With the continuous weather changes, it’s good to have a bucket full of indoor activities for your little ones. I enjoy this activity because you can create it based off the weather outside and tailor it to your child’s age.
This indoor activity is a scavenger hunt. You should be able to tell by my illustrations that it was not too rainy, not too snowy, but too HOT to be outside. Yes, I said too hot (welcome to Texas). I drew a few summer items the kids could find inside the house – specifically, all of which they could find on their own.
As they found each item, they checked off the box and we discussed why they chose that specific one instead of the other one right next to it. For some items, they were honest and said because it was the first one they saw! For others, like the water bottle for instance, Ariella chose her school water bottle over another. When I asked her why, she said because her best friend at school had the same one. We even compared the items Ariyan chose versus the ones Ariella chose.
“an indoor activity can be educational, turned into bonding time, or even a competition.”
So, based off the above, here are some ways to tailor this indoor activity:
1. Have the child draw the items for the scavenger hunt instead of you.
2. Turn the hunt into a reading activity by reading the words on the sheet, or have your child spell the words out.
3. If you want to practice counting, you can have items that you have a few of in the house (and won’t mind having your child pull out) and have them find as many as they can, and then count them.
4. Compare and Contrast – this is a big concept discussed within the early years of elementary school and continued in later years, but at higher standards. You can have the child or children compare the items, or even categorize them.
5. Vocabulary Builder – Yes, this game can even do that! Look at those words from above: compare, contrast, categorize. Use these terms throughout the activity.
Like with all of my activities, remember to discuss the expectations before getting started! What’s the mission? Why are you doing this? How will they find the items? Will they run around the house and scream when they find an item, or sit down to check off their box and share them with you at the end? Setting clear expectations will help this activity run more smoothly and therefore, make it more enjoyable.
Now it’s obvious this is an activity most likely for younger ones (not saying older ones couldn’t enjoy it – ha), but note that you can make it educational, turn it into a bonding activity, or even competitive. Either way, staying indoors can be fun too!
-The Parent’s Teacher (Shay)