The Scavenger Hunt

Aaron is finally learning what it means to be bored. At age 3? Really? Shouldn't he be getting dirty out playing with sticks and rocks or something? .....EXACTLY!  That gave me an idea....

I decided to do compile a nature "Scavenger Hunt" for Aaron. It consisted of a list I created out of some old poster board and markers:

 I explained to Aaron that we were going to go outside and find everything on this list - 

• something yellow
• dirt
• 2 different kinds of flowers
• something green
• 3 small grey rocks
• leaves
• a stick
• 1 white rock
• bark
• and 1 bug

(we later added on "something red")

I then took an old first aid kit container and put in "scavenger hunting supplies" which included:

• tweezers
• a magnifying glass (with an attached compass)
• a measuring tape (from my sewing kit) to measure how small or big each item he found was
• a "dust brush" (ok...so it was an old makeup brush) to remove debris and dirt from his items
• a marker to check items off his list
• a container to put items in and examine them
• and lastly, a glue stick to attach his findings to his poster board.

I quickly found out how informative this scavenger hunt was for him - for example, when it came time to find the "Bark" on the list, I said, "Okay Aaron, it's time to find some bark...lets go!" Aaron stopped and looked around puzzled for a second and then said, "But I don't see any doggies Mommy.....?"  I couldn't help but laugh. I told him, "Yes, doggies bark too, but bark also means little pieces of wood." Not thinking again, I sent him off to find bark again. Within a minute Aaron screams, "I found some bark!!!" and I stroll over and find him pointing at the wood paneling on the side of the house. (More laughing from me). I tell him, "Great job!" (due to my lack of explanation) and then take him into grandma's garden to show him what the "bark" is we are looking for. It all worked out and he learned something new.

Here is Sunny just hanging out enjoying the weather with us:

Our Sunny Bunny

Oh my goodness...who gave her that rock to play with? Oh yeah, that was me...Don't worry, she couldn't pick it up. She just liked to feel it.

Aaron had so much fun looking for everything - I really didn't think he was going to enjoy it that much, but he kept looking for stuff even after we were done.

We also used an egg carton to collect all of his neat items in:

And you can't see it, but there was a Rolly Polly bug in the blue container (which we eventually set free, but Aaron had fun watching it in the meantime. I think the bug was his favorite part.)

Everything glued to the list.....except.....

As you can see, he found all of his items on his list, and if you'll notice there is only a drawing of a bug for that box - At first he wasn't happy about the inconsistency of the drawing being there instead of a real bug so I had to spend about 3 minutes explaining to Aaron that we do not glue living things to paper (or anything for that matter). Eventually he got over it and was just happy he found everything.

Best picture we had of him...and there is Sunny in the back still having a blast

After everything dried we hung up his poster on the wall and just about everyday Aaron looks at it and reminds me he wants to do "Aaron's chart" again soon.