups. I can see the excitement in the kid’s faces as they waited for their teacher to say the magic word: “Go!”

I sidled up to the group near me and found some interesting items on the list. I figured that these kids were about in the third grade, and they were tasked to find an assortment books belonging to just about any subject: Science, Geography, History, Literature, and so much more.

However, the list only contained an assortment of numbers and letters. After checking with the Librarian, I found out that these were call numbers of each book. The children were tasked to go through the card catalogue and retrieve the book that bore that specific call number. It was ingenious! Is there a better way to teach how to use the card catalogue?

The list was impressive, but the last item made me smile. At the end of the list, each team was tasked to have a slip of paper with a call number written onto it: the catalogue number of their favorite book. I didn’t have the chance to find out what the kids’ favorite books were, though. Perhaps next time, Iíll get to do so.

Technorati Tags: Scavenger Hunt Ideas, Scavenger Hunt Kids