I’m that mom who is “so extra” (according to my children). I was a Pinterest Mom long before Pinterest existed. It was born out of necessity; My oldest son refused to eat unless his food looked cute, so I had to resort to turning boiled eggs into cuddly penguins and buy a crapload of Japanese Bento supplies to doll up his food, just so he would eat something.
It kind of stuck, so now I’m just Extra, all the time. In the morning, I usually wake the children up with some terrible 80’s song.
Their circus lunch bags always come with a picture.
And when I buy them some new books and games to vanquish the boredom of COVID quarantine, I make them work for it by going on a Fox Hunt. Even when it’s 40 degrees outside and everything is still covered in ice and cold mud. If anything, they are going to be Alaska Tough.
A Fox Hunt has nothing to do with hunting or foxes. It’s a treasure hunt in which you follow clues to find your “Fox” (prize). I don’t know why we always called it a Fox Hunt when I was a child, but I don’t mess with tradition, so that’s what I call it now.
You need to make a bunch of clue cards/riddles that the children have to solve to find the next clue.
Since it was cold and wet, I put the clue cards in ziplock baggies.
Since we live way out on the edge of nowhere, I sent the kids all over the grounds and 3/4 mile down the “road” to the spring. If the weather had been better I would have hidden clues farther away. Of course, I sent them back and forth several times between the road and the grounds. I really made them work for it (and gave myself some quiet time in the process).
In the end, the “Fox” was in the sheep shack all along.
Happy hunting!
I love this so much!