Fun Friday activities are quick-and-simple ways to explore nature in your own backyard.
Why wait until Easter to go on an outdoor treasure hunt? Last summer, my friend Brian introduced a peanut hunt to our then 3-1/2 year old kids while on a visit to our cabin in Yosemite.
He spent about five minutes hiding the shelled peanuts everywhere you might imagine – in tree bark, around tree bases, in the open meadow, near pinecones – anywhere obvious enough to ensure that our little ones would find them.
Then we let the kids loose on their peanut hunt. They had a blast. We armed them with bug carrying cases, complete with plastic tweezers and magnifying glasses, to use to “hunt” with and collect their goodies in.
The kids weren’t the only ones in on the fun. Blue jays and squirrels were checking out the activity, eager to grab up any nuts left over (sorry guys, not this time!). Cost us close to nothing but kept the kids eagerly exploring outdoors for about an hour.
Why it’s so fun: Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? The added bonus of working with peanuts is that once the kids were done finding their treasures, they got to sit down and eat them!
Variations on a theme: We used peanuts for our treasure hunt but you can use just about anything you have handy – marbles, rocks, toy cars, trucks, animals or any other small item.
Happy hunting!
Such a great idea and so simple you can do it anywhere.
We had a blast with this one. The kids had to fend off the jays & squirrels, which was fun to watch. Thanks for sharing it with your readers, Mel!
I liked this so much that I wrote about it on my blog.
That's a great idea. I love that you used something edible and biodegradable. That way if the kids miss anything, it's not a big deal.