Using the Physical World as Game Board.
This is not Kinky Day Care! SMS stands for Short Message Service.
If your children bring cell phones, or if you have an extra family phone, you can borrow them for the day. This is a great way to take a break and take the kids around the neighborhood.
The treasure hunt. Suggest some locations around the house or garden and create clues to explain each location. It is better to have three or four clues for each location. I usually put a card with a number on each spot. This will help you know if they actually reached the location. You don’t have to use the cards or “PostIt Notes” if you don’t want to. Once you are ready, get the kids ready.
Pay them off with the first clue. It’s always good to keep your tracks as short as possible. You must have at least three clues, from difficult to easy. This would also depend on the age groups you work with. Now you can sit in the hammock in the backyard while keeping the kids busy! It’s a great way to take a break.
You can make up as many locations as you like, but they sometimes get a bit frustrated after about five locations.
Always have a prize of some kind at the end. Maybe a candy bar or a trip to the ice cream parlor.
When they find the first location. They should locate you and give you the number you wrote on the card or Post-It Note. (The numbers should not be in order, ie 1,2,3, etc. You can use whatever you want. If your child is okay with text pagination, you can ask them to explain the placement on the text page, that is, “Tree in inner courtyard”). At that point, she calls them back with Congratulations and the next clue. If she has more than one cell phone in the group, she will be able to set up teams. You have to be fair about the message you send to each group (hard, medium or easy suggestions). If I have more than one group, I’ll send them in different directions so they don’t fool each other. If group number 2 is ahead of group 1, and I give an easy clue to group 2. Be fair, when group 1 gets to that clue; First give them the easy clue. If they still need help, I’ll shoot the others too.
I like the easy way to keep the kids busy. And it’s even fun for you too. If the kids are older, you can have them run around the entire neighborhood, and you can use up to ten or more locations if you want. If they start to get tired, you can always jump to the last location where the prize might be. So you might be all set with as many locations as you can imagine. You can always use them on the next hunt.
It all depends on who you’re doing this with. Some kids get bored after 5 locations; others are still set to go after 10 locations. Age groups don’t matter in this situation. Have fun.
Email me with new or better ideas on “Creating Your Own Breaks”. Thank you.