Scavenger Hunt

I'm quite the exciting lady, loving schedules, routines, and lists. One activity that we added to our Corona routine is going on walks. Walking has always been part of our routine, but now its a must. We had a certain path we walked in Seagraves. We were walking that certain path when I was very pregnant. As in, two men from our church saw us walking and said to be careful because that walking will make Ollie come out. I laughed them off and low and behold, Ollie surprised us a week early the next day. Never question a farmer when it comes to whether or when a woman is having her baby, apparently.

Ollie and I consistently walk to the park. However, parks were shut down and I don't feel like teasing him by showing him a park and not letting him play at it. Pretty sure that goes against the Geneva Convention.

We have a new routine that consists of going down this one cul-de-sac where almost each house has a wrap-around porch and then walking back a couple of blocks to a u-shaped street behind ours. Sometimes Ollie wants to walk our very patient dog first and then we put him on his tricycle that we can still push like a stroller. He has gotten really good at pedaling but still prefers it to be mom-powered.

I decided to do things a little different this time and make a scavenger hunt for Ollie. I included items I knew Ollie would be able to find. One of the houses put a bear in their windows for kids going on walks or bike rides to see. They also have a cat who likes to sleep in another window. I think we have become a favorite routine for the people who live in that house because they always make a point to wave at us. Two other houses has those bears sculpted out of a tree trunk so we always look for them.

Ollie missed many opportunities to look at squirrels. No matter how enthusiastically I pointed, and angled Ollie, I could not get him to look in the direction of the squirrels. He would even pretend to see something so we could move on just to humor me. Once Ollie did see something, he would mark it off with his marker. It was pretty hot so Aaron often claimed Ollie saw something so we could keep walking. I'm still not completely convinced Ollie saw the nest or butterfly I pointed out but my pants wearing husband said to mark it down.

There is one house we pass where we sometimes see one of three cats. One time we saw two of them at the same time. Fortunately, we saw one of them and were able to mark it off. The man who lived there was one of those extroverts and seemed so excited to have visitors, even if we talked 10 feet away from each other. He said those cats aren't theirs, but his wife feeds them, which I feel is the description of any cat owner.



This was a fun way to change things up a bit, and it helped Ollie practice look for things. There are so many ways to add to this, including putting examples of what kids are studying in science. For example, grade school can write down examples of refraction and reflection; observations of shadows from sunrise, noon, and sunset; examples of backyard ecosystems; examples of renewable and nonrenewable resources.

Or you can plant little treasures for them to find. We kind of did that with easter eggs. As we were going on our walk I would plant eggs and have Ollie find them on the way.