One of my favorite things about being a parent and a child life specialist, is that I get to witness children exploring their world through play. I just stay present, connected and follow their lead, they do all the rest.
We decided to go for an adventure walk one afternoon and wrote out a scavenger hunt list with the help of my five-year old.
The word “hunt” must have trigger him to get into his hunting gear, which is basically anything cameo. Within a few minutes he had changed his clothes, put on his hat and attached a large squirt gun to his backpack. Then he gathered his hunting dogs and binoculars.
Off we went, looking for dead animals, bugs, leaves and one diamond.
It was pretty cute to watch the two engage. They discussed who would be the leader, what to look for and to be vigilant of zombies. They showed each other what they found and even stopped to smell the roses, well dandelions.
We came home with a wagon full of new discoveries and a smile on our faces. 🙂
Scavenger hunts are great! They let kids lead, problem solve and use their imagination. It can also be done indoors. To my fellow child life specialists, this is a great activity for hospitalized kids.
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